SPC Reverend Bakie's blog: "Most Recent Blogs"

Hello again, fellow readers.  Wow, I think this is the longest I have went without typing a blog!  Well, there were some reasons behind the situation.  First off, I have been sort of busy on other things to where I didn’t have time to type up any new topics and so on.  Also, there was an extreme lack of topics to talk about.  However, I have been gathering up a good amount of topics over the past couple months, so I will try to go and do some typing to kill some time.  And finally, I got bored of the internet.  I know some of you may think how could that be or I saw you online a few times.  Well, there just were some things that I just got burned out on that’s on the internet, and the only times I would be online were to check email, and if someone I knew was online, I would talk to them.  All in all, I was trying to limit my time on the internet.  One thing I felt for this was my impatience for not finding work and trying to end my current situation.  But that is about to change in the next few months, being I joined, the military that is.  Yes, for some of you that don’t know now, I have just joined the Army.  Wait now, don’t get uptight, or get flabbergasted, it was something that I needed to do.  For the past few months, I’ve been getting turned down from every single meaningless job in my area, and I just got fed up with living one step away from being a bum.  I mean, when you literally beg to someone for a part time food job, and still get turned down, it’s time to get the hell out of dodge.  So, for those couple months of looking for work, I was also thinking about the military.  Over the years, I have been contemplating about joining, but never knew when.  I was going to join right after graduating high school, but thanks to stupid parents talking me out of it, I didn’t do so.  Another time when I was about to join was after going through a very terrible breakup with an ex-girlfriend, which thinking now I should have joined right then, being that I would not have had to deal with my parents again.  I still don’t know why I didn’t join then, but oh well.  Perhaps though if I did join the military then, I would not have gained knowledge of accounting as I would later on.  However, now being in the pickle that I am, this is the time to go in. Ever since getting laid off from my last job a little over a year ago, things just seemed to turn from bad to worse.  Nothing seemed like it was going right, and the setbacks just kept coming and coming and coming.  But now, there needs to be a change.  My living situation is not at all at best, but it’s the only thing keeping a roof over my head, and if it somehow goes away,  I will be left on the street.   Now, some of you may think, “Well, what about your parents or family?”  There is no option with them, and I made that decision when I moved out of my dad’s place a year and a half ago.  I have already moved out and moved back in too many times as it is, and I am not doing it again, and I will not go back to living with an alcoholic that thinks he knows the entire world.  As for my mother, well, I don’t care if I ever see her again.  She has done so many bad things to me and my father, and still to this day does not think she is at fault.  So, as for that, she can think whatever she wants, but I will not be in the picture to tolerate it.  Plus, I need to move on and get myself out of this rut.  I am so sick of the area I live in for it’s extreme lack of opportunities of employment.  I still to this day, don’t know how the area survives.   If my car was in working condition, I would try to get something near Chicago, but that means driving almost an hour one way to work, and the pay would not be all too good.  And that’s if I can get a job!  So, as a result, it’s time to get up, get dusted off, and start from scratch, before it gets too late for me.  I felt the military would do just that for me, I got into working in Ammunition Stock Control, which is the closest thing to accounting in the Army.  I thought I was going to be Active Duty, but I’ll be only in Reserves, as what the counselor told me.  I decided on the Army because  there’s so many different things you can do in that branch, being it’s the largest one of the four.  I was too old for the Air Force, because the cutoff age was twenty-seven.  And besides, if I did go into the Air Force, I wouldn’t be able to fly a jet due to my eyesight.  You have to have perfect vision in order to get into flying a jet.  The Navy wouldn’t be bad, but I have this thing of being on a ship in the ocean for fifteen months at a time, or I should say being in the middle of the ocean miles away from the nearest land.  And for the Marines, well, at a time when I was young and stupid watching the movie Full Metal Jacket I wanted to join the Corp., but I am glad it was only a phase.  There are numerous stories of  what happens to people when they become a Marine, and none are not very good.  Also, it is the branch with the highest divorce rate, and being part of the Navy meant being on a ship so it was a no for the Corp.  The Army, as I said before, you can do many things.   For instance, even though I’ll be in Ammunition Stock Control, I can still do something I always wanted to do if I ever went into the service: be a Paratrooper.  After I get done with Basic and Job training, I am going to try out for Airborne, which means more money a month, having a pair of wings on my uniform, and just another thing to make look like a badass.  It will be vigorous, but the school being only three weeks should not be too bad.   After that, if I can do so, I want to try Ranger School.  I’m sorry, but I want to get as much Army experience as I can while in my time of duty.  Ranger School is the toughest of training in the Regular Army; two months of training in extreme temperatures, fighting, and combat styles.  They have three phases in the Ranger School, and if you pass all three, you become a Ranger.  But the only thing that may not let be go into Ranger School is that I’m not going to be in Infantry after Basic Training, but if I can go into Airborne School and pass it, then why not Ranger School?  Oh well, I’ll worry about it when Basic is over with.  But I am happy for doing this, I was amazed how hard and complicated it was to even join the military.  Not only having to get all the paperwork together for my recruiter, even though he said I was the quickest recruit he put together and head out to MEPS, which is the place where they have people get checked out if they’re capable of being in the military.  I got all my paperwork ready, which was high school and college transcripts, work history, references, places where I lived, and background check.  That took a total of three days to obtain, and after that had to do a drug test at the recruiter office before heading out to MEPS.  I was sort of surprised I passed it, but we won’t go into that till another time.  Lets just say drinking lots of coffee, water, and tea can do many wonders for you.  Anyways, as I was at MEPS, they did a lot of tests, took my blood, checked my ass for hemorrhoids, and I had to piss in front of a soldier, just to see I am using my own pee.  It took me three times to go to the bathroom in the cup provided for my drug test.  I’m sorry, but I’m just not used to having an audience when I go to the bathroom!  However, I get to do it again when I go to Basic Training, only now it’s with the Drill Sergeant and if I can’t do it right then and there, I do pushups till I can go to the bathroom.  That’ll be fun!  Anyhow, I’ll be showering with many other naked guys, but at least I can look up at the ceiling and do my business without worry.  Other than that, once it’s all over, it’ll be worth it in the long run.  I’m looking forward to losing a lot of weight, to getting back to the weight I was back in high school, which was 160lbs.  But it would be even more better if I become 160lbs of muscle, which I was never in high school.  The nine weeks of Basic shouldn’t be too bad, just train hard and not worry about the time and it should go through quickly.  I get shipped out on Nov. 4, from the place where I went to MEPS, and I go to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, just outside of Columbia.  The nickname for the place is called Relaxin’ Jackson, which is because it’s the more lenient of all the Basic Training camps.  I’ll be there during Thanksgiving and Christmas, which is not a big deal for me because I don’t celebrate those holidays anymore.  I would just be sad that I’ll be there for New Years, but sacrifices will have to be made.  After going thru Basic, I get shipped to Fort Redstone in Huntsville, Alabama where I get trained to do Ammunition Stock Control and be stationed there till further notice.  Luckily, I do know someone in Alabama but they live down in Auburn, but the drive won’t be too bad.   Plus, after my training to do Ammunition Stock Control is done and I do sign up for Airborne School, all I have to do is go down to Fort Benning near Columbus, Georgia, which is only a few hour drive from Fort Redstone.  Also, it’s the place where Ranger School is as well.  It will be a wonderful experience for me, and a good opportunity to get back on my feet.  Also, it’s a way for me to get out of this retched town I live in for a little bit, and out of Illinois for now.  It’s going to be weird because I never lived outside of Illinois before, I mean, I traveled all over the place, even went to Mexico, but never lived outside the state.  It’ll be a good change for me, I do need it.  Although I do thank my friend for letting me stay at his place for as long as I have, and was able to put up with me for the time, but I need to move on and continue to accomplish my goals.  Plus, I assume my friend would like his place back to himself.