United States Military Entrance Processing Command

Transcription

I am Commander Cathy Macer. I am the commanding officer of the Boston Military Entrance Processing Station. MEPS is the place where applicants come to process into the Armed Forces, and we are responsible for ensuring quality accessions into the Armed Forces during both peacetime and during times of mobilization. Well, the day starts, given that the applicant has stayed at a contract hotel overnight, they are given a wakeup call at 4:00 in the morning. Breakfast there at the hotel, and then so they're here at the MEPS shortly after 5:00 in the morning. My name is Staff Sgt. Michael Lyle. I am the MEPS liason when it comes to anybody for the Air Force. The applicant comes in in the morning and sits down with the liasons, and we will go over what their day is going to entale and what they should expect and, yeah, normally at about 5:15, 5:30 when they do show up, we are the first face that they get to see in the morning. Long gone are the days where applicants are herded into various, you know, large rooms and impersonally treated. We have moved into a red carpet treatment for our applicants where they are treated with dignity and respect. Good morning, everybody. I'm Sgt. 1st Class Kethum. I'm operations NCRC here at the Boston MEPS. we reassure them throughout the day all the time. I mean, yeah, they they first come up on the floor, you know, they come very early in the morning. Once we get them signed into the MEPS, we get them all in one area, and we give them the morning brief. Once we get done here, you're going to go to the medical, folks. You're going to get a medical briefing, and you're going to run through that process, okay? Once the briefing is done, you're going to get an exam. You're going to meet with the physicians, okay? And you're going to go through that. Once you're done with the medical, you're going to go down to your service liaisons. You're going to sit down with a counselor, and you guys are going to negotiate a job. Once that's complete, you'll come over to the processing section. ll right, we'll do what we have to do over there, get you ready to swear in, take the Oath of Enlistment and then we'll set up the transportation to take you home. When they do understand the entire process, then we try to make sure that everybody is on the same page, and that if there are any concerns, hopefully then the individual feels comfortable enough to raise them before we get started on the day. That way, they have a nice smooth process. They know where they're going, where they're coming from, and then when they come back to see us, they're in a good mood because they know one more spot is done. I've tried going to school, I've tried regular jobs and just nothing excited me. I've always wanted to join the Military. I went through college, and the, you know, the economy is not the greatest thing right now, but I've always wanted to join. Family full of Marines. My uncle did 32, my father did 23 and it'll be awesome to join as well, become a part of a brotherhood. And you know, I found some opportunities that can be used with my degree, all that kind of stuff, and they offer a lot of gainful things for what I want to do in the future. We are privileged to have them come into the Military. This is a voluntary service. This is not a draft era, and so it is uh... important to us and to each of my staff to treat those who are interested in serving their country with the utmost respect that they deserve.