I got off the phone with my Unit Administrator and apparently I have been charged, rather than paid for having missed a mandatory weekend drill (battle assembly).  I am PISSED and here's why.  Apparently following enlistment, reserve soldier's have a 90-day grace period in which they are not obligated to attend weekend drills.  I knew no such fact.  But in all fairness, I new that the drills were taking place, but I was not informed that I was a.  getting paid to attend drill yet,  b.  that they would be mandatory prior to basic combat training, and c.  that I would be charged/fined for not attending a drill.  So here it is, I'm off on the wrong foot. I only got around to starting in-processing at my unit last Wednesday. I'm really annoyed right now.  So I'm gonna give my recruiter an ear full today.  

Lesson learned.  Address all nagging feelings when something feels incomplete and don't depend purely on anybody when given information.  Research EVERYTHING for yourself because in the end, you take the fall for it and you HAVE to shutup and put up.  And conversely, when I become an NCO (non-commissioned officer) or officer, I will make it a point to make sure those under me are well informed as much as it depends on me.  It will not be fair that they get punished for my failure to divulge something that needed to be known.  In battle, this gets people killed, especially in light of how people get killed anyway even when everything is done right.

I'll get to the title of this post in a minute--I wanna take the long route. :)

Today we had a future soldier gathering of all current recruits awaiting shipping out to BCT from various select cities in our county. We met up at the beach with blue skies and a beautiful ocean. It was awesome and VERY exciting. The only downer is I couldn't participate fully because I over exerted myself and thereby over worked my left calf muscle. Been limping a bit since. It's so not serious, but it had me out of commission for the last two days plus today. At any rate, we all got into formation, stretched, exercised and then began an alleged 1 mile run (was actually around 3 miles). I didn't run, obviously. So while the group was gone us beat and hurt folk chilled and talked army stuff, both recruits and sergeants alike. Afterward, there was food, volleyball and basketball games. I left early but during the time I was there I really absorbed the experience.

The time that I spent "networking", I guess is how I can put it, I found to be the most beneficial aspect of the event. Not only was it cathartic in terms of settling nervousness of not knowing each other, but also boosted confidence in what we are all there for, and this is why I'm loving my army experience thus far.

Here is where the title comes in. A large majority of the recruits that I've met from my station and then from other stations are younger than me. I'm 27, soon to be 28 in April. The others are like in or just out of high school. And some graduated a while back are in their late teens to early twenties. On the other end of the spectrum I think there were maybe three guys that I counted on one hand that appear to be in their 30s--everyone else is under 30, judging by appearance. Now I bring up age, because I've been getting a lot of comical ice-breaking reactions from the younger recruits because of my young look. I appear to be in school. Some thought I was a high school senior, and some thought I was in college, therefore my early twenties. So today, while me and other recruits from our station were talking, one guy asked me my rank. I said, Specialist. There was an awkward silence and they then another who already met me a month ago added, "Yeah, I know him. He's the specialist guy". And all I can think is, is this a bad thing or a good thing? lol So today I've been dubbed by the folk 7 to 9 years younger than me as "The Specialist Guy".

So one of the common questions I've been getting lately are inquiries about my age and/or rank. Generally, I have been led to understand that my speech and smile, specifically give my age away. And while all this isn't new to me, I still find the reactions very amusing to say the least.