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.