Interesting.

It costs $10-20 to purchase a cheap thigh holster for a gun. It costs $90-130 for a good tactical thigh holster. It costs thousands of dollars to redo a shot when the cheap holster fails to allow your principal actor to draw his weapon in a timely fashion.

It's the last week of filming for Red Dawn, conveniently at Kmart HQ! Indoors! Yeah it's chilly inside since the building's been abandoned so long, but it's convenient that it's so close.

What happened?

I've been back two months already. I had goals but they didn't end up getting accomplished. What I was looking forward to most upon getting back from the Carolinas was seeing all my good friends again. Instead, the vast majority of the people who I thought were my closest friends have either copped out or have been too busy to see me, oftentimes before they move elsewhere. The knowledge that I'm going to Iraq next year means that any potential grad school or full-time plans would be disrupted. For a moment when I first got back from Ft. Bragg, things were pretty much perfect. Now... not so much.

This is what I've been up to during filming of Red Dawn! Even if they don't call me back again, it was pretty badass to fire the Hungarian machine gun they mounted on top of the GPV.

Hmmm.

Seems to me like the people in aiv and harvest have only gotten more pretentious as time goes by.

Sick as hell

I dunno what it is, I started coughing Monday afternoon and Monday evening, went to bed around 9ish after a dose of Nyquil... and woke up at 2:30-3 feeling absolutely awful. I was hoping to film this entire week, but that seems unlikely now. A couple of people are getting sick, it probably isn't swine flu but I wonder what exactly ails me.

PKM!

It's been cool to be back on set. Past two days I was a videographer, today I got to operate a PKM. How neat is that?!

Things that grind my gears

iTunes. I don't know if this has happened to anyone else, but it lost all the playlist data I had set up, so now I need to go back and set it all up again.

iPhone!

Got it this week after Red Dawn paychecks started filtering in. It's such an improvement over my old phone, I don't even know if there are any good comparisons I can make. There are a ton of actually useful apps like Flixster, Photoshop Mobile, the Bible, and the games are definitely convenient.

One month.

Wow, it's been a month since I hopped on a plane back to Michigan. The first two weeks I was home were absolutely shit crazy: processing into the unit, going back to work, and getting started as an extra in Red Dawn. The third week went by relatively quickly since it was all filming, and now things have kind of slowed down. I was pretty happy/content with the way life was going, but now... meh. Maybe things are too slow?

There's so much stuff to take care of involving the future - Army paperwork, figuring out career plans after I come back from Iraq, etc.
- Making whatever cinematic projects with Ivan
- Military consultant to the entertainment industry
- Grad school for public policy/maybe law school?

I wish I could stay in touch with my close friends, been having a few conversations about how to prioritize relationships given our current circumstances.

When I was really down this week, I found "Beautiful" by Eminem to really resonate with the way I was feeling. Interesting, because it's not the first time I've found his music to be really relevant to my life, and it also begs the question: does listening to Eminem reflect my mood, or exacerbate it?

When I graduated from Basic and AIT, I thought I had really accomplished something in my life, but nowadays I wonder...



Am I really a confident badass now? Or am I hiding behind a uniform one weekend a month? Have I even really changed at all? Have my dreams really come true?

I guess these are all rhetorical questions for me to chew on.

Friday.

Haven't gone to Pontiac today and yesterday, which I don't mind too much. Wednesday they didn't even use the PLA extras, just the civilians and stunt doubles, sat around all day.

Oh... the weather isn't going so well

Filmed a little bit in the morning, damn it was freezing! Then... sat around the whole afternoon, and wrapped early. Apparently they blew up a car and flipped it over, didn't get to see it though.

I guess I should start journaling consistently again

Can't sleep even though I need to be on set by 0630 tomorrow, must be the thoughts running through my head! I guess I need to recap what's been going on.

Labor Day Weekend: Hung out with Niu, Lily, Niu's cousin, Jack Kou, and Jack's friend at Red Robin as sort of a "yay I'm back in Michigan" sort of deal.

Inprocessing/Drill Weekend: Things were slow at times, but definitely an interesting experience.

Back to work! It sucks that I don't know the filming schedule until basically we've finished filming for the day and then they tell us if we're needed again or not.

First Day on Set, 18 Sept: Filming an action sequence in Royal Oak, getting introduced to the other Asian extras, some of the crew, the military advisor, etc.

First full week of filming: Wow, 60+ documented hours of work.

Friday 25 Sept: Damn! Totally forgot Sufjan Stevens was playing in Pontiac, and didn't even realize that the Crofoot was basically next to some of the shooting locations! Got included in Sarge's "elite" group of 13 extras, haha.

Saturday 26 Sept: Melpan hooked me up with a ticket to the Homecoming game against Indiana, it was definitely nice to make the traditional walk to the Big House with vegetation changing color, rap music blaring, and alcohol overflowing on people's porches. Also nice that we won the game, the outcome was definitely in doubt until the very end. Got to see Alicia in the evening, which was quite welcome even if it was only for a few hours. Went to Sonic's for the first time ever, it reminded me way too much of WALL-E's lazy future.

2nd day on set.

Saw/actually paid attention to a whole bunch of the up and coming stars at today's shoot - Isabel Lucas, Josh Peck, Chris Hemsworth, Connor Cruise... not sure who else. Didn't really interact with them though Josh Peck did wave hello, but they seem pretty chill for the most part.

It's crazy, now that I think about it, how little free time I have with being on set all day - 12/13 hours at Red Dawn from 6:30 AM-7:30ish PM, sleep from 9 PM-5 AM... damn! It's pretty decent money, and the catered food is pretty good, it's just that I've realized what a time drain it is. I don't regret doing it though, it's not often that you get a chance like this to being in a major Hollywood film, even if it's only for a few seconds.

1st day of filming

Being in a movie is a lot like being in the Army - you spend a lot of time waiting before rehearsing and executing the mission, haha. I find it amusing that I've been railing against negative Asian stereotypes most of my life, only to willingly volunteer for one of the worst stereotypes out there. It doesn't matter, I'm getting paid!

Red Dawn

It's been a whirlwind of activity since I got back to Michigan, especially this week now that the Labor Day weekend's over.

- Processed into unit, will participate in 9/11 memorial on Friday, drill this weekend

- Found out I'm most likely going downrange next year

- Got fitted for a costume to be an extra in the remake of Red Dawn

- Started working at my old job again

I'm intrigued by the possibilities of going downrange, but I simultaneously fret about the danger. Even though I'm "only" 23 it seems like there's a huge time crunch to try to get things done before I go overseas. I don't think I'm fretting as much as realizing how valuable time can be.

Maybe we can start again.

It's bittersweet to be back in Michigan. On one hand, I've really missed being home with the family and friends, and it was definitely nice to be back in AA. However, Ann Arbor is such a transient place with people coming and going! It was cool to attend Bubble Tea Bash and a tailgate at Yellow House, but it's just not the same without the old crowd. I may not go to a football game until I get part of the old gang back in town.

It's interesting to me which habits I've retained and which ones I've broken already - the first night I was home I went to bed at 2230 in PTs, woke up and tried to run PT but my feet got really fucked up during AIT so I'm gonna take it easy with that for a little while.

Yay?

Basic Combat Training is over! It was definitely quite a learning experience with highs and lows, right now I'm just chilling before Advanced Individual Training, or more focused job training, begins - dunno if I'll have internet access then, so just doing what I can now to add a couple of entries from the past two and a half months. I have to report to Fort Bragg soon, we'll see how that goes... right now I just need a breather.

Some thoughts from BCT:
- Having a dump pouch to drop empty magazines into is REALLY convenient and I really missed having one during training, as opposed to the ease of reloading I had when playing airsoft. I'll definitely have one for future deployments.
- I curse more prodigiously now than I have in the past, I was trying to ease up on it but it's the nature of my profession.
- It's funny, I've been trying to break my habit of wearing hats all the damn time, and now they're required whenever I'm outside in uniform, whether it's a beret or a patrol cap. They sure are useful though, my head would burn otherwise!

Some last thoughts.

Bah, charge of quarters duty tonight from 0000-0200, this is the third night in a row that I've had some kind of duty and had to get up at an odd hour of the night. My summer boots are still damp from when I tried to clean them, so I'm rolling in my winters at the moment. Might as well write down some thoughts while I still can.

I know BCT has been quite the experience, but sometimes (especially in recent days) I wonder if I've improved as a person and/or how much I've changed as a result of going through the experiences I have. I think I've gotten stronger, I can't really tell. I've definitely learned a lot, I guess the question is how much I'm going to be able to retain and apply besides the four words "safe back down move". I've definitely learned a lot more about myself and how I work, but will I be able to improve on my deficiencies? Hmmm.

The hook "sometimes goodbye is a second chance" has been on my mind quite frequently - I wonder if it really holds true.

Maybe it's a coincidence, maybe it's fate, but it's mildly interesting that when I was six years old, I dressed up as GI Joe for Halloween... look where I am now, and the GI Joe movie is coming out at the same time. I wonder if mom still has pictures of me in my camouflaged vest she sewed me back then.

Victory Forge and "Haji Yao"

WE MADE IT! According to Belangia (3rd squad leader, shot hawkeye or 40/40) we made the road march in about three hours and 45 minutes, and we had two long halts in the middle to rest. I figured it was about nine miles, though I heard that someone from 2nd platoon asked the company commander how much further we had to go at one point, and he extended it by another two miles so 11 total. The tents here trap heat like no one's business, and using a sleeping bag for anything other than to use as a pillow seems like it might be a bad idea considering how hot it is. We better be motor moving (taking the buses) back on Thursday!

1300 - A 1st platoon drill sgt is giving a class on room entry and clearing but there's an Apache flying in circles around the area, it's definitely pretty distracting.

1715 - just ran an OPFOR* mission with my squad of 13. I role-played a suicide bomber - had a mock bomb vest underneath my ACU top flipped inside out, and wore my patrol cap backwards. I sauntered right up to Gate 2 yelling randomly in Chinese and "detonated" right in front of two guards, and another two got called out by the drill sgt who was supervising my attack. The rest of my squad attacked conventionally a few minutes later and bagged three guards, so altogether we netted seven of them? It was definitely a good time.

OPFOR - Opposing Force - roleplaying the enemy

NIC at Night

NIC was fucking chaos! The 1SG and CPT were impressed by our platoon's rehearsal in the afternoon, but the actual event went to shit, not sure why DS Holthus gave us an overall rating of "not bad". My eyepro and inserts completely fogged up and I couldn't see anything during the event, gotta wipe 'em down to prevent it from happening again next time.

There was a mock ambush on the trail to NIC my squad was assigned to take care of, but given I couldn't see anything we ended up flanking short of where the enemy actually was... oops.

I crawled my ass off in the sand when we made it there, haha. I didn't really pay attention to the live machine gun fire overhead or the boom pits, pretty much focused on crawling and suppressive fire. It really wasn't that hard to crawl under the wire, maybe I had to duck around a bit but I didn't really get slowed down. Blanks kept fouling up the M16, and a lot of sand got in all the crooks and nannies inside, it'll need a thorough cleaning for sure.

Once we got to the trench, squad was a little slow in getting in - we were about to swing over when the casualty was called, I slid down and immediately ended up running in knee-high water. Our squad hauled ass to the casualty collection point, though we got slowed down by the cadre - we were already in a formation, then someone splits us up to count us I think, then someone else yells at us to make a formation... what? I think we did a good job of making it to the casualty collection point and rapidly setting up security though, I heard 2nd and 3rd squads had a clusterfuck on their hands though with dropping the casualty and whatnot.

DS Holthus was pretty pissed off at our performance, but he thought about it and said not bad when we were back in the company area, so we might get our phones Monday after post detail.

3-Day FTX = bust

Well, the 3-Day started out normally, we ate MRE's for breakfast and had a motor move over to the site, then we had training after lunch chow.

Then around 1600... the shit hit the fan weather-wise with the most ridiculous storm I've ever experienced in my life so far! I got thoroughly soaked during dinner chow since the rain was going sideways underneath the cover our company took refuge under. It was absolutely freezing standing in wet ACU's and being unable to go anywhere else since it was a lightning protection area, sucked since I had to go to the bathroom and we couldn't run out to the portapotties, which was actually kind of amusing since one blew over due to the strong winds. The other platoons all started to act like jackasses during the storm, but us in 3rd kept our military bearing throughout the hours we huddled in the cold.

Eventually we packed our gear up and took buses back to base - I got lucky, I threw all my stuff in my tent so it was all dry for the most part, but a lot of people's equipment got soaked or washed away by the torrential rain. DS Holthus said we did a good job of remaining disciplined during the storm, and he usually doesn't say such things! Have CQ tonight from 2300-0100. Only a week or so left until Victory Forge, we'll see how it goes!

Reception, how I haven't missed you...

We had a "boxed lunch" for breakfast, don't know why it's called that since it was all prepackaged breakfast products like cereal and Pop Tarts... then we headed to 120th for shots and deferred issue, aka getting our dress uniforms! I think they look pretty good, but reception itself sucked like usual with the hurrying up and waiting. Dinner was really rushed since we weren't quite done with D.I. by the time the buses arrived, I only had time to shove down a personal pan pizza and some rice before rushing on the bus. At least I sneaked a piece of cake at lunch!

It was nice to be able to use my cell phone later on - called family and Vicki Jaw to say wassup, haha. Apparently gas is $2.85/gal in Michigan according to mom, but the gas station(s) on base are selling it for $2.36.

Gotta pack for the 3-day FTX coming up, Andrew Jackson range is tomorrow. I can't wait to wear the beret as part of my uniform!

Omaha

Coincidence, or design that we go to the Omaha range on the 65th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy? The shoot was fucking crazy! It wasn't difficult and I didn't have any problems negotiating it, but the whole concept of live fire buddy-team movement is crazy to me/I'm definitely not used to it yet. We'll see how the Andrew Jackson range goes, it'll be a five-person live fire movement drill... the practice went okay but I must repeat, live fire is crazy!

A few of the privates who had behaved all cycle got to go to a minor-league baseball game in the afternoon after Omaha, it was pretty nice being able to leave Ft. Jackson and go into the city! However, what I saw of the city wasn't much to write about... the nicest part was Williams-Brice Stadium (where the USC Gamecocks play football) and the rest was a dump. In general though, I think we've been pretty lucky this cycle, I know everyone on the bus, including DS Burt, watched as we passed a platoon getting smoked in the sandpit. They were doing low crawls in PTs and running laps around a track after they finished crawling, we haven't had to do that yet this cycle and I hope we never have to!

We watched the Columbia Blowfish play some other team that I've forgotten, something Hi-Tops. There was a random country singer named Eric Horner who only performed patriotic ballards, and he didn't even have musical instruments, just prerecorded music. It was still mildly entertaining, looks like this is his website: http://victoryconcerts.com/

The best part of the whole damn spectacle: eating normal food again! I spent $18 on food the afternoon and evening, and was still hungry at the end of the night, though it was to be expected since 3000 soldiers had been shipped to the game and that's not even counting the civilian attendees, haha. The fireworks show at the end of the game was pretty neat, then we got whisked away to the buses which actually went relatively quickly for the privates from our company, it was mass chaos for everyone else. Had a shakedown when we got back to ensure we didn't bring any goodies back, and that was Saturday for ya!

Barricade, NVG shoots

I'm really stressed out right now, I have too much responsibility that I didn't ask for being a squad leader. The BN Co. is visiting the bays tomorrow, my ass will be smoked as part of leadership if the bays are't clean, if we don't ensure the platoon is properly hydrated, if selected people don't turn in their M16 accessories, or if people don't clean their weapons in the morning... damn!

We had the single barricade shoot, lateral drills, and other CQB live fire drills during the day, and NVG shoot at night. Our platoon got smoked really bad because people aren't able to practice weapon safety or get in the prone position correctly. Sucked, but what else is new? For the most part, our whole company was kind of sloppy in our movements, it's all part of training.

The NVG shoot was pretty neat, it went very much like how it gets depicted in video games like Call of Duty 4. We only had 15 rounds and shot targets that were only 25-40m away, but still it was still neat to place the PAQ-4 IR beam over the target and blast away. Cpt. McAbee demonstrated the AN/PVS-13 thermal sight for us, it's a pretty neat toy but damn expensive at around $8500!

It's been too long of a day, too much going on tomorrow and the rest of the week... wakeup at 0600 and I'm just finishing this entry up at 2330.

Only a marksman.

25/40 on the last day of M-16 qualification, laaame. I really wanted that sharpshooter badge, maybe it'll happen later. The drill sgt asked me if I wanted to bet I could make expert if he gave me another crack at qualification... had to decline his offer.

Not much else happened to day besides cleaning weapons - I made a smart ass comment about PT to the platoon today since a lot of people were whining about it and hoping for being rewarded for doing well though their scores on the last test were atrocious. The next PT test is tomorrow, I hope I can back up my big words and improve my score, haha.

Sick Call, Grouping, Fireguard

Ugh, I hate fireguard duty, I have it right now from 2300-0100 with wakeup being at 0430 tomorrow morning. I'm already pretty damn tired from sleeping horribly and being sick these past few days. On that note, going to sick call this morning a total disaster! You really shouldn't go unless you have something really, really serious. It's absolutely freezing outside, there were 70-100 people packed into the waiting area, we had to go over in our summer PTs... it was bad, haha. At least I'm cleared medically, got some medication for my cold and eyedrops for a possible infection.

Got back to the company area and waited a little while, then we caught the van to range 1 for chow, more waiting, and then grouping our M16's! Grouping means getting 5/6 consecutive shots within a ~4 cm circle anywhere on the target, it took me about 6 mags (18 rounds) to group since the first 2 mags were way off to the right due to the zero of the weapon so really it took 4 mags, haha. We have zeroing tomorrow, which means that the group has to be center mass on the target. Supposedly we passed our inspection this morning, we'll see about moving on to white phase. Need more sleep, and less sweeping and mopping of the latrine!

Oops.

We had BRM training after a pretty intense PT session this morning, the Cobra is quite an unpleasant exercise! I got in trouble around chow time for a verbal altercation with Choate and got the platoon smoked, won't be bringing that kind of petty stuff to DS Burt's attention again! I really wish people would stop talking back to me and giving me attitude when I give them instructions, and how am I supposed to function effectively as a leader if I can't do anything about it when people don't listen?

I think I shot pretty well at the Engagement Skills Trainer today, so I guess we'll see how things go when we actually group on Monday. I'm still feeling pretty sick and have been coughing non stop for a while - it needs to end! I bet I could've gotten eight hours of sleep last night, but I was too congested and was coughing too much.

2055 - Word on the street is that we'll go to White Phase after bay inspections on Monday. Gonna try to sleep now, and do laundry tomorrow. ACU's are a real pain in the ass to keep stain-free, I've been trying to handwash the set I used at combatives with no real success.

Gas Chamber and other stuff

Our company performed some experiment this morning called the Combat Maneuver Course, where we run 2 laps around a track with our weapons, and a timed course with several objectives such as high crawling and carrying a 150 lb battle buddy a few meters. The two parts that sucked the most were running with a M16 and dragging someone who weighed 20 lbs more than me, but other than that it was pretty interesting.

It was kind of a long march to the gas chamber. CS gas freaking burns, that's all I gotta say about that! It was kind of a weird sensation being in the chamber, I wasn't scared I was just nauseated and coughing up my lungs, I'm not quite sure how to describe it. Once we exited... lots of dry-heaving, miles of mucus coming out of my nose... Hell, my mask didn't have a good seal while I was in the chamber, definitely stung a little bit. I still haven't completely washed it off yet, will probably finish it up in the morning, must do laundry ASAP! Oh yeah, trying to rinse your hands off with water and then trying to wash your face doesn't seem to be that productive, seems like it just rubs it in even deeper.

Had my first MRE today, Spaghetti with Meat Sauce. It was actually pretty delicious, maybe I should look into getting some when I'm all done with training, haha.

In other news, I got detached from my old battle buddies (odd number of males in the platoon so one team of three) and was reassigned to a new guy. He made it to week 2 of red phase before getting pneumonia way back in February or so, I guess we'll see how it goes with him.

The Special Olympics opening ceremony was actually kind of fun, except for the fact that we had to march there, on top of the march to and from the Gas Chamber this morning.

I'm not sure what else to write about and there's a bit going on so I should probably sleep soon. Gotta get battle buddy a PT mat since PT will destroy us tomorrow, then we have Victory Tower tomorrow!

NBC

Today we got issued our M40 series gas masks and learned two of the three firing positions we'll be using at BRM qualification. I'm pretty much ready to hit the sack at lights out, I just have to brush my teeth and write now. Maybe it's a trick, but the first week of red phase really hasn't been that bad so far.

So much for laying low...

Today we had the team development course, our platoon basically tried to overcome two obstacles using teamwork and the tools at our disposal while following the rules laid out. First one was laying down planks to move people and supplies from one side to another, I improvised and said something smart (I think) and now I've been assigned to be a squad leader. I didn't want to stand out, now I'm leadership!

"There are no thieves in the Army, only people trying to get their stuff back."

Today was a long day of classes on customs, Equal Opportunity, and a few other things that I don't really remember but jotted some notes on. Gotta learn stuff that might not be in either the Soldier's Handbook or Soldier's Manual of Common Tasks, hmmm. It seems that five words will define the next few weeks: front leaning rest position, move!

2100 - I can't believe it, some dirty motherfucker stole my PT shirt, shorts, and unclean underwear while I was in the shower. It's only the second day we've been here!

Reception, Day 1

Holy crap I'm miserable, really didn't get any sleep at all, and it didn't help that I couldn't sleep at the hotel the past two nights from anticipating BCT. We were issued PT uniforms as soon as we go there (one of my shirts ended up being a XXL, not sure what to do about that), and finished processing around 0200... then wakeup at 0400, lame! After that, we got issued our smart cards and went to the PX, had some medical testing, etc. The reception platoon I'm in, the 41st, is actually kind of small since it's only 23 people. Seems like most people are in the same boat as me, MEPS command delayed their flights and whatnot and now we're all here together. It's cool for the most part, people are pretty funny but they also do a lot of dumbass things. It's been a long day and I don't remember much else, I'll add more if I remember.

Ugh.

Somewhere along the chain of command, someone decided I was going to Fort Leonard Wood instead of Fort Jackson. Apparently they might have fixed that in the records, but they didn't get me a plane ticket... and I don't find out until I'm ready to go to the bus, I'm still not entirely sure what happened. Awesome. My irritation is turning back into nervousness though, we'll see how this reception/basic training thing play out!

One last trip to the recruiting office...

Had to take care of some last minute things today. Went to the recruiter's office to double check my paperwork and to make sure of what I could bring along to basic training, then purchased shower sandals, undies, and a watch at Old Navy and Target. I still need to get a phone card before I hit up the hotel tonight. Two of my other friends who enlisted this year have finished basic, one graduates this week, and two more go to OSUT (combined basic/AIT) in May. Good times?

It's all a mental game at this point - I'm not the lowest common denominator in American society, so I should be able to make it through alright, right? Haha.

Further updates on this blog will be posted by Ivan as I mail him stuff, so it may take a while.

Leaving this week!

It's about to happen! Updates will be coming by mail to whoever can maintain this for me, right it's probably gonna be Ivan, haha. If you decide to mail me, ONLY send me letters, cards, or pictures. Self-addressed, stamped envelopes would also be nice so I can respond right back without hassle, haha. Do NOT send me any food, candy, porn (I know y'all are perverts,) or other contraband of any kind. Thanks in advance!

The Wall

On a more serious note, there was something at the unit HQ that caught my eye when I visited on Wednesday, a wall with several plaques and photographs of soldiers who died on the last tour in Iraq in 2004. It's not all fun and games in the Army Reserve, this is serious business. I've heard about people who've been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and come back changed, and I wonder how much I would get changed if I went overseas.

One thing about the Army

You have to keep your hair length to within acceptable standards, which is kind of too bad because I can grow a lot of hair on my head real fast! This will be sacrificed for the next six years, who knows how my hair will grow when I'm older? haha!

Pre-Basic Basic!

It definitely makes sense, but it's kind of amusing to me that the Army has a checklist of information that Future Soldiers need to know, as well as physical fitness tests, like a pre-Basic Training Basic Training of sorts. I'm already starting to operate on military time, just working on the warrior values and whatnot at the moment.

I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.

Hooah!

MEPS

"Hurry up and wait." - Popular Expression

I wasn't really surprised, but not really happy either, at how long processing at MEPS took. Wakeup time was at 0430, and I proceeded to check out of the hotel and eat crappy hotel food from 0500 to 0530.

Highlights:
Urine testing - the wait was so long that I went to the bathroom twice before they finally got to me, one of the last people to take it. Imagine 10 or so guys who drank plenty of water, sitting on the edge of their seats on the verge of losing it while waiting for the five guys ahead of them to finish the testing, and you'll know how it is.

Paperwork - I finished all my medical stuff at about 1200-1230, and went to the Army office, where I was told to eat lunch and wait. I finish that... and wait until about 1400, when they produce a contract, except it's active duty and I'm supposed to be in the Reserves. The error is finally fixed in the system around 1700, and I finally swear in the Army Reserve at about 1725.

-----

Oh snap! What have I gotten myself into? haha, I know things will be alright, but it will be a totally different world/environment when I ship to basic. I guess I'm having a hard time shedding the last vestiges of being a civvie, but I think it'll be a good change.