Fleet Marine Life #27 – EAS
End of Active Service otherwise known as EAS.
Those three letters alone have the power to change your life forever.
If you’re a Marine, this day will come and when it does, it will be surreal. You won’t believe it’s around the corner even though it is fast approaching.
Once you have your DD214 form in your hands, no more stupid bullshit, no more rules, no more regulations, no more orders, no more being in the Marine Corps. You can finally grow out your hair, smoke pot, tell Gunny to go fuck himself and his bullshit field day inspections where the rooms are clean but for some reason if he finds one tiny speck of dust, it’s like the equivalent of an Ebola outbreak to him. You can even do all of that at the same time! Oh, the freedom of choice!
Was the Marine Corps a bad experience? Mostly. But there are things that I took from that mostly bad experience. I learned that 20 years in the Marine Corps would drive me to borderline suicidal levels. I also learned that humanity is going downhill real fast and there’s no brakes on that motherfucker. On the plus side, I saved up a lot of money, get to use the Post 9/11 GI Bill, went around the world (the smelly parts), learned a lot of military knowledge, learned a lot of life skills, did some cool things and met some cool people.
But in the end, I was sick of being a government slave. I wanted to get out and stay out.
Not re-enlisting since 1779.
815I started the recruit process several months ago (September 2010 .) but have had issues with MEPS approving my medical paperwork. I had surgery to repair a torn meniscus on my knee back in May of 2004. I talked to my doctor’s office and requested all paperwork available for the surgery, they provided it, and I submitted it. I didn’t get a response for about 3 weeks. The response I got was that they needed more paperwork, I again went to my doctor and requested to get everything they had on record for me. I submitted that, again several weeks went by and my recruiter finally called me to let me know that MEPS had misplaced my paperwork but before misplacing it they had asked for a letter from my doctor’s office stating that all paperwork had been provided. So I again went to my doctor’s office, got a THIRD copy of the paperwork as well as the letter. I submitted both items. About two weeks later I found out that my recruiter had only submitted the letter and not the paperwork, so they re-submitted the paperwork just for me to find out about a week ago that MEPS has declined it stating that they need the paperwork from the E.R. and my PCP. My PCP’s involvement was limited to referring me to the specialist that did the surgery (the doctor whose paperwork I had already submitted.) In the paperwork it clearly states on the first page, that I am under no restrictions due to the surgery and that I can pretty much do whatever I want again. I don’t think my recruiter is following up properly and I don’t believe everything is being communicated properly to MEPS. I would prefer not to go through another recruiter as I don’t want to be disrespectful, but I’ve been pretty much putting my professional career and academic career on hold because of this. I was originally scheduled to go to MEPS in December and be in boot camp by January. I’m 26 years old and I know I’m somewhat running out of time to get in. Any advice?
Go Air Force?
My favorite comic ever. It is all so true. The day I got out was gray and dreary, yet it was the greatest day of my life. The two best days in the life of a marine are his boot camp graduation and his EAS.
I didn’t just take my uniform off, I set it on fire and pissed on the smoldering embers.
I think it would have been better if you just sold them. Just saying…
I never looked back and now I have a great life out amongst the sane.