Did it ever cross your mind that you wouldn’t be able to serve your country because you weren’t smart enough? Well if it didn’t don’t worry!? It never crossed my mind neither………until it happened. Growing up as a military brat or kid (whatever you want to call it) you tend to get used to living on post or base and moving every 3 to 4 years. I mean I can’t speak for all but in my case I did. I used to wonder all the time how it was to live like a civilian and for some reason I couldn’t picture it. I didn’t think living like a civilian was a shitty way to live or anything. I just wondered what it was like living in one spot all your life and in a way I was kinda jealous you could say. I wish I never had to say goodbye to all the friends I made. If I had to say one thing shitty about being a military kid that would be my number one thing. Other than that I absolutely loved it! The places I’ve seen the things I’ve done the people I’ve met I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I can honestly say that the first 20 years of my life was the best years of my life. When we lived in Ft.Richardson, Alaska our backyard was basically mountains. Where we lived in the summer time we would have only 1 hour of darkness around 12 a.m and the rest of the day was bright and sunny and vise versa for winter time. While living there I took up snowboarding and I remember this one night I was snowboarding at this place called Alpenglow/Arctic Valley and they had these crazy little circle disc lifts that you had to get on just right that took you to the top of the mountain. I don’t know why this one night I stopped to really take in the sight but I’m glad I did. I’m standing at the top of this mountain and they had this shitty little orange fence that separated the top of the mountain and when you looked back behind the fence it was pure black and it dropped off, you couldn’t see a damn thing but when you turned around on the side your suppose to be on all you see is Anchorage the whole city all the way to the bay of Alaska. I stood there for like 5-10 minutes just taking in the lights and the view it’s something I will never forget and I’m so glad I took the time to stop and enjoy it.
Having ADHD it’s hard to stop sometimes and realize this is something that most people will never see and how thankful I was actually to get that chance. I get choked up alot when I think about living there because those 3 and a 1\2 years seemed like 10 years and out of the first 20 years of my life they were the most memorable. I just wish we had cell phones back then because id have a shit ton more pictures and videos. In the summer time we would go to Seward and go camping and you wouldn’t think this shitty little fishing town had a skatepark but it did! It sat on the edge of the fjord where all the big fishing and cruise liners would park while surrounded by mountains. It wasn’t a huge skatepark but it was definitely one of the best I’ve ever been to.
These are the only pictures I have from living in Alaska (Below) I wish I had more picture’s, I’m scared as I get older I’ll lose these memories. I would give anything to do it all again!!
Sorry I got caught in a ride down memory lane, I just miss it that much. If you ever get a chance to visit or live there DO NOT pass it up!! Being able to do things like that is another reason why I gave joining a good thought. After living there we ended up moving to Ft. Leanordwood, MO and it was a change but like I said you tend to get used to the moving. When I turned 17 I didn’t know what to do with my life. I know I wanted to get sponsored in skateboarding and snowboarding but living in MO there wasn’t a close place to snowboard at all and we lived honestly in the middle of nowhere. If it wasn’t for Ft. Leanordwood the 2 towns outside of post would be just that 2 little shit towns with an interstate running through it. They used to say don’t blink or you’ll miss it all lol. But anyways I knew i wasn’t going to college, hell I had a hard time passing High School. And the High School I went to they didn’t help people with ADHD/ADD very well. All they did was stick you in LD classes and that’s what they called helping. I remember asking the math teacher in 11th grade if I could move up to algebra because I was in pre-algebra since 7th grade her exact words were “your doing fine why ruin it” I replied ” isn’t that the point of graduating grades is to move onto things more challenging”? (Math Teacher) “mmm nope we’ll let you know when your ready” after that I gave her a look of are you fuckin serious and walked away. So as you can see there was no way I could become president now from my dream shattering teachers. And to be honest I was thinking about joining the army anyways. Both of my grandpa’s were military, my dad did 32 Years in the army so I said fuck it let’s see what happens. Now before you join any branch of the military you have to pass the ABSVAB test. In all reality it’s basically a placement test. So the day came when they were holding the ABSVAB test and my mom drove me to the building. We pull up she tells me “good luck” I say “thanks” and I can’t really remember how long I took taking the test but I do know i tried my best. So now the test is over and I’m sitting in the car waiting for my mom and she gets in and doesn’t say anything. We start driving and she looks at me and said the recruiter asked if you were mentally retarded and I’m looking at my mom with a look like what do I say to that!? A few minutes go by and we both bust out laughing and I know it’s not funny because that’s a shitty thing to ask but apparently i did the worst he’s ever seen. From having ADHD I’ve never been good at taking test and back then the military didn’t help or have an aid for people with ADHD to join the military.
Now 4 years down the road and I’m living in buffalo, NY. And to be honest I can’t remember who it was but I met someone that was doing reserves. After talking to him about it he gave me his recruiters business card. A few days pass and im thinking of trying to join again, and show those mofo’s im not mentally retarded . So I give the recruiter a call and we meet up and talk a little about what I wanted to do In the military and of course I didn’t know. Now don’t quote me because like I said this was awhile ago. I told him my situation about not having a G.E.D or High School diploma ( that’s a whole different crazy story if anyone wants to hear it just ask other than that lets move on) and that I have ADHD and a IEP. I’m pretty sure he said something along the lines like while I’m in basic training I can take care of my G.E.D. , it was something like that. After hearing that it made joining a little more worth doing, kill 2 birds with one stone right !?let’s do this! So the test day come and the recruiter picks me up and on the the whole ride there I’m thinking “you got this!” , ” show these fuckers your not mentally retarded!”. We get there and I’m feeling good, I got my hopes up and he recruiter said “good luck” I replied thank you” and head in for the test. After a bit I hand in my test and go wait outside for the recruiter and after about 15-20 minutes he comes out and we hop in the car. As soon as we start driving I asked “how’d I do”? “I passed with flying numbers didn’t i”? and he looks at me with a blank stare and says “you didn’t pass”, I replied ” are you fuckin serious?” He says “yes, you got a 30 did you try?”, I said “hell yea I tried!” and under my breathe I’m like “what the fuck!?” The rest of the ride was quiet. When we pulled up to my house he tells me “he’ll call when there’s another test”, I replied “ok sounds good thank you” and got out of the car. I never heard from him again and after that I never tried joining. I sometimes wonder what my life would’ve been like if I had passed. Would I have been happier in the army, maybe I’d have a more of a normal life I don’t know…… I don’t know. Maybe one day the military will have help for people that don’t do well on paper. I learn by jumping in and doing things not by testing. Just because I suck on written tests doesn’t mean I’m stupid and honestly in a way it’s a form of discrimination if you think about it. Apparently because I can’t take a test and pass means that I can’t shoot a gun and distinguish between friendlies and enemies. Maybe one day the military will have something to help people with ADHD be able to serve their country instead of turning them away. I guess now I look at it in a way I’m glad when we were kids we didn’t have cell phone’s, tablets and all that other shit because kids now an days are pissing away there childhood with a screen in their faces. I got to actually enjoy the places we moved and didn’t take it for granted especially if I’m not able to move around in the military myself. And if that sounds like you the one with the screens in your face all the time and your reading this put the phones away, put the tablet down and go outside!! Go kick a tree or go to a random street sign and say “FUCK YOU STREET SIGN!” Do anything besides the phones and tablets, you don’t want to get older and regret not living while you have the chance!
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone for checking out my blog. I appreciate all the likes and the subscribers! It definitely gives me the ambition to keep going as I had a lot of doubts doing this. I really hope it helps others with ADHD/ADD open up to share their stories, feelings and struggles thank you everyone!
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