everending
January 12th, 2009, 12:05 PM
So, quickly, some background. I graduated college in 2007, and for awhile I had been considering active duty Army or Marines. I had been in contact with one local recruiter for the Marines, and I had been lurking on various message boards. Basically, I was told to forget ever getting a waiver, I was forever disqualified, good luck elsewhere. So, I went to graduate school.
Here's the deal. When I was 14, a freshman in high school, I had a therapist. I pissed off a friend, who told on me, and my high school (a private high school) decided they didn't like what I had been writing for poems and such in my classes. They took all of my work, expelled me, and told me I could get back in if I saw a counselor. The first therapist I saw said I was perfectly fine, signed off that I had no issues, and the school had to let me back in. My parents were upset, so they had me stay in therapy for about six months just to keep the school happy. My new counselor hated me, put me on some meds, but there was never an official diagnosis, and I stopped taking the pills / left therapy when I finally convinced my parents that she was really doing more harm than good.
I've never actually seen my medical files, but I haven't had an issue since then. I'm 23 now. I do, however, have proof from the school that they apologized and made a mistake in both expelling me and forcing me to see a counselor. They locked the file so it wouldn't go to college with me, but my parents requested it when I graduated. I graduated from undergrad with a 3.98 GPA, valedictorian. When I took the ASVAB in high school I pretty much aced it, and now I'm a full-time graduate student with a 3.85 GPA (ironically in mental health counseling). I'm in shape, I run 5 miles a day, I play on an all-women's full-tackle football team, played softball for 21 years, and now coach it part-time at the college level. When I was still an undergrad, I even had myself passing the male APFT for kicks (I probably couldn't now, but hey, it was fun while it lasted). Honestly, I can prove ten times over that my past is simply that: the past. But so far I've been told to forget it because, supposedly the military doesn't forget, and even if I was 14 it could still be lurking there, somewhere.
I feel the National Guard would be the perfect place for me now, since I did go back to school, and in order to get my license to counsel, I'll need many more years after this in both school and in internships. Obviously, during a war such things can be interrupted, but that's fine. I just can't make that commitment to active duty like I could have the first time around. So am I really a hopeless case?
Here's the deal. When I was 14, a freshman in high school, I had a therapist. I pissed off a friend, who told on me, and my high school (a private high school) decided they didn't like what I had been writing for poems and such in my classes. They took all of my work, expelled me, and told me I could get back in if I saw a counselor. The first therapist I saw said I was perfectly fine, signed off that I had no issues, and the school had to let me back in. My parents were upset, so they had me stay in therapy for about six months just to keep the school happy. My new counselor hated me, put me on some meds, but there was never an official diagnosis, and I stopped taking the pills / left therapy when I finally convinced my parents that she was really doing more harm than good.
I've never actually seen my medical files, but I haven't had an issue since then. I'm 23 now. I do, however, have proof from the school that they apologized and made a mistake in both expelling me and forcing me to see a counselor. They locked the file so it wouldn't go to college with me, but my parents requested it when I graduated. I graduated from undergrad with a 3.98 GPA, valedictorian. When I took the ASVAB in high school I pretty much aced it, and now I'm a full-time graduate student with a 3.85 GPA (ironically in mental health counseling). I'm in shape, I run 5 miles a day, I play on an all-women's full-tackle football team, played softball for 21 years, and now coach it part-time at the college level. When I was still an undergrad, I even had myself passing the male APFT for kicks (I probably couldn't now, but hey, it was fun while it lasted). Honestly, I can prove ten times over that my past is simply that: the past. But so far I've been told to forget it because, supposedly the military doesn't forget, and even if I was 14 it could still be lurking there, somewhere.
I feel the National Guard would be the perfect place for me now, since I did go back to school, and in order to get my license to counsel, I'll need many more years after this in both school and in internships. Obviously, during a war such things can be interrupted, but that's fine. I just can't make that commitment to active duty like I could have the first time around. So am I really a hopeless case?