The process

Early 2007, the initial discussions were about what we wanted to do in the
Army if we went back in and we both came to the conclusion that what we did
not want to do was any kind of support job which both of us had done
previously in the service. We pretty much came to the mutual decision to
join the Airborne Infantry unit that Clint was in partly because Clint was
there and also there was good intelligence that they were going to be
called up for deployment. We both were joining the Guard again specifically
for deployment. The summer months of 2007 were a flurry of phone calls and
internet searches of what infantry units and or combat units that were
available in the guard and were on the list for deployments. For a red hot
minute it looked as if I would not be able to join Clint’s unit and that
brought a whole new flurry of activity trying to find a good unit to go to.
I looked at joining a leg ( non-Airborne) unit out of Detroit but was
warned that they were ate the fuck up (not worth a damn) and also a
mechanized Infantry unit on the west side of the state but the commute was
too much for me. Eventually it all worked out and both Sean and I got into
Clint’s unit.. I mean if you are going to do something big like re-
enlisting at age 41 you might as well go big, right? I looked at it all as
a mid life crisis and since neither of us could afford a new sports car we
would go back into the Army as Infantry. So we went to the local
recruitment office in Ypsilanti and told the recruiter we wanted to re-
enlist as Infantry which caused a lot of raised eyebrows, especially when
we told them what unit we wanted to go to. We actually went to see the
recruiter several times and called him several times before we committed to
anything. Having been prior service we wanted to make sure we did not get
screwed over which unbelievably still happens these days. We ended up
signing a 2 year contract with no bonus as they could not find all our
previous service records. (which ended up working very well for me)with a
guaranteed Infantry slot.


Everything else was a smooth ride except when it came to the medical
portion. The recruiters sent us to a private clinic in Wixom for our
physicals instead of the local MEPS ( Military in processing station) . It
was nice to not have to go through the MEPS process with all the other
recruits but the doctor we went to ended up being some kind of retard.
Basically true to government form they use the lowest bidder for those
types of services and it shows believe me. There were a couple of close
calls medically but we both finally passed after having to go to our
individual doctors and setting some things straight. Which was a huge
relief to both of us and also to the recruiters as we had passed all the
other tests with flying colors. As a testament to the able minds of my
friends both Sean and I passed the ASVAB (Armed forces entrance exam) well
above the average which is funny since we are both high school dropouts
with no college. To give an example when I went to take my test I was in a
van with 4 other people all of which had recently graduated from high
school, only one other person passed the test and he just barely passed.
This is sad as the ASVAB is not that hard of a test and the computer
version that we took has somewhat of a curve to it. As you answer questions
they either get harder or easier based on your answer. For example if you
answer the question wrong the next question is easier and if you answer
correctly the next question is harder. I just figured that the ones that
did not pass must have spelled their names wrong.


So finally after several small bumps in the road Sean and I went down to
the recruiters office and raised our right hands. Not only did we get to
join the National guard for 2 years but we also got these cool pens with
built in laser pointers and a nice coffee travel mug, what a deal.