New Recruiter

Since Christmas I'm happy to say that my recruiter, let's call him Sgt Smith, has blissfully left me alone. I was assuming it was because he finally heard and understood my desire to wait until later on this year to enlist and decided he would allow me the courtesy of contacting him when I was ready.

But when I picked my cell phone up on Friday to take my son to his pediatric appointment I discovered that I had a missed call from Tuesday and a voicemail message waiting for me.

I listened to the message and was a little surprised to hear my recruiter saying that he was following up with me and seeing if I was still interested in joining the Corps.

I immediately tried calling his cell phone only to be met by a busy tone and no voicemail. Figuring it would only be a matter of time until he made it back to the office I called the office number and left a message that I was, indeed, still interested, but still intending to wait until later on in the year. I left my home phone number (the number I have told him time and time again to contact me on as I only use my cell when going out) and left it at that.

Saturday came and went and most of Sunday before our home phone rang and my husband answered.

After a few pleasant exchanges my husband exclaimed, "Ahhh, Sgt Smith" (not his real name) "has been replaced?" He gave me a triumphant thumb's-up and continued with, "No, sir, my wife. She's the one interested in joining."

I immediately moved to eavesdrop and heard that my, now-previous recruiter was not cutting it and that, "the Marine Corps had ways of working these things out."

My husband put Sgt Smith's replacement on the phone and I was introduced to a very knowledgeable and confident SSgt who assured me that all of my questions would be answered and he would do his best to see me make my dream.

"My biggest concern," I said, "was that I didn't want to ship until later this year. Sgt Smith kept pushing me to ship in two months from the day I went to MEPS and if that was the case I didn't want to go until later. I will tell you what I told him and that is that I have no problem going to MEPS and being sworn into the Delayed Entry Program, I just don't want to ship until later in the year. Sgt Smith didn't seem to think that was possible. So is that possible or not?"

"Yes, ma'am," he answered and I felt like dancing.

I asked him a few more questions about MOSs and he said that since he'd only been on the job for a matter of a few days he wasn't sure what was available for me and that he couldn't even find my file but that he would look into it and get back to me.

In less than twenty-four hours I had a returned phone call with available MOSs for me and an appointment to sit down with him and go over my options and get the ball rolling.

This is, quite literally, a breath of fresh air and such a relief. I am looking forward to meeting with my new recruiter and finally getting some answers.

On one hand I've very excited and on the other I have butterflies swarming in my stomach. I keep thinking of my boy. Staring at him as he eats and plays and sleeps and knowing how much I'm going to miss him. I've been without my husband many times before and that doesn't scare me but the knowledge that I'll be away from my son is the difficult part to bear.

In the end, though, I know I would regret not doing this for the rest of my life and I also know it's only a few months (well, initially).

What can I say? I'm a mom who loves her kid and doesn't want to be away from him. Anyone who can't appreciate doesn't know the first thing about a mother's love for her children.

So.... here we go... scared to death, but determined.