WDYM What Do You Mean?
WDYM What Do You Mean?
Joining the Air Force!
Why do we still go to Popeyes? Michael walks in craving spicy chicken and walks out with a bigger question: why do we tolerate broken systems when the payoff is only sometimes worth it? The story starts with missing tea, long waits, and that infamous “we’re out of chicken” at peak time.
From there, the timeline rewinds to a moment that shaped a generation—watching 9/11 unfold on a store TV while holding a new Jay-Z CD. That memory doesn’t just linger; it reframes everything. We talk about drifting through restaurant jobs, stacking small promotions, and realizing momentum isn’t the same as direction. The recruiting office gauntlet brings humor and humility, but the Air Force pitch lands with two demands: quit smoking and start running. What follows is the unglamorous truth of building capacity—walk-run intervals, a competitive training partner who keeps you honest, and the first quiet pride of hitting distances you once hated.
The MEPS sequence strips ego and replaces it with checklists and early mornings. It’s awkward, it’s funny, and it’s clarifying. We cover picking a job path, getting medically cleared, and fighting doubts over a perfect cafeteria burger. Life off-base pushes back too—on-again love, rent due, and a ring pop proposal that adds purpose to the chaos. Then the pivot: a ticket in hand, a plane to San Antonio, the bus rolling through Lackland’s gate, and the shock of Week Zero as the jokes die and the training begins.
If you’ve ever felt stuck between comfort and calling, this story is a blueprint for choosing the harder road with your eyes open. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a push, and leave a review with the moment that made you change course—we’ll read our favorites next time.
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Intro by Kobeofei via Fiverr
Season 2 Artwork: Ishida1694 via Instagram
You're listening to the WBYL, the What Do You Mean podcast? Hamilton's number one podcast. Now sit back and relax. Here's Hamilton Zone, Michael Villetsky.
SPEAKER_04:I figured it out. I have figured their grand scheme out. I thought, I thought it was on purpose, but then I figured out it's their grand scheme. It is their grand scheme. Ladies and gentlemen, I am talking about Popeye's, the fast food restaurant. Right? Everybody knows if you just go in there and everything, you're automatically getting terrible service. It's just terrible service. They cannot avoid the terrible service. This is the opposite of Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A, you get great service. You get excellent service. But Popeye's nah nah. No sir, no ma'am, no ham, no bacon. You're not getting good service at Popeye's, no matter what you do. I've been in the restaurant game for the longest time. You know, restaurant game, culinary game, whatever you want to call it. I've been in the game for a while, right? So I know, as someone who's been in this industry for a while, it's something we call peak. Peak times. At Chipotle, we had peak times every day, all day. And we were we were prepared for those peak times. Popeyes don't believe in peak times. They don't believe in anything close to a peak time. Um, let me give you a couple examples of peak times. Peak times for certain restaurants could be lunch.
SPEAKER_03:Right?
SPEAKER_04:Dinner. You follow me? Maybe a breakfast. Maybe like nine o'clock, everybody wakes up, they come down to eat breakfast. Peak time. Even special occasions. They have, you know, like the after church rush peak. Holiday peak time. Fourth of July. Maybe, you know, there's a peak time. You get what I'm saying? There's peak times for certain situations where, hey, we let's let's overproduce or produce a lot a lot of chicken, so therefore we don't run out of chicken. You follow me? You understand? Okay, great, good, good. I went to Popeye's this past Sunday at let's just say 11:30, right? So it's that peak time when people are starting to get out of church, you know, predominantly white church, because black church, we don't get out till 4 o'clock in the afternoon. That's another story. But you get what I'm saying, right? It is 11:30. You guys open at 10, 10:30, one of those times. So therefore, you shouldn't run out of chicken. I'm sorry. That's just something that we don't do. So I I should have known, I should have known that this was gonna be a half-hour type deal when I walked in. When I walked in, there was already two people in line. So okay, not a big deal. Maybe they got their things together, so therefore we're not worrying about chicken. Two people in front of me, and my first sign, I should have been like, uh oh, is that the person at the register has her back turned against the people on her cell phone. So I'm like, okay, you know, maybe, you know, benefit of a doubt time. Maybe they just get their schedule and they're looking at their their phone and all that stuff. So that that could be a legit thing. As I'm investigating, there's four people working. I think one person's working the drive-thru line, the other person's frying chicken, the manager, and then the person in the front. So I'm looking at, I'm like, okay, so four people, two people in line. We're not they're not busy. So I'm figuring, okay, this is this is gonna work. This is gonna be fine, and it's gonna work. It's gonna be fine.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
unknown:Ha!
SPEAKER_04:What was I thinking? I don't know how many of you guys know, but how many times have you gone to Popeyes and got okay service? Just okay. Just okay service. I have never been to a Popeye's and got excellent service. Like, ooh, Chick-fil-A, excellent service almost every time. I can't I cannot think of a time I haven't got excellent service from Chick-fil-A. Popeye's on the other hand, they're like, nah, we'll screw that. So I'm in there, two people in front of me. They're getting uh mobile order, so they're just you know doing their little Uber Eats, yeah, Uber Eats, whatever. DoorDash, those two, those type things, right? So those pool people are just grabbing bags and leaving. I pull up and I order a two-piece and a three-piece. I order a two-piece and three-piece. And the first thing he says, well, we got we gonna we're gonna have to cook some old chicken.
SPEAKER_03:I say, okay, you know, I'm gonna be, I'm not gonna be angry. I'm not gonna be angry. I'm not. But I'm like, it's like 11:30. How are you guys out of chicken already? This doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_04:You guys just open open for an hour. And I'm pretty sure, right? You have a shelf life for chicken for at least an hour under a heat lamp. At least pushing it. They're out of chicken. I'm like, man, this is this is something else. I'm like, all right, fine. You know what? She said it's gonna be a six to eight minute wait for regular, and I got spice. He says it's gonna be a wait for spicy. I'm like, okay. So I sit back and I'm like, you know, can you give me my two cups for my drinks? And she's like, yeah, sure. Hands me the cups. Guess what? They didn't they didn't want to brew no tea today. That's a staple for Popeyes. Can I get that sweet tea? That's a normal. Like, and then the funny thing about it is that the front person, the front register person, sh looked actually like surprised, like, what? We ain't got no tea. Come on now. Come on now. You know you didn't have no tea. Why are you acting all brand new? And I was like, you know, I'm gonna be nice. Like, no, ma'am, you don't have no tea out here. So, okay, I'll get that for you. And then she goes, you know, to the little fountain machine in the back for dry-thru and gets me tea. And guess what? It's it's gold peak. Gold peak is the worst tea in a bottle. Period. It's terrible, it's nasty. It don't even taste good. What is that? That's not tea, that's brown water, ladies and gentlemen. That's not good tea. I'm sorry. Anybody can brew tea make it better than what Gold Peak does. Maybe I'm on a maybe I'm on a soapbox today, and I'm complaining about the experience I got at Power's. But the tea was trash. Tea is absolutely garbage. So I'm sitting there waiting, and lo and behold, four people come in after me. Right. So my culinary brain is like, okay, what you should do, lady, is take these people's orders, so therefore, you got them, right? They're not gonna ask for money back. You got them. What does she do? She's on her cell phone, actually looking at her schedule and complaining, like, I can't do this day, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_03:And then I look and I'm assuming she was the manager. She was on her phone, too.
SPEAKER_04:So I'm like, what is going on? What is going on? They are doing this on purpose. This service is terrible. Is absolutely terrible. So I'm sitting there and 10 minutes go by, no food. 15 minutes go by, no food. 20 minutes go by, still no food. I'm like, okay, this is crazy. So I'm looking at the person who's next to me. It's a young lady in a nursing outfit and everything. And I'm just looking at her. She looks upset. Because obviously she hasn't put an order in. And she's upset. Nobody's giving her the attention. And eventually she walks out. She's like, you know what? I'm done with this place. McDonald's is right down the street. She's probably gonna get McDonald's. I'm sitting there, and I'm like, this is I don't understand why I keep coming here. This is ridiculous. There's actually a canes right across the way. Go eat there, right? Uh no, we want a Popeye's. I want us some spicy chicken. I eventually get my chicken. And lo and behold, everything is hot and delicious, right? Everything is good.
SPEAKER_03:It's like, hey man, is it worth the wait? I mean, I'm eating this spicy chicken and I'm enjoying life right now. This is delicious. I love Popeye's chicken.
SPEAKER_04:I hate Popeye's service. It's terrible. I cannot believe it. So I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna do my due diligence and I'm gonna write the company. I'm gonna write the company and tell them how bad they are. So I go in there on their website, start filling out, like, hey, everybody's on their cell phone, nobody's giving the people attention, had to wait X amount of minutes and all that stuff. And it's like it's an automated AI thing. Was like, well, can you tell us what store you were at? And this, this, that, this, that, and the other. So I tell them everything, and you know, they're they're don't they don't even ask for like an email or anything. He's like, Are you are you a member? Do you have an account? I said, No, you know, I'm telling you how it is. I finished the survey of how bad the service was. So, yeah, we'll let we'll let the uh we'll let the restaurant know goodbye. Click, now was it. There wasn't no, hey, we'll follow up with you. Hey, do you want a follow-up number? Hey, do you want a call or anything like that? No. So I've concluded that this is all part of their strategy. Get them, get them to wait. Let me make it hot and fresh for you because everything was hot. The biscuit, the sides, the chicken, everything was hot. That's what people want. Hot food. And it was delicious. But they make they give you horrible servers. And I'm trying to figure out is this a marketing scheme? Because how are you gonna complain about something and not ask the the person who's complaining, do you want a follow-up? Do you, you know, something like that. Nothing. So it's it's part of the marketing scheme. It has to be. It freaking has to be because I got hot food. I'm not complaining about the food, I'm complaining about the service. And I don't think they're ever gonna fix it because hey, this is what they're notoriously known for. There's been so many skits online, people online complaining about the service you get at Popeye's chicken. It's terrible, it's absolutely terrible. So, yeah. Um, I don't even recommend it. Don't go unless well, shoot. I can't, man. I mean, that chicken sandwich is pretty good, but you know, know what you're getting into if you go to Popeye's. Okay? So the main event for today, it is it's quite simple. I wanted to talk about my decision to join the military, man. That's that's the bread and butter of this season. I'm I'm I'm gonna explain a couple weeks of basic training, maybe some tech school, maybe some real life incidents and all that stuff for the next couple episodes. So we gotta go with how it all started. How it all started. And it started with me on September 10th, right? Uh during this times, man, I was fresh out of high school and everything. A couple years out, like maybe three years out, working here and there and everything. I was working at Bob Evans at the time, and me and my friend, we we would sometimes have a little extracurricular activities, right? You'd be surprised, Michael. You used to smoke? Yeah, I did. Okay, get over it. We all did, right? Maybe. I don't know. So when we would have, you know, after work, a couple friends, we would just do it, do our thing, and then I would go home, right? That was it, you know, whatever. This day I went home and woke up, and why I remember this is basically simple. It was a new Jay-Z album coming out September 11th, right? September 11th, I think it was what? 2001. God. 2001, Jay-Z's album, I think the Blueprint 3 or something, Blueprint, whatever. It was coming out, and I was like, yo, I gotta get this album because I've heard you know snips of the album. I was like, yo, this album's about to be fire. If memory serves me correctly, I might be wrong with the names and everything, so forgive me on that. I went to Galaxy CD on the west side, right? Because, you know, I want to support my local businesses and stuff like that. So I go there and grab the CD and they have the TV on. And that's not normal, right? I'm like, that's not normal. Like, why do you have the TV on? I'm watching it and I've still got the haze from last night in my in my brain. I'm like, dog, this movie is so real looking. Like, dude, what movies is this? This is the new diehard? This is this must be a new movie. He's like, nah, dog, this is happening in real life. I'm like, shut up, man. That's no way. And by the time I started paying attention to TV, one tower has already been hit. Right? So I'm like, dude, that's crazy. And it's like, you know, when that happened, it was it was it was something else, right? Um, this is what as I was as I was buying the CD and everything, I was just glued to the TV because this is what was happening.
SPEAKER_00:This is as close as we can get to the base of the World Trade Center. You can see the firemen assembled here, the police officers, FBI agents, and you can see the two towers. A huge explosion now raining debris on all of us. We better get out of the way.
SPEAKER_04:Now imagine. Imagine that. Like, there is, you know, there's people that was been born and everything that has never seen something like that. And me seeing that shaped my life for the rest of my life. So that happened and everything. And you and of course, you being alive in that in that um era and everything, it was devastating. It was so devastating to see the towers fall, and you know, doing the follow-up, and as years went by, you know, documentary after documentary, seeing what people were doing, trying to escape that, it was crazy. It was absolutely crazy. So, as I'm sitting there cooking at Bob Evans, and this freshly in my mind, I'm asking myself, like, hey, what am I doing with my life? Like, what am I doing getting buzzed and you know, not really having a direction? You know, I I'm cooking, I'm making my way up through Bob Evans. Started out as a dishwasher, dishwasher to busing tables, busing tables to hosting, hosting to serving, serving to cooking, right? I've in my time there, I've done everything. And they started doing snippets of management with me, but I was like, yeah, I'm not I don't know about that part, right? So I'm looking at my life. Like, what am I doing with my life? Because I cannot, this is not this is not what I want. This is not this is not what I want. So I'm like, yo, maybe I should join the military. And at this time, my brother, I'm sorry, my brother is in the military. Uh he just graduated from Ohio State. He's an officer.
SPEAKER_02:And he thinks real high of himself, Michael. Don't forget, I'm always better than you.
SPEAKER_04:Is what my God. What he would probably say to me, right? Because I'm going in. If I'm going in, I'm going in enlisted. So um, so I go to my local military station, and the thing about it is that's so annoying uh when you go in, is that the army guy, the army recruiters just basically what you hear the you open the door, it goes bing-bong, and they just come out the door, look, put their head out, look. Oh, we got we got somebody new. And he was like, hey, you want to join the army? I said, Absolutely not, dude. What are you talking? I have a mission, right? I have a mission, and you know, I'm not doing it. Then you look further down, there's the Marine guy back then, ding ding. You want to join you Marines, you be a Marine, d-No, I'm not joining the Marines, dog. Uh-uh. I don't know. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. Nope. Uh-uh. And they're off, they're just throwing, like, you could get this many stripes going in, and you could do this, and the Navy guy said, No, don't you, you might as well just go back right back in your office. There ain't no way I'm being a seaman. Get out of here. So I would go see the Air Force guy, but his door was closed. I'm like, what's going on? How is his door closed? Like, he ain't here. You see that? That's the Air Force for you. They don't do nothing.
SPEAKER_03:I said, Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_04:All right. So I'll go, I go home and you know, I grab his little card. And, you know, I'm I I call, buzz, wait, whatever. And uh he never answered. So I'm like, all right, so now I'm gonna have to scout this guy. As I wait for him to finally get a hold of me, I'm still doing the things that I've been doing, you know, sitting out, chilling, doing extra activities, eating pizza, not being in shape, this, that, and the other. And I'm waiting on him. I finally get a hold of this guy. I go to the office. I am in a very higher state of life right now, if you get what I'm saying. I go to him and say, hey, bro, I want to join the Air Force. He says, You want to join the Air Force with a chuckle. I'm like, Yeah, I want to join the Air Force. He says, You, you looking up and down, looking me up and down, like you want to join the Air Force. Absolutely, I do. It's okay. If you're serious, quit smoking. I said, Done. So I quit smoking. Then he looks me up and down again and says, Hey, you need to start running. I said, What? He says, You need to start running. I said, fine, you know what? Whatever. Alright, I got the mission. So he wants me to quit smoking, he wants me to run. Because I guess I gotta shave a couple pounds because I'm too fat. According to him, he called me fat. So, alright, cool, whatever. I'm committed to this. He says, I'm not gonna let you go to Columbus, which is the in processing area, until you know you're serious about it. So I know you're serious about it. I said, alright, say less. I can't I got this, right? So I have to start running. And lo and behold, if you know this or not, I don't care. I hate running. I absolutely hate running. I the only time I enjoyed running is once I've been running for a while, it doesn't hurt no more. But every time I run, it hurts. It just hurts. Lungs, back, legs, it just hurts. So I talked to the one person that loves to run. And we set up a time where we made Up three times a week at the track at Big Blue when they used to let people on the track and we would run. We would run the straightaways, walk the curves, just to start, right? And let me tell you, this individual and myself were super competitive. Super competitive. We would we didn't know. Like if I won, she didn't, if I won a race, she didn't like it. If she won the race, yeah, I said she. She didn't like it, and vice versa. I didn't like it and this, that, and the other. I said, look, I need help. I'm joining the military and I need to enjoy running. She laughs. Ha ha. You mean with me? And I said, yeah, with you. She said, okay. Meet me here Monday morning, 9.30, and we'll run. And that's exactly what I did. We ran three times a week Monday, Wednesday, Friday. And we would run like two miles. And I hated every second of it. Hated it. It was terrible. But the competitiveness of it made it fun because she would dog walk me. She would beat me so bad. I hated it. I hated it. But then on the side, I would run just like around my neighborhood, this, that, and the other. And they thought I was crazy. Everybody thought, who runs in the hood? That's the thing. If you ain't running from the police or something like that, why are you running in the hood? I'm just running to get in shape because I'm joining the military. So eventually I started beating her and then it would go back and forth. Some days she would get me, some days I would get her. Lo and behold, a brother's in shape. I am in shape. I the legs are rock and everything, this, that, and the other. So he lets me go to in-processing, and um I do my job. I can find me a job. And at the time I signed up to be a I was qualified enough to do telephone systems, right? Don't know exactly what that entails, but I say, hey, I'll do telephones. Telephone systems, whatever. You know. So I'm a telephone system guy. I come back, he's like, yeah, man, congratulations from MEPS. You got a good score. You're telephone systems guy. And um, you know, you're on your way to becoming an airman. I was like, great, cool. You know, that's what I want. That's what I want. He said, All right, just maintain, maintain what you're doing. You haven't smoked, right? So no, I ain't smoked, sir. You know, I'm on it. He said, okay, cool. Keep this up, and we go from there. So I'm basically mentally trying to be the best version of myself. So I'm trained, I'm running, I'm running three times a week. You know, I'm in shape, everything. I'm living with my girlfriend, and it's like, hey, everything's good, and all that stuff. Well, I'll take that back. I have a girlfriend. I have a girlfriend. We're doing good. I got a job, just stay in shape. Uh, I got six months. Six months before I go and get out of here, right? I've I'm got my job, I'm maintaining my standards, that and the other, and all that stuff. During this time, like I said, I had a girlfriend and everything, and we would make up the breakup every now and then, every couple months, because of outstanding circumstances, this is that, and the other. So at one point, we're broken up, and allegedly, again, I'm using that allegedly, like, there's we're not getting back together, right? This is this is it, you know what I'm saying? So I'm like, screw it. All right, I'm going to end process, like to start the the ball rolling, like actually get tested and all that stuff, all that good stuff. I go up there and there's a whole bunch of people, right? There's a whole bunch of people trying to enlist in the military. So I'm like, you know, cool. So I start to see people that I, you know, I don't know nobody. Nobody for else from from Hamilton are trying to sign up for the military. It's just me. Because I'm the me and the recruiter are the only ones driving to Columbus. Like, whatever. Uh, so we drive up to Columbus and everything, and you know, we start in processing and all that. And I'm like, okay, you know, starting to do my thing and everything. And lo and behold, I'm officially in. I swore, I think I swore in that first time. And don't quote me, because it's probably changed eight million times since I went through the military. Uh, I swear in, so basically, I I can't, you know, I'm already get booked a ticket. I'm I'm leaving. I'm leaving Hamilton. I'm I'm on my way to San Antonio. And, you know, I was like, I got nothing for me here. I'm I'm I'm clean. I'm in shape. I'm running like three miles now, no problem. Probably two and a half, to be honest with you. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, I'm doing my thing. I'm in I'm in tip top shape. And, you know, right at the current time, I'm not with anybody. So it's gonna be a clean break. Until I come back. I come back, and my girlfriend at the time, she's like, Oh, how you doing? I said, I'm good.
SPEAKER_02:You know, hey, let's go out, let's go, uh, let's go eat at one of our favorite spots.
SPEAKER_04:We used to go to this place called the Deli Shop. The Deli Shop was on, I think, second or third street. We both love that sandwich. There you get a hot press, psss. All that good stuff. It was a really good place. I don't know why they closed. Um, so uh we're talking and everything, and you know, it's like, hey, you know, I really miss you. It's like I really miss you too. Um, what's been going on? I said, yo, I'm I'm I'm leaving. I was like, I'm joining the military. She's like, really? I said, yeah. I said I'm leaving in February, and that's that. She's like, oh, okay, okay, cool, cool, cool. And she said, you know, what do you have you thought about us? About us. I'm like, yeah, not really, you know what I mean? This is like, you know, our last breakup was some be some BS. But you know, I'm just gonna be taking it day by day, you know. So, all right, well, if you ever know, call me when, you know, if you want to hang out, whatever, whatnot, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, cool, you know. Eventually, eventually, we get back together, we move in together, and we start building our lives together and everything. It's like, you know, unexpected, expected thing. So, you know, whenever, let's just say this was in August, right? We decided to move in together and everything. And August, I'm leaving in February, August, September, October, November, December, January, February. It's time for me to leave. Uh, the day of I go to the YMCA and and I work out. I work out, and I can remember this like no other. It's snow on the ground and everything. And I'm like, yo, I'm about to, I'm about to change my life. I'm about to leave my city in order to better myself, in order to join the military, the United States Air Force. I am on this treadmill, and I'm like, I don't, I don't, I don't know what I'm doing, bro. It's like, it's like I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know if I should be doing this, man. But it's like, it's too late now because I already put my hand up and already put it on the Bible and swore to protect and defend the Constitution. And uh I don't know what I'm gonna do. You know, I'm with somebody. I'm currently dating my girlfriend, and I don't know what I'm gonna do because you know, I'm helping, you know, we're paying rent together and everything, and I don't know what I'm gonna do. So I come back home from the gym, sweaty, stanking, and whatever. Uh I wake her up, I'm like, hey, um, you know, today's the day, and you know, it is what it is. Um, so we're talking and everything, and I do this cheesy proposal with a ring pop, and I ask her to marry me. And she says yes. And, you know, uh, now I have a little bit of purpose when I when I go. And so that happens. And my recruiter comes, knocks on the door, and says, Hey man, you ready? And I give her my Visa card, I give her my bank card, and I give her, you know, everything I have, and it's like, hey, um, you know, use it, use it when needed. Use it when needed, and you know, I'll be getting paid and everything, so good luck. You know, I'll be back. I'll be back. So I roll off to Columbus to leave for the military. Again, I seen the same people I saw the first time when I in process. I saw them and I was like, his one was named Bell, and the other one was Isaac's. Okay. Bell and Isaac's we're brothers, right? We're black. That's what I mean. We're black. And um, you know, we hang out for a while, we talk, yeah, you know. Uh I used to play for UC football. I said, oh, that's cool. He's like, yeah. The other guy, he's like, yeah, you know, I just wanted to join. I'm from another part of Ohio. Like, cool, you know, we're about to, we're about to do this, you know, and everything. And um, we all hanging out and everything, and we go to start in process. In processing is a two-day event, right? The first one is just, hey, you're here. Um, want to make sure you're here, you eat, you sit down, you wait, and everything. It's like, all right, cool, you know, whatever. You know, you're gonna be a telephone systems apprentice, you need to learn this, this, that, this, your tech school, your tech school is gonna be this long, this, that, and the other. And we're like, cool. So now we're doing all these tests now, right? So we're picking things up, seeing what we could lift, uh, checking out, you know, all our you know, shnees and all that stuff. And I I remember, I remember going into this doctor, it was like a doctor's office, just me, the doctor, a um, a little, you know, the little bed that they have in the back with the paper on it and everything. And he's like, Gillespie. I said, me. You know, I was like, you know, we gotta start, you know, getting to that military moral. Yes, sir. Right? He's like, Gillespie. Yes, sir. He said, strip. I said, what? He said, strip. I said, strip down to what? He said, stripped down to you are butt naked. I said, oh, okay. Um, you ain't gonna give me no dinner or anything first? You just gonna ask me to get straight up butt naked. I'm I'm nervous here a little bit because this dude's asking me to get butt naked. And I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't I don't want to because it's it's cold. You know, you know what I'm saying? It's cold, okay? You you know what happens when things it's cold in this office, cold in this doctor's office. I it's cold, okay? He said, strip butt naked. I said, man, I'm fighting it. Initially, I'm fighting it, because you know what you about to do, man? What are we about to do? What kind of military operations is you want me to get butt naked? He said, You get butt naked, or you're not joining. I said, Okay. Draws is off. I am butt naked. It is like 30 degrees in this office. It has to be 30. It's 30 degrees in this office, man. He says, Alright, bend, you know, bend your knees. So bend your knees. He says, Squat down, squat down. Says, no problem, I can do all this stuff. Then he says, Bend over. I'm like, I'm getting mad. Like, yo, yo, what you mean? What you mean? Getting what you mean, bend over, dog? You know, I'm trying to get ghetto and stuff because you ain't gonna ask me to bend over. No, you ain't gonna when I'm butt naked, bro. I can't. He's like, man, like, man, who you talking to, dog? He says, I'm talking to you, Gillespie. He says, All right, you know, if you don't bend over, you ain't can't join the military. I said, Man, forget this stuff, man. I don't need it that bad. I'm thinking to myself, but wait a minute. I'm already in Columbus, man. I'm about two days out from leaving. So yeah, brother bends over, whatever. And he says, He says, Grab your ankles. I said, Hold on now, play. Grab my ankles. What we do? No, come on now, what we doing here? He said, Grab your ankles. Whatever. And he takes a peek. I don't know what he's looking at, but I'm pretty embarrassed. I it's a it's like I remember because it's the first time someone ever asked me to bend over and grab my ankles. It's the first person to ask me this crap, man. So I remember that, but I don't remember anything after that. Nothing happened. Nothing happened. But yeah, I did that. So I passed all that stuff. I am like medically cleared to join the Air Force. Right? After that, they gave us this ticket, and he says, Hey, go to the cafeteria, get you something to eat. After you eat, we'll be back here at five o'clock in the morning. And I remember this, I remember this moment like no other. Why? Because that burger was freaking delicious. Mind you, they they gave us MREs the first time, I think. No, no, no, no, no. They gave us like some snack, oranges, you know, gummies, something like that, chips, and all that. So once I passed the medical, got the ticket, and gave us hamburger and fries, the ticket I got hamburger and fries, and it's like six, seven o'clock in the afternoon, and I remember they had this like the awning that Wendy's used to have where you could see through the the glass and if you looked up and everything. And I'm looking up there and I'm like, and I remember this so clear because it's like I'm halfway through, and I'm like, what the heck am I doing here? Because I'm starting to have instant regrets because he must he told me to bend over. I still nobody don't tell no other man to bend over, man. You crazy. So I did that, and I'm thinking to myself, like, man, I I'm about to join the military. And it was like, I'm this is crazy as I ate my burger and fries. I said, I don't know how I want to do this, but I'm here at this point, and this is the point where it transitions over from being a normal civilian to being an airman basic in the military, or about to be in the military. So the next day, they wake us up at 4 30, 5 o'clock in the morning, and we in process all day. All day. Needless to say, I'm exhausted as I get on the plane and head to San Antonio for the first time. I am aboarding a plane. This is officially it. I see Belle, I see Isaac's in different roles. I say, you know, we say, What's up, man? What's up? We're about to do this, man. We're about to represent Ohio, talking all this mess and everything. As we get on this plane. And I kept thinking to myself, like, man, I I feel I'm confident and I'm nervous because I've never been on a plane before. I'm leaving my home. I am starting brand F an new. What am I doing? And at the end, I say the right thing. I'm doing the right thing, right? So we get on the plane, we head to San Antonio, we get out, we get off the plane, and mind you, it is maybe time. I don't know what time it is, right? Because we've been up all day. No nap, no nothing. Barely eight. So I don't know what time it is, dark and everything. And then I'm in San Antonio, and you start seeing groups of people coming in. You know, you can tell this cat's from Boston because he has the accent. You know, Boston car, all that stuff. Minnesota, California, uh, Latinos. Don't know Latin as Latinos, don't know where you're from, but hey, you're joining the military. And so, yo, we're all a unit, right? We're about to just, we're all taking pictures. We're all taking pictures together. Hey, you know, hey, this is our last interaction with women, you know, at least eventually for a while. Last interaction with women. It's like, yo, this is this is crazy. We're all like, yeah, you know, where I'm from Ohio, girl. Well, Shorty, where are you from? You know, that's Belle, that's Isaac's. They're all talking to girls like this. This is not the time for that. This is not the time for that. We about to get murdered. I got a feeling this is the last, the last hint of freedom we're ever gonna have. Right? So we get there, all right, and then there's uh somebody in in a BDU uniform is there. He's like, hey, everybody, it's time to load up on the bus. It's okay, you know, hey, this is it. We get on a bus and we're on our way to Lackland Air Force Base, all right? So by the time we get to the gate, we're slowing, the bus slows down and everything, and um you can see it. You can just feel it. Like, this is this is it. This is the end of Michael Gillespie. And here comes Airman Basic Gillespie. Alright. So we the bus pulls in, and you can see these guys wearing these weird hats and everything, full uniform, muscles everywhere. It's like, dude, what this is supposed to be the Air Force, right? The Air Force is supposed to be the easiest branch, right? Like, why is dude meme mugging me through the bus window? I don't know who you are, player, but dude, you need to go somewhere because you're making me scared. And so they are looking at all of us, looking at all of us as the bus slowly pull in, and our bus stops. Our bus stops, and he goes, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, knocking on the window. Knocking on the window, and he's like, I want you.
SPEAKER_03:I said, Who are you pointing to, dog? You ain't pointing at me, are you? He's like, I want you! Get your off the bus and they cussing. This is supposed to be the Air Force. Why are you cussing at me, dog?
SPEAKER_04:Scared to death. And that was my welcome to San Antonio. Week zero has started. And it gets worse from that point on. To be continued though. Tell next time. Hope you guys enjoyed the story of my military beginnings. I'm your host, Michael Gillespie of the WDYM, and I'm out. Girl Scout, Boy Scout. Peace.
