The Life of a Holdover

First of all, let me explain what a holdover is.  In the Army world, it is someone who has begun their military training and then for whatever reason, they don't finish their training.  It can also be an AIT graduate who is waiting to leave for their next duty station.  I was a holdover 3 times.  The first two times, it was horrible.  The final time, it was bittersweet.

After graduating Basic Training, people go on to their Advanced Individual Training (AIT) schools.  This is where I had the misfortune of becoming a holdover.  My original MOS (job) in the Army was a Geospatial Engineer.  That just sounds awesome!  Essentially, it's map making.  I didn't understand a lot of what I was learning or doing but I always found it interesting.
Each AIT has different policies about test taking but they're basically the same.  Fail two tests in a row and you're out.  The test that did me in was Map Composition.  When making a map, everything has to be precise.  Everything is measured.  Even font size and type has to be perfect.  The test was also testing our attention to detail abilities.  The weekend before I left, I stayed in my room and cried my eyes out.  That Sunday afternoon, one of my friends was able to get me out and he cheered me up with a game of Chess.  May 5th was the day I moved on from Belvoir to Eustis.

I HATED being a holdover at Eustis.  Using my experience as a holunder, I was able to dodge certain duties.  I knew what I needed to do to make myself unavailable.  The task I was constantly avoiding was CQ (Charge of Quarters).  CQ isn't usually so bad but when there are only 4 or 5 people available, it's absolutely dreadful.
Normally, a CQ shift is 2 hours long.  But with so few people to begin with and some of those few who refuse to do it, a 2 hour shift could turn into 6, 8, or 11 hours.  I forgot to state the simple fact that while on CQ, we're sitting in one spot doing nothing.  We're not allowed to have any electronics to keep us occupied.  Word search puzzles, magazines, and books were our only form of entertainment.  Not so bad for the first couple hours but when the 4th hour hits, you need something more.
And so since I had paid my dues while I was a holdunder, I didn't do CQ longer than the first week I became a holdover.  Constantly finding ways out of CQ was difficult at times but I managed.  The month I was a holdover, I had been working on obtaining a new MOS and so I had to meet with a Sergeant Major regularly.  Also, one of my battle buddies had a lot of doctor appointments and so I accompanied her many times.  On July 30th, I moved on from Eustis to Lee. 

Lee wasn't bad at all.  The cadre (Sergeants who are in charge of us) didn't really seem to care what we did so long as we stayed out of trouble.  So, napping in the dayroom or watching t.v. was usually where I'd be.  It was actually NICE being a holdover and it was because I was finally a Graduate!