Shipping Out (Basic Training)

These entries are from the letters that Brandon has mailed to me. 

After a really crappy nights sleep, I woke up feeling sick to my stomach and had a really bad headache. I was able to eat a bowl of raisin brand and a glass of OJ. Shortly after breakfast the hotel shuttle took four of us to the airport at 5:30am. Once we arrived at the airport I quickly went to the drug store and bought some Excedrin and Dramamine. Once we boarded the flight, I think I fell asleep as soon as I sat down on my seat. When I woke up, I felt much better. The flight was from Spokane to Denver. Once in Denver, we used our government meal checks to grab some lunch. After that we all had to split up because we we’re all heading to different bases for basic. I was able to call my wife while waiting to board. So nice to hear her voice. I’m going to miss her!

Right now it’s 13:52 and I’m flying towards Atlanta. I should’ve brought a magazine to read. I know they are not allowed at basic, but it would have been nice to read something. I’m bored as hell right now. I was able to take another small nap and I feel great now. Nervous and excited at the same time to arrive at Ft. Benning,

I’m going to tell you about a little story I heard while at dinner last night. At the hotel they stuck all the MEPS folks at a romantic table for ten in the corner. I joined two other guys and shortly after, two more came in and sat down. The talks were all about why we joined, what branch, what job etc. It then moved to basic training and how we have to repel down a 60’ tower. One of the guys (trying out for special forces) said he used to repel all the time and even around the world. He said, while in Greece him and his buddies decided to repel down a building. They ended up on the roof of an Israeli official and a few seconds later a big metal door flew open and guards with machine guns came running out yelling at them. They were all arrested and then interrogated for about 10 hours. Finally, they convinced the authorities that they were just a bunch of stupid Americans and they were released. He said he can laugh about it now, but it was pretty scary at the time. His recruiter told him to definitely not mention this at MEPS since it was in another country and it was just plain stupid. LOL

Stupid and crazy indeed.

MEPS Part III (Pre-Basic Training) 0 Days until Basic

These entries are from the letters that Brandon has mailed to me. 

There is something about this hotel that keeps me from getting a good nights sleep. I thought having my wife stay with me  would make it different, but I was wrong. I was tossing and turning all night, it was after midnight when I last checked and I had to get up at 4:45am. So I started the day off tired, then I had to say goodbye to my wife. After that I was not only tired, but sad and grumpy as well. I ate my free breakfast and then we were all shuttled off to MEPS for processing.

Processing consisted of reviewing all my paperwork and biometrically signing everything (a.k.a scanning my fingerprints). Six of us who were shipping out then all had to sit around in our underwear and wait. (This day we did a lot of that Army saying “Hurry and Wait”) Finally I got weighed (192 lbs…hmmm I gained a few pounds, maybe it was all that Easter candy) and measured 73 3/4 inches tall (hmmm... I also grew 3/4 of an inch, maybe that is where the extra weight came from.) We watched the AWOL and desertion video again and then swore in. After that we were told that we were on the government payroll. It helped a little knowing that all this sitting around and waiting was now my job and I was getting paid for it. Ha!

Our sack lunches arrived and then I was able to catch the encore of the Duke vs. West Virginia Final Four match-up.

Finally, around 1:30pm we were given our travel instructions and meal vouchers. I’m the only one heading to Ft. Benning, but I am flying with another guy named Brandon to Denver before we separate. We watched a video on how to travel (i.e. don’t say “bomb” on the plane).

2:30pm the shuttle arrived to take us back to the hotel. Laying in bed felt so good. Tonight I’ll eat my free dinner and then watch the NCAA championship basketball game. After that I’ll talk with my wife for a bit then hopefully get a good nights sleep.

MEPS Part II (Pre-Basic Training) 104 Days until Basic

Tuesday I met with the recruiter for the drive to Spokane to visit MEPS again. We left after work and ended up arriving at the Holiday Inn hotel pretty late (around 9:45 PM). My recruiter went over a couple of the security questions that he thought MEPS may be asking and then I crashed. The room was freezing when I arrived, and I had turned up the heat. About midnight I woke up very hot with the covers thrown off me. I had to get up and turn down the heat, and then I ended up tossing and turning the rest of the night until the 4:45 AM wake up call. I seem to never get a good night’s sleep at that hotel. After a quick shower I headed down for the breakfast buffet. After breakfast I had a little coffee and waited until the shuttle was ready to take all of us to MEPS in downtown Spokane. We arrived at about 6AM and had to wait outside again in the sub-freezing temperatures for about 5 to 10 minutes. Luckily I had my jacket and hat, but some of the recruits only had t-shirts. We were let in and slowly made our way through the bag check and metal detector.

The rest of the day was a lot of waiting. I would verify some paperwork, and then wait. Talk to the Army liaison and wait, had lunch and then waited. Next I had to get fingerprinted. This is all done digitally now and for some reason mine took forever. The fingerprint technician would scan a finger and wouldn’t be happy with it. He would then put some soap on my finger and then wipe it off… still no good. Alcohol wipes to the finger, clean the glass. This process went on for almost all my fingers. I guess my fingerprints have been worn down since I’m using a keyboard for the better part of the day and have been for my entire adult career. It sure wasn’t as easy as CSI makes it seem LOL. 

The next step was the security interview. The guy basically warned me of false enlistment, told me not to lie or else I would go to jail and lose all my pay (more of the scare tactics that my recruiter warned me about). He then went through pretty much all the questions I had already answered on my security form. It was a pretty painless process. I had envisioned a dark room with a spotlight on me and a table full of men in dark suits asking questions. Once this was over I sat and waited some more until three other recruits were ready to swear in. They brought the four of us into a room to watch a video warning us of desertion and going absent without leave (AWOL). Letting us know the punishments and so forth. We then all went into the ceremony room where a MEPS employee (a former navy man) taught us how to stand at attention and how to stand at ease. When the officer came in to swear us in we all stood at attention and then swore in repeating each sentence after the officer. Each of us then looked over our paperwork and biometrically signed using our fingerprint. Once this was done I received an Army backpack full of Army swag, then my recruiter and I took off for the long trek home. We finally left MEPS around 1:30PM

MEPS Part I - ASVAB & MEPS (Pre-Basic Training) 123 Days until Basic

After I decided I wanted to join the Army I had to schedule a time to take the ASVAB test and get my physical done at MEPS.

The ASVAB test (The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) This test is used to determine which jobs you qualify for in the Army.

MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) This is the site where the military determines an applicant's physical qualifications, aptitude and moral standards as set by each branch of military service, the Department of Defense, and federal law.

The plan was for the recruiters to take me out on a Thursday afternoon and drive to Spokane, which is about 3 hours away. Thursday night I would take the ASVAB test and then stay the night in a hotel. The next morning would be the physical at MEPS. If all went according to plan we would be back home by about 3 or 4 PM on Friday.

Like a lot of missions, this one didn’t go as planned. There were 4 of us all together, the recruiter who was driving us, a cop who wanted to join the reserves, another guy who was a year older than myself, and me. I arrived after lunch on Thursday at about 12:30. I patiently waited in the recruiter’s office while they got everything ready. This included a kind of pep talk or rehearsal. The recruiters went over everything that was going to happen at MEPS. He let us know that it’s the recruiter’s job to get people in the army and it’s MEPS job to disqualify people. He said they would use all kinds of scare tactics to try and get people to cough up all kinds of information. He said it is all scare tactics. He also let us know we would be taking a pee test and they will stand there and watch you do it.

The four of us assembled in the car and took off on our road trip. About an hour into the trip the recruiter said, “Now you all have your folders right?” I said “Um … you never gave me a folder!” Needless to say we ended up turning around and heading back to the recruiter’s office so he could get my folder, which had my social security card in it. Turns out you use this a lot at MEPS. This put us a few hours behind schedule and we ended up not being able to take the ASVAB test that evening. The recruiter had to call and have me and another guy reschedule for Friday morning.

We arrived at the hotel in Spokane and we were checked in and everyone was given a dinner and breakfast voucher. We were given strict orders not to have anyone else in our rooms and to behave. My guess is they have had issues before. They said our wake up call was set for 4:45 AM. Yuck! I was not looking forward to getting up that early, but as long as there was coffee in the morning I would be all right.

The three of us ended up eating dinner together. We got to choose from a special MEPS menu at the hotel restaurant. The food was pretty good and I even got ice cream fro dessert.

It was a little difficult to get to sleep with my mind racing non-stop thinking about what the next day was to bring. I did wake up at 3AM, 4AM, 4:30AM, then 4:45AM. Surprisingly the phone never rang with our wake-up call. Then there was a knock on the door. A hotel employee was at the door doing a manual wake-up notice because the phone system was having issues. So I jumped in the shower and got ready, waited for my roommate to get ready and then we headed down to the breakfast buffet at the hotel. After that we were loaded up with about 15 other recruits onto a shuttle to the MEPS offices in downtown Spokane.

Not sure if all MEPS offices are like this, but this one is located at a courthouse. We were offloaded from the shuttles and waited in the sub freezing cold for about ten minutes until someone finally unlocked the doors. Once in we had to go through a metal detector and have our bags scanned similar to security at the airport. Once through we all went to a room with offices for each of the branches of the service. Most of us were there for the Army, so we were herded like cattle to one corner of the room. We each had a name tag to stick on our bags and ourselves. Each of us had to fill out a lunch ticket (mmmm…turkey sandwich). Finally we grabbed our paperwork.

Next was the briefing room. All the recruits were told (just like the recruiter said earlier) that they are going to look up everything that ever happened to us. They are the federal government and have access to everything we have ever done in our lives. Nobody can stop them; so don’t lie on any of these forms. They will find out and you will go to jail and forfeit your pay. I was expecting all this, but then ironically they said, “We know what your recruiter told you, don’t believe them. We will find out everything” Luckily I wasn’t in much of a dilemma, since I haven’t had anything serious happen to me in the past. Honestly I haven’t been to the doctor since a sports physical to play basketball in high school. Everyone filled out some medical history questionnaires that mainly had yes or no answers. Any yes answers required an explanation at the bottom.

Next up...the ASVAB test. Myself and three of the other recruits were taken into a computer lab where we were given instructions and then proceeded to take the test. The test is broken into different sections and you have a time limit for each section. As long as you move along at a decent pace you should be able to finish each section in the allocated time. After that all Army recruits were required to take a personality test. I believe it was called the TAPAS test or something similar. It would provide you with two statements and you are supposed to pick which one represents you the best. Sometimes I think it shows two negative ones to see which one you don’t pick.

When all the testing was complete I was sent back to medical to complete my physical. I was aware that I would have to pee in a cup before all of this started so I made sure to not go before my ASVAB test. By now I had to go pretty bad and was relieved that I would not have to hold it any more. When I arrived at the medical desk the guy there told me I should eat my lunch and come back when I’m done because the “pee guy” was not there right now. Great, just what I did not want to do. I quickly ate my lunch, which was not too bad. (a pita sandwich with chips and a cookie). I did not end up drinking too much of anything though, just enough to wash down what I had just finished eating. I arrived back at the medical station and thankfully they were ready to accept my pee. I went into a room where a guy handed me a cup and then carefully watched me pee into it ¾ full. Luckily the room also had a urinal on the wall so I could finish off in there. I think I could have filled a dozen of those cups! They headed off with my cup of pee to test for various drugs and then took me into a room to draw my blood. This was done to check for certain types of diseases if I remember correctly.

Next step I had my eyes checked and my hearing tested. I’m slightly nearsighted and I’ve been to too many rock concerts as a kid, so I’ve lost some of my hearing. Luckily I evidently have enough hearing left to serve in the Army. To quote the hearing test administrator “It’s good enough for government work” I just have to make sure to wear protection if I head off to any more concerts. I then had a one on one talk with a doctor. The doctor quickly went over all my answers from the medical questionnaire I took at the beginning of the day. All were no except broken or cracked bones. I then had to explain how I broke my nose and right pinky finger during two separate basketball incidents. Oh and yes I did smoke pot when I was young and dumb. It was 20 years ago and I only tried it a few times.

Next up the physical exam. There were four of us together this time. All the people that ended up taking the ASVAB with me earlier in the day. We all had to strip down to our boxers and perform a number of movements, bends, twists, funny walks, etc. The doctor had a good look at us while we were doing all of this and then took us into a room individually. In the room I had to drop my drawers and let him feel my balls while I coughed. Then came an interesting moment… I had to bend over and spread my butt cheeks. The doctor crouched down took a visual and said, “it all looks normal” Luckily I didn’t fart!

When this was finished I got dressed and waited for my recruiter to come back and get me and my fellow recruits to head back home. A long day has been finished, and I’m one step closer to joining the Army.

Ryan13B

hello how did you make this blog like this? im going to Benning may 31 and i would like to make one like yours. any link on how to create one like your? thanks
email:colesjeff481@yahoo.com

Friday, April 1, 2011 - 11:08 PM

Brandon

When I decided to do this I purchased the domain name "mcguires5.com" from GoDaddy. I already had a mobileme membership which gave me a place to host the website. My Mac came with iLife which has a program called iWeb that makes creating and maintaining a website very easy. I set it up and then wrote letters to my wife every day from basic, when she received the letters she would type them up and post them. By the time I got to AIT I was able to have a laptop with internet access and I updated it from that point on.

If you check out my "Other's Stories" on my main website, you can see a lot of them use BlogSpot to create their blogs. You can check it out at www.blogspot.com. It's free and if you have someone you trust back at home you can have them log in and post your updates.

Saturday, April 2, 2011 - 12:08 AM

Ryan13B

thanks buddy, heres my blog>http://lifeatfortbenning.blogspot.com/ please tell me what you think. thanks man

Saturday, April 2, 2011 - 03:09 AM

Brandon

The site looks great...good job! Congratulations on not giving up and good luck with your army career. Keep that attitude of not giving up while in basic, it will serve you well.

Saturday, April 2, 2011 - 09:15 AM

Ryan13B

thanks man, i really want this, i want to be able to call myself an us soldier.

Saturday, April 2, 2011 - 10:49 AM