I was selected (again), and am pending scroll (for future applicants if you have any waivers for age/medical/ect this is the time they will clear your waivers). If history is any indicator everyone is off on vacation by the end of this week therefore scroll won't be done till the first week in January. I was contacted by the assignment coordinator (he is the one that cuts the orders and schedules our Temporary Duty Station (TDY) at Ft. Sam Houston for BOLC training. along with our follow on orders for Permanent Change of Station (PCS). I am in a unique position where I know the location of my PCS move already so I can avoid the stress of not knowing where I will be stationed. This allows me to get a head start on learning about the housing rates in the area along with what my BAH will be.
In the meantime I put together a 3 month workout plan in hopes of getting a 300+ on my APFT test... While attend grad school I made extra money personal training (certification helped increase pay, and allowed me to avoid ramen noodles) so designed a training program focusing on increasing speed and endurance (for the 2 mile run), and working on overall strength with lifts and Plyo exercises that will help with the push-up and sit up tests. I always throw in some flexibility just for injury prevention... we will see how it goes, not a big fan of running, never mind running in the winter... but got to suck it up!!!
Monday, December 7, 2015
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Latest twist in events
And 3 days later I found out the list they posted on Friday wasn't supposed to be released. Now everyone that has applied to 71A (Microbiologist) and 71B (Biochemist) is on the OML (order of merit list).... Besides the obvious disappointment, no one seems to know what is going on or when the official selection list will be released (Including recruiters)... All I can say is: back to waiting.... with the added stress of needing to figure out if I will have the job that I really want or need to renew my post doc contract for another year... Here's to hoping for good news quickly (fingers crossed!)
Friday, November 13, 2015
YESS!!!!!! I mean HOOOOAAAH
I will definitely have to work on that HOOOAH thing.... If you couldn't guess from the post title I was notified of my selection today!!! The next step in this process is "Scroll" which is essentially getting my name on the record books by SECDEF signing off then I can get orders.... There is a lot more waiting in my future, but knowing I was selected is a HUGE relief. That's it for now... back to labwork!!
Saturday, November 7, 2015
A decision will be made.....
That brings me to today. My application is in, and I was told the selection committee went over all packets during the last week of October.... so any day I hope to hear the results. There are 3 potential outcomes:
1. Accepted and pending scroll (I was told this is where congress reads your name... essentially you go into the congressional history book as a commissioned officer)
2. OML (order of merit list) this is a wait list, if anyone accepted declines the commission they may go to this list and select the next highest ranked candidate.
3. Rejected, there really isn't a nice way to put this so I will just leave this as is.... I will say that when you first talk to the recruiter they ask for your CV and submit that to headquarters to see if they want you to apply. If you were asked to apply I'm guessing unless there is a medical hold or big issue in your application that all non selected applicants would be placed in order of value to the army on the OML.
Well that's all for now, instead of Hurry up and WAIT, it's just WAIT right now... and keeping my fingers crossed that my desire to join the army and the skills I have learned are both of use and wanted.
1. Accepted and pending scroll (I was told this is where congress reads your name... essentially you go into the congressional history book as a commissioned officer)
2. OML (order of merit list) this is a wait list, if anyone accepted declines the commission they may go to this list and select the next highest ranked candidate.
3. Rejected, there really isn't a nice way to put this so I will just leave this as is.... I will say that when you first talk to the recruiter they ask for your CV and submit that to headquarters to see if they want you to apply. If you were asked to apply I'm guessing unless there is a medical hold or big issue in your application that all non selected applicants would be placed in order of value to the army on the OML.
Well that's all for now, instead of Hurry up and WAIT, it's just WAIT right now... and keeping my fingers crossed that my desire to join the army and the skills I have learned are both of use and wanted.
Meps
First lesson in "Hurry up and Wait!!!" (The unofficial motto of the Army). Meps is the medical assessment portion of the application. I first went to Meps at Ft. Jackson, as I was walking with my recruiter to the facility 2 tour buses of newly enlisted soldiers pulled up with about 150+ recent high school graduates to go through the Meps process with me (AHHHHHHHHHHH is the first thing that goes through my mind).... and it was.... Vision, Hearing, Urine tests, Blood draws, Muscular coordination tests, Health history screening, even a pregnancy test (I was told this is normal procedure for all females...) and to top it off an abbreviated gyno exam..... it was a VERY long day.... in the end I had a short chat with the head physician to go over everything and since I passed (pending blood test results) my file was sent on to my recruiter to add to my growing application packet.
The day went from about 5am till 6pm, home was a welcome sight.
The day went from about 5am till 6pm, home was a welcome sight.
Information and Paperwork
I'm trying to give some insight into my path to applying to the Army as a Direct Commission officer. I am currently waiting to hear the results of the 71A (Microbiologist) selection board.... While waiting I've tried to find any possible information that would give me an idea of the process I am currently going through; how many people are selected, how long the wait it to hear results, and what happens after that????? I have had a lot of questions, and some answers, but nothing specific to 71A (I found a lot of blogs from MD students along with HSHP/Nurses/Dentists.... but Microbiologist and Biochemist (71B) none (I group these two together because they have many things in common including the BOLC training and research projects.) So where should I start????
How about from the beginning, making the decision that I want to join the Army.... This started with looking online, the lab I did my PhD in did a lot of work with DoD and DoE, exposing me to another side of research that ended up fulfilling both my love or research and my desire to see the direct applicability of what I find and its benefit to the world. After reaching out to an AMEDD recruiter (Army medical branch has their own recruiters, going into a general recruiting office will not get you the information you want). I also found out that most AMEDD recruiters know little about what 71A's do... but they are willing to get the information and even got me in touch with someone currently serving in this position.
After several e-mails back and forth learning and deciding I want to do this the real work began..... and by that I mean paperwork. When I say paperwork it's not a 10-20 page application on "who are you" and "what is your job history" it was a 50+ page application including every place I've lived in the past 10 years, every job I've had, and a reference for each (no using the same reference twice).... I don't know about everyone else, but being in college for 10+ years I have lived in many different places. Often multiple places in a year (summer address, school address, home for Christmas break....ect.) a hint for this: it may not be complete, but pulling your credit reports list all addresses they have for you (definitely jogged my memory... some places I am VERY glad were only summer housing).
For jobs going back 10 years I requested my records from the Social Security office, if cost a little bit of money, but 10 years of employment, and all those odd jobs, I hardly could keep track. With this being said START YOUR APPLICATION EARLY!!!!!! I don't mean a month or two before the selection board (usually meets in late October) I mean 4-5 months early. Just getting the information from the Social Security office took about a month. Then there is tracking down the references (I had well over 30) full names, current addresses, phone numbers, e-mails.... it takes some time.
(Another side note on top of the 50+ page application 3-5 professional references need to be written and sent on your behalf, along with writing up a "Statement of Purpose" this was limited to one page, being concise is the key)
Once all this is filled out and sent to your recruiter the wait begins!
How about from the beginning, making the decision that I want to join the Army.... This started with looking online, the lab I did my PhD in did a lot of work with DoD and DoE, exposing me to another side of research that ended up fulfilling both my love or research and my desire to see the direct applicability of what I find and its benefit to the world. After reaching out to an AMEDD recruiter (Army medical branch has their own recruiters, going into a general recruiting office will not get you the information you want). I also found out that most AMEDD recruiters know little about what 71A's do... but they are willing to get the information and even got me in touch with someone currently serving in this position.
After several e-mails back and forth learning and deciding I want to do this the real work began..... and by that I mean paperwork. When I say paperwork it's not a 10-20 page application on "who are you" and "what is your job history" it was a 50+ page application including every place I've lived in the past 10 years, every job I've had, and a reference for each (no using the same reference twice).... I don't know about everyone else, but being in college for 10+ years I have lived in many different places. Often multiple places in a year (summer address, school address, home for Christmas break....ect.) a hint for this: it may not be complete, but pulling your credit reports list all addresses they have for you (definitely jogged my memory... some places I am VERY glad were only summer housing).
For jobs going back 10 years I requested my records from the Social Security office, if cost a little bit of money, but 10 years of employment, and all those odd jobs, I hardly could keep track. With this being said START YOUR APPLICATION EARLY!!!!!! I don't mean a month or two before the selection board (usually meets in late October) I mean 4-5 months early. Just getting the information from the Social Security office took about a month. Then there is tracking down the references (I had well over 30) full names, current addresses, phone numbers, e-mails.... it takes some time.
(Another side note on top of the 50+ page application 3-5 professional references need to be written and sent on your behalf, along with writing up a "Statement of Purpose" this was limited to one page, being concise is the key)
Once all this is filled out and sent to your recruiter the wait begins!
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