It has been quite awhile since I last posted about the Oregon Air National Guard (“ORANG”).  I am officially an enlisted member of the U.S. Armed Forces.  I did really well on the ASVAB, better than I thought I would. I think I was mostly nervous since much of the subject matter I hadn’t needed to look at since high school.  Nonetheless I did well and basically had my pick of whichever Air Force Specialty Code (“AFSC”) to choose from.

ASVAB Recap:

I studied for a few weeks before my test date.  I also signed up for websites that provided free practice tests to test my progress.  I performed better than my practice tests, so whatever that means haha.  Overall I took about 2.5 hours to complete it.  The test location happened to be at the MEPS, so it was nice to see the place before I had to come again for my physical.  The people working there were nice and even cracked a couple of jokes, which I was not expecting.  Once the test was over I called my recruiter to let him know my test results.  I already had an idea of what I wanted to do, and he began the process to have me visit the base and speak with someone in the AFSC I was interested in.

MEPS Recap:

Oh MEPS. I must say, when I arrived there bright and early at 5:30am, I was unsure of what to expect.  Right off the bat I noticed I was one of the oldest applicants there, if not the oldest.  There were also a few girls there, about five of us total.  We entered in the building around 6:05am and proceeded through in airport security like fashion.  I had thought we could bring our phones but we had to leave everything in a storage closet.  It was a very long day and at some point I thought to myself, what am I doing here?  It was also very cold and time went by so slow.  The good thing was that the girls were all friendly and we passed the time just getting to know each other.  I passed of course, and was relieved to be one step closer to enlisting.

Enlistment Ceremony:

I enlisted on August 22, 2014.  My family attended as did several of my new colleagues.  I enlisted as a Personnel Apprentice.  As I raised my hand and swore the oath to protect my country, I felt honored and proud to serve in the United States Air Force, the best air force in the world.  My whole family was super proud, and they enjoyed getting to know their way around the base.  Immediately after I enlisted I proceeded to process my paperwork, and was guided around by my sponsor.  Everything felt so new and I was just mesmerized by it all.

Fly, Fight, and Win!