PooleeMichael
03-14-11, 07:06 PM
I went to MEPS about a month and a half ago and enlisted, and was given a ship date in November. It turned out that my recruiter had a poolee that got cold feet, so he offered to switch my ship date with this guy's. I had my heart set on infantry, although I offered Field Artillery and Tank and Assault Amphibious Vehicle as my other two choices. We sat down to look at the open slots for the supposed time slot, which was something like May 28th - July 1st, or a time block roughly equivalent (starting at the end of May, anyway). I was good to go for that time slot, and psyched to find out that there was an open infantry slot in my recruiter's district.
It's been a month since then, and my recruiter called me back to say that my ship date was in fact May 2nd, in the time slot preceding the one we talked about, and that the only job that was open was Field Artillery. I am naturally disappointed because I expected no problems in getting the open slot for infantry, and because this seems to have happened because there was confusion about the time slot.
My recruiter didn't exactly sound sympathetic when I asked if there were any options available to me to maintain my new ship date and still pursue an infantry contract, and I wasn't sure if he was giving me the full story. I know he told me a while ago that it is theoretically possible for his office to swap for open slots from another district, but he didn't sound like he was keen on doing that.
Does anyone have any suggestions for how to leverage an infantry slot in the given circumstances? My recruiter says I either take this job with this ship date or I go back to my November ship date and wait for an infantry slot to open. I'm not sure I can wait till November, but then this is 4 years of my life.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
It's been a month since then, and my recruiter called me back to say that my ship date was in fact May 2nd, in the time slot preceding the one we talked about, and that the only job that was open was Field Artillery. I am naturally disappointed because I expected no problems in getting the open slot for infantry, and because this seems to have happened because there was confusion about the time slot.
My recruiter didn't exactly sound sympathetic when I asked if there were any options available to me to maintain my new ship date and still pursue an infantry contract, and I wasn't sure if he was giving me the full story. I know he told me a while ago that it is theoretically possible for his office to swap for open slots from another district, but he didn't sound like he was keen on doing that.
Does anyone have any suggestions for how to leverage an infantry slot in the given circumstances? My recruiter says I either take this job with this ship date or I go back to my November ship date and wait for an infantry slot to open. I'm not sure I can wait till November, but then this is 4 years of my life.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts.