In the Army Now

So it's completely official: I'm in the Army. Not Julie, Joel. On Thursday night my recruiter took me down and dropped me at a hotel. On Friday morning I went to the MEPS, which is the Military Entrance Processing Station, and had a full physical and then after hours of waiting I did all my paper work, took the oath to defend all enemies, foreign and domestic and then I signed my contract. So it's official. I'm going to ship out on April 14th and will do my basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky and then Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. I'll be gone about 4 1/2 months. When I get back I'll be attached to the 405 CA BN in Pleasant Grove where I'll serve for one weekend a month, two weeks a year for the next six years. I'll be a human resources Specialist (that's an E-4 rank which is better than starting as a private, thank you college education) I'll be getting the Montgomery GI Bill, the GI Bill kicker, which is an extra $350 bucks each month while I'm a full time student, and up to $20,000 student loan reimbursement. I got all of that in my contract. Did I mention a $20,000 signing bonus?
I think I just want to take a minute to explain why I decided to do this. All the bonus money and tuition benefits are a big part of it. I do intend to go back to school so I plan on taking advantage of all the tuition help. The extra paycheck every month will also be helpful. But money isn't the only reason that I'm doing this. As my very wise brother-in-law DJ told me once there are other ways to get extra money to support my family with (No, he wasn't suggesting that I hire myself out as a hitman). Needing extra money is one of the reasons that I joined but not the only reason. One reason is the job training. For a long time I've been really frustrated that the only thing I have to put on my resume is janitorial experience. The few times I've interviewed for other jobs it's painfully clear that I don't have any experience. Even though I can learn a new job really quickly (at least I like to think so) it doesn't matter and I can't get a better job. With the Army I get to keep the job I have, and all its benefits while at the same time I get trained in another (better) job and I get work experience. So that's cool for me. Another reason is that when I go back to school I'll be getting a Masters in Public Administration. One of the emphases of this major is Human Resources Managment. There's also Local government and Non-profit organizations. So I figure some work experience in one of these areas won't hurt me at all. Plus if it turns out that I hate human resources (I really doubt that it will be worse than scrubbing toilets) I can always focus on something else is school, right?
The last reasons for choosing to enlist in the Army Reserve is that I've always felt patriotic but never done anything extremely patriotic so I figure serving my country is a good way of saying thank you America for being so awesome. Also, my Dad was in the Marines, his dad was a Marine and mom's Dad was in the Navy and my brother is in the Army now, serving in Iraq. Would it sound stupid to say that I respect them for their service and want to be like them?
Anyway, those are the reasons that I'm joining the Army Reserve. Sorry this was such a long post. I guess if you're interested in our family enough to read this whole thing then you're a really good friend or faithful family.

PS I've been told that the 405th will be deploying in a few months so by the time I get done with all my training I'll have missed them and be part of the rear attachment. Then it will be another 5 years or so before they get deployed again. (No promises on that of course but it sounds pretty good.)