0430 the alarm clock goes off… 0431 my cell phone alarm goes off… 0440 the phone rings with a wake-up call… 0441 I roll out of bed to do my stretching…

It was a very early morning to say the least. But let’s just skip to MEPS. I was told to get there no later than 0545, and I pulled into the parking lot at 0540. The bus that was taking all the other kids from the hotel hadn’t arrived yet. It was freezing this morning. I wore gym shorts, sports pants, tennis shoes, t-shirt, and hoodie. And it turns out the doors to MEPS don’t open till 0600, so I sat in the car. Here’s how the day went:

• MEPS Briefing
• Blood Pressure/Pulse
• Physical Briefing and Paper work
• Breathalyzer test
• Blood Sample
• Hearing Test
• Vision Test
• Medical History with Doctor
• Duck walk…
• Finger Prints

The people talking to us were very clear about keeping our papers to ourselves and that we need to just follow instructions exactly. After every station we’d go back up to the central desk, and they’d point each of us where to go next.

So in the duck walk time period, you all get down to your skimpies and sit there. You get your height and weight measured …then wait… stand in a line kinda dancing around doing all these different movements with a few people watching (which includes the duck walk) …and wait… then you go in for a 1 on 1 with one of the doctors for some.. err… special time.

After all is said and done I was at MEPS until a little after 11am, so just over 5 hours. Most of the time was spent waiting on things to happen. They served lunch at the end as well.

From everything I have read, most MEPS are pretty different, so this is only how the Columbus, Ohio MEPS worked out.

I emailed my recruiter and processor when I got home to see what was going on next.