I had neglected to even call the recruiting office ahead of time for an appointment, part of my self deception that I wasn't really going to join the Marines. I pull up around 9am and just walk in. A young man in a Marine uniform is just inside the door, I later find out that he is a recent boot camp graduate. I'm struck once again with how sharp the uniform is, even though he, and the recruiters are simply wearing the dress blue pants and khaki shirt. The young man asks what I need and I simply say that I want to talk to somebody about the Marine Corps. "Sergeant Lovett will take care of you" he says, gesturing to a middle aged man who looks like he can rip cars apart with his bare hands. The sergeant stands up and introduces himself, then invites me to sit down across from him at his desk and asks me what I want to know. I briefly tell him my story, about always planning to the join the army, but now I'm thinking about the Marine Corps. As I'm talking I look around at the sparse collection of posters on the wall, mostly depicting muddy men with strained faces, and bearing slogans like "Our title is earned, never given, and what is earned is yours forever" and "If everyone could make it it wouldn't be the Marines." Many people would probably be scared away by such words, and practically run to the Army office where the posters say "Army Strong" and "Be all you can be." For myself, strangely the Marine Corps posters make sense. As I finish with the story of my visit to Parris Island, I conclude by saying "I think I left a part of myself on Parris Island, and I need to go back and get it." I haven't voiced this before but in that moment both the recruiter and I know that I'm already sold. Sergeant Lovett briefly addresses my story, but he is the opposite of the fast talking recruiter you've always pictured. He stumbles over his words sometimes and is not eloquent. He gives the facts and not much exposition, but I find myself really liking that. It is worth noting that none of the recruiters I will meet fit the smooth talking profile. They are hard core, no nonsense people who love the Marine Corps and want only the best young folks they can find to become recruits. In the time I spend at the office I will watch them tell people things like: "No, your friend has no chance of getting into the Corps if he's done drugs and has charges."
After a few minutes of talk, Sgt Lovett gets out a stack of little plastic tags, each bearing a phrase or word like "Adventure" "Finances and Benefits" "Leadership opportunities", ect. He tells me to pick the three that I feel are the most important to me, then place them in order from most important to less important. I pick"Professional Development" "Finances and Benefits" and "Challenge". He asks me to explain them which do quickly and easily. Professional development because I see the Marine Corps as a step toward becoming a chaplain, Finances and Benefits because I know that even with the Reserves I can still purchase affordable tricare health coverage. Lastly, challenge, because I don't want to settle for anything but the most challenge I can get. I explain my Parkour philosophy, that any obstacle can be overcome with commitment, perseverance, and step by step training. He likes this so much he writes it down. He then quickly covers what the Marine Corps has to offer in each of the areas I've chosen, but he doesn't take much time because he can see I pretty well have figured it out for myself.
Next he asks what sort of jobs I'm interested in and I say I want to do combat arms. My love for the infantry has not changed since the moment I first touched America's Army. He says there are no infantry reserve stations near Pensacola, and suggests a Reserve Recon contract, whereby I automatically get to try out for Marine Force Recon. There is a Reserve recon battalion nearby. At first I'm enthusiastic, till I find out that BRC (Basic Reconnaissance Course) extends initial training to almost a year. Another recruiter who knows more about the program comes over to explain it in more detail. It's based on slots available, and just passing to be eligible for Recon doesn't guarantee that you go straight to BRC after SOI (school of infantry, where you spend two months after bootcamp) you may go right away, or in a month, or you may wait years. I'm still pretty hesitant because I can't imagine being away from my wife for a full year. The recruiter stays calm and pulls no punches. He explains that there's no guarantee of anything, whether my initial training takes a year or just the usual time, it is up to me to decide what I want to do and how much I want it. He doesn't try to convince me of anything, he just lets me talk till I realize that I'm the one who's worried. Joy and I have already talked about this and she's prepared for the separation. Plus I serve a God who can manipulate the time-line at will to ensure that everything works out. When he see's that I've made my decision, the other recruiter simply nods and turns me back over to Sgt Lovett. By the end of our meeting I have filled out a fair bit of paperwork, and received the 21 page security clearance form, which is one of the most crucial applications for the service, to take home and work on.
A lot happens over the next month. First I have to call friends and family to collect the detailed information required by the form. It takes about a week. When it's completed I bring it back to the recruiter's office along with my Wife. Together we talk to Sgt Lovett about what we can expect as a Marine family, and what to expect during my initial training. We present our marriage certificate, and fill out paperwork related to our marriage. Since I won't have access to the funds I earn during recruit training (bootcamp) till afterwards, I have to establish a financial plan for taking care of my wife during that time. Her father just happens to be visiting with us and offers to provide for her expenses during bootcamp, with me paying him back at the end. Sgt Lovett gets this in writing and adds it to a growing stack of paper in a packet he is building for me. At this point in the recruiting process I get hung up on education. I was home-schooled overseas and have no official high-school diploma, not only that but my college was unaccredited, casting doubt on weather I can even get credit for it as education. The rest of the month is mostly a lot of phone calls between Sgt Lovett and myself, and my mother, and my college. I have to have official transcripts sent from my college, and my mom has to have a set of my homeschool transcripts notarized at the consulate in poland and mail them to me to stand in place of a high-school diploma.
As things begin to come together and Sgt Lovett and his superior, Staff Sergeant Thorn, start talking about sending me to MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station), I suddenly loose my full time job. This is a serious blow since I was depending on that job as a civilian source of income while I'm a reservist. My wife and I start looking for work, while I consider switching to an Active Duty contract. In the end I decide that active duty would not provide most of the benefits that make military service attractive, except for military service and providing income. I will trust God to provide civilian income, and remain with the Reserves.
Finally, a little over a month after I first walk into the recruiting office, and just as I get a new job at Subway, The recruiters get my education locked down. I won't get credit for my college degree, and won't be eligible for automatic promotion to E2 (Private First Class). But at least they accept my high school transcripts and I'm eligible for service. I get a date to go to MEPS on thursday, where I will do the actual enlisting, but I also get another hiccup in the process. There's a new requirement for the Recon contract I was going to do. Under the recon contract you automatically try out for Force Recon after boot camp. If you fail you are bumped down to 0321, infantry. But due to the high rate of failures among recon contracts, all recon contracts must now pass an IST (Initial Strength Test) with 15 pullups, 100 crunches in 2 minutes, and 1.5 mile run in 10.50 minutes. I'm sure I can run fast enough, but I've never done more than 80 crunches or 10 pullups. It's last minute information, so I come in the morning before the day I will be leaving for MEPS and give it my best shot anyway. I only make 11 pullups and 85 crunches. I'm disappointed, but Sgt. Lovett reassures me that that's a good score and better than he feared I might do.
The only other MOS's available for my Reserve district besides Recon are Field Radio Operator, and Transportation, which involves driving or fixing trucks. Staff Sergeant Thorne explains that I can take the Field Radio Operator job with either the transportation battalion or the Recon battalion. If I go with the Recon battalion I'll most likely spend a lot of time in the field doing infantry type work with the Recon guys. Plus, once I'm drilling with the Recon battalion, if I score high enough on the PFT (Physical Fitness Test) and my superiors think I'm ready, I could get a chance to go to BRC any time. He also dangles the carrot that if I pass the IST for recon before I ship to boot camp he might be able to move me to a recon contract. He is completely honest that he can't offer a guarantee that I'll be able to move back to the recon contract, but the Field Radio Operator job doesn't sound too bad, and I'm dead set on being a Marine by now, so I accept on the spot. I will go to MEPS tomorrow to enlist with an MOS contract of 0621 Field Radio Operator with the 3rd Recon Battalion.
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