August 6, 2001

Dear Mom & Dad:

Well, I got up at 4AM and was at the MEPS by 5:15. Took me about 30 minutes to get there, thankfully there was no traffic at that time of morning. 

They had to scan us all as we walked in the door with a hand-held metal detector.  Then, they had a briefing to tell us what we were doing today. We had to go talk to our Liaison and then get in line to get our folders.  It seemed like there were an awful lot of lines I waited in today. 

They gave me a name tag to wear that day and it had the letters  P H V B D O P on it (physician, hearing, vision, blood, drug, ortho, physician).  As we went to the different testing stations, the person administering the exam would mark off the letter and our goal was to have each of the letters marked off. 

Anyways, I went into the medical briefing room and filled out all this paperwork, got my blood pressure and pulse rate checked and took a breathe-alyzer test..  That took about 1 1/2 hours. Not that it really takes that long, but there were about 25 people in that room and I was in the first group. I think there were about 3 groups of about 25 people each.  After the briefing, we had to wait to be examined by a physician.   Everyone just sits in a seat and they call you back one by one. When the next person goes in, the other people move ahead in the seats filling the first position so you were constantly moving along. 

Well, by now I needed to use the bathroom.  They wouldn't let anyone go to the bathroom until AFTER you took your drug test.  Anyways, I finally got to go see the physician.   He told me to drop my britches and he poked and prodded in many places.  Then, he looked in my eyes, ears, and mouth.  After that, I got dressed I was released to go wait in another line for my hearing exam. 

They called us all into one room together and we put on a set of headphones.  The lady then left and went outside to operate the exam.  We just had to press a button as soon as we heard a beep.  It didn't matter how loud or soft the beep was.  It was somewhat difficult for me to hear some of the softer beeps.  After the exam, we were released to go wait in another line to have our eyes examined.  By now I really had to to use the bathroom.

For the eye exam, I had to read a color chart tell the number I saw mixed in with different color dots, then I did a spatial apprehension where you tell which dot looks like it is jumping out of the page). Then, he took me to this other machine which did an electronic reading of my eyes.  It came out 20/50 corrected to 20/20. 

By now I just cannot wait to use the bathroom and everyone else is getting antsy too.  These exams are taking forever because they have to do everyone and you have to sit and wait and no talking.

Well, next we moved onto blood testing.  I believe I sat in the chair waiting to be called for over an hour.  Finally, the nurse called me back to give a vial of blood. 

After the blood test was the much anticipated drug test.  Well...he finally called me back and I filled up the cup and then kept going...and going...and going....and when I got done one of the other guys who I was with me said "Man, were you going for a record there?? You just kept going" I said "I haven't been since 4:30 this AM and it's now 10:30 and I had to go!!" That was such a relief.  Now I felt like I could do anything because I was relieved!

So, here we stand, holding papers in one hand and piss in the other and they finally call us up one by one to pour it into this bottle and match the numbers and repeat our social.  Then, I left. So, then he told me to go to ortho "you'll have fun" the Navy guy said with a smile and I knew something was up. So, I walk in and they had us strip down to our underwear and line up.

First, we got weighed.  Well, I weighed this AM and I was 169 but by then I'd burned off all my food and no clothes so I was down to 165.  Then, I got my height which was 67 3/4 inches.  Then, they had to see if I was within weight limits (131-181) I think was my range for my weight so I was ok.

Then, we all lined up in this gym area, still in our underwear.  And they looked at our feat, our hands, back, legs, etc. Then the instructed us to do arm circles, then wiggle our wrists, our ankles, toes and fingers. Then, we had to walk on our tippy toes, walk on our heals, walk on our knees, squat, then do a duck walk (heal, foot, tippy toe, repeat)...then walk back and forth.  Then, walk down the court and lay on this table and this man poked and felt around my belly...and had us pant like a dog, then we got dressed.  I thought I was finished! BUT NOPE! NOT ME!

All the folks there except 3 of us were enlistees getting a "full" physical. I am going for my commission so I got a "special" physical. I had to get an EKG. So, here I go, sitting again...waiting...nobody to wait with...and finally, the Navy guy comes and asked what I was waiting for and I told him an EKG so he said he could do it. All officers have to get an EKG. The other two had already gotten one sometime before now. So, he said, have you ever had and EKG? no. And ECA? no. and EGG? no. "Boy, where are you from?" I said "well, my folks live in FL, but I've never done any of this physical exam stuff before" he said "well, every place has an EGG" I said "well, I've never had it before" he said "not even with bacon?" I said "ohhh...trying to be a wise guy, huh?" well, he was spelling it out E G G and I wasn't paying attention. He asked me so many other things.  He said "I hope you get in my squadron, I'll have fun with you" I said "ya, I'm sure you have fun with a lot of folks"  Anyways, he hooked all these electrodes up to me and the tape started coming out and he said "oh, this is a good EKG, strong beats, etc" well, when it was done it said "borderline". He said not to worry about that.  

Anyways, then I had to go back to the physician.  He just had to look over the days report to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary. 

Anyways, another doctor has to actually "read" my EKG so that will slow down the processing of my medical because that gets done only once a week.  I was then released from the medical center to go speak to my Liaison and she marked me off, made copies and I was released for the day. 

After I left the MEPS center I dropped off my paperwork at my recruiters officer.  I was told I needed to get 5 letters of recommendations.  Three (3) had to be from work and two (2) had to be based on character.  I spoke with my former LU  managers and colleagues and other friends of mine and they all agreed to help me out with this. 

I also was told to download a security profile questionnaire from the dss.mil web site and enter all the data.  

All in all it wasn't too bad.  And the folks were nice.  Interesting day to say the least!

Love,
   Mike