Life AFTER A school.....

I know its been forever since I have posted anything...But A school kept me super busy and I didnt have my laptop there....Boot camp. Well boot camp was essentually one giant mind fuck. The worst part for me was being away from my mother and not being able to call her everyday.

Thank you!

To keep this blog anonymous, I do not post any names. But there are certain people who have been supportive and made this process easier for me.
Thank you to my recruiter. You are awesome, and even though we annoyed each other at times and filled out a thousand papers together, I love you to death! You are not only my recruiter through this but you are also one of my closest friends. Please thank Chief R and Chief W for me as well. They are some of the most awesome people I have ever met and I couldn't have done this without them.
Thank you to my mom. Mom, I couldn't haved made this decision without your support and love. I am going to miss you so much in boot camp. Take care of my doggies for me and give them plenty of love.
To JH- Thank you for being there throughout my entire life. Even though you questioned my motives about enlisting, you were just looking out for me. Thank your family for me too. I feel proud knowing I have their support.
To my Military Guy- This is only the beginning. Thank you for being supportive and giving me an idea of military life. And helping to reassure me that I did indeed make the right decision. XOXO


I love each and every one of you! And I WILL see you all again very soon!!

XOXO

Serena

LEAVING FOR BOOT CAMP

I went to MEPS Wednesday to sign my contract. My job will be AZ E-3. Aviation Maintenance Administrator. Basically, I will be keeping the logs on flight hours, and the books on the maintenance being done on the planes. I will be working closely with the jet mechanics and pilots. I am so excited. I talked with my cheif the entire wayout there and he got me an early ship date. I ship out to boot camp MONDAY! I am spending only 5 days in DEP. Everyone else that signed their contracts that day got ship dates for July 2010, so I feel really lucky and grateful that I got a ship date so early. I am completely unprepared psychically, but thats okay. I'll just give it all I've got when I get there. I'm so excited to be leaving so soon, but I have so much to do around the house. My mom and I went shopping to get everything I need for boot. I had to get white full booty panties, white bras and sports bras, etc. I won't be blogging for a while, but my mom and everyone else is going to save my letters, that way I can type them and post them when I get back. It's really perfect timing, because i'll be in boot camp August and September. Then I go to "A" school in Meridian, Mississippi for 8 weeks (October and November). Then I get leave and can be home for Christmas and my birthday. I am so excited. By the end of September, I will be a true American sailor! Wish me luck!!

Delete

There are certain people in my life, that are not very supportive of my decision to join the military. Now, I don't expect everyone I meet to be 100% on board. It is a very extreme and serious decision. But, if you can at least listen to what I have to say and agree that I'm not making this decision uninformed or without insight. I know very well what I'm getting myself into. And honestly, I can't wait. For someone to say, that I shouldn't join is stupid, immature and selfish. And why be such a jerk about it and rain on my parade anyhow? This is something I'm excited about and proud to do. I'm doing this because I can. Because I want to, and because you don't have enough balls to do it yourself. It's the most honorable job in the world, and one should be proud to begin this journey. I know I am.

MEPS Day 2

I had a dream that night that I woke up super late at 11:00. And I had my dogs in the hotel room with me. I thought, "Oh my God. Where am I going to hide my dogs during MEPS? I'm going to be in so much trouble." When I woke up and looked at the clock it was 3:30am. Okay time to get up. I washed my face in the sink (I took a shower the night before) and put on some makeup. I was trying to find the morning news on the television and Jimmy Kimmel was on....I was so confused. Where is the news? Oh yeah! Its way to early....I was so not used to this. My roommate and I made small talk as we got ready. We then packed up our things, and headed down to the lobby to check out. We checked out and then went to the restaurant for breakfast. I had sausage and potatoes. It was actually a nice breakfast. But then again, breakfast food is always good. =) Only one problem. NO COFFEE. "Oh these people are monsters", I thought. After breakfast we headed to our buses. Some people were shipping out that morning and the rest of us were on our way to MEPS for the medical exams. At MEPS we were given stickers with our names on them. We took a hearing test, a vision test (which included a section on colorblindness), a urinalysis (to check for drugs, pregnancy, sugar and protein), had our blood pressure checked and a blood test. We also had two interviews with the doctors (a preliminary and a final). We also had a psychical which we stripped down to our bra and panties and did all kinds of silly exercises to make sure our arms and legs worked.They also took our height and weight. After the psychical we had individual consultations with the female doctor. She checked out noses, ears and throat. She poked and prodded our bellys as well. She also checked to make sure we were actually female. Our medical exams went by pretty quickly, because there were only 12 females. There were 55 men, so I had to wait for the other Vegas Navy recruit before we could leave. I passed medical. I was super happy. The other recruit, had high blood pressure. Another Air Force girl had to go get an Echo because the doctor thought he heard an irregular heartbeat. So, I was pretty happy when I passed. After medical, we headed back to Vegas where I asked our driver a thousand or so questions about the Navy. By the time I got home I was so exhausted. I think the most stressful thing about the entire MEPS experience, was being away from home. It was only 2 days, but I missed my mom and my dogs so much. Yes, I'm 28 years old and I missed my mommy. I can only imagine how hard boot camp will be.

MEPS day 1

MEPS in one word: Stressful. We drove from Vegas to San Diego. I woke up around 5:30 on Wednesday morning, to get ready and wait for my recruiter to pick me up. We drove to the Summerlin recruiting office to meet with my driver and another Navy recruit, who would also be traveling with us. I was so anxious the night before I maybe got an hour and a half of sleep. I studied in the car on the way there, and played car games with the driver (another recruiter) and the other recruit. We arrived at MEPS and registered with the front desk. They took our photos and fingerprints. We then took the ASVAB. I was so nervous about this test. But when I got in I realized that it was a lot easier than I imagined. I breezed through it super quick. Afterwards, my results were sealed in an envelope, that I was to give to my recruiter and not open. I immediately ran to the bathroom to open my envelope. I scored a 79 on my exam. I was very pleased. Afterwards, I had to wait until everyone finished the exam. We then made our way to the shuttle that took us to our hotel. A lot of people were really young and energetic. I have no idea where they got all this energy from! I just drove 5 and half hours on maybe 2 hours of sleep, to take a test that was super long. We were given our room keys and our meal tickets and told that we had a hotel briefing at 8pm. I got to my room at 7:30 and called my mom to tell her how I did. After getting settled in, it was time for the hotel meeting. They went over basic rules. Curfew at 10pm, no girls in guys rooms and vice versa, wake up call at 4am, bus leaves at 5:15. Basically a lot of stuff that I thought was pretty common sense besides the times which were given to us anyway with our room key. After the briefing, I went to the hotel restaurant and ate dinner. After dinner, I went back up to my hotel room (9:30ish). By the time my roommate arrived back in our room I was dead asleep. It was the end of a very long day and I was glad that it was finally over!

MEPS

I am FINALLY going to MEPS tomorrow. I'm really nervous, but happy to finally get it out of the way. I won't be able to choose a job tomorrow, because the Navy hasn't refilled its job bank, but at least I'll get the test and exam out of the way.

So although I'm frustrated about the time its taking me to enlist, I am still very excited. Also, I'm getting my ego back. =P I'm still not sure if that's a good thing or not. LOL. Just kidding. No for the past year, I felt like I kind of lost myself. Now I feel like I'm finding myself again, and I've got my ego back! I realize that no one person can hold me back from what I want in life. I'm better than that. I will no longer wait around for anyone. It's my life now, and dammit I'm going to live it up! Try and keep up! I dare you.

Frustration

This entire enlistment process is so frustrating! I am not going to MEPS in the morning, because of some paperwork details. My trip is postponed indefinitely. I'm so mad! I just want to get started already. Fuck! Why are you people trying to hold me back from starting my new life already? Dammit! I know its not my recruiters fault (even though he can be kind of flaky sometimes), but its frustrating all the same. Also I learned today that I hate signing my middle name to documents. I have to sign everything with my first, middle and last name. Suddenly my signature, which I spent 28 years perfecting, is ugly and awkward. I hate seeing it. My middle name looks so grotesque next to my last name. It's unnatural. But that's just the trivial stuff I'm trying to focus on so I don't get too upset about the canceled trip just yet. I'm getting so nervous, like I'm not going to get in or whatever. How terrible would it be if I didn't get to enlist because of some silly thing that happened a million years ago. It was practically another lifetime. And after I've told everyone that I'm going and convinced everyone that this is the right thing for me. How terrible. I'm so frustrated right now that I want to cry. I just want to be IN already! I want to sign my contract. I want to be in boot camp being yelled at already. I haven't wanted anything this bad in such a long time, and it feels good to want again.

Paperwork

My recruiter stopped by today. I'm not very good at answering my phone especially when I'm sleeping. So I didn't wake up until he knocked on the door and all the dogs started barking. I answered in my jammies. Most people would find this embarrassing but I have really cute jammies and I don't embarrass easily. =) I had to sign some paperwork so he could run a police report on me. My record in Las Vegas is clear. =) Super happy about that!! I have another meeting with him tomorrow at noon, where we will discuss MEPS and other things. He'll probably tell me I can't drink caffeine until after MEPS. I live on caffeine, so this will be hard. So I'm going to go drink a case of soda pop that way I can live on fumes for the next few days =P LOL

Studying for ASVAB

Not fun! The more practice quizzes I take the more I feel like an idiot. It's been almost ten years since I've taken a math class. I never really categorized myself as a math whiz in the first place and judging by my results thus far, I never will be. I just hope that they don't expect much math-wise from the careers I'm choosing from. Grrrr! Frustration!!

Super Excited!!

I met with my recruiters boss today (my recruiter is out of town). We scheduled my MEPS trip for Thursday the 24th of June. I'm super excited!! I wanted more time to study for ASVAB but he said I was fine based on my pre-test scores. If all goes well with MEPS I will be signing my contract on June 25th and officially be in the Navy DEP. After that I have to take the DLAB test for CTI. I'm super excited! I don't even know what else to write right now!! LOL

Preparing for ASVAB

I recieved my ASVAB study guide today in the mail and I'm super excited! It's been a long time since I've had to study for anything! I'm actually really looking forward to it. The better I do on ASVAB the better job offers the Navy will give me. My recruiter called me today and I have to go in tomorrow to schedule my first MEPS trip. I want to schedule it at least a month out so I can study hard for the ASVAB. I'm really nervous. I'm more nervous about this test than I am about basic training. I'm so excited about so many things right now!!!!!

Frustration

I hate people who play games. My boyfriend is not very supportive of me signing up for the Navy. If I do join we will probably most definately break up. I'm not very happy with the idea of that, but I'm sick and tired of waiting around for a guy who doesn't want to marry me. I have NO career and they way I look at it now, I have no future. The military would offer me job security, and wonderful benefits. And my future would be up to me, not someone else. He says he is still looking to buy a house in Las Vegas, which is where I currently live. When I asked if I'll be able to live there with him, he said, "Well, you're joining the Navy, so you'll live on a boat." At that point in the conversation, I hung up on him. He also says he doesn't think he wants to marry someone in the military because I'll be gone so often. But really how is that so much different from the way we live right now? He lives in San Diego and I live in Vegas. We hardly see each other as it is. It's pretty obvious to me that he doesn't see a future for us even if I DON'T enlist. And maybe if I saw a future or some sliver of hope, I might be more hesitant as well. Either way this is MY life and NOONE elses. I need to make a future for myself instead of waiting around for other people to determine when I'm "good enough".

DAY ONE

I am not officially in the Navy yet. I went last Saturday to meet with my recruiter for the first time. The decision to join the military is something that has been on my mind for about a month now. I am currently a 28 year old unemployed cocktail waitress in Las Vegas, NV. I have been cocktailing since I was 21. I finally decided that its time to make something out of my life. I need to stop living for other people and make my own life and my own career. Yes I would love to finish school finally, but I cannot afford it at this time. I currently have NO source of income and live with my mom and my uncle. I decided to join the Navy because my dad is in the Navy (lifer) and if there is a war (which I'm sure there will be soon) I would prefer to be on a boat instead of on the front lines like the Army or Marines. I go Wednesday to schedule my first MEPS trip. I want to schedule it for at least a month out, so I have time to study for ASVAB. I really want to go into CTI or IS. CTI is a rating based in foreign languages and IS is an intelligence specialist. What I choose has to do with how I do on my ASVAB and what is available at the time. This is a big decision to make, but I'm very excited to have something to look forward to.