NMPS - Day One

Today was the first day of NMPS. I flew into Norfolk late last night from San Diego - I took advantage of the long weekend to go see the boy in the real world one last time. I'm dreading the final goodbye; I keep imagining a teary farewell in a McDonald's parking lot on an Army post in BFE South Carolina. Not sure where that image came from, but it's there and it's vivid.

So far my impression of NMPS is mixed. In some ways it is efficient and as pain-free as something like this can be, but in some ways it is unbelievably cumbersome. The problem (as many have noted before) is that some people show up completely prepared, and some completely unprepared. There are no real distinctions made between the two groups, so for those of us who did everything possible before arriving, we have to just sit there for hour upon hour with nothing better to do than point out the minor inaccuracies and errors committed by the site staff. It's probably not fair, but then again, is it too much to ask to have forms that aren't 6 years out of date?

For anyone going to NMPS in the future who wants to get an idea of what to expect, I'll relay what I remember from today while it's fresh. 1) Bring medical and dental records, and eyeglass prescription; 2) have your command complete the necessary deployment forms (I didn't involve my command - my ding - so I had to scramble to get a form filled out, scanned to them, then scanned back and turned in); 3) complete and bring copies of all immunizations, physicals, pap smears, etc. (this sounds redundant with your medical record, but don't rely on your medical providers to enter this stuff, especially if you're doing it in the weeks and months leading up to your deployment); 4) there was a chaplain brief - if that's your thing, cool. If not, pull out your reading material while you endure a group prayer (seriously); 5) legal brief; and 6) uniform fitting (you should know what size t-shirts and navy sweats you want when you get there - you don't get to try those on).

At the end of the day, this was the first day of my adventure. I know it's cliche, but that's the way I'm looking at this deployment. Today my attitude was lacking, so tomorrow I need to just go with the flow more; luckily I have my mom here for a couple more days to ground me and comfort me (which was sooo awesome tonight: thank you mom!). Tomorrow I and some other "lucky ladies" have to show up earlier than the rest of the group to get pregnancy tests, so I'm off to sleep, but the adventure has begun.