You need to arrive to the place where you're going to get your interview in the morning and you get to meet the other OCS applicants. The staff should explain what is going to happen. So basically, the procedure is to knock the door firmly about three times, walk in with a good soldier-like posture, take a seat, do the interview, stand up, thank them then leave. I found that a lot of candidates including myself got nervous. I know from experience that there is nothing to worry about. From what I heard, the chances of failing is really, really slim. Many say that the board is just for formality. I think that they're just screening for people who have problems (speech impediment, eccentric behavior, etc) but that's just my opinion.
The board itself is going to be composed of three people. Two should be captains and the board president should be a major. I'm sure this can vary, but that's how it is for most people.
As I mentioned before, you need to knock firmly (but not bang) on the door about 3 times, wait for them to tell you to come in, and position yourself in front of the chair located in front of the board members. Be sure to stand up straight and look professional (no slouching). When you take a seat, you should just sit down without doing weird stuff like staring at the chair while you sit, etc. Just grab the chair behind you, position yourself and sit down. This should be how you normally sit down, but I guess some people don't sit down like this.
After you sit, you want to stand up straight and put your hands on your lap, hands face down. The reason for doing this is to prevent fidgeting, rocking back and forth and playing with your fingers. Do not show that you're nervous!
Be confident but don't be cocky. Apparently, in the military culture, "confident" has a different meaning. You need to be sure of your answer even if you have some doubt. So if you have a choice to respond "yes", "no", or "maybe", you shouldn't respond "maybe".
Do you know how to play piano? Between "yes" and "no" and considering that you took a piano course for a month when you were young, the answer would be "yes".
Remember to say "yes sir/ma'am" if it's a yes or no question. Do not call them by their rank since you're still a civilian. Avoid speaking of the Army as a means of transition to a profession you want. Be prepared to answer the question, "Why do you want to be an Army Officer." Emphasize on patriotism, duty and honor when you answer your questions.
Be sure you can answer all the sample questions that your recruiter has given you.
When you answer the questions, be sure that you answer it all professionally. You want to be honest, but you want to be "interview honest." Withhold anything negative about yourself but don't try to bluff. Be polite and respectful.
I had the pleasure of having nice board members, but I have heard that some tend to be a little more mean. Some say that they try to degrade you and belittle you to see how well you handle insults (or maybe they just don't like you?) or ask rhetorical questions. They might try to make you crack. Be sure to keep your cool and respectful despite anything they might say or do to you. Ultimately, it is their call on whether or not you get to join OCS.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Wrapping Up and Submitting Your Packet
After you get everything together, you will need to have an interview with the company commander and the station commander for an interview. I felt the interview with my station commander was less formal in the sense that I just simply came in and chat with him. For the company commander, you need to play dress up and wear your business suit. Basically, you need to pretend that this is a board interview and dress/groom yourself appropriately.
Apparently, in the Army everyone ignores the ranks below you unless they have business with you. They won't say "hi" or acknowledge your existence in any way until they need to talk to you. After they are done with you, they will resume ignoring you and pretend you aren't there.
Your recruiter should introduce you to the company commander. After that, the commander will greet you and begin to ask questions. You should say "yes ma'am/sir" but shouldn't say, "SIR YES SIR" like they show on TV. After all, you are still a civilian and you should behave like a civilian. Try to be succinct with your answers but be sure to answer the questions completely. Don't get too verbose or talk about your life.
This is still similar to a job interview, so you want to be as professional as possible and try to sell yourself. Be honest, but be confident about your answers. The company commander will try to make sure you are prepared for the board. I guess the commanders try to prevent you from making a fool out of yourself. They will help you prepare for some commonly asked questions. I believe that the company commander for recruiters sometimes are the board members. Therefore, they should know what questions will be asked. If you have any questions on what questions will be asked, just ask your company commander. In addition, you should have gotten a few sample board interview questions. If you have any questions about the board, this is the time to ask! The company commander is there to help you.
Once you're done, your recruiter should schedule for a board date, which is usually once very month and submit your packet.
Still watching the movie, ignore any incoherent sentences if you see any.
Apparently, in the Army everyone ignores the ranks below you unless they have business with you. They won't say "hi" or acknowledge your existence in any way until they need to talk to you. After they are done with you, they will resume ignoring you and pretend you aren't there.
Your recruiter should introduce you to the company commander. After that, the commander will greet you and begin to ask questions. You should say "yes ma'am/sir" but shouldn't say, "SIR YES SIR" like they show on TV. After all, you are still a civilian and you should behave like a civilian. Try to be succinct with your answers but be sure to answer the questions completely. Don't get too verbose or talk about your life.
This is still similar to a job interview, so you want to be as professional as possible and try to sell yourself. Be honest, but be confident about your answers. The company commander will try to make sure you are prepared for the board. I guess the commanders try to prevent you from making a fool out of yourself. They will help you prepare for some commonly asked questions. I believe that the company commander for recruiters sometimes are the board members. Therefore, they should know what questions will be asked. If you have any questions on what questions will be asked, just ask your company commander. In addition, you should have gotten a few sample board interview questions. If you have any questions about the board, this is the time to ask! The company commander is there to help you.
Once you're done, your recruiter should schedule for a board date, which is usually once very month and submit your packet.
Still watching the movie, ignore any incoherent sentences if you see any.
Fitness test and Completing the Packet
In order to complete your OCS Packet, you need to include three letters of recommendation, a security clearance packet, Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), a handwritten essay and a typed essay. You also have to include some other stuff but the recruiter will provide the paperwork and you have to simply fill it out.
The recruiter will wants the letter of recommendations from prominent figures. However, it should not be "cut & paste" material and should assess you as an individual. Unfortunately, not all of us have the luxury of having connections with senators or former generals. Therefore, as the average Joe, you should try to seek people you meet in a regular basis at work or school. So ideally, it should be your supervisors or professors. If you slept in most of your classes or simply didn't have the opportunity to connect with any of your professors, you might want to simply ask your teaching assistants or co-workers. I have heard of some OCS candidates getting desperate enough to ask their friends or relatives, but do this if you really do not have any other option. Thankfully, I was able to convince a few of my instructors to write me letters of recommendation although it did take some time.
The security clearance requires you write a whole bunch of information including references and your previous addresses. It's really long and tedious. Considering how you need to dig back like 5-10 years, it can be really painful to gather all that information. It will take hours and hours to complete. You might need to ask your parents for some of that info and pray that they have it.
Next, you need an essay on why you want to become an Army Officer. For this essay, you need to focus on the "Officer" part. To do this, your general focus will be on leadership for most people. Although you should not be explicit about this, you need to sort of explain why you want to be an officer instead of an enlisted. In addition, you can't make yourself seem shallow by explaining that you want to get paid more or come of as an elitist by saying you have diploma. Therefore, you should focus on why you want to be a leader and why leadership is important to you. You can fill up the rest of the essay with patriotism and serving your country, but the meat of it should be on leadership.
The handwritten essay should be verbatim (word for word) of your typed essay. Be sure to write neatly in your regular handwriting (or at least in your neat version of your regular handwriting). It should be on a blank white paper, but be sure to put it over a lined paper so you can line up your sentences. It should be on one page, so write small. Be sure to sign and date BOTH essays.
For the APFT, you will need to do a 2 mile run, 2 minute push ups, and 2 minute sit ups. I have not regularly ran 2 miles, so I struggled with that. Personally, I felt that preparing for the push ups and sit ups is easy because it's strength building. However, the running requires more time because in order to run well, you need to have good cardiovascular strength. Considering how I haven't ran much since high school, I struggled a lot with the running. Thankfully, I was able to (barely) pass the running. I did well on the push ups and sit ups and ended up getting roughly 240ish out of 300. I hope to get 300 by the time I finish basic training since officers are supposed to be setting the example for the rest.
One other thing I want to point out is that you need to write in order the branches you want to get into. When they ask for the branch, it is in reference to the branches of the Army, like intel, infantry, etc. The form is called the Application for Appointment, but I forgot the form number. They list the branch by their abbreviations and it might be overwhelming if you are not familiar with any of the Army branches. So I recommend that you ask your recruiter for the form beforehand so that you can do some research. The info is easily accessible on the Internet.
I am watching a movie as we speak and have not reread this blog. So please excuse any typos or incoherent sentences.
The recruiter will wants the letter of recommendations from prominent figures. However, it should not be "cut & paste" material and should assess you as an individual. Unfortunately, not all of us have the luxury of having connections with senators or former generals. Therefore, as the average Joe, you should try to seek people you meet in a regular basis at work or school. So ideally, it should be your supervisors or professors. If you slept in most of your classes or simply didn't have the opportunity to connect with any of your professors, you might want to simply ask your teaching assistants or co-workers. I have heard of some OCS candidates getting desperate enough to ask their friends or relatives, but do this if you really do not have any other option. Thankfully, I was able to convince a few of my instructors to write me letters of recommendation although it did take some time.
The security clearance requires you write a whole bunch of information including references and your previous addresses. It's really long and tedious. Considering how you need to dig back like 5-10 years, it can be really painful to gather all that information. It will take hours and hours to complete. You might need to ask your parents for some of that info and pray that they have it.
Next, you need an essay on why you want to become an Army Officer. For this essay, you need to focus on the "Officer" part. To do this, your general focus will be on leadership for most people. Although you should not be explicit about this, you need to sort of explain why you want to be an officer instead of an enlisted. In addition, you can't make yourself seem shallow by explaining that you want to get paid more or come of as an elitist by saying you have diploma. Therefore, you should focus on why you want to be a leader and why leadership is important to you. You can fill up the rest of the essay with patriotism and serving your country, but the meat of it should be on leadership.
The handwritten essay should be verbatim (word for word) of your typed essay. Be sure to write neatly in your regular handwriting (or at least in your neat version of your regular handwriting). It should be on a blank white paper, but be sure to put it over a lined paper so you can line up your sentences. It should be on one page, so write small. Be sure to sign and date BOTH essays.
For the APFT, you will need to do a 2 mile run, 2 minute push ups, and 2 minute sit ups. I have not regularly ran 2 miles, so I struggled with that. Personally, I felt that preparing for the push ups and sit ups is easy because it's strength building. However, the running requires more time because in order to run well, you need to have good cardiovascular strength. Considering how I haven't ran much since high school, I struggled a lot with the running. Thankfully, I was able to (barely) pass the running. I did well on the push ups and sit ups and ended up getting roughly 240ish out of 300. I hope to get 300 by the time I finish basic training since officers are supposed to be setting the example for the rest.
One other thing I want to point out is that you need to write in order the branches you want to get into. When they ask for the branch, it is in reference to the branches of the Army, like intel, infantry, etc. The form is called the Application for Appointment, but I forgot the form number. They list the branch by their abbreviations and it might be overwhelming if you are not familiar with any of the Army branches. So I recommend that you ask your recruiter for the form beforehand so that you can do some research. The info is easily accessible on the Internet.
I am watching a movie as we speak and have not reread this blog. So please excuse any typos or incoherent sentences.
Screening and MEPS
I had the fortune of meeting a really nice recruiter. He had a lot of knowledge of the Army stuff. He explained everything, the good and the bad. I was really worried that I was going to meet one of those deceitful recruiters that hide all the bad stuff. The only downside was that he was relatively new to the job and had no experience with Officer Candidate School (OCS) candidates. Thankfully, he was smart and diligent enough to figure it all out on his own as I later found out.
After scheduling an appointment, I went to the recruitment office. We had this long conversation that lasted about half an hour as he described the Army and questioned why I wanted to join. After I reassured him that I really wanted to join, he let me take the practice ASVAB test. The test had about 10-15 questions and I got a high 90 on it. I'm not sure if I missed any questions but that was the result. My recruiter was impressed and I had to sign a whole bunch of stuff pertaining to my medical information and information release forms. I read everything because I bought into the media's portrayal of the recruiters as deceitful people. The first wave of paperwork mainly consisted of my health information (have you had a heart attack, do you wear glasses, etc) and the agreement that the military can access my medical information. After taking care of the paperwork, my recruiter said he will call me after scheduling an appointment with the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS).
Let me just say that MEPS is not fun. It is 90% waiting and 10% getting yelled yet. The procedure and schedule is different depending on which MEPS you go to. In Ft. Meade, we take the ASVAB during the evening, get sent to a motel, sleep overnight, return back to Ft. Meade, get your physical, and leave sometime during the afternoon. So basically, you need to reserve a whole day for MEPS and you spend about 90% of the day waiting. What's worse is that you're not allowed to have electronic devices, so you can't bring your cell phone or Game Boy. Also, be sure to not wear a white T-shirt and be sure to wear appropriate undergarments. You will be wearing your underpants in front of others, so don't come without undergarments or with thongs, etc.
After I got dropped off at MEPS, I left my cell phone in my backpack and signed in. They had to create an account with my photo and my fingerprint. The fingerprint recognition device can get really annoying and sometimes you have to keep twisting your finger and reposition your finger so that it recognizes the print.
The ASVAB is done on the computer. Basically, you have 4 or 5 buttons on the computer and you push a button corresponding to the right choice. I got a 99 (AFQT) on it and I took that test while not getting any sleep the past two days and while falling asleep in the middle of the problems. The questions were mainly composed of 9th-10th grade high school material (Algebra, Biology) Some of the questions try to trick you, so be sure to double check your answers. For the OCS candidates, the score doesn't really matter too much. You either pass or you don't. You need a 110 GT, which is about 70 AFQT. After 110, you should be eligible for all MOS's so it doesn't matter if you got 110 GT (~70) or 150 GT (99). You might want to get a high score if you want to brag about it. But then again, bragging about such trivialities makes you a small person (unless you do it on a blog). I have seen other OCS candidates brag about how they got a 95 or a 98, but it doesn't mean crap. I got a 99 and I still feel dumb sometimes. Give me two or three days and I can get anyone to ace the ASVAB.
After you take the ASVAB, they call everyone who needs to go to the hotel to get in line. They load you in a bus and take you to a hotel. From there, they feed you dinner, assign you a roommate and a room. The food was decent but the lady who serves the food can really make you lose your appetite. They have a rec room and a gym, but I decided to just go to bed after dinner since I didn't get any sleep the night before. I chatted with my roommate for a few hours before I fell asleep. We needed to get up at around 4:30 AM or so. From there, you eat breakfast and prepare to go to MEPS for the physical (or to get shipped out). Honestly, I don't know why they do all this. It seems pretty redundant and costly.
Apparently, the medical people are from a separate from the MEPS people. I'm not sure about the details and forgive me if this isn't accurate, but I remember overhearing that the medical staff work for the Department of Defense and are not exactly part of the military. I try my best to forget what happened there. I played StarCraft when I was young and one of the lines the medic (a unit in StarCraft) uses is "turn your head and cough." I NEVER understood what that meant until my first day in MEPS. I also remember that the staff are EXTREMELY rude. I HOPE they're trying to simply test you to see if you're emotional or excessively sentimental. However, sometimes I get the impression that they just want to act tough. Sometimes, they will give you an unclear command and yell at you for not listening. It might be because some of the staff have poor English or it might be to simply get on your nerves. From what I remember, the physical includes...
hearing test, vision test (sight and color blindness), urine test, blood test,
they check your heart, make you strip naked and turn your head and cough, check your rectum for hemorrhoids. In addition, they make you do basic physical activities to check your balance and make sure there are no irregularities in your joints and mouth. Be sure you do not have gang-related tattoos or you will fail! If something is wrong, don't give up hope because you might be able to get a waiver for it. For example, if you're color blind, depending on how color blind you are, you might be able to get in anyways. Unfortunately, if you need a waiver, it means you have to spend another day getting that waiver.
They will serve free lunch at around 12:00 PM but if you do not finish all your tests, you may have to skip lunch or have a late lunch. Once you're done, you have to call your recruiter to get picked up and you should be home by the evening so that you can drown yourself in alcohol so that you can forget what has happened that day.
After scheduling an appointment, I went to the recruitment office. We had this long conversation that lasted about half an hour as he described the Army and questioned why I wanted to join. After I reassured him that I really wanted to join, he let me take the practice ASVAB test. The test had about 10-15 questions and I got a high 90 on it. I'm not sure if I missed any questions but that was the result. My recruiter was impressed and I had to sign a whole bunch of stuff pertaining to my medical information and information release forms. I read everything because I bought into the media's portrayal of the recruiters as deceitful people. The first wave of paperwork mainly consisted of my health information (have you had a heart attack, do you wear glasses, etc) and the agreement that the military can access my medical information. After taking care of the paperwork, my recruiter said he will call me after scheduling an appointment with the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS).
Let me just say that MEPS is not fun. It is 90% waiting and 10% getting yelled yet. The procedure and schedule is different depending on which MEPS you go to. In Ft. Meade, we take the ASVAB during the evening, get sent to a motel, sleep overnight, return back to Ft. Meade, get your physical, and leave sometime during the afternoon. So basically, you need to reserve a whole day for MEPS and you spend about 90% of the day waiting. What's worse is that you're not allowed to have electronic devices, so you can't bring your cell phone or Game Boy. Also, be sure to not wear a white T-shirt and be sure to wear appropriate undergarments. You will be wearing your underpants in front of others, so don't come without undergarments or with thongs, etc.
After I got dropped off at MEPS, I left my cell phone in my backpack and signed in. They had to create an account with my photo and my fingerprint. The fingerprint recognition device can get really annoying and sometimes you have to keep twisting your finger and reposition your finger so that it recognizes the print.
The ASVAB is done on the computer. Basically, you have 4 or 5 buttons on the computer and you push a button corresponding to the right choice. I got a 99 (AFQT) on it and I took that test while not getting any sleep the past two days and while falling asleep in the middle of the problems. The questions were mainly composed of 9th-10th grade high school material (Algebra, Biology) Some of the questions try to trick you, so be sure to double check your answers. For the OCS candidates, the score doesn't really matter too much. You either pass or you don't. You need a 110 GT, which is about 70 AFQT. After 110, you should be eligible for all MOS's so it doesn't matter if you got 110 GT (~70) or 150 GT (99). You might want to get a high score if you want to brag about it. But then again, bragging about such trivialities makes you a small person (unless you do it on a blog). I have seen other OCS candidates brag about how they got a 95 or a 98, but it doesn't mean crap. I got a 99 and I still feel dumb sometimes. Give me two or three days and I can get anyone to ace the ASVAB.
After you take the ASVAB, they call everyone who needs to go to the hotel to get in line. They load you in a bus and take you to a hotel. From there, they feed you dinner, assign you a roommate and a room. The food was decent but the lady who serves the food can really make you lose your appetite. They have a rec room and a gym, but I decided to just go to bed after dinner since I didn't get any sleep the night before. I chatted with my roommate for a few hours before I fell asleep. We needed to get up at around 4:30 AM or so. From there, you eat breakfast and prepare to go to MEPS for the physical (or to get shipped out). Honestly, I don't know why they do all this. It seems pretty redundant and costly.
Apparently, the medical people are from a separate from the MEPS people. I'm not sure about the details and forgive me if this isn't accurate, but I remember overhearing that the medical staff work for the Department of Defense and are not exactly part of the military. I try my best to forget what happened there. I played StarCraft when I was young and one of the lines the medic (a unit in StarCraft) uses is "turn your head and cough." I NEVER understood what that meant until my first day in MEPS. I also remember that the staff are EXTREMELY rude. I HOPE they're trying to simply test you to see if you're emotional or excessively sentimental. However, sometimes I get the impression that they just want to act tough. Sometimes, they will give you an unclear command and yell at you for not listening. It might be because some of the staff have poor English or it might be to simply get on your nerves. From what I remember, the physical includes...
hearing test, vision test (sight and color blindness), urine test, blood test,
they check your heart, make you strip naked and turn your head and cough, check your rectum for hemorrhoids. In addition, they make you do basic physical activities to check your balance and make sure there are no irregularities in your joints and mouth. Be sure you do not have gang-related tattoos or you will fail! If something is wrong, don't give up hope because you might be able to get a waiver for it. For example, if you're color blind, depending on how color blind you are, you might be able to get in anyways. Unfortunately, if you need a waiver, it means you have to spend another day getting that waiver.
They will serve free lunch at around 12:00 PM but if you do not finish all your tests, you may have to skip lunch or have a late lunch. Once you're done, you have to call your recruiter to get picked up and you should be home by the evening so that you can drown yourself in alcohol so that you can forget what has happened that day.
The Prelude
I've decided to start a blog to remind me of my thoughts as a civilian when I became an Army Officer. I will describe the process of becoming an OCS candidate and I hope to continue this blog after I join. I plan on being as honest as possible in this blog, so don't bash me for saying my personal thoughts. Below are the contents regarding my decision to join the Army in the summer of 2009.
The year 2009 was an unforgettable year for the 2009 college graduates. Due to the financial crisis, the United States was faced with a recession that dwarfed the previous recessions since the 1930's. The graduates of 2009 were faced with one of the highest unemployment rates for over a decade with nearly 80% of the people returning home from college unemployed. As I write this blog (Feb 2010), the unemployment rate is still bad (10%), but this figure excludes those that have menial jobs and those that have part-time jobs. I was among the students that got their job offers canceled due to the downsizing of companies in the US. What was worse, many experts believed that the recession was going to last for years, perhaps past 2012. This recession was probably the driving force behind the reason that I chose to join the Army as a college graduate.
Don't get me wrong. I have always had a strong sense of patriotism. While in high school, I wanted to join the Marines so that I could help defend the country against our assailants. I have always loved the military culture and respected veterans for serving our country. I would have ended up joining earlier as an enlisted if my parents were not so adamant about me graduating college first. While attending college, I began to change my dreams and goals since it seemed the war was coming to a close and I began to lose my motivation for join the military. Perhaps I should thank the recession for reaffirming my childhood dream.
While I was attending college, I did look into joining the military time to time, so I knew exactly where I had to start. I did a bit of research about the military, learned about the pros and cons, and destroyed any doubts I had about joining. Now, I had to decide which branch to get into.
Considering how I wanted to join full time, my options were the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Marines. I wanted to join as an officer and needed to be "outstanding" when it came to the fitness tests. I also knew that the marines needed to do 20 pull ups and run 3 miles in about 18 minutes to get a perfect on their fitness test. Although I felt that I was "above average" in fitness, this was too much. I certainly did not want to become an officer that trailed behind the enlisted. Although I felt that I was more than qualified to join the marines as an enlisted, I had no confidence in doing the 10 pull ups required to pass the fitness test required for Officer Candidate applicants.
Three reasons made me decide not to join the Navy. I nearly drowned twice during my life and therefore am uncomfortable near large bodies of water (especially since I barely know how to swim). I mean, I go to the beach or the pool time to time, but I don't want it to be part of my lifestyle. The second reason was because I did not like the idea of being in a cramped environment. The other reason was the... sensitive issue involving homosexuality. I am simply trying to be completely honest so don't bash me for writing the following. Now, I know that many people consider it to be a joke or simply a rumor when it comes to homosexuals in the Navy. However, there has been a historical relationship between homosexuality and sailors in the past. This was most likely because of the lack of females on the ships along with the length of time the men had to go without sex back in the conservative days where all the sailors were men. I'm not sure if there is a higher rate of homosexual activities among the Navy personnel today than in the other branches. However, I am a person that believes that most rumors partially originate from truths. Now, I don't mind working with homosexuals in a normal work environment. I certainly wouldn't treat a homosexual differently in ordinary circumstances. However, in the military, we're going to be taking showers naked together and it will effect my morale if someone was staring at my body with appreciation. There is a reason why males and females go to separate bathrooms and it would be similarly unsettling if I was butt naked with homosexuals.
I certainly had the GPA and physical requirements for the Air Force. I also knew that the Air Force was more comfortable and had a lower chance of death in action compared to the other branches. I suppose I was rather ambivalent when it came to choosing between the Army and the Air Force. However, the one thing that really bugged me was the belief that I'd come out as Homer Simpson after joining the Air Force. The fitness test in the Air Force is made so that the (frail and weak) math majors can pass. I wanted to become fit and strong in the military and I wasn't sure if the Air Force had the discipline and the workload to make me the person I wanted to become. In addition, the Air Force has a lot of pride in rejecting Officer Candidate School applicants. I wanted to be absolutely sure that I would be an officer in the US military and the uncertainty played a part in deterring me from applying.
With all that in mind, I went ahead and called my local Army recruiter. It was this phone call that was going to set everything in motion.
The year 2009 was an unforgettable year for the 2009 college graduates. Due to the financial crisis, the United States was faced with a recession that dwarfed the previous recessions since the 1930's. The graduates of 2009 were faced with one of the highest unemployment rates for over a decade with nearly 80% of the people returning home from college unemployed. As I write this blog (Feb 2010), the unemployment rate is still bad (10%), but this figure excludes those that have menial jobs and those that have part-time jobs. I was among the students that got their job offers canceled due to the downsizing of companies in the US. What was worse, many experts believed that the recession was going to last for years, perhaps past 2012. This recession was probably the driving force behind the reason that I chose to join the Army as a college graduate.
Don't get me wrong. I have always had a strong sense of patriotism. While in high school, I wanted to join the Marines so that I could help defend the country against our assailants. I have always loved the military culture and respected veterans for serving our country. I would have ended up joining earlier as an enlisted if my parents were not so adamant about me graduating college first. While attending college, I began to change my dreams and goals since it seemed the war was coming to a close and I began to lose my motivation for join the military. Perhaps I should thank the recession for reaffirming my childhood dream.
While I was attending college, I did look into joining the military time to time, so I knew exactly where I had to start. I did a bit of research about the military, learned about the pros and cons, and destroyed any doubts I had about joining. Now, I had to decide which branch to get into.
Considering how I wanted to join full time, my options were the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Marines. I wanted to join as an officer and needed to be "outstanding" when it came to the fitness tests. I also knew that the marines needed to do 20 pull ups and run 3 miles in about 18 minutes to get a perfect on their fitness test. Although I felt that I was "above average" in fitness, this was too much. I certainly did not want to become an officer that trailed behind the enlisted. Although I felt that I was more than qualified to join the marines as an enlisted, I had no confidence in doing the 10 pull ups required to pass the fitness test required for Officer Candidate applicants.
Three reasons made me decide not to join the Navy. I nearly drowned twice during my life and therefore am uncomfortable near large bodies of water (especially since I barely know how to swim). I mean, I go to the beach or the pool time to time, but I don't want it to be part of my lifestyle. The second reason was because I did not like the idea of being in a cramped environment. The other reason was the... sensitive issue involving homosexuality. I am simply trying to be completely honest so don't bash me for writing the following. Now, I know that many people consider it to be a joke or simply a rumor when it comes to homosexuals in the Navy. However, there has been a historical relationship between homosexuality and sailors in the past. This was most likely because of the lack of females on the ships along with the length of time the men had to go without sex back in the conservative days where all the sailors were men. I'm not sure if there is a higher rate of homosexual activities among the Navy personnel today than in the other branches. However, I am a person that believes that most rumors partially originate from truths. Now, I don't mind working with homosexuals in a normal work environment. I certainly wouldn't treat a homosexual differently in ordinary circumstances. However, in the military, we're going to be taking showers naked together and it will effect my morale if someone was staring at my body with appreciation. There is a reason why males and females go to separate bathrooms and it would be similarly unsettling if I was butt naked with homosexuals.
I certainly had the GPA and physical requirements for the Air Force. I also knew that the Air Force was more comfortable and had a lower chance of death in action compared to the other branches. I suppose I was rather ambivalent when it came to choosing between the Army and the Air Force. However, the one thing that really bugged me was the belief that I'd come out as Homer Simpson after joining the Air Force. The fitness test in the Air Force is made so that the (frail and weak) math majors can pass. I wanted to become fit and strong in the military and I wasn't sure if the Air Force had the discipline and the workload to make me the person I wanted to become. In addition, the Air Force has a lot of pride in rejecting Officer Candidate School applicants. I wanted to be absolutely sure that I would be an officer in the US military and the uncertainty played a part in deterring me from applying.
With all that in mind, I went ahead and called my local Army recruiter. It was this phone call that was going to set everything in motion.
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