MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) is the part that comes after the recruiting center. And it is as it says: processing. You take the information from the recruiters and take a bus to a hotel. If you haven’t taken the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) you take it before going to the hotel. Once the test is completed you are given a sealed envelope with your scores. Currently my recruiter is in possession of this sealed envelope.
Then you wait. Once everyone who is staying at the hotel have finished their test taking (I was one of the last to process in and take the test) you all get on the bus and go to the hotel. There you go to a small room where you sign an agreement that says you will pay for things you break and will not leave the premises until it is done. You are also told to drink a lot of water. You will wake at 4:45 or a similar time and eat breakfast (make it light if you are pushing your weight limit) and drink some more water. Make that a lot of water.
Board a bus (back) to MEPS and check in. This begins with a security checkpoint to make sure you aren’t armed. The people that are shipping that day will go first in this process. They are followed by everyone else who have yet to be Processed by the Station personel. Check in at the Control Desk. Then see your respective branch’s office. For me? Army. The branch office will give you a sticker with your name, social security number, and a bar code linking to a database entry on you. Soon to be added to this database entry will be an extensive medical screening, questionaires for security, etc.
Medical is next. You will be handed a few papers that actually pertain to you as a person. You will take a vision test, have blood drawn (the lady that did me was amazing, I felt almost nothing at all… though, I did get light headed afterwards because I have never lost a significant portion of my blood before), a hearing test (which is administered inside a soundproof room: you sit on a stool in a tiny shrouded cubicle wearing headphones and holding a little bomb-clicker in your hand; click when you hear anything), have your pelvic area checked for the pertinant things (turn your head and cough), take a urine test (which is why you’ve been drinking lots of water; it also helps to not have stage fright), and do the duck walk. You crouch down and walk heel to toe for five steps wearing only undergarments. Also within the duck walk part of tests you are checked for flexibility in all limbs and neck and straightness of back, etc.
Once you finish in medical its clear sailing. Well… Not really. I sat and waited in excess of four hours to begin the final enlistment paperwork. I remember a Chinese proverb I heard once that mirrors this: The last mile of a 1000 mile journy is the longest. In this case the final leg of paperwork was the longest. I found that my current standpoint on USA’s (the channel) programming is somewhat poorly scripted and their idea of a set is an imacculate, dustless environ in which there is no grit present from real life. All four or five shows I watched on that channel while waiting (amongst other things I read my Bible, chatted, watched guys play pool, etc.) matched this profile: immaculate sets with the common misuse of cinematography and poor scripting. Monk, Ugly Betty, and one other that escapes me at this moment are among the shows that I saw.
I finally got processed. In the recruiters office you probably took a ‘pre-ASVAB’ which approximates your score. From this score you are given jobs you ‘qualify’ for. You have a chance to reserve one of these jobs to expadite the enlistment process at the end. I had reserved a 15R (attack helicopter repairer). I discovered through my sister that this is a job that I would not enjoy. It was described as mostly bolting and unbolting subsystems and handing them off to someone else who would then fix them. So I gave up my reservation at this point to find a different job.
I landed a 94A (land combat missile system repair) which is exactly what it says. More on this when I actually wind up in AIT (Advanced Individual Training). I signed the paperwork. I was sent to a briefing where I waited. While I waited I looked over my paperwork. It had me down as an E-1 (private). Earlier in the recruiting portion of the enlistment I was told that I would be an E-3 because of the schooling I had completed before the recruitment process began. Seeing this discrepancy I left the swearing in briefing (before it began) and got it fixed. They gave me an updated sheet a private briefing (by a strapping young man who had more muscle than I have mass) and was given short instructions about parade rest and attention.
Then I was sworn in.
“I, Albert Latham, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
I was at MEPS for 16 hours. I slept for 10 hours afterward.
I pray that God does help me. This is a time of transition into a completely unknown world. I would also appreciate prayer.
God bless, as we should bless Him.