Day Zero

The Arrival

      So it was Just around 11:30pm when I arrived at good ol Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The journey there was quite long but a interesting one. I had left home around 10:00am the previous day to head to a place called MEPS(military entrance processing station). MEPS is where you go before you join the army, or any branch of service, to find out whether you are medically qualified to join. You go there twice, once when you enlist and again the day before you go to BCT(basic combat training). Its typically a long process the first time you go, but the second time was short. So when I arrived at MEPS, I had to get my height and weight taken and make sure I was still cleared to ship off to BCT. It took about 3 hours. After all that I was just sitting and waiting for my bus to the airport with about 10 other future soldiers. All of us were ready to go, ready to start the next chapter of our lives, ready to become elite warriors in the worlds best military. We spent the rest of the day traveling and Arrived at OKC Airport late at night. We waited there for our bus to get onto the Military base. I will admit I was extremely nervous at this point. I knew in less than a couple hours i'd be getting to meet all the Drill Sergeants. On the ride there I just put my earbuds in and drown out my worries with music. I remember the last song I listened to before I arrived at Fort Sill, It was "Pull Me Under" by Dream Theater. Now once you arrive at whatever BCT site you are going to, you first go to a place called reception. Its where you get your haircut, receive your military clothing, and begin to learn the fundamentals of what it takes to be a soldier. You only stay at Reception for about 7-8 days. Once you leave there you go elsewhere on base and get assigned to a permanent BCT training battery, where you will spend 9 weeks and 4 days being turned into a warrior. Little did I know I was about to be part of a group known as the "Holdovers." I would spend the next 9 weeks stuck in U.S. Army Reception. I didn't know it at the time but I made the worst decision of my life. I spent the next nine weeks in hell.