Chapter 21: The Few. The Annoying. The Reservists.

Drill weekend. A night that will go down as the day that I thought I would die. I was given proper warning by the other staff members. Beware of drill weekend. I thought they were kidding. You know, new chick. KU fan. Why not mess with her?
For a whole week I prepared for this night. I just couldn't wait to see what all the hype was about. I proudly printed out everybody's personal information reports for them to reverify. They were put in order on the table by platoon and then by name, and the pens were gently placed on the table. I was excited to get this rolling.
Have you ever seen footage of people running the field after their favorite team wins? It was kinda like that. After the reservists were dismissed from their muster formation, all hell broke out. I had random people running around the office, long lines of people complaining about pay, woman Marines with hair that was unsat, male Marines who look like they put a bowl on their head and shaved around it (0-3 evenly graduated, you who's), Marines with uniforms that looked like they came out of the bottom of the seabag, and a Lieutenant that looked like he was 12 trying to act like he knew what he was doing (and he had no freakin' clue what he was doing).
I realized that our Admin Marines were in the back office conducting audits. I went back to see how they were doing them. Oh. My. Goodness. They had no clue what they were doing. They were only good for stapling the papers together. The migraine slowly started.
After a few, "who the hell are you's", I made myself known. For once in my career, I pulled rank. I pulled these Admin people to the side and told them that they will properly conduct an audit. Yeah, that didn't work. Next thing I realized, my stapler was missing. I went ape shit looking for my stapler. I looked high and low for this stapler. It was no where to be found. I went insane on anybody who was in that office. What a way to make a first impression! To this day, I have no idea why I couldn't part with this stapler. I was so livid that I was shaking, over a stapler that cost $2 at WalMart. I think it was just the principal of someone taking something that didn't belong to them.
Don't get me wrong. Not every Reservist was bad. There were some pretty awesome ones, but that night, I wished them all dead. Maybe I was hormonal; maybe I was hard core; maybe I was trying too hard. All I know is that I couldn't wait for that night to be over with. And I swear, it went on forever.
The next day was the Marine Corps Ball. I went stag as my fiance refused to go with me. I sat with people that I really didn't know. Ackward.  After the ceremony, I went home. I was completely numb that following Sunday. I felt like I drank a whole bottle of Jack (not that I would know or anything). My head pounded and I couldn't find the energy to keep going. These reservists were like three-year old needy children. Granted, I know it wasn't their fault as you can only learn so much in a given weekend, but it was a totally different Marine Corps.
Not much was accomplished this weekend and I soon learned that this was normal. Next drill would be worse as Toys for Tots would be in full effect. Side note: Isn't it ironic that I was now doing Toys for Tots? See I wasn't wrong when I told my recruiter that the Marines collected toys...The Few. The Annoying. The 24th Marine Freakin' Regiment.