11 Days Left -- Schedule for Shipping

Good afternoon readers,

A couple hours ago, my recruiter came over to talk to my family and I about the fine details of my enlistment -- what life will be like after boot camp, what my contract says about bonuses, and so on. We also talked quite a bit about what I will have to worry about financially once I graduate. Anyway, here's the schedule:

• On Sunday, July 18th at 1 pm, or 1300, I will be meeting at my recruiter's office. He will go over a detailed training matrix of what I will be doing each day. After the briefing, he will drive me down to a hotel in San Diego. I might be able to have one final meal with my family before leaving; I have to check back into the hotel by 8 pm. So technically, my last full day as a civilian will be on Saturday the 17th. 
• On Monday, July 19th, the craziness begins. I will be waking up at about 3:30 in the morning to get ready for the day. After breakfast, we will leave the hotel at about 5 am to drive down to MEPS, or the Military Entrance Processing Station. I've been here twice before when I originally enlisted into the Delayed Entry Program...this time will just be a final medical check, and the Oath of Enlistment. I swore in once before into the DEP, but this time, I will actually be swearing-in to active duty service in the United States Marine Corps. Here is a video of my original swear-in on October 1st, 2009:

           Every individual wanting to join any branch of the United States military must go through MEPS. It is where each applicant's SRB, or Service Report Book (I believe), is started. This will follow them throughout their career. Every applicant is thoroughly screened: there's an FBI background check (complete with a picture taken and all 10 fingerprints scanned), urinalysis/blood test (to test for drugs/HIV/pregnancy for females), hearing/vision test, and a full physical exam. It lasts all day. But for my final swear-in, since I'm already in the system, it shouldn't be long. I'll probably have the final swearing-in sometime around lunch. Once that is complete, I'm off!

• My scheduled graduation date is Friday, October 15th. I will then have 10 days leave, during which I'm free to visit family and friends. I will then spend one month at Camp Pendleton for Marine Combat Training, where I will learn basic infantry skills, and learn to fire a multitude of weapons, and how to throw a grenade. Upon completion of that, I will spend 6 months at the Armed Forces School of Music. I will get Christmas off. Once I'm done with that, I will get my $10,000 bonus (for being a musician). I am definitely going to be saving it for a car once I get into the fleet. Anyway, after all my training, I should be stationed at Camp Pendleton sometime during the summer of 2011. I'm hoping to go to Afghanistan shortly after. We'll see. 

As usual, thanks for reading! Feel free to leave some comments with your thoughts, questions or suggestions!