MEPS

June 6, 2007 - Wednesday
Ahhhh the Guard Current mood: optimistic
Well, I went down to MEPS on May 9th thinking I was gunna' FINALLY go off to training. Stayed the night at the hotel on I-25 and Hampden. Spent a great evening (dinner with Chaz, Mom, and Tara) and up at oh-3:30 for the bus ride downtown. The first surprize?Well, I was told back when I swore in that it was a two week refresher course down at Ft. Carson. Great, no prob!
I get down to MEPS and find out it's actually 4-6 weeks, and it's all out of state. Whoops! Got a number of contracted clients that are NOT going to be happy about that! Signed and dated shows that will have to be cancelled? Not a good thing!
MEPS did all the paperwork double-checking etc.... They had me all set to fly down to Fort Sill and onto White Sands.
About 11:30 I head up to the security clearance folks. Well, something didn't check out, and I couldn't ship out with the MOS I was promised (97E - Interrogator). The Sgt. who seems to be in charge of the entire Guard program down there was GREAT! Seriously! He understood my concerns, and was VERY respectful (not something I've gotten alot of at drill weekends - being an old guy and former squid) But it's all good. The Sgt. told me he could fly me out that day to Warrior Transition, but they'd have to change my MOS. Otherwise, it would be February before I could ship out. He gave me as much time as I needed to weigh the pro's and con's. I decided that I had earned and set my hopes on that 97E spot! Not many people ace the ASVAB... that 99.9% was MINE and I wasn't gunna' waste it by being something I didn't want to be. So, February it is! February 27th to be exact. I'll finally be getting to WTC, and only after that can I get out to Ft. Huachucha in Arizona and get some REAL training in!! In the meantime, I'm completely and totally impressed with the structure, and activities at the COANG weekends! Unlike when I was in the Navy Reserve at Buckley (kinda' hard to train up as a Aviation Structural Mechanic when there were no jets at the reserve base ::: shrug ::::), the COANG has classes, training sessions, PT, and every minute of the drill weekends filled with something to do!!!! YES!!!

Currently listening : Italian Love Songs By Dean Martin Release date: 28 August, 2001