And What Now?

Been awhile... Things are good... as good as things can be, right now, at least... I seemm to still have a problem updating this at al regularly... but today will be an exception... There are some things i need to type out...

Had biology yesterday afternoon. Did a presentation on nutrition... went alright. Could have gone better, but i def hadn't prepared properly, so... eh. During break, i caught sight of a set of ACU's, and upon closer inspection, saw my recruiter at a table doing his thing...

So i headed over to say Hi. He was ironically showing a prospect -my- contract from when i enlisted, i stuck around a bit to talk to the prospect and my recruiter asked me to swing by after class. So i did. First thing out of his mouth after i sat down was "Do you want to go active duty?"

And how did i respond? First word out of my mouth was "when?"...

Then i realized what i had just said... and actually stopped to think about it. Started to think about school... about the apt... the kittens... Jaden... My mom and sister... and all the other things going on in my life right now that have opposite paths than active duty would...

So why did i respond the way i did? Why was my instinctual reaction to his question, yes?

Do I want to be on active duty? A large part of me thinks so... But its a big decision... life changing even... something i've got to think through... when I enlisted i didnt' think at all. They called, and I signed up... I can't do that again...

So... Pro's. What would be good about me going Active?

Pay- Active duty pay is a heckuva lot better than my security gaurd gig... and its garunteed. No worrying about hours being available or overtime or anything like that...
Exercise- I'd have to do PT again. Wouldn't have a choice... it would keep me fit
Schedule- Things would be regular again. x y and z would happen, every day, the way it should be... no more working at night school during the day, drill on a weekend, with all the random changes
Skills- I'd be doing what i'm trained for. Working in the capacity of a medic and upkeeping my skillset. No longer being stuck in this security job gig being overqualified and underpaid
Pride- It may be superficial... But I miss waking up every morning and putting on the uniform. Ever since my deployment thats been a huge hole in my life that i've not been able to fill... almost to the point that i've started to let myself go, because i have trouble feeling the self worth that i had when i was deployed
Education- Possible E-Army-U... Soldier to Teacher Program...
Training- EFMB, Airborne or Air Assault, Flight Medic, Physical Therapist, or other identifiers?
Location- Recruiter said i'd have Choice of Duty Station... depending on whats available that could be a plus...


And ofcourse there are always Con's... Possible negative things about active duty?

FRAGO's- Nature of the beast, things change and change often... never know what might come up
Deployment- A strong possibility of one or even multiple deployments...
Body- Increased physical stress on my seemingly already failing body, most pointedly knees
Time- I'd have to sign a new contract, and my time in would start over again and go until whatever it is that they're offering now...
Relocation- Active duty means being at an Active Duty Facility... None of those here in Iowa... I'd have to move somwhere... Leaving behind Mom and Sis... and Dad... And friends, again.
Education- Would have to discontinue the pursuit of my kirkwood degree
Adjustment- I would have to be introduced to and change over to an Active Duty mentality and lifestyle. Something i've been around but never fully a part of before


So now what? I'm going to start researching the option... figure out the details about soldier to teacher... if i'm eligible and what it requires... what the current active enlistment period is for the contract length... any bonuses... do all my homework online... Then I'll go in. I'll see what the recruiter has to tell me...

Check into what Duty Stations are available to choose from and/or benefits available... See how the transition works and what the logistics of it all would be. Jaden, for example. She'd come with me, shes told me as much. But we aren't married, she's not my dependent. So I need to find out how thats going to work. The army will see me as single unaccompanied... I'll need to know how housing will work because if i do it, I'm -going- to live with her and the kittensies. period.

What else? E Army U. Depending on what the soldier teacher things all about, i'll need to look into E Army U, which is a away for active duty soldiers to take college courses no matter where they are from a large co-op of accredited schools.

Rank? Will I have to take a rank reduction or will i hang onto the E-4 i already have? And whatever other differences the transition would cause... Like the bonus that i got for enlisting reserve side? Still have a pair of installments left to be paid on it, would they dissapear or would i still get them? and my GI bill? lots of questions it seems will need to be answered, for sure. And As I stated above, I've got to take it slow and do my homework. This isn't one of those things i can just hop on and hope for the best... This is serious.

Nothing i can do now at work, however. After class... when i get home from school... I'll start on the research... See what i can figure out. Maybe things will work out afterall... we'll see...

I've always felt out of place in the reserve life. Never fit in with that system or the mentality of its people. But I've never been a total active duty grunt, either. Things could get interesting... Oi. But I've gotta get to these readings for History class right now... four more hours of work before class time... then i'll be home and can start into figuring this all out.

Till then,
Be easy