Getting ready for my new life in San Antonio

I know that it's been a long time since I updated this blog, but not too many other Army-related things have happened since I last posted.

I've been waiting for such a long time for things to finally get moving, but now that we're under two weeks out from moving me down to San Antonio, it's starting to feel a little overwhelming.

Over the past several months I've been battling a number of injuries that have me worried for the PT test we'll have to take within a short time after arriving. I first injured my rotator cuff in mid-March when bench pressing and then reinjured it during the first week of June after trying to come back to benching too soon. Since then, I suffered a groin strain a little over three weeks ago (while squatting) and today, a pain consistent with low-level plantar fasciitis has begun in my right foot. I'm certain (*touch wood*) that these aches and pains will go away and that I'll be able to at least pass the tests, but still, I'm worried.

I would like to keep updating this blog through the PREP and BOLC courses, posting once weekly, but I know that once I take the plunge into training, it'll probably be all I can do to eat, study, train sleep and talk with Ishani.

After reading a few blogs here's what I expect the next few months to look like:

September 3rd: Move into new apartment
September 6th: Swearing-in ceremony
September 23rd: BOLC PREP course begins (there will be a diagnostic PT test sometime during this two week-course)
October 7th: BOLC begins (there will be a PT test during the first week; PT will happen 3 times a week at approximately 0530 for those who pass their PT test)
November 4th: Field training begins
December 2nd: AOC-specific training (Welcome from the PT program and a preview of what to expect when the semester starts on January 6th) 

And ... I GOT IT!

I just wanted to post a quick update letting everyone know that after over a year of direct preparation and over two of preparation in general, I've been accepted to my first choice, the US Army-Baylor physical therapy doctoral program at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, TX! 

I've spent the last couple of weeks very very stressed and have worried if there was more that I could have done to improve my application. I thought about what I would have to do to improve my application if I had to apply next year again (since I turned down my two other civilian options). 

On the morning of Thursday, February 21st someone posted to a PT school forum (on Student Doctor Network) that he had been selected for the program. I spent the next several hours worrying and wondering if I would be called. After waiting most of the day, I finally called up the SFC whose office I had traveled to to sign the last form that was needed before my application was submitted. I asked him if it would be alright to call my recruiter to ask about the board results. After responding what I could have sworn was annoyance, he checked with his superior officer and coming back on the line said "I don't think I saw your name on the list." I was so sad at that moment and was already planning how I would thank him for looking into this for me, what I would tell Ishani and how I would make my application un-refusable next year. He paused for a second and then said, "Nah, I'm just messing with you. Your name's right here. You're on the list. Congratulations." I didn't really believe him at this point and I had spent so much time worrying about not being admitted, that I really didn't hear him, and the news I had wanted to hear so badly didn't exactly stick. 

I then immediately called Ishani (who of course was ecstatic) and then spoke to my recruiter. She told me that she had been unsure of whether to tell me the results due to chain-of-command issue with her superior officer. She told me how excited she was for me and (and this may change) that she'll be making every attempt to come out (by car, so 11 hours one way for her) for my swearing-in ceremony. That should happen once my security clearance has gone through and my provisional acceptance is changed to a full admit - so in about 1-2 months. 

I'm so happy to be moving forward and to know where I'll be going in the fall. I also can't wait to talk to other admits from the NE Region (where I'm now living) when a meet-and-greet hopefully happens in a few weeks. I'll provide updates on this later. For now, aaaaaahhhh! I got it!

PS: Ishani and I got a Samsung Galaxy SIII as a reward for getting in after so much hard work. It's wi-fi connectivity in our apartment has been problematic, but hopefully with a replacement phone (due in this week) or a new router, we'll be able to solve the problem. This being my first smartphone, though, I'm more than impressed with what I can do. 

Interview update

I just wanted to provide an update on how my interview for Army-Baylor went. I woke up on the morning of the 24th (Jan.) and saw had an e-mail (sent only about 15 minutes before) from a LTC Gill (who, as it turns out, is the new deputy director of the physical therapy program at Army-Baylor). He was e-mailing about 5 people who hadn't responded to his previous request to sign up for an interview timeslot to let them know that today was the last day to interview for the program if we were still interested. I don't know how I could have fallen through the cracks. My only thought is that maybe he initially made a mistake entering my e-mail address and only later caught it when he didn't hear word back.

I quickly signed up for an interview timeslot about 5 hours from then and confirmed with him via e-mail that my name was in fact on the list for that time. I got Ishani ready for work and spent some time adding to a Word document I had started a few days before. In it, I included responses to questions I was nearly certain he would ask (based on accounts from current and past applicants) as well as detailed examples of how I embodied the key Army values (many of which didn't exactly fit). I also spent some time working with my father-in-law to craft a good answer to the "biggest weakness" question and finally I added some final points I wanted to make and questions I wanted to ask.

When he called me (only 1 minute past the scheduled time), I was ready, organized and calm. The first part of the interview was a little rocky as I, for some reason, delved immediately into why I chose to leave philosophy in response to the question: "What have you been doing for the past couple of years." From there though, the interview started to go much better and I warmed up. I began to share the reasons why personal training appealed to me (the one-on-one client interaction, not a strictly selfish pursuit like philosophy tended to be) and made the transition nicely to a discussion of why the scientific model of systematic testing and evidence-based practice appealed to me. From there it was an easy transition into his question: "Why physical therapy in the Army." Opportunity to work with individuals at a high level of conditioning, marriage of strength and conditioning topics with rehabilitation, preventative care, the difficulty of practicing with minimal equipment in the deployed environment. I was also able to highlight my military-specific shadowing experience at Fort Knox (and the initiative I displayed setting it up and continuing to volunteer there) in response to his question about military observation.

I did a lot of talking, but with the exception of the first minute or so, the conversation flowed nicely and I felt completely in my element, not artificial. I felt that I left him with my genuine and enthusiastic desire to be a part of Army physical therapy and he (unasked) told me that my interview was the best of all the applicants he'd phoned. While he advised caution (it took him two times to be accepted to the program) he told me that if the rest of my application was as stellar as my phone interview, that I stood an excellent shot of being accepted this cycle.

The only thing I can do now is wait. Wait to see if my medical waiver (for syncope) will be approved; SFC Thomas said that the closer we get to the Feb. 12th Board date, the more the medical waivers are rushed to be included in the packet. And I also have to wait for an admissions decision. In years past, one week after the Board finishes meeting, applicants start hearing word back (at least those accepted do). So potentially, with any luck, I might hear word back on February 21st.

The only other update I have is that I just contacted a local sports training center (akin to Force Fitness and Performance in Bloomington, IN) about an internship opening in strength and conditioning. The original listing (posted on Jan. 4th) was for an assistant S&C coach for their 4-person facility, but the bottom of the ad mentioned an opening for this internship. I really want to perfect and apply the basics of Olympic lifting (which they specialize in) and this looks like a perfect opportunity to get hands on. I will be purchasing the CSCS materials (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist) from the NSCA soon and will take the exam later in the summer. This internship would help immensely with the video practical portion (as well as the test questions on form) and will put me that much further ahead if/when I head to Fort Sam for training.

Well, that was a lot longer than I intended it to be. Thanks for your patience and I should have some more news for you in about a month's time.

Updates

I think that most blogs get to be like this. The blogger promises to start writing and then waits months and months to post something new, not because nothing interesting has been happening, but because s/he has been a lazy sod. So with that in mind, I don't promise to change my nature and I will most likely go some time before posting again.

Things have been very interesting since I last wrote here. I took on many more clients through the SRSC in the spring of 2011, I got married (both legally in the US and religiously in India), I took a full science courseload for nearly a year in Santa Barbara and did very well in my classes (even getting to work on human cadavers), and I have decided to try to become an officer in the US Army Medical Specialist Corps (AMEDD). I've been working on that last one for exactly a year now and have done everything in my power to make myself a competitive applicant for the Army-Baylor program (located at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX). I've made weekly trips to Fort Knox, KY from Bloomington, IN to observe physical therapy as practiced in a military setting and have finally finished the medical entrance exams for the military (well, "finished" might be a little bit hasty, as I still have to be tested to be OK'd for my two episodes of syncope). I'm really in a state of limbo though, as I don't whether I'll be deemed physical fit for military service. And even if I am, I may simply be OML'd (waitlisted) and be forced to wait an additional year to apply again.

But some good news is that Ishani and I are preparing to move to Arlington, VA for her job as the Associate Director of Research at the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business (that's a mouthful). We're really excited for her, especially given the hard time she's gone through to get to this point. She's generally awesome and will do really good work there.

I'll try to post again when I've learned anything new about Army-Baylor. I'll probably be receiving a call for my telephone interview next month and will let you know then how I thought it went. 

A long time away

I'm sorry that I haven't posted here in a long time. And a lot has happened since I last let you guys (whoever you might be) know that I had opted to leave my philosophy PhD program once and for all. I successfully studied my ass off in preparation for my NSCA-CPT exam and with Ishani's father's help, I passed with an 87% on July 19th, 2010. I immediately knocked on a bunch of doors in Bloomington but the only one that opened was at the IU SRSC. Since then, I have only managed to finish training and work through a three-session package with a client. Somehow, I thought I'd have more clients through the university by this point, but it just hasn't materialized. Classes start up next week though, and I'll probably be inundated by assignments from Megan Amadeo, my boss.

The good news, though is that I've been able to train several clients on my own. I began back in September with a girl named Anne and though she signed up for a month worth of training sessions, her schedule soon became too hectic and she discontinued training (until the new year?). I've also completed a few sessions with a Saudi Arabian mother of two. My best client to date, though, is Connie (Hong Yi Liu) from Hong Kong and while she only signed up for 6 sessions before returning home over break, I believe she fully intends to train with me through spring break.

The other very good bit of news is that I've decided to begin to take the necessary steps to pursue a career in physical therapy. After spending some time thinking about what I like about personal training and a bit more time mulling over what I dislike, I came to the conclusion that physical therapy will afford me much more control over the progress of my clients. The problem with personal training is that it's characterized by a lot of uncertainty. Uncertainty on the part of your clients when it comes to what they really want ("weight loss," "to look good in a swim suit," to improve endurance"). Uncertainty when it comes to what they'll do when they're not with you. The uncertainty of whether your services will continually be in demand.

Put simply, and as bad as it might sound, I want more control over my clients - well, actually their progress. In physical therapy, someone comes to you with a particular problem - an ache/pain/imbalance capable of being treated with an exact regimen. And that's not to say that you can't do this in personal training. It's just that a systematic approach is a difficult sell to cost-conscious consumers trying to achieve weight loss/ hypertrophy. Unfortunately, its only the most financially affluent of clients who can afford the number of sessions it would require to see significant results. A physical therapist in most cases can see a client through to a recovery and can demonstrate clear progress to the client. And this returns me to my earlier point. The goals of physical therapy are much more definite/quantifiable than those which personal training clients often have. Measuring improvements in shoulder ROM is a much easier task than determining the satisfaction of client at how "toned" his/her abs are.

I could say much more, but I'll save it for another post. Suffice it to say that I'm very happy to be taking this new path and that my life will be changing come this fall. I'll use a different post to talk about my educational plans as they stand now.

Moving on ...

So it's official. I've decided to leave the Philosophy department here at UC Riverside and pursue my dream of working in the health-fitness industry. I have one more week of classes here (and two more papers to write) and then I'll be headed back to Bloomington, IN to live full-time with my girlfriend Ishani and work as a personal trainer. We have the tentative plan (provided everything works out on her end) of going to Santa Barbara in one year's time; the opportunities there to do personal training work are some of the best in the country.

I have a little over a month to prepare for my NSCA-CPT exam and plan to apply to as many gyms in Bloomington as I can in the hopes that I can start to gain experience in this field. I will be posting much more frequently as soon as I return and will try to update you weekly on what's happening in my life. (Well, as of now, no one's reading. But in a couple of years it is my hope that that will change ;-) )

Get ready ...

I'm sorry I've been MIA for so long. I've been busy studying for my exam (only a few more chapters to go!) and planning for the future (I'll let you guys know more about this very soon). I'm in the process of adjudicating a dispute with the graduate division about my employment at the Student Recreation Center and this should be resolved by the end of this week. Hopefully all the hours I've worked won't be for naught.

My training has been going pretty well thus far as well. When I experienced some problems trying to up my run volume too quickly (after I purchased a pair of Vibrams), I made an Excel file in which I made weekly increases of no more than 10% in both run and bike training (which I alternate between). Though I continue to have some nagging aches and pains (tight IT band and some tingling in my knee some days), I have been as pro-active as I can be, stretching after each and every exercise sessions, using a foam roller and taking a glucosamine/chondroitin supplement.

More soon ...