I had had enough of Target and so many of my friends had gone one way or another already. Some with kids. Some in college and others in the military.
I was looking for a chance to do something and I wasn't sure what but I figured school would help me figure it out.
I also knew I wasn't going to school without any cash- which I had very little of. The military was an out.
Now, I fiddle-fucked around with the idea and put it off for a while. You know, there was a shitload of things to do- taking a placement test and having a physical, meeting with a recruiter.
Back in the day- right outta high school I used to have this Army guy up my ass about getting into the military. He used to call my house. He talked to my parents. He saw me in the mall. One time this dude even CAME OVER! Seriously. He like knocked on my front door one Saturday morning.
The Army had put a bad taste in my mouth when they sent me a "free pair of stockings for Ms. Kimmy Gorden" with one of their pamphlets to join up. Even if I was a woman that didn't even make any damn sense!
But that was all like RIGHT outta high school- and now I had a good year plus of growth under me so now I was ready-
Now. I had a friend who had joined. His name was Michael Rogers. He was a good friend in school- meaning we didn't really hang outside of school but when we were at school we were pretty tight.
He was in ROT CEE and we had classes together. He didn't like it when I dropped AR-OH in my senior year- but we were still tight.
One afternoon I got a call from this dude. It seems in that year and a half or so that I messed around after High School- this dude had actually gone out and joined the Air Force! He was back on leave and of all the people he wanted to see- he fucking called ME! I told him I was thinking of going in but hadn't taken the time to go do the test or anything like that- so he was like "That's IT! I'm taking you downtown tomorrow so you can do the test and the physical- You're going to join up too!"
So the next day he shows up and we head downtown and next thing you know I'm taking tests and getting my nuts tweaked to see If I'm fit to serve in this man's military.
After all that Mike and I hung out a bit. I thanked him for running me down there- it was so spur of the moment and he seemed so determined. When he dropped me off I thanked him again and he was like- "Hey man, don't sweat it. I want you to join because it's a good thing and you wanna do it but also misery loves company!" And he laughed real hard.
I laughed with him. The bitch got me- but really that was a HUGE turning point in my life and I thank him for it to this day.
As he drove off I didn't realize that would be the last time I saw Mike Rogers. Sometime shortly after he returned to his base somewhere up north, he died in a car accident while street racing.
When I think about all the crazy shit I did in cars back home and came out alive- this dude gets his life cut short after one race. Damn.
This is a shot of Mike at our HS graduation- he's showing off the new haircut he got before going into basic. If I remember correctly- he went in a little after we graduated.
I digress...
I got my tests back and I was healthy and had a good enough score that I could choose which branch I wanted to apply for.
If I was going to do this- it was going to be Air Force.
It couldn't be the Marines- because it takes a special kind of person with a special kind of drive to do what a marine has to do.
It couldn't be the Navy- because SOMEBODY might expect me to swim and I wouldn't wanna disappoint anyone by drowning and dirtying up their pool.
It couldn't be the Army because- well, they couldn't get it together enough to know I was a man AND they tried to bribe me with pantyhose AND they had the audacity to knock on my front door. So- yeah, the bum-rush is not the way to get at me.
The Air Force was it.
I spoke to a recruiter and they were all down for it...until I told them about that time I accidentally took speed in the 10th grade. Then they were like "Sorry, no drugs."
I was like, "Dude. It was the 10th grade and it was an accident!"
"Nope. I can't help you- but maybe you should go talk to the Air National Guard. They'll have you."
He was right. I signed with them and they told me I would have to pick a job in a week or so- so I rolled home and called Gary.
Gary and I went Night Riding on the subject because after he had spent a year in Austin, partying his college money away (which was weird because Gary WAS a genius- He just had been withheld from fun for so long!)- he actually joined the Air Force Reserves some time ago. He was back in town after spending a great amount of time in "Tech School" which is where the military trains you in the job you have been assigned after basic training (which teaches you about the military).
San Antonio was a military town with like 5 bases including the Air Force training base (Lackland) so we already knew quite a bit about how shit went down. Plus my step dad was in and knew the deal but all he ever really told me was I would never be able to cut it in the military.
Gary had been on the inside though- so he had the latest skinny on basic training and all that- so this night ride was essential.
"You don't know, SHIT!" he said.
"What?"
"If they ask you if you know how to do something- tell them NO."
"What do you mean?"
"They'll ask you if you like to garden or something like that and if you say "yes" they're going to have you mowing a field."
"Oh!"
"Plus- never volunteer for anything because you will just end up putting yourself in a position to fuck it up and get in trouble."
"Oh- yeah!" I said- starting to see the light.
"You want to keep a low profile- just do what you have to do to get it done. Keep your head down and don't talk if you don't have to."
"Okay. I'm used to that. That's pretty much what I did in R.O.T.C."
"Oh yeah, you DID take that, hunh? I would definitely NOT tell them you were in AR-OH when you get to basic. That is some shit they do NOT need to know."
"But I'm supposed to earn an extra stripe." I replied.
"Don't worry about that- they'll get you your stripe AFTER basic- if they find out you were in AR-OH though- that can only lead to trouble because you're going to be expected to do stuff- stuff that you can fuck up and get in trouble for."
See! I told you Gary was good at doing math.
He told me a lot of good stuff that night- but one of the ones that stuck out was to try and avoid any Tech School that was longer than 4 months because he was in his 9th month of a sixteen month school and he was ready to kill someone.
Okay- No problem.
After a few days I went to a special recruiter on base to pick out a job because unlike joining the actual Air Force (where you get assigned a job based on what the military needs over what your skills were) the Guard showed you a list of jobs you qualified for and you would pick from that. Your actual start date would depend on when they had a slot opening up.
I had a big ass book to choose from- and I remember looking at it for quite a while.
Each job listing had a description of what you would be learning in tech school as well as how long the tech was. It also listed when the next slot was going to be open.
I don't remember all of the jobs that were in there but two of them stood out to me-
One was a meteorologist. That sounded like the shit. You got to study the stars and the weather. Stuff that I was kinda into- plus you had to stay in the woods for like 6 months... Idunno about staying in the woods for 6 months! Lemme see how long this tech school is- whoah 9 months!!! I don't think so- plus the next available slot was like in 4 or 5 months. Nah. I kinda needed to turn my life around sooner than that.
Then there was Medic. This appealed to me because if we ever had to go to war it wouldn't be my job to kill people- I would actually have to SAVE them. That would be cool. That's the kind of stuff heroes do. Lemme see the tech school here- 4 Months! Plus 1 month of on the job trainning! I think I like that. I likes that a lot.
The next slot opening was 2 weeks.
"I want that one." I told the recruiter.
"90210, eh?"
That was the job's title number.
"Pretty good, you will be assigned to the fighter pilots- you'll be their medic."
This job was getting cooler by the second.
"Alright, you got the slot- you will report here to me in two weeks in order to start your basic trainning." he said as he handed me a pamphlet about basic.
The military LOVES pamphlets.
This one was telling me about all the things I needed for basic.
It said I could bring my walkman and some books to read for when we had down time! How cool is THAT!? Man, as long as I had my walkman I knew I could do ANYTHING.
Yeah. This Air National Guard thing was gonna be a SNAP!
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