Ten Years later I found myself in a predicament. The Air Force would not let me join cause I was only seventeen! I thought well screw them then! I was so mad; I wanted to leave for basic that summer! Then I got a call from a U.S. Army recruiter. He said, "Did you know that in the Army we can pay for 75% of your college, give you money and you can leave this summer...if your intense enough..."

January 11th 2001, I signed my name about 80 times and BAM I was now enlisted in the U.S. Army. That sounded so cool; a Soldier in the U.S. Army. My dad was so proud, but my mom on the other hand said no at first. She was like "Why don't you wait a year and join the Air Force. It's less dangerous then being in the Army, and you sleep in motels instead of tents when you go places". Moms are crazy like that. Who cares if I sleep in a tent! She just didn't want to see her baby boy leave the house s

o soon for 9 weeks in Military Training. You know, the whole "growing up too fast" thing. That was my mom.

Now that I have told my story of basic training, you are all going to want to run to the nearest recruiter and sign up. You look at me and say to yourself, "Well if HE can do it ANYONE can do it!" Oh yeah? Can you handle 5 DS's yelling and spitting in your face and not being able to do something about it? All you can do is just stand there like a statue in the rain. Motionless. And if you moved, you were dropped. Can you handle it? Are YOU intense enough?

About the beginning of the 9th week, we were all excited and motivated because the end was near. It was a long 9 weeks and we were all ready to be done with it. When we weighed out I about crapped my pants. I came in at 196 and left at 165! I was ready to do it again if necessary! Some soldiers were going on to AIT (Advanced Individual Training) to learn the job they learned at MEPS (Military Entry Processing Station) while others like myself chose the Split-Option program (go to basic, come home for a year to complete high school, then return the next summer to become AIT qualified).

Have you ever cleaned so much your hands felt like they wanted to break away from your body and run away? Go to basic training. They will feel like that. We cleaned urinals, toilets, sinks, and floors. Hell we even got on our hands and knees and scrubbed the flo

Some common words found in the essay are:
SUPER MEAN, Richard Simmons, Pitts DS, Air Force, Processing Station, Force It's, DS Monroe, , Military Training, Infantry Regiment, air force, female ds's, ds monroe, drill sergeants, 9 weeks, basic training,
Approximate Word count = 953
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)