A little background

Okay, so here's a little background on my story, and why getting me into the army has been such a project.

In February of 2005, I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. I got a shady recruiter, and he convinced me not to disclose a prior injury. In April 2001, I dislocated my right patella. It angers me because I now know that this is a completely waiverable injury. So, I got to basic and couldn't lie anymore, and told the doctors about it and home I went. So, May of this year I contacted a recruiter in my area. It took a while for them to get ahold of me because I had gone through the cyber recruiting on Goarmy.com. I went into Cyber Recruiting and talked to a retired recruiter (we'll call him Mr. H) and he forwarded all of my information to the local recruiting station. Then, Cpl D we'll call him, called me and set up a meeting. He came out (He looks about 18) and scanned in all my information, and was generally about as helpful as a rat. So a few weeks after not hearing from him whatsoever, I called the Station Commander, Sgt O we'll call him, and he assigned me a new recruiter, one that was more experienced in waivers and things.

So, we'll call him Sgt. H, came to my house, and let me tell you, he's a great guy!

A little background on him. Sgt H has never met his father. He knows he spent 20 years in the Army, and was from Nashville as Sgt H is. He'd never even so much as seen a picture of him. He also knew that his first name was, (for privacy purposes we'll say Johnathan) and that his Middle name was (for privacy purposes we'll say Anthony) and that his last name was H. So, he got the email with my information from Mr. H from cyber recruiting, and Mr. H's name just happened to be Johnathan Anthony H. The exact same name as his father. After doing some digging, he found out that Mr. H is also from Nashville just like his father. Mr. H spent 20 years in the Army just like his father. So, now, because of me, My recruiter found his father! How amazing is that? Anyway...

So, my recruiter has really gone to bat for me. He's put in a LOT of work to get me into the Army. It took THREE long months JUST to get me TO MEPS. So, I got to MEPS this past Teusday, and I passed my physical. The doctor put that I have to see an Ortho Surgeon for an Ortho Consult. So thats next Wednesday, if that goes smoothly, I'll pick a job and sign my contract the very same day!

I've got my fingers, my toes, and every other crossable entity on my body crossed. I've never wanted anything as much as I want this. I just hope I dont get disqualified for anything. I just want to get my butt to Basic Training, work my ass off, go to AIT, and get to my first duty station!

If I leave for basic training before the end of September I get an additional $20,000 quick-ship bonus. How amazing would that be? That's not including any bonuses that come with my job or whatever. I still haven't decided on a job. Anyway, I'll write more later.