The CoA

Just wanted to drop in, say hey, and give a quick update on my complete disappearance :)

I will spare the details of my life going into the crapper but suffice it to say real life came first and WoW got put on the back burner. Unfortunately, I am going to be WoW-less another 6 months at least but intend to be back for the expansion (assuming the CoA is still chugging along). If you all decide to abandon ship for another game, I sincerely hope someone will let me know where to find you.

I will be WoW-less because I joined the Army and will be shipping out for Basic Training on January 19th. Again, I will spare details but this is something I feel I need to do for myself and my country.

None of that makes me miss you guys any less. Especially Mal I don't have anyone around who is near so much fun to tease.

Thank you all for the good times, I hope to see you soon enough in Azeroth.

Cheri

Thank you for your service, and I wish you so well with that, and hope that even though you will likely be in harms way, will pray for your safety. My kids will have to put you on there list, we love sending presents to soldiers and sailors :)

It will be fun to play with you again once your DI and the army let you have your life back :)

Thanks for what you are doing. I've always wanted to, but I enjoy food and sitting on my butt too much to cut weight :)

Do the deed man. I rolled Air Force, cus my family has been Air Force since before there was one. I'm a 4th generation Airman and proud of it.

If you get in a situation when things get "hot," take a few seconds for a couple deep breaths. This will help slow your heart back down and renew your focus. This is key to regaining your finer motor controls that can be lost when adrenaline and excitement set in.

Ok. I have to check the web page a bit more.

How is all that going???

I'm thinking it will be a while before you will get a reply Mal.

I am patient.

Well, Mal, if you've seen my facebook statuses you know it isn't going all that great. :)

It could be worse though. For anyone else curious, I fractured my hip at the end of basic training. I graduated, however, I am now stuck in a medical holdover purgatory waiting to heal before I can ship out to AIT (training school-- where they teach me how to do my job).

They just sent me home for 30 days to see if I recover better here as in the 7 weeks I have been a med holdover, the fracture has not healed. Soooo, I am currently enjoying civilian life for a month :)

What MOS did you go with? When I finish my bachelors in December I'm enlisting, I finally cut the weight. Where did you go for Basic? I hope your hip healed and you are off to AIT.

Congrats on losing the weight, Dawg! That is awesome.

I went with 68W which is combat medic. I did basic at Fort Sill. It isn't as bad as all the stories you hear. Trust me, Army is getting a little soft. Especially the gender integrated basic trainings.

My hip is not healed. My Army career is more than likely over. My doctor asked me to come see him Wednesday to discuss getting me out of here. It'll be at least 12 weeks before I can run at all again and he is concerned that I will never have full mobility again. So my advice to you is ---- DON'T GET HURT IN BASIC!

Yeah, Zac did basic @ Jackson.. It didn't seem as hard as you see on TV I hear the non-integrated basics are still pretty rough, but they only occur at like 2 bases now.

Sucks that your Army career was so short, by your initial post it seemed like it was something you wanted to do, given the life situation. That's the way life happens I spose :/ I'll probably follow in Zac's footsteps and go 24B, since that's closest to my degree I'm getting. However, there is something very intriguing about Military Intel, electronic warfare just sounds so awesome.

Dawg,

Since you will have your Bachelor's, why not go officer corp? You have a little O on your paycheck instead of E, and the pay is alot better etc. I did both. I like the O side better :)

that is an option... I'd go in to OCS and then come out as an O1 (2LT) right? Thats a substantial pay difference Like 1000 dollars difference between O1 and E4. Crazy. I know Officers families always seemed to be treated better when we were stationed in Germany. I wanted to go Enlisted just to earn my status, but maybe O1 would be better for the fam...

Thanks for making me think, DS..

Edit: Wow, BHA is 100-300 more a month depending on location.. Crazy.

You earned the status by getting a degree. And you are treated better in the form of better pay, and substantially better housing etc. The disparity between enlisted and officer corp has narrowed quite a bit in the last 30 years, but there is still a gap, and I think its worth it to spend the extra effort to goto OCS or OIC. You can stop buy a recruiting office and specifically ask to speak with a Officer recruiter. You will have to make an appointment. Consider that some branches of service will sometimes be superior to others in a certain vocation or specialty. In my case the Navy offered the best career path for Nursing by a good margin.

Its a very good time to be in, as two wars have folks wanting to get out in droves. The numbers of all branches of service are at mission critical status and most folks dont realize it but if we where not stop gapping soldiers and sailors and using their inactive reserves than we could be close to a draft. What that means to you is you get to choose, and it will be alot easier to make rank due to alot more vacant billets.

OCS is filling up pretty fast the Reserves recruiter told me; however, I'd take the word of the Officer recruiter over him any day. I figure it's worth a shot.. if I don't get in, I can always go enlisted and work on my OCS packet while I learn my MOS/etc. Both MOS' I want are things I'm familiar with, so I think juggling my enlisted work with working on my packet woudn't be too hard. I'll call the recruiter and make an appointment today.

Thanks again bud!

I am sure you know this already, but those recruiters a totally full of @#$t so please dont believe a word they say. I tried to talk to a nurshing recruiter, and the guy sold me so much baloney.....

I have seen quite a few people go in with degree's with the intention of converting to the officer corp and it doesnt seem to happen very often. Anyone active duty right IS going to either afghanistan or Iraq at some point. Thats a big distraction from making the transition. Plus there are the requirements you will have to make your enlistment grade/ranks as well. As to your comfort level and sticking to things familiar? Thats definetly an enlisted mans mentality. I would challenge you to blow off comfortable, take the risks, and become a leader.....or not. The degree would still help you at the senior enlisted. I have been told by friends that you dont really have a realistic chance at E8 and above now without either a BS/BA or becoming a DI.

Yeah, Dad and a few friends have all told me if I don't like what the recruiter is putting on the table, to walk out and they'll eventually call you back. I know they blow smoke up your behind.

I'd be most comfortable in IT, 24B, what my dad does. However, MI/Military Intelligence really intrigues me and I think it would be a challenge.. that or MP, but I think MI would be better. You are a very motivating person sir. I enjoy taking lead in situations, I think I have the ability, and I think with OCS I'd make it in the world of Army Leadership.

How far did you go in the Navy?

I came out of boot camp an E-3 because I had college in spades, but just no degree. Had E4 inside of a year, and E5 inside of two. I applied for A program called ESOP and had O1-Ensign at year 4 and got out a O2-Lieutenant Jr. Grade at year 6. My wife had some issues with uncle same telling us where to live and Bill Clinton was shutting the West coast Navy down hard, so I was able to resign my commission early even though I owed uncle sam a couple more years for school. I think I would have liked to do my 20, but suspect it would have cost exactly one marriage. I look back on those six years though as some of the best of my life. I was active duty thru Panama, Somalia, Desert Shield-Storm.