Day 1 - "Hundreds of billion of people..."

Finally!

Yes after 3 days of in processing I am finally shipping out. I got my grade, I got my job, I am at the airport. This was for sure a Herculean feat by any measure.

Three days ago I was informed that they were not accepting my high school because my diploma was written in Latin. Because they were not accepting my high school I couldn't receive my college credits. I was bumped down to an E1. Because of this I couldn't get my rate either. It was a frustrating day to say the least. 10 hours of waiting that I will never get back. I can tell you however, all of my time in the Army is no longer considered wasted. I am indeed more patient for life's trivialities and things you can no longer change or understand.

Its nice to know that logic has been lost on ALL branches of the military. :)

Two days ago things were looking up. I was back home and was able to take care of several more things around the house including seeing Beth, talking to my daughter, and squaring away other functions of my life that needed taken care of. I made calls to all of my schools and made sure that EVERYTHING that came out of my recruiters mouth was true and binding. I swore to memorize even more of the general orders but that didn't happen.

Today, it has all come to fruition. I walked in and was greeted with smiling faces and a resounding "Murphy you're all set." I was happy that I was all set, I was sad in the fact that people at MEPS are on a last name basis with me. Everything else has been a whirlwind. Absolutely a lot of hurry up and waiting, watching videos that only someone with a frontal lobotomy could produce, and saying goodbye to loved ones.

The highlight of the day was actually a speech from the Colonel at MEPS. Today I was made realized that "hundreds of million people in the US and possibly hundreds of billions of people in the world" are depending on us. I hope he realizes his mistake later. But I also realize with his rank everyone will just nod and laugh on the inside and he will be none the wiser. But he also made some incredible points. And now I am better prepared for the most common question asked of us in the armed forces...

"Why did you join...?"

The Colonel reminded us of the most simple fact that none of us think about. We have a constitution. This is true. But in reality it is just a piece of paper. It cant defend itself and it cant enforce itself. It can only continue to exist under two VERY important conditions. The first being that the Constitution derives its power from the WILL of the people and those who choose to follow and abide by it. The second condition is that we have an armed force to protect these people to continue their will. This is where we fit in. I found this to be a very poignant statement. One that I will definitely think about and ponder on later.

So...you are asking yourself, how are you writing so much? Welcome to the Navy. I had to be at MEPS at 5am, to leave MEPS for the airport by 12:30, so I could be here to leave at 8pm tonight. Welcome to the military. For all of you about to join or thinking about it. This is the life. It wont change. The military, especially ours, is a BEHEMOTH and it moves for no man. Be patient, take it in stride, and let all of the shit you come across out here day in and day out roll off you like water off a duck. If you don't you will NEVER be at ease and you will become mired in your own filth. This is the best advice I can give you having never been in the Navy ;)

On a positive note I just found out that we are going to be the FIRST official cycle that will use the new 800 million dollar system for Battle Stations. This will prove to be awesome. Eight weeks to go.

Hoora!