TheBloodWolves23

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Man, it has been very, very long time since I've posted anything on this site, even though I do visit it frequently enough to favorite and comment things almost every day. There have been a handful of reasons for why that is, but I'll tell you all the main reason now.

For those of you who don't know, which I will assume is everyone on here, over the last several months I have been talking with an Army recruiter and have decided to enlist in the U.S. Army as an E-3 (Private First Class), Active Duty. I have been preparing physically and mentally to go from being a civilian to a soldier, meeting the physical prerequisites and completing the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) I ship for basic training on February 11. This is a huge next step for me in my life and will almost assuredly change everything about me, hopefully for the better.

Now I know what some of you may be wondering, and I'll tell you why I chose to join. For a decent amount of time, at least two years, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life after high school. I tried going to college like all of my other friends, and because society seems to almost expect everyone to go there, but when I got there, I didn't know what I wanted to do as a career. People told me I was good with numbers and would be good as an engineer. So I did college-level math, but that didn't pan out. I found myself more frustrated than excited with numbers and the idea of being an engineer soured in my mind. I thought about doing art for a while as well, looking at bits of film-making and tried that as well. Turns out I didn't have the drive for such a high risk, low probability job, didn't have the self-motivation to move and try to make something that I would ever be satisfied with as a filmmaker. The lack of posting on this site helped me come to a similar conclusion: that I wouldn't be able to do art as a career, that I would and should be content with it as an occasional hobby, something I can fall back on for enjoyment purposes and not much more. At this point, I didn't know how else to really continue. My classes were drawing closer to the end and I didn't know what job I wanted to do after it was all over.

It was then, roughly three or so months ago, that I started to put some serious thought into possibly joining the military. I remember for a long time always being fascinated with military stuff in general, both fictional and real. From my studies on the American Civil War and the Satsuma Rebellion to World War II and Vietnam, from my first interest in the application of Spartans in Halo and the technological advantages of the Alliance in Mass Effect compared to our own to being purely awed at the might of the Imperium of Man in Warhammer 40k and the criticism of the Galactic Empire's tactics and strategies, I had always been aware of how much I had surrounded myself with military and military-like things for most of my life. It was here that I really decided that I wanted to join the U.S. Army, to see what I could really contribute to my nation's fighting force.

From then on, I came into contact with an Army recruiter after visiting the Army website. And from then on I sallied forth, filling out the required paperwork and meeting the physical requirements needed to join. I knew from the ASVAB practice test that my intelligence was not going to be an issue as well as my mental stability. The only thing that was mildly inconvenient was my weights and physical fitness, since I hadn't exercised on a regular basis for almost two years. But I was introduced to a nutrition and exercise guide and followed it virtually to the letter for almost a month, dropping ten pounds in the process. In doing this, I was able to pass the physical and secure me a job, one that I'm sure I will be satisfied with.

If I'm being honest, a few years ago I would've never really seen myself think about joining, let alone actually doing it. This is set out to have a tremendous, possibly life-changing event in my life. I have no idea what is going to happen to me and how what I do will change my friendships with those I had met through DeviantArt, but I hope I will be able to talk with everyone here, everyone who still looks around my profile these days, however few or many of you this may be. For those of you who I only know through this site, I'm glad I was able to find you, that I was able to share something with you. For those of you who I know through Xbox, I hope we can talk and play together at least once before I head off for basic.

Hope everyone is having a good time this winter, that everyone is having a good holiday. Thank you all for your support through the years. I'll see you all out there 

Best to all of you,
UltraPredator01