First Drill

Easily survivable. There were four of us who are new, two prior service and two non-priors, and since we haven't been through training nor do we have security clearances yet, there isn't much we can do right now, plus someone has to babysit us while we're there, so mostly we just sat through a few briefings, started the paperwork for our clearances (some of you might be getting phone calls or visits, don't worry!) and met a LOT of people. Most of the people I met are with the 216th, which is the unit that runs JSpOC (basically, they decide when and how space resources are prioritized among the various military branches' needs) and non-priors aren't allowed in unless they already have a space background, which is pretty hard to get without prior service, so it's kind of a Catch-22. I'm with the 148th, whose primary and only function is to work with the communication satellites. It's a good place to start getting some experience in space while I work on my degree. A new range unit is supposed to be standing up within the next two years, and my recruiting sergeant had me meet one of the majors who will most likely be in command of that unit. He explained my background to the major (I had a LOT of people ask me why I wasn't an officer. Because there are no officer jobs open!), and then let me just talk to him for a while. He asked why I'd gone into theater, if I'd been an actor. I said, "No, I just wanted to run the show. You'd call my job the equivalent of a flight director," at which point he lit up. He directly challenged me to get through my training with good record, be "a hot s$%t operator" up at the 148th, get a good reputation going, keep working on my masters, and he'd help me get everything put together for an officer's commission with the new unit when it is ready. (A range unit directly handles launches, both missile and rocket.) Now, granted, this IS the military, so I'm not going to hold my breath waiting on that, but it's really cool to hear and I'm definitely planning on stepping up to that challenge! Not that I would have done anything less anyway.

Next month is probably going to be pretty similar, except on Saturday I have to go down to Channel Islands and get yet another physical. Yay. They said something about us non-priors maybe joining a student flight on base after that, and I'm not quite sure what that entails, other than training us for basic (which seems a little redundant, but whatever). I guess I'll find out. It sounded like they were still working out the details anyway.

Best quote of the weekend (from the same major I'd talked to, although he was quoting some general during this briefing to new people to the ANG): "This is the military. We break s&*t and kill people. That's what we do. If you can't support that, you can leave now."