Are you ready to be a United States Marine?

Yesterday we left Springfield, where Brandon had training, and drove an hour and 20 minutes to Pittsfield, the town where we are going to be living for the next three years.

We landed in an awesome (that's sarcasm, if you can't tell) extended stay, where I covered the couch in a blanket, refuse to drink from the glass cups in the cupboard and gag when I brush my teeth. 

Life is so great. Not. 

But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...only 12 more days though until I am in my very own home!

After we checked into our hotel home, we headed to Brandon's office to clean, organize and prepare Brandon for his 2 appointments the next day. His office is located in an Armed Forces Center, which also houses Army and Air Force Recruiters. And it's right next to a JoAnn's, so I can get my craft on when I go hang out with Brandon at work.

Brandon's office is pretty decent and he has it all to himself. Brandon is stationed at a PCS, which stands for permanent contact station. His boss will be in Springfield, over an hour away. I think Brandon will like the freedom of being on his own and not micro-managed. 

Brandon called to confirm his appointments for Saturday, which happened to turn out great.

Brandon had an appointment today at 2pm and another one at 4pm. He was really excited to talk to both of the kids. His goal right now is to recruit kids that are seniors in high school, and who can go to boot camp right after graduation. Both of these kids were 17 and seniors, so Brandon was really pumped. 

The first kid came into this office with his mom. He was already pretty confident that he wanted to join the Marines, but Brandon still had to follow procedure. At some point in the appointment, Brandon asks the kid to prioritize things that are important to him out of 13 different topics that the Marine Corps as already provided, then they talk about the top 3 things. This young man chose "Pride of Belonging" as one of his top 3 priorities. Brandon went on about the camaraderie the Marine Crops provides and the honor that you feel from being a Marine. Brandon said at the end of his speech about this particular topic, the kid's mother was crying (the good kind of crying) and Brandon said he got a little emotional too. Dang. Brandon is good. Mom in tears? Where does the kid sign?

Before Brandon got home to tell me all the details, he sent me this text about his first appointment:

Nice to see that Brandon is so humble. 

His next appointment was positive too. He went to the kid's house and his whole family was there, so Brandon had to give his whole presentation in front of a bunch of people, but he said it wasn't bad. He said the kid was interested and at the end of appointment when Brandon asked, "Are you ready to be a United States Marine?" the kid said, "Yeah." Brandon said it wasn't like "hell yes" but

 it was still a "yes"-ish. So that's good.

We'll see how those two kids end up. 

Brandon is doing really good so far. He isn't even on production yet (when he has to get contracts) and he already has 2 kids ready to join, plus these 2 kids who are really interested and 1 appointment set up for next week. 

He also is getting a new boss on Monday, which is kind of scary. His last boss, just got relieved of his duty, which is really sad because Brandon really liked that boss. Hopefully, this one will be cool as well.  On RD, I think the boss can really make or break the Marine and his family's experience. 

So we are really crossing our fingers for a good boss.

On a side note, I took the EST (Enlistment Screening Test) tonight. This test is given to kids who want to join the Marines and it gives the recruiter an idea of how they will score on the big test, the ASVAB. On both tests, they must score a certain amount or else they cannot be Marines.  

You have to score a 30 on the EST in order to continue the recruiting process. 

Anyways, I got an 88 on the test...so I can be a Marine! :) 

Tomorrow is Sunday and I am looking forward to Brandon not working, so we can go explore our new town.