The Grind That Gave Way To New Found Motivation: 01/03/2012

“Look towards your future,”

-“Phillipe”, Peer, Motivator, and God willing a future SEAL.

Probably the hardest part about this whole process is the waiting. I know how I’ve already preached about keeping motivation high and trying to immerse your self as much as possible which is definitely crucial. But motivation wouldn’t be such an issue if the wait wasn’t so long.

Unfortunately in almost always is. I’ve heard from very few people who sign up and ship out a month later, it seems uncommon. Once you do get your whole application in order and receive a contract for a specific job from the Air Force that is when the wait really begins.

That period of time where you don’t know if you should take classes and get a job because you don’t want to have to withdraw or quit in three months time. Of course your not guaranteed to get a ship date in that time frame and when you don’t you wish you did have a job or had taken a few extra classes while you were waiting around. At least that’s how I felt. Then again if I did have a job and classes who knows what I would’ve sacrificed training wise. Maybe my run times would be a little slower or my push-ups would have suffered.

It’s just a grind.

I workout. that is all I do, day after day. It begins to get monotonous. I kept constantly finding myself hitting that wall after about a month of training. Especially if I had no one to push me, and help motivate. I don’t care who you are, you burnout working by yourself. Top-level triathletes, swimmers, even cyclists have a team to work with and help push one another. Unfortunately, Pararescue isn’t a hugely sought after career due to the degree of fitness involved and the danger related to the job. I was lucky that my recruiter even had another person interested in the field.

I think I was lucky living in the Florida area as I was able to find groups of like-minded individuals and train with them to keep my motivation up. Initially, I had enlisted while I was in Pittsburgh, living with my mom. However, after a time there I began to miss my sister and family back home in Florida and applied for a courtesy ship so I could return home. Fortunately, it was approved. Now when my contract does come around I can process out of Miami instead of Pittsburgh.

As I was saying though, Florida gave me a lot. I found a local bike shop, On Your Mark Bike Shop (http://www.oymbike.com/), that sponsors a small team of individuals who participate in triathlons. I began training with them. Running and swimming were my focus but riding on a bike became a great way of cross training. It helped that my dad was a cyclist and could outfit me in some of his gear, as cycling is an expensive sport. But having this group of people to workout with on a weekly basis was unfathomably helpful.

Once I moved back home to Florida I was no longer able to work with my training partner “Jack,” the fellow PJ wannabe. So I made it a point to find another group of military guys to workout with. As I was prepared to walk into the Navy recruiter’s office and find out when I could workout with their SO candidates (Special Operations) one of my buddies from college and fellow fraternity brother had made the decision to enlist into the Navy as a NUC (Nuclear Engineering). So I began working out a training with him and his fellow Navy DEP members. It was fun, lots of fun.

Once a week these guys would wakeup at 0730 and meet at the beach at 0900 Saturday morning to PT for a solid two hours. Total body workout. It hurt. But damn did it feel good afterwards. I met several guys that I hope to keep in touch with throughout the rest of my lifetime, one was probably one of the most motivated men I had ever met in my entire life. The guy radiated self-confidence and motivation. I look forward to every chance I have to hangout and PT with “Phillipe.” Every word out of his mouth is positive and inspiring. If he heard something he didn’t like or that wasn’t what he wanted to hear, he would yell out “INFRACTION! Time for punishent!” and we would drop to the ground and start pushing dirt.

Surrounding myself with great training partners and like-minded individuals was the only way I could’ve gotten through this long wait period. It made those months seem like they flew by. Because before I knew it my contract was in front of me, and I had a date: 01/03/2012. On that day, I would be at Lackland, AFB in San Antonio, TX. On that day, it will be Week 0, Day 1 of BMT. On that day my journey will begin!

“This is your life now you’re hardcore!”

Physical Ability and Stamina Test: 01

"The more you sweat in peace... the less you bleed in war,"

-General George S. Patton

Approximately a week after my visit to MEPS I was scheduled to take my first official PAST test. I was notified that we would be leaving my recruiter's office at 0745 so I should arrive promptly.

The drive wasn’t too bad maybe 45 minutes tops before I found myself sitting outside the pool waiting for everyone else to show up. According to my recruiter the test wouldn’t begin until 1100, and here we were about two hours early. I zoned out for must of the time before the test and just sat around hydrating while I waited. I hydrated, dehydrated, and hydrated some more.

Another PJ wannabe like myself, the training partner who I mentioned in a previous post came along as well. He however, just had surgery on his eyes to correct his vision and unfortunately the doctor forbid him to swim for a month. My friend, “Jack,” would still do his best to pass the run and calisthenics portions of the test though.

Eventually more wannabes and their recruiters showed up and like most competitors do before an event everyone began sizing up one another. There were two individuals who I remember specifically, one was built like a basketball player, he must’ve been 6’5” and lean as hell. I assumed he would be fast in the water with those arms. The second was shorter than myself, probably 5’8”, but jacked! The guy was all muscle, which won’t help you in a swim but he looked fit as hell, and I knew he would be fast.

I told myself that these two were the men to beat. I was going to take them out. My recruiter had mentioned to me previously that there was a few individuals taking their final PAST test that day. So I assumed that if they failed and I passed that there could be a chance that I could take their slot. He told me the two I previously described were going for PJ.

Finally, 1100 rolled around and right that minute our test administrator walked in. He was tall and built like a brick house, and a PJ to boot. My training buddy “Jack,” tried picking his brain a little for advice during the lulls between events and was told that “You either have it, or you don’t.” After that the PJ was pretty much stone-faced and said little. With little delay all the wannabes changed into their swim gear and formed up on the pool deck. We were briefed on the order of the test and that which was required of us and then it started.

First up, were two 25-yard underwater swims. You start at one end of the pool and when given the command to go, you inhale as much air as you can and swim to the other end of the pool without surfacing, or breaking the surface at all. If you do in fact break the surface at all the whole test is considered a failure. I remember looking around at the other candidates while I was swimming underwater. There form was off. I guess not all of them were given the chance or privilege to train with a PJ. Upon reaching the other end of the pool you are required to surface and freestyle back. After completing this you take a 3-minute break and do it a second time. This didn’t faze me as I had been practicing by training 50-yard under waters.

We were then given a 10-minute break before the 500-meter swim was to begin. The swim portion was my nemesis. Growing up in Florida you would think I would be a capable swimmer, but I wasn’t. I hadn’t seriously started swimming until I decided becoming a PJ was what I wanted to do. The worst part was probably the waiting. That pool was cold. My teeth started clicking, my body convulsing and shaking on its own, goose pimples breaking out all over my body. It was cold. On the command of go we pushed off the wall and started swimming, 22 lengths later and it was over. My time: 9:40. Not great, but passing. Like I said I wasn’t a swimmer. However, somehow I was first out of the twelve of us swimming. Hooyah!

Everyone hit the showers and changed during the 30-minute break before the 1.5 mile run portion of the test. I was one of the slowest getting changed and when I left the locker room I saw that everyone was still grouped up inside standing around with their thumbs up their butts trying to talk to the PJ or just bullshitting. I walked up to my recruiter and told him I was headed outside to warm-up on the track. I’m not wasting my break.

Once I left it seemed that everyone realized they ought to do the same. Everyone was stretching out, jumping around but still making light of the situation. I remember one kid specifically the tall giant I described earlier starting bullshitting about the run.

“Hey we should all get a big group run going with a nice pace with one another,” he said. “We could draft off one another and all finish strong.”

I laughed. “No,” I said, with an intense look on my face. “My goal is to pass all of you, and then lap as many of you as I can.” I can’t believe I said that! The words were out of my mouth before I even thought about it. Immediately all talk and bullshitting stopped but no one replied or said anything to me after that. “I just made myself a target,” I thought.

 Sure enough probably about 29 minutes into our break the PJ comes out and announces that we have about a minute before we start. We were lining up on the corner of the track right before the turn. I found myself on the fourth lane, thinking, “Oh crap, I’m going to get cut off by one of the seven guys on the inside of me right off the bat. I need to sprint right away and get in front so no one trips me up or slows me down immediately.” Sure enough the count down began and I began pep talking myself.

“10…”

“Okay Kyle here we go, get ready…”

“9…8…7…”

“You got this, you talked the talk, now walk the walk…”

“6…5…”

“I got to sprint… I got to sprint…”

“4…3…”

“Stride it out…”

“2…”

“...”

“1…GO!”

Now to quote one of my favorite movies, “From that day on, if I was going somewhere, I was RUNNING!” Got to love Forrest Gump. And boy did I run. I walked the walk. I sprinted out the gate and cut everyone off going into the turn. I got in front and stayed there. I lapped four individuals during that run. I don’t know how, it was only a mile and a half so they must’ve really been running slow. My time: 8:56. Not bad. My goal was an 8:30… maybe next time.

I couldn’t believe it though, I crushed the swim, destroyed the run with no one even close to being on my heels. I felt good. But it was time for calisthenics. I made it a point to go last. Out of 12 people, I made sure to be the last person to go. I figured it would just be extra time to regain my energy. Pull-ups were first, I did 11. Then sit-ups, 54. Then Push-ups, 59. Not what I wanted, but it’s passing. My calisthenics are not my strong suit. I didn’t know it then but they would wind up becoming the weakest link in my final PAST test months later, not the swim.

After the test it was time to head back home after a nice lunch with the other wannabes and recruiters. I ordered a beer to celebrate. I had recently turned 21 but never put it to any use as I had been training so intensely for Pararescue.

Everything in moderation I suppose. But I prefer the saying, work hard… play hard. I celebrated a little more that night.

MEPS: Medical Entrance

“Integrity First.

Service Before Self.

Excellence In All We Do,”

            -Core Values of the United States Air Force

As the first of my alarms began blaring I proceeded to roll out of bed and groan with the misery I already felt washed over me. You know what I’m talking about, that feeling when you wake up and immediately feel like you haven’t slept at all. All because of my roommate, who somehow had managed to turn off the television and eventually pass out.

I opened my hotel room door and dragged myself through the hallway proceeding to provide courtesy wakeup calls for the other candidates in the hotel. After making my rounds I found myself back in my room, brushing my teeth, taking a shower, and packing my bag. It felt as if someone was doing it for me and I was just being moved from one place to the next. I was in zombie mode. A feeling I know I will become more acquainted with in the near future.

The other candidates and myself found our selves in the dining room of the hotel loading up on a breakfast buffet. The food was good. By good I mean shit. But I was grateful to have something in my stomach. After all, free food is good food.

We then finished our breakfast and straggled outside where we proceeded to line up half hazardly in front of the hotel waiting for our bus. A couple of the candidates proceeded to smoke or dip and get their tobacco fix in as they would be indisposed all day. I saw the “other PJ candidate” pull out his cigarette and lighter and just laughed to myself. What a joke.

At this point it was approximately 0450 and we were told that the bus would be arriving at 0500. It did. However, we weren’t allowed on it for some reason. It wasn’t until nearly a half-hour later that we were allowed to board the bus.

At this time I remember what my recruiter told me, “Be sure to get on the front of the bus. People in the front are the first to be selected for their tests while people in the back would have to wait.”

Basically I was told that if you are in the front you could be done with MEPS an entire 3 hours earlier than the last person on the bus. So my roommate and I made sure to be the first on the bus.

Eventually, we were on our way and drove the 10 blocks to the MEPS station where we proceeded to wait.

And then we waited some more.

We were forced to sit on the bus for a solid thirty minutes before we were curtly ordered off the bus by an Army Sergeant. Everyone mentally snapped to attention and filed off the bus where we were ordered to line up single file and prepare to enter the building and go through security. As we exited the bus the “other PJ candidate” continued to walk out of the line naturally formed as we came out of the bus single file and come stand next to me at the front. This caught the Army Sergeant’s attention.

“What the hell are you doing?” he asked.

“Aren’t we… about to go in?” replied the “other PJ candidate.”

“I said line up single file get the f!@# back into line, jeez!”

It was all I could do to suppress my laughter. Needless to say I was smirking slightly. After a brief… briefing… we went inside and arrived to the MEPS station. Upon arrival we had to check-in and receive our folder, which would contain all of our medical information gathered that day. Being in the front, I was one of the first to check-in, unfortunately, they said I wasn’t in the system or scheduled to be at MEPS that day by my recruiter. So I was told to fall back into line in the back. So much for first in, first out.

It turns out it was just a mistake something wrong in the system and I was allowed to continue. We then went to the recruiter’s offices of the MEPS center where we dropped our bags in our perspective branches office and then left to begin our medical screening.

Now I could go into detail about each little thing and describe the insignificance of it but, it’s insignificant and droll. So no thanks. They took blood, urine, administered hearing and vision tests, duckwalk checks, body checks, weight checks. Like I said droll. At some point we were allowed to break for lunch and I did so. Then came the fun part, waiting to sit down with a recruiter and go over your qualification options.

For me this part was tedious. Being that I was going for Special Forces slots were not available for me because candidates must successfully pass a PAST test in order to qualify and receive a contract for PJ, CCT, TACP, SOWT, even EOD requires one now. I knew this ahead of time and that I would be required to choose four other careers as back-ups for my contract until I qualified for PJ. So that is what I did here are the four I had decided on prior to arriving at MEPS:

1) Operations Intelligence

2) EOD

3) Aerospace Medical Service

4) Fire Protection

Like I said though EOD required a PAST and somehow I didn’t qualify for Fire Protection. I don’t know how or why and when I asked the recruiter he pretended to ignore me and changed the topic. So this threw a wrench in my plans because I had my set four yet at the same time I didn’t really care I’m not going to do any of this in the Air Force. But I was made to choose four and this is what I came up with:

1) Operations Intelligence
2) Tactical Aircraft Maintenance (Don’t know why I chose this, it just was something to choose).
3) Engineering
4) Aerospace Medical Service

How I can qualify for Engineering and not Fire Protection I don’t know but whatever. After this meeting with my recruiter I was sentenced to another long waiting period before I electronically signed my contracts via fingerprints and was sworn in. But within another three hours I was out of there and called my recruiter to pick me up. I walked out of MEPS grateful to see the sun and curious as to why any service member would want to work at one, it seems like agony.

I must say the best part of the day however was when I arrived back at my recruiter’s office and he handed me an Air Force t-shirt and shook my hand it felt great. I love that t-shirt, I kind of wish I had asked him for another, lol!

All that was left for me now was to take and crush my PAST test, which is exactly what I did. But I’ll get into that next time.

Interview With a Pararescue Jumper

“I Am An American Airman.

I Am A Warrior.

I Have Answered My Nation’s Call.

I Am An American Airman.

My Mission Is To Fly, Fight, And Win.

I Am Faithful To A Proud Heritage,

A Tradition Of Honor,

And A Legacy Of Valor.

I Am An American Airman.

Guardian Of Freedom And Justice,

My Nations Sword And Shield,

Its Sentry And Avenger.

I Defend My Country With My Life.

I Am An American Airman.

Wingman, Leader, Warrior.

I Will Never Leave An Airman Behind,

I Will Not Falter,

And I Will Not Fail.”

-Airman’s Creed

Prior to taking my practice PAST test with my recruiter and “PJ Bob” I had actually met the PJ before. One day I was contacted by my recruiter and told to make myself available to come down to his office for a DEP meeting. At this point in time I myself wasn’t officially a Delayed Entry Program member as I had yet to complete my MEPS evaluation and sign my contract so I wasn’t required to attend the DEP meetings every month.

I don’t know if it is just my recruiter or the branch of the Air Force itself but I’ve heard that Navy and Marine DEP candidates are required to attend DEP meetings 1-2 times a week, whereas with my recruiter I know our meetings were merely once a month.

Anyways, I made sure to get there early and I even brought my Mom along, as she wanted to meet the Pararescue Jumper as well. Upon arriving to my recruiter’s office, which was mostly empty save for a couple other individuals who arrived early, I was greeted my two Airman sitting behind my recruiter’s desk. One instructed me to sign in for the meeting but I informed him I wasn’t a DEP candidate yet but that I was there to meet a PJ. At hearing this he seemed to perk up and told me that he was the PJ and introduced himself as Airmen First Class “Bob”. (I change the names of individuals in my blog so as not to reveal there identity as I don’t have their permission to write about them and seeing as how this is a Special Forces member I though it best to omit.)

“Call me Bobby though,” he insisted.

“I can do that Bobby,” I replied with a huge grin on my face.

I was almost overwhelmed at meeting this kid he wasn’t what I expected. He was still but a kid, only 22 (a year older than me), and built almost identically as myself. I’ve never been a bulky guy, but rather skinny and lean. As I’ve grown older and gained muscle I still haven’t bulked up. I expected a PJ to be well… bigger.

Immediately I hit it off with Bobby as he began talking about his training and a few very general things. Prior to meeting him I compiled a list of questions to be sure to ask him when we met, I never once referred to them. I soaked in every word Bobby said. He described basic training as being a hindrance to his fitness as he actually got out of shape in basic. He told me that because of the amount of physical training (PT) the Air Force Special Forces candidates must do that they have been separated into their own “Warrior Flight.” So basically when I get to basic I can expect to be in a flight consisting of only men (as most of the Special Forces jobs restrict females) and more PT than that of the other flights… Fine by me. He told me that during basic they were told that they would be given time to train in the pool to keep up their swimming fitness but that it never occurred.

“Hopefully,” said Bobby, “by the time you guys get there they’ve worked out all the kinks and get you some pool time.”

“That would nice,” I replied.

We then began talking about the point of interest: Indoctrination.

Bobby described to me in detail everything I’ve read or seen in the documentaries.

“Dude,” he said, “The first few weeks, don’t make friends. You know the fail rate is high and that most all of these guys aren’t going to be there in just a few weeks. So don’t make friends, because when they quit, and they will quit, it just that much more of a punch in the gut if they were your friend. The whole process is just surviving the onslaught the instructors inflict upon you, but you just got to think to your self never quit, never quit. Never quit.”

“It’s all mental bro,” he continued. “Yeah physically it hurts but you got rationalize it. Rationalize everything! Think to yourself you can’t quit on a Monday, the week just f!@#ing started. On Tuesday you can’t quit, because s!@# it’s only the second day of the week, you can’t quit. Wednesday, forget it your halfway through it’s hump-day and your almost over the hump. Thursday, well damn I’ve made it through most of the week I got to keep going now. Friday, f!@# its Friday who quits on a Friday with the weekend staring them in the face. Then it gets to be Saturday and I mean it’s the weekend come on. It doesn’t matter what the instructors do to you because the sole fact that it’s the weekend makes things better. Finally, Sunday… man you just made it through the entire week, what’s one more day?”

“That’s what you got to do. Rationalize everything! Guys would get freaked out because they start thinking about the whole week. If your always two weeks into the course and you start thinking about what you have to do tomorrow and the day after, and the day after that, and then the week after, and that’s only the third week. That is when guys start mentally defeating themselves. You can’t do that”

When he said this it reminded me of something I read in Marcus Latrell’s book Lone Survivor and something he recounted that their captain said to them, “Don’t think about each individual event, just think about what it is you have to do now. Eventually it is going to end if you just focus on one element at a time your going to get through it. Just do what is required of you right here, right now and before you know it the course will be over.” (This isn’t verbatim of what was said in the text, but seeing as I lack the physical text in front of me at this moment because I loaned it to a Navy friend, you get the idea. This is the core of what he said.)

Bobby went on to enlighten me in regards to the roommate situation. Telling me that I will have the pleasure of rooming with many individuals during the Indoc course because of the people who quit. When individuals start quitting you will be reassigned to other rooms with other roommates he said that wasn’t important but what is important is if a roommate starts talking negatively, leave. Find another roommate.

“That s!@#$ contagious! You will notice as you get further along into the course and guys start making friends that some of them will quit together. They will talk about it in their room about how they’re thinking about quitting or how dumb the whole process is. Whatever, it is… just get out. Leave that room, because it follows people and sticks in their heads. You can’t think like that or be around that. Make sure your roommate isn’t one of those. If he is find another quitter and make your roommate move into his room.”

I seared those words into my brain.

“What about Extended Training Day? How was that?” I asked.

“Oh man, ETD was insane. The whole time your in this zone, you are out it. They are making do workout after workout and you just do it. During the pool sessions though bro, that’s where it got crazy. You would be hearing that air horn going off constantly.”

(Bobby is referring to the air horn the instructors make quitters use after declaring that they no longer wish to remain in Indoc).

“And that’s another thing, don’t carry that f!@#$%! air horn bro it’s toxic.”

“What do you mean,” I inquired.

“The instructors make you carry it,” he replied. “Trust me dude, you don’t not want to carry that thing it has toxic gas in it or something man. You would see someone volunteer to carry it and I kid you not they would be blowing that thing a little while later. You know you are doing whatever on a ruck or something and in someone’s pack it starts getting jostled around and you hear it go off for the entire ruck run that shit eats you up bro. I remember one time my teams commanding officer told me to carry it, I was like ‘Pffffft… you can carry that your own damn self… sir!’ and I walked off. He made someone else in our class carry it because he knew about its poisonous powers and sure enough the next guy to quit later on in the week was the guy carrying it.”

I forget the exact number but I believe Bobby told me that ~125 candidates started Indoctrination but by the time they reached ETD only 40 remained and after there were a mere 26. From everything I had heard from the reading I’d done and the videos I’ve watched this was still quite high that far into training. I asked him out of those 26, how many graduated Indoc and 13 was his response. Out of those 13, only 5 completed the “pipeline” on time. This surprised me and I made it a point to ask, he said the biggest thing was due to guys making dumb decisions during the rest of their subsequent training. One such incident involved a potential PJ drunk driving which results in an immediate Dishonorable Discharge from the Air Force.

God, I couldn’t imagine.

“What about the pipeline training how was that?” I asked.

“Oh dude, that s!@# was fun bro. At first we went to Ft. Benning for our jump training and man that was boring though I must admit. Probably the most boring part of the pipeline training. It took us 3 weeks to complete it. Dude, I could easily complete all of those jumps in 24-hours… easy. You’ll be told that you have a jump and so you get your chute packed and meet in the hangar and wait. You’ll be waiting all day and finally as its starting to get dark they’ll tell you, after 6 hours of sitting there doing nothing, that there is to be no jump that day. Waste of time dude.”

“After that we went to dive school and that was easy, you come out of Indoc as a freaking fish bro that didn’t phase me a bit. Then we had our Egress training that was fun. They put you in a replica helicopter that they can submerge into the water at will and pull it back out. I remember we did that training with the Combat Controller’s as well and they had us go in as teams.”

“They let the CCT’s in first and they started freaking out as soon as the simulator crashed into the water. The instructors tell you that you are not allowed to unbuckle until you are fully submerged and these guys were flipping out reaching for their harnesses. It was chaos. Once they were fully submerged they went to the door and couldn’t get it open and started freaking out letting bubble of air escape, it was funny.”

“Next they put us in and boy did we toy with them. Once we were fully submerged we just sat there and eventually unbuckled ourselves. Instead of just going for the door and bolting we all swam around explore the cockpit and just chilled, the instructors hated it,” Bobby explained with a wicked grin. “It was great.”

“Finally we opened the door and came out and the instructors flipped on us yelling at us for messing around and not taking it seriously. So they decided to challenge us and filled the simulator with a bunch of extraneous objects: pots, pans, a freaking Gatorade cooler. To make it even tougher they put a bunch of mannequin babies in with us that we had to rescue before fully exiting the simulation.”

“So we sat there buckled in and as the cockpit sank and tilted, I look up and the cooler is coming right at me and busts me in the face. As we become fully submerged the water in front of me is red because I’m bleeding from my nose. I immediately grab two baby mannequins and open the door and bolt out. My buddy, this big hulk of a guy proceeded to grab like six babies and go for the door. But her couldn’t get out due to the babies coupled with the size of his frame. So he starts tossing babies out the door and swims out. That s!@# was hilarious!”

At this point in time we had been talking for quite a while and he brought us to the back of the recruiter’s office where a pull-up bar hung from the ceiling.

“Let’s see how many pull-ups you can do,” he said.

And so me and the other two PJ wannabes did some pull-ups and sat and picked his brain some more. We asked him about how long is a PJ deployment and he said approximately 120 days, but that they deploy more frequently. We discussed the typical career progression of a Pararescue Jumper and he said that it depends on what that person wants to do but that anything is an option. He did reveal that a lot have started making the jump to becoming a Combat Rescue Officer, which works in tandem with PJ’s in that they help coordinate the missions but don’t have a direct hands on role with patients.

When it seemed every question I had in my mind was finally answered I remembered one.

“What is Black Thursday?” I asked. “I’ve heard it mentioned in the video documentaries and tried researching it but nothing comes up, what is it?”

“Bro, I can’t even begin to describe it. It’s… it’s… it’s something you are just going to have to experience for yourself,” he said with a wicked grin. “You see the instructor sitting up on his lifeguard chair with his shades on, man does it look evil. Then you hear those words, Black Thursday and your heart just sinks.”

“Oh boy, I can’t wait,” I replied enthusiastically.

At this point in time we talked about meeting up to do some training and exercises at some point later in the week, he gave me his phone number and we parted ways. But I would see him a few more times before he returned to his unit.

Never Quit… Never Quit… Never Quit.

MEPS: HOTEL

I was the only person on the shuttle to the hotel. I guess MEPS isn’t that busy at 1600. The bus driver proceeded to chat me up though he was a friendly guy, a Navy veteran actually.  After the short ten-minute ride to the hotel he got off the bus and gave me the tour of the hotel lobby and where the gym was and the restaurant and whatnot. Like I said a really friendly guy. I then was then brought to the second floor of the hotel to an office location where another veteran was in charge of signing us in and administering room keys and sticking you with that one weird individual whom you would be spending the night with.

They actually had quite a nice setup, a large flat screen television with a handful of DVD’s: The Hurt Locker, Guardian, Annapolis, Black Hawk Down, Jarhead, you get the idea. In addition to that they also had an Xbox for us to entertain ourselves with. So needless to say we had a way to entertain ourselves for quite a while. I arrived and was given my room key right after another individual as well who turned out to be my roommate that night. He was a pretty decent guy. He wanted to go into Aircraft Maintenance in the Air Force and qualified just well enough on his ASVAB.

My roommate and I after checking in decided to go drop our bags off in our room and then hit up the hotel restaurant with our dinner vouchers we were given. The food wasn’t bad either. I mean it was a buffet so I wasn’t complaining. Put a buffet in front of a guy who does nothing but run, swim, and lift everyday, yeah I won’t complain about a buffet. I carb-loaded good that night.

As my new friend and I sat stuffing our faces and getting in one word of conversation every other bite I noticed another DEP guy who had made his way downstairs for dinner. He was alone and proceeded to sit a table in the corner by himself after filling up his plate, so I promptly waved him over and had him join my roommate and I. If there is one thing I have learned it is that being timid never pays off. Granted most of these kids are still in high school and haven’t completely matured yet but I’ve put that timid phase behind me. Granted the occasional pretty girl will leave me feeling like a schoolboy from time to time, but that is a different thing entirely.

So thus our gang grew from two to three. Our third was trying to join the Army infantry but apparently had a decent sized wait ahead of him as the training was actually backed up and a waiting list was in effect. According to him every Army infantry member must go through jump training, and I guess they only have oh so many slots, hence the waiting list. But he was a cool enough kid.

After dinner we found ourselves back upstairs in the DEP lounge (as we came to call it), playing Xbox for several hours. We picked up a couple more kids in our “clique” one I believe was going into the Army for who knows what and the other wanted to join the Air Force and said he was thinking about Pararescue. Immediately I became intrigued and started sizing this guy up. We talked about the rigors of training and I asked him what he had been doing to train.

“Nothing really,” he replied. “I mean I swam in high school and I life guard part-time. I’ve always been a really good swimmer.”

“Oh well that’s good at least you have the swimming covered then. I struggle with it,” I confessed. “It’s definitely my weak point. But you know you really should start incorporating some amount of calisthenics and cardio into your day-to-day routine.”

“Yeah I know,” he replied as he than began to change the subject.

Not five minutes later did he turn to me and ask, “Anyone want to step outside for a smoke?”

I about died. This kid was a scrub. I’m sorry but if you truly want to dedicate yourself to something as rigorous as Pararescue or anything as intense and Special Forces related you can’t be doing that no way. After returning from his smoke he proceeded to pull out a can of chew and put in a lip. Disgusting. But hey, “to each his own.”

The night went on rather slowly as we played more video games, talked to the other DEP candidates, and watched a movie. I think all in all there were a total of 4 Air Force candidates, 2 for the NAVY, 7 for the ARMY, and 1 for the Marines. Slowly but surely the night went on and we were reminded that the bus left at 0530 and breakfast started at 0500. If you wanted time to eat you had best wake up in time to get a full meal because it was going to be a long day at MEPS.

So sure enough people began dragging themselves off to their rooms to fall asleep and rest for the long day ahead. As I lay in bed I made sure to set my phone with five different alarms to ensure I woke up the next morning. And somehow throughout the course of the evening everyone asked me if I could bang down their door in the morning, to make sure that they too woke up.

Unfortunately, I seemed to have the one roommate with insomnia. We stayed up a little bit watching television, Family Guy to be exact (Giggity), and he made idle remarks and comments about how he thought he was going to just stay up the whole night.

“Oh boy!” I thought. “Please don’t.”

Eventually I managed to get to sleep despite the occasional stir from his laughter. At one point I even woke up and found him asleep with the remote clutched in his hand as the flicker and glow of the television lit up the room. I didn’t hesitate a bit in turning it off and falling right back asleep only to be woken up an hour later to him watching more television. It was 0300. My alarm was set for 0430.

Seriously!?

MEPS: ASVAB

After completing my practice PAST and affirming to myself that I had what it took to physically qualify for Pararescue I knew I was ready for the real thing. So my recruiter went ahead and scheduled my first official PAST test for August 4^th, 2011. At this time I had all of my paperwork in and the only thing left to do was to schedule my visit to MEPS (Medical Entrance Processing Station). Now MEPS locations are usually located in every major city and that is where enlistees go to take their ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery), complete their medical screening, and where you process out of on your way to basic. Based on the stories I’ve heard each location is a little different in how they run things. This is my account of my MEPS visit.

I was told to meet up with my recruiter at 1400 in his office, where he would then take me into downtown Pittsburgh along with another individual, and drop us off at the MEPS station. I was excited. It was the next step. Looking back on it now it was actually quite boring, but I made the most of it.

I got out of the car and said my goodbyes to my recruiter with instructions to call him after I was released the following day. Basically the plan was this: I was to go into MEPS where I would give them my information and take my ASVAB test, then I would be shuttled off to the hotel were I would be spending the night with a bunch of other individuals who were planning on enlisting, then the following day we would be shuttled back to MEPS for our medical evaluations.

For those of you who don’t know the ASVAB is the SAT of the military. It’s an ability test that scores your answers and rates your “capabilities” in certain aspects and areas of each perspective branch. The job you want and the score you get have a direct correlation in this regard. Score high and well you can do pretty much whatever you please in the military, whereas, if you achieve a low score you might only qualify for infantry or may not even be allowed into the service. All of this solely based off of your score.

So like every lazy ass smart kid I didn’t study.

Throwing my bag over my shoulder and taking a deep breath of air I began my ascent up the steps, through the lobby, and to the floor where MEPS was located. I walked hesitantly up to the desk where a LCpl (Lance Corporal) immediately reamed me for having a “cover” on inside. I don’t think I’ve ever moved so fast, the way I ripped my hat off and threw it in my bag, I must’ve been the Flash. After speaking with the LCpl briefly I was given instructions to head over to the ASVAB testing room and sent on my way.

Upon entering the room I noticed one middle-aged man, and a few other enlistees in the middle of taking their ASVAB’s. Now apparently, thanks to technology, the ASVAB testing process has changed. In the room before me was row upon row of computers whose only purpose was for testing. According to my dad, “back in his day” they used hammer and chisels on stone slabs for their test. Of course by hammer and chisels I mean scantrons.

The older man turned to me in his swivel chair and looked me up and down, “Did you study?” he asked.

For some reason at this exact moment I forgot how to use words, and the only noise I was able to make was a constant stream of “ums and uhs.”

“Mmmmhmmmmm,” he said. “Figures! You all be wasting my damn time.”

I didn’t know how to respond to this so I remained silent. Shortly thereafter he had me set up on my own computer away from the other three individuals testing. Before I knew it I was underway. Now I don’t know how long the test takes exactly, but like every standardized test American students are force fed, it feels like eternity.

After completing the test I was instructed by the older gentleman to stay where I was and fill out a personality test survey. I forget what it was called exactly and the acronym for it, I’m not even officially a member of the Air Force yet or even in basic and I’m already complaining about the acronyms, oh boy! So up on my screen came the personality test, which proceeded to be the weirdest test and most morally upsetting one I have taken to date. It went as follows, if I remember correctly there were approximately 50 questions. Each question had two choices and only two choices. Out of these two options you could only choose one. I was told that both may seem like they are inapplicable to me but that I would have to choose the one that was less so… I don’t know if that makes any sense but I hope it reads well. So here it went with questions like:

A) Are you racist, or do you look down on others who look differently than you?

Or

B) Have you ever thought about hurting yourself or others around you?

Shit. Great I’m either a racist or a suicidal/homicidal maniac. But this wasn’t enough any question you refused to answer would keep recurring and would be an option 1405923797 times. I got the race question A LOT.

Halfway through my personality test the old proctor guy hollered at my, “Niiiinety Twoooo!”

“What?” I said. I didn’t understand him.

“You got a ninety two. Thanks for not wasting my damn time!” he replied.

At this point he continued on chatting with me as I finished up my insanity test. Upon completing it he printed out a score sheet with my job potential scores all broken down for each individual branch and sent me on my way. I promptly exited the building and hopped on the bus headed for the hotel I was to be staying the night at.

It was going to be a fun night.