You're in the army now

So, after my freshmen year of college I was sitting in my parent's kitchen when my mother walked in carrying the mail. In it was a card promoting Army ROTC at my school and immediately I yelled, "hey dad, check this out!" He looked at the card and then at me and said, "you wouldn't last a week."

Well.

I don't do so well being told what I can and can't do. (I mean, I was voted most likely to be grounded in high school). It took about five minutes for me to sign up.

My sophomore year of college began two weeks earlier than the rest of my roommates since new army recruits had to report for training. (I know... it's hard even for ME to keep a straight face while writing this. ME? IN THE ARMY?) We were issued BDUs (battle dress uniforms) and boots and started crawling around in the dirt.

There are SO MANY anecdotes from this experience and I just don't have the time to go into them. So I will just share a few key things to help you better picture this time in my life:

- I was the only girl who wore makeup.
- I was the only girl who flirted with the boys.
- Shooting an M16 was terrifying, cool, and very, very real.
- I had to go away for a three-day training exercise with only my BDUs, my helmet, MREs (meals ready to eat), and some blush I smuggled in.

A couple months ago I bought a cute little 'message' T-shirt that has ARMY written across the front and I love it. While I was clearly NOT into wearing camouflage around campus for an entire semester (I'm still reeling), I'm secretly kinda proud I did it.