Ship Date!

After many hours of poking, prodding, testing and questioning, I am cleared to ship for BCT and OCS on July 16th.

It was a very long day, about 13 hours overall. There were a lot of little moments for me throughout the day in which I had a chance to question and reinforce my belief in taking this step.

For anyone who has ever sworn in, that oath seems to weigh a couple tons when you take the time to think through the words. As of today, my life is no longer entirely my own, and I will be asked to endanger it in order to protect the lives of others. I feel immense pride knowing that I made this decision and still have the physical ability to act on it.

Testing

So I got my control number and went for testing and physical today. Physical didn't happen because of another hang up with the control number. Should have that ironed out early next week. The good news with that is by vigilantly working out and watching my diet in anticipation for the physical (which has been about a month), I've dropped 15lbs and can run 2 miles uphill in about 17 minutes.

Testing went well, I scored in the top 96%, which means something upstairs is still working. I was told that my scores would allow me to do anything I want as far as jobs go. I have a sneaking suspicion that I will be 11B regardless of the mental tour de force I unleashed today. Although Infantry isn't my first choice, it beats the shit out of a desk job.

Waiting...

Still waiting on my control number from the Federal government.

Yesterday it was announced that Osama bin Laden was killed by American troops. I'm extremely thankful for all the men and women who have worked over these last 10 years to bring about his demise. And I am very proud to be joining their ranks as an officer. Eventually...

In the meantime, boredom has led to the decision to learn to play harmonica. I ordered a mouth harp and "how to" book from Amazon. I'm in desperate need of a hobby, and I remember my grandfather, who fought in WWII with the 506th PIR, 101st Screaming Eagles, telling me about playing the harmonica during those days. Seems fitting.