TAIRing It Up!

Published on October 17, 2005 By chiprj In Blogging

I've been busy at work since getting back from my TDY trip to Cleveland so it's been a long time since I posted. This may be the longest I've gone without posting since joining JU a little over a year ago. I've even let two weeks go on my fantasy football league updates.

As for the trip to Cleveland. It was a fairly busy week. I got my orders late (they were ready for pick up for a while, but I was on leave) so I ended up not taking any leave in conjunction with the trip. I flew out on Monday morning and got in to Cleveland that evening. The rental car was ready and I was out of the airport area pretty quickly. I already had my itinerary for the week and I was scheduled for three different schools over four days. Once I knew I'd be getting a rental car, I had planned to stay at my mom's place. The schools weren't close to each other, or even in Cuyahoga county, but I liked that idea better than getting a different hotel each night near the school I was speaking at.

What I hadn't counted on was the time change and the schedule. I got in Monday evening and was scheduled to be at a school in central Ohio by 0700 the next morning. So, I tried to sleep a little that night and got up at 0300 (midnight my time). I was too tired the evening before to get my uniform ready, so I showered, ironed my uniform, and polished my boots while drinking coffee. Yahoo told me it would take about two hours to get there and I wanted to be early just in case it was hard to find the school and parking in the area, so I hit the road around 0430.

I found the school easily and hit a nearby McDonalds for a refill on coffee. I spent all day speaking to various French classes about DLI and the Army Linguist Program. This school actually had two recent graduates join the Army and attend a course offered at DLI, so the teacher was able to help the students identify a little with what I was talking about. The question I got asked the most was if I had met the Korean exchange program student in their school. He was scheduled for class during the last hour that day and a number of students during the day asked for and received special permission to come back during that hour so they could see the student and me speak Korean.

That was the longest day I had but it set the tone for the week. I was dead tired by the time I finished the drive back to Cleveland that evening.

I had only one class scheduled on Wednesday. The school actually had originally asked that I spend all day there Friday, but my flight out on Friday evening wouldn't allow for me to do that. So, they worked in one class on Weds and had me finish the other classes on Friday.

The school I went to on Thursday was another drive. It was an old school in an inner city area. I spoke to four Chinese classes. I was surprised to find a high school that taught a language outside of the usual four (French, Spanish, Latin, German) but quickly found out that it was used as an easy elective for trouble students. The teacher seemed to really be serious about wanting to teach Chinese to the students but also seemed resigned to the fact that most of her class was there to kill time. The recruiter I met for this school also seemed resigned to the fact that he probably wouldn't get many potential recruits out of the school. He was actually a graduate of that high school and was happy to be there. He worked in the mentor program and helped to keep at risk kids out of trouble. He told me that he would sometimes get in trouble at the office because he'd spend an entire day with a student that had no intention of joining the Army (or would even be qualified to join) just to keep the student out of trouble. I have a lot of respect for that, even if it doesn't do anything directly to meet the Army's recruiting goals. Indirectly, by doing things like that, he has gained a reputation in the school and community that will help him find recruits. He has gained respect and a connection there.

On Friday I went back to the school in Avon Lake and talked to three more Spanish classes.

Overall, I had a great time doing the TAIR mission. I met three recruiters who were all great guys out there trying to sell the Army to a tough crowd. I don't envy the work they have to put in but I'm glad they are doing it.

I do have to apologize though to all the friends and family I have in the area that tried to get in touch with me. I didn't visit with anyone outside of my mom and sister the entire week. I was so tired at the end of each day (even Weds when I only had one class) that I didn't feel like getting out and seeing anyone. My mom even took some vacation time and I had to apologize for being a bad visitor.

My Ecosystem Details

Comments

No one has commented on this article. Be the first!

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!