Well, the long year wait was over, and all I needed to do was go. From what I recall, the recruiter gave me a report date, but it was actually before my high school graduation. I think my mom called to complain, and my report date magically moved to 3 days after graduation. June 21, 1993. I reported to the local high school bright and early and the recruiters drove us to Harrisburg for stage 1 of our inprocessing. 2 notable events happened while I was at Harrisburg: the big lie that I mentioned in a previous story, and the physical.
The Big Lie
I had already signed my enlistment papers a year prior. However, when I got to Harrisburg, they told me that my job required a 5 year enlistment. So, they ripped up my 4 year commitment paper, and had me sign a 5 year commitment. I was too naive/lazy to protest so I went with it. In hindsight I should have protested. When I got to language school NOONE had a 5 year enlistment. I was the only one.
The Physical
This was actually quite a funny experience. Imagine 60 guys in their underwear duckwalking around a big room. Part of the physical was making sure that everyone had a full range of motion in all of their limbs and joints. They had us do other weird things like hold our hands out and flick our fingers. I don't know how the Army was in the years past, but at least they didn't make us do the "turn your head and cough" in front of everyone else there. So they called us one by one into the doctors office for the more personal exam. The doctor was a small oriental man who had an accent. After examining the front parts, he needed to look in the trunk, so he said the phrase I will remember for the rest of my life: "BENN OHVAH AN SUPWHEDD YAWW TSEEEK". I winced expecting a finger, but thankfully none came (that happened later in my Army career and will be the subject of a future blog post).
After Harrisburg, they flew us to Basic Training.
Next stop: Arrival at Ft. Jackson.
Stay tuned!
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