Tuesday, June 26, 2007

SubーEpisode 1: Contemplation-- What Future?

There's no need to predict the future, because it will soon be obvious.

A little bit different from my usual post, but I just felt I should get it up while It was sitting in my head.

Well crud, ...here I am, contemplating my position in later years. So far, out of 3 hours of contemplation, I have one word-- screwed. When you think about it, I have some pretty good deals coming my way, right? I get paid, room and board, and soldier training... a good deal, right? yes, and no. I took into account earlier what Mr. Nice Guy said a few days prior, quote; "If you play your cards right, you may find yourself at the top of someone's warehouse management company, making all sorts of money". It was cool at first, when I thought about the picturesque thought of being some big-time conductor of the symphony of transports that would move precious supplies from point A, down to point B, or C, or wherever the hell they were going, but ...he... stopped me, dead in my tracks, and bought me back to the true reality of the situation, and almost exactly just how deep it goes.

It goes something like this; To get in someone's sights, I need a record, including experience and training, be it special or not, most usually special. Also looking on another quote by Monty; "There, you can take college courses from any college the army offers", I had these diamond-luster eyes as I looked into the future of me, sitting in a classroom, learning to professionally do two of my favourite things-- draw, and manipulate 3d programs. For a moment, it felt like it could become a reality, then ...he... again interrupted me. Of course, it would be possible to get to the point where I could be doing such things... if only I didn't have a 1.60 GPA, and instead had a 3.0 or above, which is what it takes to get into any college for those types of majors worth going to... therefore ruling that out. It, if anything, will be likely that I will only be able to, with my 1.6, be able to complete my correspondence courses, and "hopefully" (notice the key word) gain a higher GPA by doing so, therefore allowing me something of a chance in that rose-covered frame I pictured myself inside of, only moments before this realization.

With college ruled out (only temporarily, I hope), I will not be able to get any special marks on my record for my all-star masters in whatever major I choose, and no special training in the MOS (The job you will be trained for to during your current term in the military.) which I have been, almost forcefully assigned to, which was another topic I wanted to get to. The MOS I currently have was given to me as a lee-way choice among two others-- 99Y, and 88M (99-Yankee -Forgot what it was, exactly-, and 88 Mike -Heavy Cargo Transport Specialist-). Since My current build is far too far below the considered requirements for 32m, and every hint in the world drew me away from the MOS, 99y, I had only 88H left (88 Hotel -Cargo management specialist-). The main reason I was only given 3 choices, apparently was because of two, stricken misdemeanor charges that came up during my evaluation, which cut my choices down from 10+ to 3... big difference, huh? I think so too. Anyway, Though I'm not fit for 88H either, I seem to be better fit to handle it than 88m, so it was a pretty good tactical choice, in my opinion. Still, I know that once I go in, I will be stuck in a hole, I can see the hole from miles away, but my feet are moving on their own, without me being able to change their direction, even slightly. I know I'm bound to run into the hole, and I know I'm bound to stay inside of it for awhile, maybe even longer than I bargained for.

Well, we'll see where this goes, but I can only hope I am right about the correspondence courses, and will be up on top of things soon enough.

幸運。。。 "Kouun..." (Good luck...)
Yours, Truly.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Episode 01: Before The Storm (Part III "You think, therefore I want to be")

"Ben laden's attack on the towers was nothing more than him, expressing his feelings. Our retaliation is no different."
-Mr. Nice Guy
Today was a little bit better than yesterday; all of the inductees, myself included got together with Mr. Nice Guy for "Future Solders Training" (Seemingly a small mix between class, and hands-on preparation for Basic Training). Although the lesson, which was apparently a refresher for Land Nav (Land Navigation; term used to describe using things like a compass, and map to find your way around) had me feeling slightly rusty around the edges. Although I knew the answer to nearly all of the questions (and he knew that, which is why he'd neglected to allow me to answer any of the questions... though I had no objections), I still felt obligated to answer them for two reasons;

1: They were being asked, and I felt like I needed to ensure that I knew what I was talking about.
2: I got tired of the dead silence as some people thought about each question, and others didn't bother to materialize an answer, becoming like the character "Ed" from the not-so-popular Cartoon Network series, "Ed, Edd, & Eddy".

In the end, I still ended up learning something new, and got to do a little more studying on one of the more confusing subjects of basic training. Outside, however was a different story. We fell in (tense of "Fall In", the executional command given to any given number of soldiers, immediately calling them to formation, at the position of "Attention") in the same fiery pit we usually do-- the open parking lot behind the station, right where the sun can see us the best, and got in bear drill. There wasn't too many commands I didn't have to think about to execute, but one in particular, I had no idea about. It was a modified position of "Dress-Right Dress" (Command given to soldiers in a formation to equally space them out, usually in preparation for marching, or just to keep organization) which called for, instead of classically using your entire arm, you bent it, and used your elbow to dress (position, in order to allow the next soldier on your left to measure, and move into proper position). Although when I think about it, if I did know about it, I had forgotten it in the near 2 years I had been out of A-JROTC (Army Junior Reserve Officer's Training Corps). It took a short second to get everything straight, and afterward, things went pretty smooth.

Not too long after, we fell out (Opposite of "Fall In"), and formed a circle around him, then started some land nav training, although we were quite limited (being in a parking lot the midpoint of Smyrna is quite far away from uncivilized territory, as far as I know), which I'd found out that I'm horrible at remembering numbers... You would think that I wasn't so bad at doing it judging on how I did on pointing out the given target (Was 1 degree off from the target) , but I took a standing guess by what I could remember about his stance, and direction from my point of view, which was directly on his right, almost like a potshot in the dark, where you last saw the flash of a 80-candlepower flashlight from 45ft away. During the training, a Lieutenant, and one of Mr. Nice Guy's inductees had materialized out of nowhere, and came to our little circle. She spoke a few words, basically did the same thing that the "Success Story Soldiers" do on those Army Strong commercials. We took a moment to get out of the baking sun, and let the two talk... which, barely knowing each other, the eerie silence ironically caused some of us to talk to each other about trivial topics, most not related to what we were previously doing in no way, shape, or form.

Afterward, we'd gotten back into a little more nav training, and heard the general "Safety Brief" which he gives after every day we all get together. We got back in the station, and things slowly calmed back down to the normal idle chat, and various jokes. After I'd gotten back home today, I had nothing on my mind but passing the test that would get me up to PV2 (Private 2nd Class) before I ship out. With that in mind, there is only one thing I will be doing for a while, tomorrow... and it is something I don't usually do--

Study.

好むものは何でもしなさい! "Sukina koto o nan demo shinasai!" (Do whatever you like!)

Yours, truly.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Episode 01: Before The Storm (Part II "Don't Pass Go, Don't Collect $200")

The hardest thing about death is not the thought of burning in hell, but the thought of just how much more you could have lived.
-Sayin
Hey guys! Yea, there's a part II for those who didn't get enough of the first one. First, and foremost, I would like to say do not EVER go to DeKalb Technical College regarding a GED (I'm sorry, guys... that's just from my experience.). Okay, so let me start... I was supposed to be at the hotel by now, right? ...I intended on being ready to move on to Basic Training, right?

...wrong.

At around 1124 hours, I'd gotten my test scores from the main GED office in Atlanta, which came from the DeKalb GED Center, only to find out that I have no score for the final test-- the writing portion. To be honest, I can't forget sitting there in the classroom, halfway about to fall asleep, writing the same paragraph 4 times to get it right and hoping my right hand doesn't explode (yes ladies, and gentlemen, I am right handed), yet they play ...almost like I never done the test. They did insist on telling me the score went through, but if it did, why did I not get any notice in the mail like I was told I should? I don't know either, folks. Anyway, the aptly-named Ms. Prune continued to "insist" that the score which would not be show to me for security reasons (for whatever reason, if you fail a portion, they refuse to show you by how much you failed) but with my most difficult subject; math, getting a passing grade, how would I fail my best subject too badly to allow a passing grade?

That, folks... I don't know, either.

Even in all that, I ended up having to reschedule the test for the 9th of July, cutting into my ship date (which was tomorrow...) so badly that I may end up having to wait until late August, or even early September before I'm able to attempt it again.

All in all, the day wasn't all bad... I did get to sit at the station with Mr. Nice Guy, and all the other NCOs, and pass jokes while eating sugar cookies with red, white, and blue frosting, as well as assorted sprinkles that match the color of the frosting on each one, which didn't taste as bad as I thought they would, as well as getting to wingman for Mr. Nice Guy to transport one of the inductees (Any new entrant, ranging from Future Solders, to re-entering soldiers, to solders who are just moving from one branch, to another) from the mall, back to the recruiting station to get her to the hotel, so that she can ride the shuttle (A coach-like bus, used to transport soldiers to the base which they will be doing their Basic Training) to Ft. Jackson.

Where is the fun in that? there's enough for me... trust me. But the fun in it wasn't being allowed to do part of his job, it was trying to figure out whether or not she ...was a she. At first glance, she, aptly named Samuel, looked just like the average Junior male, but the problem was, as you looked on, she continued to look just like that. She seemed, in all ways like she wasn't a woman, she looked, walked, stood, and dressed like a man, but when she talked, she sounded like a slightly younger girl, which mind you, was quite scary to me, yet I kept as composed as possible, remembering the words he'd told me before we left the station to retrieve her;

Mr. Nice Guy: You remember what I said about gender issues?
Me: Yea...
Mr. Nice Guy: Well, you're about to meet the girl I was talking about.
Me: Uh oh... you've got to be kidding...
Mr. Nice Guy: You'll probably want to laugh, but keep cool. Don't screw this up.
Me: Okay, okay... (laughing all the while)


Come to find out, she's from Chai-town (Chicago, for those who are unfamiliar with the zone colloquialisms), had never been in Georgia, and couldn't make sense of anything we do. During the ride, she spent her time talking endlessly about how dumb the things we do seem to her, and how bad our cooking is. It had gotten to a point where I was almost enticed to reply, but I decided to fade small comments into the complaints every now and then.

It was kind of interesting to see just how a がいぎん reacts to Atlanta's culture... feel free to feel the same way I did;

Samuel: Yo, why yall gotta do that thing with tha "one glove"? (She was sitting in the back seat, at an angle which she could only see one of the two black gloves I was wearing)
Me & Mr. Nice Guy: I'm/He's wearing two... (I show both hands)
Samuel: Oh, I just see that alot down here, and I don't know what's up with it... I don't see why yall do that, I think it's pretty useless.
Me: . . .
Samuel: I don't understand alotta stuff yall do round here, alot of it just seems real useless...
Me: ...Stick around here for awhile, you'll begin to notice alot of stuff you don't understand. (playing on her comment)
Samuel: Yea, I know. And yall's cookin, I can't be eatin no soul food, that stuff tastes disgusting, I just-- it makes me sick on the stomach.
Me: Aw... you just ain't eaten from the wright place, yet...
Samuel: Naw, It just tastes nasty... it's like ...yall be grillin the meat, without no sauce... then put the sauce beside the meat on tha plate...
Me: ... (thinking "Err... What?")
Mr. Nice Guy: (laughs it off) Yea, it depends on where you go, cause if ya go to the wrong place, you're going to end up getting crap.
Samuel: I dunno...
Me: . . .

With that, I just listened to her drag it on, bringing up various things about the south which she didn't particularly like, or as she put it, hated/didn't understand/thought was stupid.

Well, anyway... Today was only a minor setback, only to allow me to stand fast, and take a good look at the bigger picture. The USAREC BN (United States Army Recruiting Battalion, responsible for, ...you guessed it-- recruiting citizens into the US Army.) Commander asked me one very important question that I almost jumped at answering-- "Did I really want to do this?" I thought to myself "No way did he just ask me that... I guess I better stay formal, regardless to how much I wanna scream Yes! I'm here, ain't I? I wanna do this so bad, I can taste the concrete roads on the FT Jackson road marches!"... so I paused for a moment, and calmly said "Definitely."

Another Day's another day;
心あなたがあいている。。。"Kokoro anata ga aiteiru..." (Free your mind...)
~Yours Truly.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Episode 01: Before The Storm (Part I "Proposed Beginnings")

Though a woman may claim to have a stronger mind than a man, and a man may claim to have a stronger body than a woman, both share a common weakness-- the need for one another.
-Sayin

Today is no different from any other day... that's what I feel right now, but in truth, today is the last day I will spend in this piece of heaven I call home. The cozy house that stands on the thin line between haunted and assaulted by spiders. I received word from the NCO, (Non-Commissioned Officer, my recruiter) The currently-titled "Mr. Nice guy", that I'd passed my GED test, making things only lighter on my shoulders. So far, I passed the GED, and ASVAB tests with a fairly-good standing (GED - High school diploma's equivalent, and the ASVAB is a standardized military test, used to narrow down the choices an applicant is allowed to take, based on what they are best able to do.). With things looking up so far, all I can do is hope I am shipped on time.

At any rate, this is where I will make my posts, hoping they will count for something in later months, or even years.

終わりまで時間。。。 "Until time ends..."
-Yours Truly.