My mother is a terrifying woman, she probably moved in willingly.

excellent

(replying to this because it won't let me on the others)
What do you mean it sneaks up on you?

I'm American.

What branch?

Army, combat medic

Holy **** , that's exactly what i plan to do.

Expect a long, tough road. And if you end up in foxtrot at AIT, expect to run a lot.

**** . I hate running. Are you in the Rangers or Green Berets or anything of that sort?

I hated running too, but then when you do battalion runs and you outrun 1200 other people you feel pretty good about yourself. And ha, no. I just got out of AIT about a month ago, I'm nothing special just yet. I can answer any questions about the training you have though.

What's it like being a combat medic? Do people respect you a lot?
I meant to but this on my last picture.

It is actually one of the most respected MOSs. If you show you know what you are doing people will always be happy to see you, call you doc, and if you are senior medical personnel you can order around a captain if the situation calls for it.

MOS?

Ah, right. Your MOS is your job in the military, and is run by codes. Infantry is 11B, medics are 68W, stuff like that. Medics are a high value addition to any squad because their job is to keep the soldiers alive, which usually causes them to be well guarded.

Oh, okay. I'm sorry I'm asking a lot of questions, I plan on joining the second I'm 18 (I'm 15 now). Whats the best way to prepare? Right now I'm in football but I'm about to quit, and I'm in FFA. My school has an ROTC program, but the people in in aren't respected at all.

Don't worry about asking the questions, my knowledge is no good if I can't share it. Honestly if you want to get ready for basic, do a lot of pushups, sit ups, and running and expect to do a lot of them. The PT tests run on these three and they are common methods of smoking. Another fun one is being left in the front leaning rest. If you want to know how much that sucks, get into the push up ready position and just stay there for a whole minute without flexing your back. Also, sleep while you can.

I've done that push-up thing in football practices. Would it be a bad thing for me to quit football> Also, How would college work, because don't you need some form of doctorate to be a medic?

quitting football won't hurt you other than needing a new way to stay in shape. As for a doctorate, no. You are thinking of a PA, which is an officer in charge of aid stations. To be a medic you need a national EMT certification but if you don't have one you get one while there, though that doubles your time at AIT. If you want your training to be 4 months (including basic) instead of six, get a national EMT cert before you ship out.

Is that very hard?

For some. For me it was pretty easy, but I've always been good at tests and paying attention. Once you get past EMT and pass your final PT test (This is halfway through AIT) you will receive gold phase privileges which is eating where you want for dinner and getting to leave post on weekends. After EMT is whiskey side, which is the actual medic training (medics are called 68 whiskeys) and it is much more physically demanding. I would call the EMT side death by power point, and whiskey side death by IV stick. Your final step will be camp bolis, which will be the most physically demanding and beat the hell out of you, but it is so worth it in the end.

as context, me before heading out into the field

and this is when I got back

you don't look that different...

This all happens within those 4 or 6 weeks?

EMT is about 8 weeks total, but the actual class is six weeks. Whiskey side is another 6 weeks, then you go to bullis for two weeks, and then you have a week of out processing.

So, if I were to get EMT done now, It would only be 15 weeks as opposed to 23?

*comment

(replying to this because it won't let me on the others)

I probably did the math wrong on that... AIT is 16 weeks total, 26 with basic training. As for the pictures I guess you can't see it as well, but I was bruised up and dirty. I could upload shots from the actual camp bollis training if you want though.

As for getting an EMT cert now, yes that will drastically shorten your training because you won't need the classes. You would be accelerated to a company already in gold phase. Just make sure it is a national cert, they won't take a state cert.

Oh hell you are bruised up! Just wondering, whats you company and division?

Currently awaiting permanent assignment, I report to my new unit this weekend actually.

I have to report to school in a few days

heh, it will fly by, it might feel like forever but when you walk into the auditorium and everyone is cheering it will hit you with a big old "Holy **** I'm graduating high school." You'll probably miss school for a year or two because you are bored, and then you will be happy to be free of all the drama.

I won't be bored, I'll probably be in PT by then

true enough. I waited until I was 22 to sign up (I'm 23 now) because I wanted to be sure it was what I wanted. Granted that makes my promotability a bit screwed up, but it doesn't matter.

How easy is it to be promoted? I've seen a lot of shows that make it seem like a cakewalk, but both of my grandfathers were specialists and never anything more.

going from private to specialist is literally just a matter of time if you don't **** up. After 6 months you go from pvt to pv2, another 6 months to a year is pfc, after another year or so is specialist. After that is NCO ranks, which you need to be an exceptional soldier to make because you are expected to lead. You go before a board and answer questions, and they decide if you deserve to be an NCO or not.

That explains it. My grandpas probably didn't want to do that. Have you made any friends in the Army?

Yes, quite a few. Some of them are even invited to my wedding. My room mate at AIT was my bunk mate in basic, so we were literally together non-stop for six months. He became like a brother to me, and I would trust him with my life any time. You are going to hate people in the army, and you will become family with people in the army, it sneaks up on you.

Not too much here, congrats on reaching max level!

I'm not level 37 lol.

Oh damn shows how much i pay attention! I level up pretty slow but mine is mostly through comments.

I'm almost at level 31. I need to upload some new content so I can level up.

Zombie cancer!