Meeting the recruiters

As tax season was ending, there was a little lull in the busyness of work, and I had many hours where I was just paid to sit and think about things.  One of these things was the future.  (Weird to use a past tense verb when speaking about the future.)  Chris, also, was beginning to get a little antsy I think with not knowing how to transition into a real career, particularly in the language field.  She was (is) a great employee, but obviously working as a cashier at Panera wasn't what she wanted to do the rest of her life.

I challenged her to get online and do some research about the kind of job she would like.  We needed to have a goal before we could determine the best path to that goal, right?  What we found out was interesting, if not a little disappointing:  that most foreign language degrees lead to jobs in the teaching field.  Sure, there other opportunities to do translation and such, but those opportunities were limited, especially with a resume that only included schooling.

As we began to look in the direction of the military, what we found was exciting!  If Chris merely completes her Navy contract and does not even have her degree, her resume will be strong enough to transition directly and smoothly into a good job at that point, because of the experience and clearances she will have.  That said, she could also finish her degree (her Navy program should provide much of the groundwork for that, not to mention the financial aspect), and/or continue in the Navy long-term as a career.

We agreed that soon after tax season we would visit a Navy recruiter and a counselor at the community college just to gather information, and go from there.

It was quite the challenge to coordinate three schedules so that Ro and I could go with Chris to visit the recruiter the first day.  We managed ~ got in the car ~ drove up to Fort Collins ~ and there was no one there.  We had better success the following week.

I smile when I remember Christianne telling the recruiter that she wanted to go into languages.   He asked her what she could speak and she said, "Spanish."

"Yeah, we don't need Spanish."  Pause.  "We need Farsi and Mandarin."

"I don't speak those," she said, looking a little deflated.  (Like how many 19-year-old kids living in Fort Collins really do?)

He said, "Yeah, I know.  We'll teach you," and from there she perked right up at just the prospect of getting to learn another new language.

We spent quite awhile there with the recruiter and got a lot of information.  There were a few notes that were important for us to understand to moving forward:

• She would need to take an entry test for the military (ASVAB).
• She would need to take and do well on a language aptitude test (DLAB) to be able to get into the linguistic program.
• They would allow her to do the DLAB before joining the Navy so that if it wasn't a fit, she wouldn't be obligated to them to the next several years of her life.
• She would be in the Delayed Entry Program, and likely not go to boot camp until December or January.

You could see in her eyes how she was hooked.  I think if they had asked her, she would have signed up right there.  Of course Ro and I agreed ~ the benefits for her are wonderful.  BUT, we needed to consider other options and take it slow.  We needed to do our research.  After all, the recruiter's JOB is to get us in the Navy.  Our job is to make sure our daughter is protected and gets what she wants out of this.

We left and asked Chris if she wanted to go see the counselor at Front Range.  She said no.  I think we all knew that the traditional college path wasn't the best for her.  She just isn't that kid.  She will be in school in the Navy for sure ~ with every single class being relevant to the language she chooses.  No math, no science, no art, or PE.  She will get to eat, sleep, and breathe language.  And for her, that is heaven.