So You Want To Be A Soldier

On my journey into the military, I've learned a few "dos & don'ts".  I was also given a lot of advice as to how to do it.  I have been approached by all kinds of people interested in the military asking me questions about it and wanting advice. So, I've compiled somewhat of a list about becoming a member of our armed services.  I have learned quite a bit from my experiences joining the Marines and then the Army Reserve and I would like to share that knowledge for the sake of other who might need a little bit of guidance 

Although I say "Soldier" I really mean pretty much any person who wants to be in the military.

Well, I've got a few words of advice for you. 

• Do your Homework. Before you make a decision to join a certain branch, talk to recruiters, read up on the branches and make an informed decision. Join the branch that best suits you. 
• Do study for the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery).  Despite what "they" say, that score does matter. I got a high score and qualified to do almost anything in the military. 
• Don't get talked into something you don't want to do. Recruiters are good at their jobs. Make sure that you are your own advocate. Don't get pushed around. 
• Do pay attention to the physical requirements of each branch! They are all different and you need to be sure that you meet them before you attempt to join. 
• Do pick a job that you will be interested in doing. Lots of people get in and end up feeling very stuck in the job they got pinned with. 
• Don't expect it to be the quickest process in the world. Joining the military can be messy!
• Do be honest with your recruiter. Tell them everything they need to know (i.e. medical history, law violations etc.)
• Do pin point the reasons that you want to join. It is so important to do it or the right reasons. It could also help you decide which branch is right for you. 

So there are a few Dos and Don'ts that you should know before joining. There are also a lot of things that I have learned since being in the Delayed Entry Program (DEP) that I think that future service members should know. 

• Keep you paperwork in order. They give you so much crap that you need to keep...It's also a good idea to get copies of everything for your personal records. Don't rely on someone else to have it. 

• There's a bunch of knowledge (at least for the Army and Marines) that they want you to memorize. Do it! It's going to save you lots of headaches once you get to basic and will put you ahead of the game. 
• Stay on top of your game physically. Check out your PFT (Physical Fitness Test) requirements for you gender and age and work to meet them! Knowing that you can pass that test is going to give you some serious peace of mind. 
• 
• Find out about pre-basic promotion opportunities! I'm getting promoted before I leave so I will get to wear a chevron when I get to basic...I'm pretty proud of it!
• 
• Girls, if you have short hair, you might want it to be a pixie cut! You're going to hate having to gel back every little flyaway!  If you hair is long enough for a nice bun don't cut it! I was given this advice a while ago, and this was my last hair cut because of it. 

• Get everything squared away before you go. I've got 2 weeks left and lots of stuff to do. You don't need to be stressed out in your final days at home!
• Stay motivated.  Keep your head up and remind yourself exactly why you are doing what you're doing. It will help you more than you know! 
• If you are a reservist, attend your unit's drill weekends. You will learn a lot and get the chance to work with people that you'll be dealing with after basic. I'm so glad I went. 

But, I looked...terrible and don't wear nail polish in uniform! I took that off after I took the picture...

And now, I shall shamelessly plug my awesome giveaway I've got running!
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A List of Great Importance

I kind of want to talk about how I faced J last night for the first time since we broke up. But I also don't... So I'm kind to listen to the latter feeling and not talk about it. It was just...painful. If you're extra interested, you can email me and I'll spill. (but I'm guessing your not...)

Instead, I'm going to over-explain something that probably needs no explanation at all.
I have that list up there that hasn't got anything on it yet. There's a reason for that. I can't decide what the heck I want to do! What I have decided, is that it will be a list (hopefully finished by tonight!) that has a multitude of goals on it that I want to have accomplished by December 31, 2013. That means that I have 458 days from now to accomplish...however many things end up on the list. I have a feeling that it will grow and grow until it's impossible to finish by the dead line, but I've decided to take this approach:

"You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path. Aim high. Behave honorably. Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure. Persist! The world needs all you can give."
E. O. Wilson

source: brainy quotes

 

Basically, if there's a few things that miss, that's okay, but the world needs all that I can give, so I shall give it.

 

Each time I accomplish something or commence something that ultimately lead to the conquring of a list item, it will become a link on the master list to a post all about it.

 

It may not be all that exciting all of the time, but I hope that they might be something worth reading on occasion!

 

Wish me luck in all my endeavors. Things could get pretty messy!

 

P.S.--When labling this post, I used a trick I learned from Full House to remember how to spell "Success" now that is sad...

 

To-Do

I love lists. I write lists at work all day long.

I write them about all kinds of things such as things to do before I do, what I want to buy at the store later on, things I think will make my life easier, stuff I learn on Pinterest, and so on and so forth.

Today when I woke up, I wrote myself a to-do list. It looked like this:

1. Start  wash.
2. Water the Garden.
3. Go to the gym (I had to write it on the list, or else I wouldn't have gone.)
4. Change over laundry
    (Start new load)
5. Take out trash
6. Empty dishwsher
7. Clean room
8. Clean living room
9. Do something about the cross stitch sitch.
10. Put cars on KSL
11. Make DI pile of clothes
12. Do something pointless like watch Dawson's Creek or Gossip Girl.

It ended up looking like this:

1. Start Wash
2. Water the garden.
3. Go to the gym
4. Change over laundry.
    (start new load)
5. Take out Trash
6. Empty dishwasher
7. Reload dishwasher
8. Clean room
9. Change over laundry
    (Start new load)
10. Do something about the cross stitch sitch.
11. Foood!
12. Restore the fish take to it's former glory (That thing was in some serious need of some TLC)
13. Put away laundry
14. replenish towel supply
15. Clean the kitchen
16. Clean the living room
17. Vacuum the hallway
18. Mow & water the lawn
19. Finish cross stitch (really not part of the plan, but I saw it sitting there and I was on such a roll.)
20. Change over the laundry
     (start a new load)
21. Put away all my clothes
22. Put the cars on KSL
23. eat some popcorn and blog about how much work I did today.


I'm honestly not sure that I have every done so much laundry in my life...I could tell you about all the crazy stuff I ran into while doing all this stuff, but frankly, I'm so tired I don't even know how I'm still typing...but I feel like this day did not go to waste and I certainly did an good job making my house look nice.  I don't know that I still love lists like I did yesterday.