I'm In!

As of Friday, I am officially sworn into the United States Air Force.

You might say that MEPS went pretty well. I got to the recruiter's office at 9 a.m. (0900) on Thursday to sign some last-minute paperwork. A pair of twins, both also joining the Air Force after they graduate high school next year to become MPs, were already there, and were coming up with me. They were very nice, and ended up being the only other girls taking the physical at MEPS besides me, so we ended up hanging out quite a bit.

At 10:00 a.m. (1000) our ride to Louisville showed up, a man named John driving a van. He was nice enough, but very very talkative. He loved to tell stories about his fighting days, his time in the Army, his very short wife, his financial stability (he's worth about $3 million and lives in a double-wide), the reason why we're in Iraq, the reason why turning Iraq into a democracy will bring peace to the Middle East, WWII, big guns, big planes, and how he knocked out a biker. John was really entertaining on the way up, though slightly less entertaining on the way back after I'd had two hours of sleep, two major tests, and kind of wanted to nap.

We had one other guy, a kid going into the Army who just really wanted to blow stuff up, to pick up before we went to Louisville. He lived in a town right outside of Fort Knox, so we got to drive through Fort Knox, which was really cool. For the most part, it just looked like more forest, but the occasional 20 tanks on the side of the road or the very large, slow-flying planes definitely hinted that we were going by something big. And the military housing that we saw was absolutely gorgeous. Though I imagine those houses were for officers, but still. And we went by the gold depository. John was telling us about how most of it was underground, and that all the fence and ground around it is rigged so that they can pinpoint exactly where anyone or anything is, on the lawn or the fence. I was definitely glad we got to go through Fort Knox on the way to MEPS. It kind of drove home the sense of being part of something, and the badassery, of what I was about to sign up for.

When we finally got to Louisville, the twins and the Army guy had already taken their ASVAB, so they got dropped off at the hotel, and John took me on to the MEPS building, somewhere in downtown Louisville. Not entirely sure where. John brought me through the metal detectors and showed me where to go, which was probably good, since I most likely would have gotten lost otherwise. Then I got all registered in their system, with my picture and digital fingerprint and everything, and then they sent me on to take the ASVAB.

The ASVAB was pretty much like the SAT, except without the fun analogies. Seriously. I really did kind of like the analogies. But they had sections for word definitions and paragraph comprehension, and then basic arithmetic and slightly more advanced algebra, and then they also had sections for science knowledge about chemistry and geology and physics, and mechanics knowledge where you had to know what part of the car did this or what this tool did, and then there was a spacial reasoning section where you were shown a bunch of fragmented pieces and you had to determine how they went together. Fortunately for me, only the English and math parts went into my final score that determines if I could get in; all the other parts would factor into whether I was eligible for certain jobs, like scientist or mechanic. My final qualifying score ended up being 99, which is out of 99. I had a hard time figuring out what exactly that number meant. At first, I thought it meant that I scored better than 99% of the people who take it. Then someone told me that no, that 99 was my actual score that I got right. But then, I looked it up on Wikipedia (the font of all knowledge and all that is good), and it says I was right the first time, that I scored better than 99% of the people who take it. Though either way, I guess I did pretty well. Though it made it really hard not to sound smug when people asked me what I got. What a heavy burden I bear.

And so I passed the ASVAB. One down, two to go.

After I got my score, it was back to the hotel, where they gave me my room key and a meal ticket to the restaurant in the hotel. When I got to my room, there was no one else there, so I figured I had the room to myself. So after I got settled, I went and grabbed some supper, and on the way back, I saw the twins I rode up with, who waved me over to where they were hanging out with some other military guys. Three of them were about to ship out to basic in the Navy, and the other one was an Army guy who had already been through basic and was about to leave for his tech school. We ended up just hanging out and talking for four or five hours. We talked a little about MEPS and the military, but for the most part, we just relaxed and told jokes. I had expected to be kind of lonely during my night at the hotel, but I ended up having a lot of fun.

Around 9:00 (2100) I gave up and headed to bed, since I knew I would have to be up before the crack of dawn the next morning (breakfast started at 4:15, and we had to be on the bus by 5:30), and I wanted to take a shower beforehand. But when I got back to my room, I discovered I did have a roommate, a girl who was going into the Navy to be a linguist, and who was actually supposed to be shipping out to basic that weekend. She was shy at first, and never really opened up too much, but she seemed sweet. Although, understandably, she was less than pleased when I accidentally set our clock an hour early while I was trying to set the alarm, so while we meant to wake up at 4:00, we got up at around 3:00, thinking it was 4:00. Of course, with the time difference, I was actually getting up at 2:00. That was fun. And yet, I still managed to pass my DLAB.

So after we very grumpily woke up, waited for breakfast to open since we were up so early, and ate, me and my roommate and the twins and a bunch of dudes all got on a bus and headed back to MEPS. By the time we got there, it was just starting to get light outside. Just a little. A Marine was there giving instructions, and he divides us into three lines: those three guys who were leaving for basic, another line for the people like my roommate who had already been through the physical and everything, and everyone else like me and the twins, who still had a very full day to look forward to. Though I realized while I was standing in that line, even though we weren't even recruits yet, that I had never seen a real line of people before. Always before, it was more of a squiggle. I guess something about a Marine makes you want to stand in a straight line. And then, of course, there was the one guy who wanted to try to bring a knife into a government building. He seemed very confused when the Marine told him to put it in the garbage. He seemed even more confused when the Marine didn't seem to care when he'd get it back.

So then we all filed upstairs to where I had taken the ASVAB, and while the poor guys shipping out got to look forward to a long day of nothing, me and all the others taking the physical got sent along pretty quickly. There, it was just a series of physical tests (shocking, I know). They tested my eyes, my depth perception, my hearing, they took my blood and blood pressure (the twins had to have their blood pressure taken three times, because they were always so nervous that it ended up high), asked me a bunch of questions about my medical history and drug use, and then, since the twins and I were the only girls taking the physical that day, the three of us went back to another room where we got to strip to our underwear and do a bunch of silly exercises so they could make sure all our joints worked, then we got to strip down to nothing but a gown and go into a separate room individually with two women who worked there, where one felt up my boobs while the other peeked at my va-jay-jay, I guess to make sure I had one. Then we all got dressed again, and then came the hardest part: we had to pee into a cup. The stall doors had to be open, and one of the ladies was standing in front of us to make sure we didn't do anything to our samples. We all three failed miserably the first time, but about 10 cups of water later, we were finally able to fulfill our mission.

But they finally told me that I passed my physical. Two tests down, one left. (The twins passed, too.)

So then I was on to the DLAB, the language test, which to me was the most important test of all, and the one I was least sure about. I'm not actually allowed to say much about the test (already getting into the super-secret confidential stuff), but there's some stuff about it online, so I figure I can talk about that stuff. The test was pretty much just how well you could learn their made-up language. They set a bunch of rules, like all nouns end in -at, all verbs end in -isi, the subject of the sentence starts with lo-, the direct object starts with li-, and so on (just so you know, I made all those up, so you can't use those to study). They teach you these rules one at a time, then you have to put all of them together at the end to form complete sentences. It actually would have been pretty fun, except that all the answers were read aloud, and they were only repeated once. For the second part, you had a series of four pictures labelled in a different made-up language, and you had to try to figure out what the words meant from the pictures, and then apply them to another set of pictures. That part was a little more fun since I could study it more and didn't feel so rushed. Anyway, I finished the test, and I ended up getting a 141. 176 is the highest, and the Air Force requires 100 minimum to be a linguist. Both the test moderator and my job counsellor said it was the highest score they'd ever seen. :) :) :)

And so, I passed my linguist test (!!!). I am eligible to learn any language they have.

Then, I went to talk to the Air Force job counsellor, who said that I will get to be a linguist. Though we were talking about whether I wanted to be an airborne linguist (translate in planes) or a ground linguist (translate on the ground, probably in an office). I didn't have a strong preference, but he told me I was too short to fly, so the Air Force made my decision on that one. But if I decide I want to be airborne once I get in, I can apply for a waiver. It's just really hard to do before I actually get in. He also confirmed that with my degree, I get to go in as an E-3, three ranks up from the bottom, which makes me an Airman First Class, gets me higher pay, and means I get to wear this snazzy little insignia:
After some more paperwork, it was time to officially swear in and take the Oath of Enlistment. Take the plunge, so to speak. Me and a few other guys were led into a nice ceremony room, where we were lined up and taught how to stand at attention and at ease, so that we could properly greet the lieutenant (or sergeant? I'm not sure what he was) who would be administering the Oath of Enlistment. No saluting yet, though. We all raised our right hand, and said in unison:

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

And so, I am now sworn into the US Air Force.

I'm in the inactive reserves in the Delayed Entry Program (DEP) until they can find me a linguist opening, and then it will be off to basic. My recruiter said the waiting process usually takes about six months.

So now, I wait. And walk around feeling like a badass.

A little more about MEPS, pre-MEPS

So I leave for MEPS on Thursday morning, in three days. I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited. Also a little nervous, but mostly I'm afraid that I won't be able to join, for some hidden disqualification, or I suddenly lose all my test-taking ability and fail the ASVAB, or something like that. Yay, paranoia. But it will be really nice to know for sure that I can join and everything.

Though I talked to my recruiter again today, and it turns out I may not get to leave knowing as much as I thought I would. While I'm there, I will talk to a job counselor, and I'll fill out a list of jobs that I would like, but I won't know if I've gotten that job or when I ship out or anything until later. After MEPS, I have to wait for one of the jobs on my list to open up. The recruiter said the more open I am about jobs and the more I put down, the more quickly I'll get one, but to be honest, I'm in no great hurry, so I feel comfortable waiting for a linguist job to open up. Though linguists are in demand, so hopefully I won't have much of a problem.

I also found out that I am supposed to sign a contract that day (Friday, in my case), and swear in and everything. BUT, this will just be a very basic contract that will put me into the DEP (Delayed Entry Program), which is pretty much a holding pattern until I leave for basic. I will then be in the inactive reserves, so I will technically be in the Air Force, but with no pay or training or really anything at all, and I read online that never once has someone been called out of the DEP program early. Also, it is possible to back out at this stage, though they obviously discourage it. I have read the contract online, and it's a really short 4-page contract, so since I'll already have read what it's supposed to say, I'll know if anything's amiss at MEPS. But while you don't have to sign anything at MEPS, I know I personally have made my decision and have done my research, and I know I want to do it, so I see no reason not to go ahead and sign on Friday (unless, again, something seems amiss). Especially since they won't start looking for my job until they know I'm committed and actually in the Air Force. So, that's where that stands right now.

Also, I found a little seven-minute educational video on YouTube that shows exactly what happens at MEPS, so if anybody's interested, here you go.

So far, so good

Yesterday I turned in my initial application to the Air Force and officially started the process of enlistment. Of course, not before I accidentally walked into the Marines office, where they immediately started trying to recruit me. They seemed a little more desperate than the Air Force. Also, I think my mom would have a coronary if I joined the Marines, and since I like my mom, the Marines is pretty much out. Shoot.

Anyway, my trip to MEPS is scheduled for next Thursday and Friday, the 11th and 12th. I corrected it in the post below, but Air Force actually does MEPS in Louisville instead of Indy, like I had originally thought. But that works for me, since Louisville is closer anyway. Me and a bunch of other candidates from different services are going to be bussed up there at the military's expense, and since it's so far, they're going to put us all up in a hotel on Thursday night.

Now that this is my plan, I've been a little afraid that they're going to find something drastically wrong with me that I didn't know about and tell me I can't join. That would definitely put a damper on my plans, especially since now, I think going back into the job market seems way scarier than 8.5 weeks of basic. At least in basic, I know that it will end, I know when it will end, and I know that all my hard work is actually accomplishing something, which is way more than I can say about my last year and a half of job searching. I think they will probably let me into the Air Force, but I'll still feel better once I know for sure.

My other big concern about MEPS is the DLAB, the language aptitude test. My mom sent me an article about the test, and while I'd read it before, I thought it'd be good to post on here.

Studying for the DLAB

Many people ask if one can study for the DLAB, or if there are any study guides available. The answers are "yes" and "no." There are no commercial study guides available for the DLAB, and one cannot study for the DLAB in the traditional way, as the DLAB is designed to measure language-learning potential, not current knowledge. While one cannot study specific practice questions for the DLAB, one can study grammar and English text books to ensure they have a solid grasp of English grammar before taking the test.

As a current Army Linguist puts it: "...in preparation for the DLAB one can help themselves greatly by ensuring that they have a solid grasp of grammar and syntax in general. One who doesn't know what an adjective is will have serious problems with the DLAB."

According to individuals who have taken (and passed) the DLAB, one can improve their scores by:

• Having a very clear understanding of English grammar. You will need to know all parts of speech and how they work. You may wish to get your hands on a good college level grammar text book and study that for awhile before taking the test. Understand how English sentences are constructed (i.e. Subject-Verb-Object). Fooling around with this construction will help you on the DLAB.
• Be able to recognize accentuation and stress patterns in words. Know where syllable breaks are in words.
• Have some experience with a foreign language. If you want to be a Russian linguist, it is not necessary that you have experience with Russian. However, if you have some experience with a foreign language, it will help you to understand that different languages use sentence structures differently than English.
• Be prepared to interpret instructions based on pictures. For example, a picture of a red car is presented with the word "ZEEZOOM". Next, a picture of a blue car is presented with the word "KEEZOOM". Next, a picture of a red bus is presented with the word "ZEEBOOM". You must be able to give the foreign word for a "blue bus".
• You should also know that on the audio portion of the exam there is no repetition of the questions. Once an item is given there is a brief pause for you to answer and then the next question. Be prepared for this; if you think you can think your way into an answer on any given question you will miss the beginning of the next. This effect can snowball and probably leads to some people with good chances going south due to nerves. Listen carefully and go with your gut. Be ready for the next question.

GIUJOE, a member of our Message Forum, took the DLAB and scored a 146. He offers the following advice:

Contrary to popular belief, you can study for the DLAB. I took the information that About.com gave me, some books from the library, and one good night of studying and I pulled off a 146. The problem is that most native English speakers don't know and don't care much about English grammar. If you have a strong understanding of english grammar, how verbs work, how objects work, how adjectives and possessives work, you'll do fine.

You also need to be open to manipulating those rules. If I tell you that from now on, adjectives follow nouns, then it's not a 'blue dog' no matter how many times I say it, it's a 'dog blue.'

Another hard part for English speakers if finding stress in words. English usually has multiple stresses. Here's an easy tip to find stress. Remember in elementary school when you were studying syllables and the teacher had you knock on a desk for every syllable? Do that!

Let's do the word 'aptitude.' Say the word and knock on the desk. You should get three knocks: ap-ti-tude. Now, do it again and make the strength of your knock correspond to the strength of your voice. You'll find that the stress falls on the first syllable: AP-ti-tude. Do that on the test while the speaker speaks. If you're in a room with multiple people, don't do it on the desk just for politeness sake. Use your leg.

Fred, another individual who has taken the DLAB, offers the following advice:

DLAB is more than having a good understanding of the english language. It also helps if you can understand the dialic of other people. A good help is knowing letters pronounced in other languages. Even better is knowing other languages (Russian, German, Farsee, ect.)

Another point to learn before taking the test is that word order is a major factor. There will be parts of the test where they will say that there will be an ending for the noun(car(se)) and an ending for a adverb(yesterday(e)) but the noun has to come before the adverb and only in that order to be correct. The best way to come to the test is over prepaired and and relaxed.

Qualifying Scores

The DLAB consists of 126 multiple choice questions. Applicable service policies require that each candidate for attendance at the Defense Language Institute be a high school graduate. For admission to a Basic Language Program, the following minimum DLAB scores are required:

• 85 for a Category I language (Dutch, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish)
• 90 for a Category II language (German)
• 95 for a Category III language (Belorussian, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Persian, Polish, Russian, Serbian/Croatian, Slovak, Tagalog [Filipino], Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese)
• 100 for a Category IV language (Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean)

Individual services or agencies may demand higher qualifying scores, at their discretion. For example, the Air Force and Marine Corps require a minimum score of 100 on the DLAB for all languages, although the Marine Corps will waiver it to a 90 for Cat I and II languages. The Air Force is not currently approving waivers.

The highest possible score on the DLAB is 176.

Re-Tests

Individuals who fail to achieve a qualifying score on the DLAB can apply to re-test after six months. Requests for re-tests by individuals who have already made a minimum qualifying score are approved only based on documented military necessity, and must be approved by the appropriate commander (ie, recruiting squadron commander).

Taking the Test

The test is divided into two major segments (one audio and one visual).

Audio Segment: The first part of the audio segment tests your ability to recognize stress patterns in words. The narrator on the audio tape will pronounce four words. One of the words pronounced will have a different different stress pattern. Your task is to indicate (on your answer sheet) the word which is stressed differently from the rest.

For example, the narrator would state "A - Navy......B - Army.......C - Burger......D - Replace, stressing the second syllable in the word, "Replace").

The next part of the audio segment begins to introduce rules to a modified English language (created for the sole purpose of the test). You may be told that the rules of this language consist of all nouns preceded by verbs, and nouns and verbs will always end in the same vowel sound. You would then translate a given English phrase into a phrase compatible with the modified language.

For example, you may be shown the phrase "The dog Runs," followed by four choices: A-"Runsie, The dogie;" B-"The dogie runsie;" C-"Runie the dogo;" D-"The dogo runa." Of course, "A" would be the correct answer because the verb precedes the noun and both end in the same vowel sound.

The test will then proceed over several sections, in each section adding a few more made-up rules, covering areas such as how to express possession, or how to express a noun acting on another noun with a verb.

The audio Segment finally climaxes by combining all of the introduced rules and presenting entire sentences or long phrases for your deciphering pleasure.

Jake took the DLAB and score a 138. He offers the following advice concerning the audio portion of the test:

A few times when the speaker was giving the answers I would hear theright one, but by the time he finished, I had forgotten which letterit was. It helped to put a little dot inside theone I thought was right as he was speaking. It also helped to close my eyes while he was reading and listen for keywords.

Visual Segment: The tape is turned off, and all of the rules you studied so hard for on the Audio Segment are no longer applicable. In the visual segment, you will be presented (in your test booklet) pictures combined with words or phrases that (hopefully) will give you -- after some contemplation -- a basic understanding of this gibberish on the test page.

For instance, on one page might have a picture of a parachute at the top. Underneath the parachute there might be something like "paca." Then there might be a picture of a man. The man might be labeled "tanner." Then there might be a picture of a man parachuting which would read "tannerpaca." Then a picture of a man flying in an airplane which might read "tannerpaci."

From that, one can deduct a number of rules of the gibberish language, which you would then apply to the additional pictures on that page of the test booklet.

Unlike the first segment (audio), however, you will then turn the page on your test booklet to see a set of completely unrelated pictures, words and rules.

This same pattern will be completed until the end of the test, at which time you may take a deep sigh of relief, then go home and punch your recruiter in the nose for telling you that the test was "easy."

(Disclaimer. Please do not really punch your recruiter in the nose, as -- in many cases -- this will delay your enlistment.)

I think it will be hard, especially since you don't really have time to process all the information, but I think I'll be able to do it. I've got a strong grasp of English grammar and I know my parts of speech (I would hope so; at least maybe then I've gotten something out of this English degree). I even found this nifty little practice test on the Navy web site. When I took it, I got 10/10. I know the real DLAB will be way way harder, but to be honest, despite my nerves about it determining if I get the job I want and everything, the test itself kind of sounds like fun.

I think maybe I'm also supposed to sign my initial contract at MEPS. I'm pretty sure most people do, but my recruiter said the Air Force has people sign them in the recruiting office after MEPS, so I'll ask him about that again the next time I see him, which will be before I go. Though I also found a copy of the general contract online. Mine will obviously have information about me specifically, including my pay grade going in and stuff like that (which I'll post more details about when I know more definitely what it will be), and any enlistment bonuses and such. Though this first contract, while it will be a real one, will not be the one that "matters." I will technically be in the inactive reserves in the Delayed Enlistment Program (DEP) until I ship out for basic, which I have a year to do from the time I sign this first contract. And if for whatever reason I decide I need to back out before then, I still can while I'm in the DEP. I would get a ton of flak for it, understandably, but it can be done. Right before I leave for basic, I'll go back to MEPS and sign another contract, and that'll be the one that really matters and will enlist me as an active duty airman.

I'm glad to be going to MEPS because then, at least I'll know for sure that a) I can get into the Air Force, b) when I'm leaving, and c) if I'm even eligible to be a linguist. I really hate having stuff that important up in the air like it is right now, so all of these things will be very comforting to know for sure.