Friday, July 9, 2010

Catching up to the Present

Alright so I started the process of joining the Navy back at the end of May. I had been working at the Georgia Aquarium for the past 4 years and had come to the end of my rope in that field. So with the ending of that job and some major events in my personal life, it was time for some changes in my life. The military had always been in the back of my head but with some prodding from my family I seriously looked into it. After researching all of the branches I felt that the Navy was exactly what I needed and was looking for. So down I went to the local recruiter, and I was so nervous. I just went in for some information about the Navy and before I knew it I was taking the practice ASVAB and had the real test scheduled for the following week. I was a little overwhelmed but excited. After I got home I immersed myself in whatever I could find about joining the Navy.

When it came time to take the ASVAB I was anxious because I'm not really all that great at electronics, mechanics, and pretty much everything save the reading. I was just hoping to get and 80 something. Afterwards drove my score up to my recruiter and when they opened it, their jaws dropped. I had made a 93 (I didn't know if this was good or bad...though I was leaning towards good). When my recruiter got the score he instantly started puching me towards Nukes. I was just excited that I had done well. So now that I know that pretty much all the rates were open to me I learned about all the ratings to see which I would enjoy. When the time comes I'm hoping for either AG (Aerographer's Mate) or MC (Mass Communications). We will see

Now trying to get to MEPS has been quite a journey. So I have a medically disqualifying condition and if you have any experience trying to get a medical waiver, this is where the groaning starts. So yeah, I have scoliosis, which is a curvature of the spine. It's not bad but man the hoops you have to jump through. First of all my recruiter though nice is flakey. I was supposed to go to MEPS at the begining of June. Then I needed I note from my doctor just to say I'd be ok in the military. So MEPS got bumped back to June 1st. I headed down to the recruiting office the day before ready to go, and my guy wasn't even there. I had to wait an hour before he showed up and when he got there, wouldn't you know I'm not going to MEPS on the 1st because my doctor's note took a day longer than expected. So recruiter man tells me he'll run my paper work down to MEPS personally and call me when he hears something. 8:30 the next morning he calls me and was asking if I'd like to turn my paper work in for a waiver or would I like to just go to MEPS and not tell them I have scoliosis. I really couldn't believe he asked that. Scoliosis isn't really something you can hide and I told him that.

So no here I am waiting to hear back about my waiver. It has been approved by the MEPS doctors and the Navy doctors. Now I'm just waiting for upper command to sign off on it. If I get it then barring something going wrong in the physical then I should be well on my way to becoming a United Stated Saior. So keeping my fingers crossed. I'm about to call recruiter man to see if my waiver has been approved...and hopefully I'll be going to MEPS next week.

So we're all caught up.

Hooyah!

6 comments:

  1. I hope they sign that waiver! Alot of Recruiters are flakey, most of the time I think their like that because they get paid for each recruit they put through. So for some it's about the numbers!

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  2. My recruiter is kinda flakey, too (though MUCH better than my first one who left). You have to ask a thousand questions before you actually get the answers you need. If it wasn't for online resources and talking to people on facebook, I'd still be in the dark about a lot of things.

    Anyway, can't wait to hear more about your experience! And your blog design is super cute. :D

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  3. Good luck! I hope they sign off on the waiver for you!

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  4. PS...I love the Kraken picture!!!

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  5. Hey, Girl! Thought I'd give you a shout out. Lovin the blog. I'm really curious about your ASVAB. You describe the same kind of apprehension that I'm going through. I don't consider myself strong in electronics or mechanics by any means although I've never really been exposed so who knows? I also don't feel like I'm strong in Math. I'll be curious to see what I end up scoring. Keep up the blogging! :)

    -Gina

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  6. I did a bit of studying when it came to the math, but after brushing up I did alright. Now the whole electronics and auto stuff I just guessed on most of it. Ended up making a 93 which I'm pretty happy with. I am glad you guys like my blog so far. It's nice to have an outlet about the whole process.

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