Two Miles. Two Minutes By Car, Or Not.

Managed to get off my ass long enough today to head over to the track, to see what the ol two mile time would be. I was a track star during my first couple years of high school in the distance events, but in college I haven't done much of anything by way of running. Turns out track practice was hoggin the place, so I set up some cones I found over by Rob Field at the Reccen into a 100yd by 100yd square, so I could do some somewhat accurate laps. Actually had a much lower time than I expected, possibly because the laps weren't as accurate as I thought, but then again maybe I'm just not as out of shape as I expected. :) That's not to say I didn't feel like I was gonna die, though.

Watched the new season of Amazing Race tonight, I thoroughly enjoyed the first and so far this is no different. I've always been into reality series, probably because I enjoy analyzing other people. Of all of them though I think that one would be the neatest one to be on personally, since they get to see amazing places all around the world and do incredible things the general publics just won't get a chance to do.

Apparently the Marines called my house over the weekend, about "amazing opportunities." Interestingly enough I never got to hear the message, I was informed later that the message was deleted before I even knew about it. That kind of irritated me, even if its a solicitor, I like getting messages on my tape, makes me feel special. :) Anyway, so that combined with all the military in the news lately got me thinkin and I did some research online into the different branches and what they have to offer, just because I'd never even really considered it as an option before. There are some obvious negative aspects to the military, but not too many of them affect me personally. I always said if I ever got drafted or something I'd want to head into the Air Force, maybe because I'm not your textbook front line infantryman, maybe because its less risky, who knows. I guess the reason I never thought about it in high school was physically, I just wouldn't have been able to perform to the levels required to even get your foot in the door. When it came to push ups, or anything involving the upper body, I just basically, stunk. That is no longer true, and I see no reason why I shouldn't leave all options open. The two mile and the running aspect was something I was questioning, but I guess my background even after "taking a few years off" so to speak allows me to do pretty well there too, to the point I'm still under the limit for the different branches by a minute or two with no training whatsoever. So physically, there's isn't really anything that would disqualify me immediately like I used to think.

I had a few conversations about it with various people I know, and there tend to be two responses when the words Matt and Military are used in the same sentence. High school friends response: "AHAHAHA UR KIDDING RITE?" College friends response: "Yeah, that would be neat, I can see you doing that, living that lifestyle." I think its because of the ways I've changed over the past few years. I'm not exactly your takes practice SAT tests all day nerd anymore, nor your runs 40 miles a week cuz he's insane stick figure anymore. In my family the world was always high school first, then college, then job. Yeah, I took the ASVAB, and saw a bunch of other people get carted off to Boot Camp after their senior year of high school, but I basically just never even considered that as an option, because of the way I was brought up. I totally agree with my parents though when it comes to putting a college degree first. It turns out that by doing so and then deciding to spent some time in the military, you can enter directly into an Officer's position, whereas if you'd enlisted out of high school it will probably take much longer than four years to attain that level of promotion. Once you've served your four or six or whatever amount of years as an Officer depending on the position, you can always return to the civilian world once you've fulfullied your duties.

I don't think my family thinks negatively of the Military, I have cousins who have gone into various branches who have been looked upon with respect, and I had a conversation with my father about my grandpa , who served many years in the Navy. I've always instantly had a level of respect for someone with a ranking before their name, especially after watching various documentaries and movies about what some of them have to go through.

Just food for thought, not like anything will be different regardless of what goes on afterward until I get my degree.