Its funny how as a parent something you wish for can end up coming back to bite you. As any regular reader of mine knows, my 17-year-old son is going through the process of enlisting in the Air Force.
It has been a journey that has taken me up and brought me down. There are so many emotions involved.
My latest hope was that my son would do well on his ASVAB test. That stands for “Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery.” The higher you score on this test, the more opportunities that are available.
So as most parents hope for, you want your child to do well. In fact, I was a little concerned because at our first meeting with the recruiter he had my son take a pre-ASVAB test. He wasn’t prepared for it and I don’t know if he had an off-day or what but although he passed; he scored much lower than expected.
The highest points you can receive are 99. He scored 57.
So his recruiter suggested he prepare for the real test. My husband and I went out and found “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the ASVAB.” My son barely looked at it and it wasn’t until the night before his test that he actually spent a couple of hours studying.
A few days later we had another meeting scheduled with his recruiter, in which we would find out my son’s test score. The recruiter had a funny look on his face when we entered his office. He said he had to look twice at my son’s score. Why? Because he scored a 93.
Now that was more like it to me. Well, I should say that I was expecting much higher than 57 but I wasn’t expecting that. That score is so high that my son qualifies for virtually every job in the Air Force. And to put it into better perspective, of all his school friends who also took the test, the highest score he has heard so far is 70.
So that might sound like good news, right? I thought so. Until I saw the list of jobs that he is now interested in applying for. Number one on his list is an aerial gunner. A gunner is someone who flies around the world on missions that have to do with combat and rescue.
He has a couple of other dangerous jobs he is choosing. But then thankfully he also has on his list some mechanical jobs.
Like I said, funny how something you wish for can bite you in the behind. But he still has to take his physical and meet with his job counselor. So there is still much up in the air.
Just be careful what you wish for…you just might get it.
Related Articles:
Being Stretched as a Parent in Letting Go
First Step in Becoming a Military Mom
Extra Space as the Birdies Leave the Nest