On Monday November 6, I went to a Monday Night Football game at Metlife Stadium for a recruitment ceremony. This event was organized by Salute the Troops and future soldiers from every branch were there.
I met and talked with people going into the Army, Marines, Airforce, Navy and even the Coast Guard. There were many recruiters and officers in the Army there and these were the main people that were preparing us for the ceremony. All of the recruiters and officers were dressed in dress uniforms even my recruiter; everyone looked so formal.
We were all taught how to do the right face, left face, and about face. We were even taught how to march; it was all simple stuff to do.
When we eventually did march to the tunnel, right outside the stadium field, something very weird happened. A random Marine officer basically took charge and started telling us all what to do. We were used to the orders that the Army officers and recruiters were giving us. The Marine officer gave us conflicting orders. It was so much of a problem that a high ranking Army officer that was there pulled the Marine officer off to the side and ‘talked’ to him.
When we were given the green light to march out onto the field where 10,000+ people were watching us; my heart was pounding. The Marine officer halted us all, but the Army recruiters and officers were still marching in place. The Marine officer never told us to do a left face and march forward, we had to do that at the orders of the Metlife Stadium staff.
When the recruitment ceremony began we took the oath of enlistment but the voice on the loudspeaker was hard to understand.
And at the end the Marine officer said “Right face.” and everyone (there were about 120 future soldiers in the formation) in the line turned right, while everyone else turned left. It was all messed up by the Marine officer who I guess let his ego take control.
At the end of the day, I did have fun; I enjoyed meeting future soldiers in all of the different military branches…and lastly, it was really cold…