Woke up today at 0700 and got ready for the day. A sergeant from my office picked me up and we headed into work. Once in the office everyone started doing their own thing and I sat next to another new guy that I had been in-processing with. I showed him a couple things like how to check your correspondence course hours on his ERB as well as how to check his current promotion points on the promotion point worksheet. After a few minutes they had one of the sergeants in the office start showing me the help desk software and how it works. Then all of a sudden the first sergeant comes out and tells him to stop…I've been moved to another unit. WTF? I was a little surprised, but I have no choice in the matter. I had to follow the first sergeant to my "new" unit. I guess they had been asking for more people and since I was the last one in my office and hadn't really started yet, they got me.
Once I walked into my new office my heart kind of sank a bit. Instead of working in NetOps (Network Operations) all I can tell is that there will be no real IT work done here. My suspicions were confirmed after getting introduced to everyone and then being told my new job. Without going into detail I'm going to be a supply clerk that issues as well as destroys cryptographic keys. It's still in the signal battalion, but not really the kind of work I signed up for. In fact since I've joined the army I haven't done hardly any IT related work. I feel myself losing any high tech edge I used to have…it's slowly slipping away day by day. People will say to study and read to keep up, but there is nothing like real world "hands on" experience in your day to day job to keep your skills up. Dealing with the various problems that arise and finding the solutions help you learn new skills, and that only happens when you're in the middle of it.
Even though I was pretty disappointed I decided to look at this situation positively. The people seem pretty nice as far as first impressions go. My boss who is an E-5 sergeant bought my lunch and seemed like a genuine nice guy. As far as my first day on the job go…90% of it was just sitting in a chair looking at the wall. There are a total of 3 computers that we can use and there are I believe 6 people that use them. With me being the lowest ranking person, I don't think I'll even be able to check my email very often. I gave all my personal information for their data sheet and also received a new alert roster with everyone's names and phone numbers.
For some reason our company XO had to do an inventory of sensitive items and came in close to 1700, so we didn't leave until almost 1800. My new boss drove me home and came up to meet my wife before taking off. I start company PT tomorrow…we'll see how that goes.
I guess I'll be trying to accomplish my other goals I set for myself when I joined the army while I'm here…finish my bachelors degree and see the world.
You'll have to remind yourself that the glass in never half empty but rather half full. There's opportunities that lay ahead of us -- you/we just can't see it right now. It's there, I just know it.
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