t-minus 30 days

So I leave for Air Force BMT in a month, and I've decided to start a blog to document the journey from here on out.

I processed and swore in at Lansing MEPS in February, on Valentines Day.  For everyone who's recruiter has ever told you how horrible and terrible MEPS is and how much they want to DQ you - this was not my experience at all!  The people at Lansing MEPS were fantastic and very friendly and I had as good of a time I could possibly had on a very, very long day.  The day started at 4:30 AM, when we woke up and went and ate breakfast on Tuesday.  Then we were scooted onto a bus to go from the hotel to MEPS.  Once there, we were briefed on what to expect that day, and were directed to our respective branches office.  From there, they gave us a folder and we went to the front desk to get all our paperwork to put into it.  We brought the paperwork to medical, where the majority of the day is spent.  They test EVERYTHING you could possibly imagine, from ears to eyes to looking at your asshole.  For real - they really do that!  Medical really isn't bad, just a lot of hurry up and get to this checkpoint station and wait.  Hurry through it, and wait.  About noon, we got probably the best lunch ever (mostly because I was so tired and hungry, but it was freakin' good!) of a super huge sub sandwich and cookies and chips.  I took forever to get through medical so they gave me a break around lunch time and let me leave medical even though I wasn't done (which is generally a huge no-no, but I was knee deep in medical til about 3pm).  After medical and picking the jobs you prefer, you get your finger prints done and they record who you would want to get your remains if you were to die in war, etc.  After this, finally, you get to swear in! They brief you on at attention and at ease and your oath and such and then you're in a dreamy room full of red, white, and blue being sworn in my the head of your respective MEPS stations.  I didn't get out of MEPS til about 5pm, because they were cleaning my ears for honestly an hour or two (excruciatingly painful, holy crap), but it overall was NOT a bad time, like everyone prior had told me!  Everyone had me terrified of people at MEPS as if they were terrorists out to get you, and it's so not true!

Now, since February, I have been in DEP (Delayed Entry Program), which is pretty much just a monthly meeting with your recruiter and all the other shippers waiting to leave.  When I picked my jobs at MEPS, I picked mostly intelligence jobs and "open" as my category.  In April, I got my job as Open General, so I'll be receiving my job at BMT.  I've heard going in under an Open contract like I have is a huge mistake, because you won't get a good job, but I'm not super picky and I'm having faith the Air Force will use my strengths and give me a job I'm good for.  If not, we'll find out. (:  DEP's pretty fun, my group has been running and timing situps and pushups like a pretend PT test for a few months, and if you could have seen some of the sad people in my group, you would know not to worry about being in shape for BMT - one guy seriously could not do one pushup or situp at his 30 days!

When I go for DEP this Wednesday, I'll be getting my 30 day briefing from my recruiter, so I'll post about that soon!  Oh and - for all the people who think recruiters are horrible liars, there ARE some human ones who do want the best for you. Personally, I know my recruiter's job is to sell the Air Force, but she has never once done that.  She never pushed me to join, just gave me info and helped me make a decision.  She even told me to check out other branches to find where I think I fit best (and I chose them!), and colleges even.  People rag on recruiters a lot, but they aren't all horrible liars!

That's all I have for now, if there are any questions, feel free to comment!