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Hi there! I'm new to the board... I had another post in another forum, but I'm assuming it got deleted because it was in the wrong place, eep!
Name's Jen, I'm 24, female, 5 feet tall and 100 lbs. Back in February I decided to chase after my delayed dream of being in the military. I had wanted to join after high school, but life got in the way a bit and I had to wait. Now that I am commitment-free and in a better place, I decided to go after it again. Just for a little backstory, I have been working the past 2 years in a lumber mill... The first year was spent doing heavy labour, so for a wee one, I have wicked upper body strength. The past year I have been alternating between heavy labour and driving heavy equipment. My original plan was to become a pilot, but I have since changed my mind and decided on Aviation Systems Tech... the closest thing to the civilian aircraft maintenance engineer, just in case years down the road I find myself back in the civvie world.
I'll type this out in timeline form.
28 February 2006 -- Did online application
1 March 2006 -- Received 2 wonderful reference letters, one from Cheif of Police, and one from high school English teacher
7 March 2006 -- Paperwork was finished up, transcript was received, and everything was sent out.
20 March 2006 -- Got call to come April 7th and do CFAT, Medical, Interview and PT.
7 April 2006 -- Testing day. I was the only applicant around for the entire day.
8:00am, CFAT. I did it, and frankly, I thought it would be way harder. I just plugged through it, and when I was done, they whisked me away to the Det. Commander's office to wait for my results. He came in, handed me a sheet of paper with all of the army/navy/air force jobs on it, and said, "Take your pick, any one of these you want is yours." He informed me that while he couldn't tell me my exact score, that I was in the high 99th percentile of all applicants, and the highest they'd ever seen in Thunder Bay. Sorry, had to brag about that, I was pretty proud of myself. ^-^ He tried to convince me to take an officer trade, since my aptitude score was more than high enough. Once I convinced him that mechanic was where I wanted to be he relented.
10:00am, Interview. The Det. Commander did my interview with me, and it was very easy, relaxed, and comfortable. He made lots of jokes and made me feel completely at ease. The questions were not difficult, or insanely prying, they were actually kind of fun to answer.
11:00am, Medical. The medical technician was a funny guy. He made it all very comfortable, although it was very weird flexing my muscles and all that stuff while in a crunchy paper gown. Eye test and hearing were simple and short, and the other stuff was like nothing I've ever done before, but nothing terribly uncomfortable. By the end of it, there were a couple things he needed more information on, and doctor's notes. I'll explain them here, because from reading other threads, I know people have gone through the same things.
First off, I had my gallbladder removed in 2003. They needed a note saying I was fine, there were no complications, and that I was fit for duty. This note was easy to get. The other one, not so much.
I had gone through something of a depressive episode in 2001. I was a stalking and sexual assault victim, and had problems coping. I was put on a couple different antidepressants and went through counselling. Once I had gone through the court case and it was all over, I was fine. But there were 6 months or so where I was severely depressed about the situation, and had even spent time in the hospital to that effect. I really thought this was totally going to screw any chance at the CF that I had. So I got a hold of my family doctor, and she printed out all of the physician's notes from that time, along with a personal letter explaining how I've been since that time. I was afraid that they would ask me to come back in a year with a psychiatrist's note saying I was A-OK. Anyway, I got the notes, but it took awhile, and I will explain what happened after this next section.
2:00pm, PT. I was dreading this. I am very strong, and my muscles are in good shape, but I was concerned about my cardio and pushups. The girl was very nice. I did my step test first, and it was ridiculously easy. I did five rounds of 3 minutes. By the end of it, I was laughing entirely too hard at the music. By the higher levels, it ends up being monk chanting and christmas carols -- I wish I was kidding. So the girl and I laughed, and my V02 level was 52 by the end of it. I only needed a 32, so that was good.
Situps. I know I have a strong body, so I just pumped them out as fast and steady as I could. I ended up doing 38 situps in 60 seconds. Since females only need 15 in 60 seconds, I was in good shape.
Pushups. Eeee, I was nervous. I ended up doing 27 triceps pushups before I fell over. 9 was my goal, so I did well there too.
Grip strength. I remember failing the grip strength test I did I high school, so I was nervous here. The girl tells me, "hey, all you need is 50 combined, no worries, just do it." So I ended up doing 85 combined. She made me do it again, thought there was something wrong with the machine, hehe. 85 again. I didn't know that was above the male standards too. She said she'd never seen someone so little squeeze so hard. Heh, I guess lifting wood all day every day has really helped me out.
5 May 2002 -- Finally got my doctor's notes in, and had to wait for my medical to come back from Ottawa.
I called a couple times to check on how things were going, and they were just waiting for the medical to come back. My recruiter was about as excited as I was!
2 June 2006 -- THE CALL. My recruiter called me to let me know that my medical had come back. They were concerned about the depression/antidepressants, but thanks to my letter from my doctor, and the fact that it was 5 years ago, I was found fit for duty.
My offer is for AVN Tech, in the Air Force, which is what I wanted. I swear in on July 17th, and I leave for basic training in St Jean on August 7th.
I am immensely excited. Now my big goal is getting better at running. My father has been a runner for 28 years, so he has been motivating me to push myself. I am up to 3 km without having to stop and walk. So I have just over 2 months to improve on that. I'm workin' my butt off. I don't want to be seen as some weak little girl when I get to BMQ. I worked hard in the mill the gain respect, and I'm stubborn and proud, and I'll do all that I can to hold my own. I know being 5 feet tall and 100lbs is a disadvantage in many things, but I've overcome it many times before.
Anyway, I know this is long-winded, but I thought I'd write everything I could remember down, because I know I had all kinds of questions about little things before I started this process, and hopefully this can help someone else along.
Feel free to PM or email me if you have any questions. Now the hardest part of my waiting begins... In just over a month and a half, I will no longer be a civilian, and I can't wait! My father, uncle, and grandfather were all in the Air Force, and they're proud too.
EDIT: Forgot to tell the funniest part about my interview. The guy says, "So, you work in a lumber mill, I guess you're a secretary?" I said, "Nooo, I drive a tractor, actually." "Oh", he says, "Really? I guess people have asked you before if you sit on a phone book?" I replied, "Yes, most days, actually." He says, "Don't worry about it, most people assume I can't even read because I'm an infantry officer and all. Appearances can be deceiving, hehehehe. Good for you, Jen"
Name's Jen, I'm 24, female, 5 feet tall and 100 lbs. Back in February I decided to chase after my delayed dream of being in the military. I had wanted to join after high school, but life got in the way a bit and I had to wait. Now that I am commitment-free and in a better place, I decided to go after it again. Just for a little backstory, I have been working the past 2 years in a lumber mill... The first year was spent doing heavy labour, so for a wee one, I have wicked upper body strength. The past year I have been alternating between heavy labour and driving heavy equipment. My original plan was to become a pilot, but I have since changed my mind and decided on Aviation Systems Tech... the closest thing to the civilian aircraft maintenance engineer, just in case years down the road I find myself back in the civvie world.
I'll type this out in timeline form.
28 February 2006 -- Did online application
1 March 2006 -- Received 2 wonderful reference letters, one from Cheif of Police, and one from high school English teacher
7 March 2006 -- Paperwork was finished up, transcript was received, and everything was sent out.
20 March 2006 -- Got call to come April 7th and do CFAT, Medical, Interview and PT.
7 April 2006 -- Testing day. I was the only applicant around for the entire day.
8:00am, CFAT. I did it, and frankly, I thought it would be way harder. I just plugged through it, and when I was done, they whisked me away to the Det. Commander's office to wait for my results. He came in, handed me a sheet of paper with all of the army/navy/air force jobs on it, and said, "Take your pick, any one of these you want is yours." He informed me that while he couldn't tell me my exact score, that I was in the high 99th percentile of all applicants, and the highest they'd ever seen in Thunder Bay. Sorry, had to brag about that, I was pretty proud of myself. ^-^ He tried to convince me to take an officer trade, since my aptitude score was more than high enough. Once I convinced him that mechanic was where I wanted to be he relented.
10:00am, Interview. The Det. Commander did my interview with me, and it was very easy, relaxed, and comfortable. He made lots of jokes and made me feel completely at ease. The questions were not difficult, or insanely prying, they were actually kind of fun to answer.
11:00am, Medical. The medical technician was a funny guy. He made it all very comfortable, although it was very weird flexing my muscles and all that stuff while in a crunchy paper gown. Eye test and hearing were simple and short, and the other stuff was like nothing I've ever done before, but nothing terribly uncomfortable. By the end of it, there were a couple things he needed more information on, and doctor's notes. I'll explain them here, because from reading other threads, I know people have gone through the same things.
First off, I had my gallbladder removed in 2003. They needed a note saying I was fine, there were no complications, and that I was fit for duty. This note was easy to get. The other one, not so much.
I had gone through something of a depressive episode in 2001. I was a stalking and sexual assault victim, and had problems coping. I was put on a couple different antidepressants and went through counselling. Once I had gone through the court case and it was all over, I was fine. But there were 6 months or so where I was severely depressed about the situation, and had even spent time in the hospital to that effect. I really thought this was totally going to screw any chance at the CF that I had. So I got a hold of my family doctor, and she printed out all of the physician's notes from that time, along with a personal letter explaining how I've been since that time. I was afraid that they would ask me to come back in a year with a psychiatrist's note saying I was A-OK. Anyway, I got the notes, but it took awhile, and I will explain what happened after this next section.
2:00pm, PT. I was dreading this. I am very strong, and my muscles are in good shape, but I was concerned about my cardio and pushups. The girl was very nice. I did my step test first, and it was ridiculously easy. I did five rounds of 3 minutes. By the end of it, I was laughing entirely too hard at the music. By the higher levels, it ends up being monk chanting and christmas carols -- I wish I was kidding. So the girl and I laughed, and my V02 level was 52 by the end of it. I only needed a 32, so that was good.
Situps. I know I have a strong body, so I just pumped them out as fast and steady as I could. I ended up doing 38 situps in 60 seconds. Since females only need 15 in 60 seconds, I was in good shape.
Pushups. Eeee, I was nervous. I ended up doing 27 triceps pushups before I fell over. 9 was my goal, so I did well there too.
Grip strength. I remember failing the grip strength test I did I high school, so I was nervous here. The girl tells me, "hey, all you need is 50 combined, no worries, just do it." So I ended up doing 85 combined. She made me do it again, thought there was something wrong with the machine, hehe. 85 again. I didn't know that was above the male standards too. She said she'd never seen someone so little squeeze so hard. Heh, I guess lifting wood all day every day has really helped me out.
5 May 2002 -- Finally got my doctor's notes in, and had to wait for my medical to come back from Ottawa.
I called a couple times to check on how things were going, and they were just waiting for the medical to come back. My recruiter was about as excited as I was!
2 June 2006 -- THE CALL. My recruiter called me to let me know that my medical had come back. They were concerned about the depression/antidepressants, but thanks to my letter from my doctor, and the fact that it was 5 years ago, I was found fit for duty.
My offer is for AVN Tech, in the Air Force, which is what I wanted. I swear in on July 17th, and I leave for basic training in St Jean on August 7th.
I am immensely excited. Now my big goal is getting better at running. My father has been a runner for 28 years, so he has been motivating me to push myself. I am up to 3 km without having to stop and walk. So I have just over 2 months to improve on that. I'm workin' my butt off. I don't want to be seen as some weak little girl when I get to BMQ. I worked hard in the mill the gain respect, and I'm stubborn and proud, and I'll do all that I can to hold my own. I know being 5 feet tall and 100lbs is a disadvantage in many things, but I've overcome it many times before.
Anyway, I know this is long-winded, but I thought I'd write everything I could remember down, because I know I had all kinds of questions about little things before I started this process, and hopefully this can help someone else along.
Feel free to PM or email me if you have any questions. Now the hardest part of my waiting begins... In just over a month and a half, I will no longer be a civilian, and I can't wait! My father, uncle, and grandfather were all in the Air Force, and they're proud too.
EDIT: Forgot to tell the funniest part about my interview. The guy says, "So, you work in a lumber mill, I guess you're a secretary?" I said, "Nooo, I drive a tractor, actually." "Oh", he says, "Really? I guess people have asked you before if you sit on a phone book?" I replied, "Yes, most days, actually." He says, "Don't worry about it, most people assume I can't even read because I'm an infantry officer and all. Appearances can be deceiving, hehehehe. Good for you, Jen"
