Yeah, pretty much what Loach said. I went in cause I needed a job, no intention of making a career out of it. Eight years later, as I was signing out of my unit for my terminal leave, I couldn’t help feeling I was making a mistake. I still miss it. Mrs. Guest was the total opposite of me. She enlisted with the intention of being a lifer…eight years later, getting her final paperwork and DD214 was the happiest day of her career (she did have a damned good time though).
Ivygirl has however long her enlistment is to gain all the experience she needs to decide if she will re-enlist for another hitch, after that second one she will know enough to decide if she’s a lifer or not.
But regardless, it will be an experience that (from the sounds of things) will be a net positive and will give her many fond memories and change her attitudes about many things in subtle and some not so subtle ways. She has landed herself in one of the socially and economically safest places ever to make it through the perilous final steps into full maturity that we call the “early 20’s age bracket”
And there are worse things to do and worse employers to have. If she is a lifer, at least its a career with a future
She called at 4:45 this morning because she lost her debit card. Fortunately, we found it in the rental car and drove back to post to give it to her.
She’s currently on a 12-hour bus ride to San Antonio. I want to thank everyone for their support and insight and advice. It made this time much less stressful. I’ve noticed changes in her and I believe she will do very well at AIT.
Thanks again, Dopers. I couldn’t have gotten through this without you.
No 16yo and under soldiers. One of the realisations that came out of WWI was that you couldn’t depend on teenagers to stay awake on guard duty, even at risk of execution.
Child soldiers/ guerrillas are effective at lots of things, but staying awake for long periods isn’t one of them.
She’s now in San Antonio and experienced what I imagine will be the first of many Army snafus.
Apparently, the orders were f-ed up. They were told to be at Fort Sam Houston, but there were no orders to TRAVEL to Fort Sam Houston. :smack: (I guess the Army is looking forward to the invention of transporters.)
So, about half the soldiers on the bus were technically AWOL on the 14.5 hour trip from St. Robert, Missouri to San Antionio, Texas. When they got there they had no rooms available, but after a several hour wait they got it sorted out. She’s allowed to keep her phone except for duty days and is now a soldier medic.
and meanwhile back at leonardwood there is a travel nco looking at a stack of travel orders going “shit!”
Exact same thing happened to Mrs. Guest. She spent an extra two weeks at her BCT unit acting as a secretary and paperweight while they got it sorted out.
It happens, usually not a biggie.
They outprocessed basic without their orders? Or without a travel authorization?
Because letting a bunch of soldiers depart without their orders is a pretty big “Oops.” It sounds to me like she’s learned the first rule of military travel: Your orders are the most important piece of paperwork you will ever have. I normally make 20-30 copies Because so many different offices require them. This is NOT an exaggeration.
My guess is that she was given orders, but no DA31 to cover the travel period. This is probably because she is riding a military bus straight from Leonard Wood to Sam Houston. If this is the case, its not a big deal.
That’s exactly what happened. The bus came onto post, picked them up, and took them to Fort Sam Houston. It was a paperwork snafu, no biggie. I don’t know if the goof was at Leonard Wood for Sam Houston, but she’s got a room assignment and is currently filling out TONS of paperwork.