Everyone has a first day story. Some are bland and some are funny. I guess mine trends towards the funny side.
I got to my first duty station and signed into post. As soon as I was complete inprocessing garrison, I went straight to my unit. It was about 1400 when I went to the Brigade S-1. I walked to the door and it was secure. I walked around the building, and all other doors were secure. I thought, "So the new guy tricks are already starting." Well, it just turns out that Staff Duty was not manning their post at the second I tried to enter, so I could not.
I finally got to the S-1 and they were flabbergasted. "Who are you?" they said. I gave them my orders and my in-processing paper work, and they went back and tried to find me on any of a number of trackers. They could not find me on any gains roster, but with my orders, they simply assigned me to the unit and told me what building to report to.
"You know, you are the first 2LT we have had in about two years"
"Great, thanks" I said, knowing that there would be no fabled LT-Mafia to help get me used to this.
So I drove down to the right building and walked in. I was very nervous, to say the least. I looked around for the company orderly room, and finally stumbled upon it. I told the clerk, "Hello I am here to in-process." Again, like at the BDE S-1, I got looks of confusion.
"We don't have you on our gains roster. What are you doing here?"
So after arguing with a very insistent SGT (who, naturally, assumed that I should just go somewhere else), the Rear-D commander walked up. A Captain (the company that I was joining was a Major Billet command).
"Who are you"
"I am the new..uh.. LT sir"
He thought for a minute, and said, "Great! Tell you what, be back here at 1600. For now, go in-process the SSA, you will be getting some additional gear that we use here"
"Yes sir"
So, after getting a few new items (This was an Airborne unit, so I was issued a few unique things), I headed back to the office.
"Sir, I am here"
"Great, come in. I am just talking with the Commander" He said while placing his desk phone on speaker.
">NAME REDACTED<! Great to have you on the team!", said the Commander, " As you probability know, half of us are deployed right now. But I am glad to have you here and I expect to see you out here soon!"
"... uhh Yes sir, absolutely" with me having no Idea that the unit was half deployed, where they were half deployed to or that I had the possibility to be soon deployed. So, to say the least, it has been an eventful day.
But that was not all. The Rear-D commander decided, sense I was there, that he could take leave. I don't completely blame him, there was an emergency situation at hand, so it made sense. But the next Monday, I was the only officer in Rear-D and I was in charge of the company. I had no idea what to do.
And to top that off, two days into my first (temporary) command gig, there was a DUI. Oh the fun I had. But the Rear-D commander was really good and talked me through everything over the phone. A new Master Sergeant also came in that week, and he could tell that I was a little over my head, so he helped me out.
I completed my pre-deployment training, a Jump from a CH-47 (Chinook) and I was off to Iraq. The person that really kept it all together, though, was my wife. I can't believe that she held it together through this. From the transition to Active duty to moving to our duty station to me leaving, she kept her sh*t together, which is quite frankly amazing.
What were your first days like at your unit?