High School and Army Reserves

My youngest is going to be a senior in high school this fall.

Yikes!  How'd I get so old?

Originally, we signed him up for only morning classes at the high school, because he planned to take a computer tech class at the local applied technology college (they work in tandem with the high school offering career building skills, free tuition, and high school/college credit) that would fill his afternoons all year long.  However, Will decided he would rather take an EMT course than the computer course.  The EMT course is only one semester long, so he ended up with holes in his schedule for fall semester. I figured we'd get that fixed sometime this summer.

Will is joining the Army Reserves!  Holy cow.  I know I've talked about it before, but it just seems so much more real now that the gears are in motion.  He took the real ASVAB on Monday (not the student version that is given at the local high schools), then he and I met with his recruiters that afternoon to go over his scores and choose a job specialty to be trained in (an MOS in Army acronyms).  Will's ASVAB scores were quite high, opening the doors to any job the Army has to offer enlisted guys.  The only limitations would be on what jobs are currently available for his projected ship out date.

The job he chose is Chemical Operations Specialist.  In other words, he will be trained in maintaining and operating chemical decontamination gear used in chemical warfare, weapons of mass destruction, and/or accidental toxic spills.  The job comes with a $10,000 bonus just for being willing to train for it.

So, now back to Will's high school schedule.  One of the recruiters called the school to make sure he is on track to graduate next May as part of processing the paperwork for Will to swear in next Monday.  There was no one at the high school, so he called the district office.  When they looked up Will's schedule they told him "no".  Great.

So, this morning was a mad scramble to fix it up and get all of Will's ducks in a row so there would be no problem with his enlistment.  At this point I have to give a great big shout out to Mr. Bayles, the HS counselor, who called me and fixed Will's schedule while on vacation at his in-law's place!

Now Will has a full schedule including some weight lifting, PE, psychology, and digital photography added in with his regular math, English, and whatnot.  And the EMT class to look forward to in the Spring!



So.  All the ducks are in a row.

Will reports in to the recruiters on Sunday evening.  They will take him up to a hotel by the base in SLC overnight, then he will spend Monday being poked and prodded by Army doctors during his military physical.  Monday afternoon, he will swear in as a member of the Army Reserves.


!!!!!

To those of you who might think it is a shame he isn't going to college...

He is going to college.  That is why he is doing Army Reserves instead of regular Army.  The recruiters emphasized that we will get his college admissions and registration all squared away BEFORE his ship out date (June 30, 2014) so that as soon as he returns from Basic Training and Job Training (AIT... the Army and their acronyms!), he can start school without any difficulties.  The Army's tuition assistance and GI Bills are going to be paying for it.  He currently plans to get a bachelors of Aviation Science and become a pilot.  He will serve as an enlisted soldier while working on his college degree and possibly even join ROTC while in college and become an officer.

I am so proud of you, Will!!!