The Beginning of My First Active Duty Assignment


Spread the love
So you know the saying, ‘be careful what you wish for, it might come true’?  I hate to say it, but that is how I felt about my first active duty army assignment. Since I was a teenager, it was my dream to go onto active duty as an Army microbiologist (71A) and get stationed at the United States Army Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID).  So you can image how ecstatic I was to find out that my Request for Orders (RFO) stated that I would be stationed there as a Captain (CPT) after completing my ten week Officer Basic Course (OBC) in Fort Sam Houston, TX.  It’s important to note that I received this RFO right before finishing graduate school, and that you actually have to rely on your set of official Orders before you can be more confident about your station assignment.  I didn’t receive my official Orders until after I started OBC, and I mention this because I didn’t realize until much later that had I gotten the orders sooner, I would have planned for my first assignment more appropriately.