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.