30 Before 30: Day 7 - Away From Home For the First Time

I think I have always been an interesting personality, certainly not the typical apple of the bunch, and when I was younger I was terrible with directions. Horrendous would be a better word. I lived in Kansas and one time when I was going to visit friends at Kansas State University I spent an hour driving .... looking for the entrance to the the highway, which I had completely passed.

So of course, you might imagine that when I first left home for college myself that something would go wrong. I was driving from Lawrence, KS to Palos Heights, IL. I had never lived on my own before and had also never driven such a great distance on my own. The drive is a little over 500 miles and going 5mph over the speed limit it takes about 9 1/2 hours.

I made the first mistake of deciding to drive overnight, mainly because I wanted to arrive during the day for move in. After some shed tears and goodbyes, I set out to the highway in my '88 White Honda Accord. This time I found the highway.

The drive was mostly fine as the highways themselves are pretty straight forward, especially the interstate. I drove through Iowa and then across Illinois. A few hours in, I nearly hit a chicken crossing the interstate. Yeah, that was unexpected. I imagine that on a country road, not the interstate.

Then somewhere around 6 hours or so an intense fog came through to the point I could barely see in front of me. Other cars zoomed past me at the speed limit and at around 3 or 4am I pulled over into a rest spot and took a nap. After about 45 minutes it cleared and I headed on.

As I neared my destination, I missed my exit. Then when I turned around and got off an exit I went the wrong way on the street. Then I had to turn around. I stopped multiple times looking at my atlas (this was before I had any access to GPS).

I finally made it to the college campus.... after about 11 hours of driving.

Thankfully, over the years my navigation skills have improved greatly. I also have access to GPS. And I don't get lost very much.

The decade of your 20's can be a good time to learn.

30 Before 30 - Day 2: Enlisting

What better way to continue than to reflect on the day that changed my 20's (and my life) forever.

The day I enlisted in the U.S. Army. The left - the day I came back for Christmas after three weeks of initial training only to return two weeks later.

When I was in high school there was something fascinating to me about the military - but I didn't want to be in it. Ever. In fact, I said I would escape to Canada before I ever joined. This was in 2005. Fast forward to 2010. I hadn't found work in Los Angeles, went back to Chicago for a final semester to complete my degree, couldn't find work there, and moved back to Kansas at the end of 2009 where I then continued working part time at a minimum wage job at a movie theater, living back in my old room in my parent's basement in my mid-twenties.

Even though I had an absurd amount of student debt (thanks student loans!) I first thought I should apply to a graduate program in my hometown. In the midst of this process (which was ridiculous and I wasted time taking the GRE) I was approached by a friend who was planning on joining the U.S. Army. Well, it was more like I approached him. One day Paul McPheeters was talking about the ASVAB (the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery), the initial standardized test the military uses to gauge different areas of competency for jobs. Having no idea what this was and being curious, I started asking questions. After a small chunk of time he said to me, "You seem to be pretty interested in this. Maybe you should come into the recruiting office with me."

So living in the basement of my parent's home with a part time minimum wage job, I agreed without a second thought.

Within the week I was walking into the decision that would change everything. I sat down and they had me take the practice ASVAB. With that underway, I decided I should pursue this further and they scheduled me to take the real ASVAB. I hated it just like all standardized style tests but I was excited about future possibilities and this was an open door. And one that I really didn't fully understand.

Initially, having a college degree, I attempted to go in as an officer. It went better than I thought at the first board but I had never been more nervous in my life. They still saw something in me they felt was leadership material and sent the papers up. The problem was at this time they had set up a second board, one that only gauged off of paperwork. This was the real problem. And that is where it didn't go through. 

I was stuck in Kansas and I knew I didn't want to stay. I was meant for bigger things. I could wait six months and try again or I could enlist. I was stubborn and impatient. So I enlisted, thankfully as a higher rank still (E-4/Specialist) thanks to my college degree and went went in the direction of military intelligence (35S-Signals Collector/Analyst) and signed an 8 year contract (3 1/2 years active duty) and garnered a Top Secret Security Clearance (yes I can keep secrets well). But I did have to give up the possibility of any other citizenship. The U.S. doesn't want other countries having their secrets used against them, after all. Nothing would ever be the same.

Five months later (November 2010) I would ship out to basic training. That was the worst and most important experience of my life so far. And then I would hate my life for three years in a solitary confinement cell with no window (the barracks) for three years in Hawaii. But on the bright side, at least I got to see things like this cool little fantastical creature.

I still found a way to have adventures!