User blog:Taki-noboru-desu/What happened to Taki-Noboru-Desu in 2019 and 2020

STORY TIME! It's midnight here on the east coast, I've a little too much "Gatorade," and that means it's time to log on and overshare some personal problems on the internet!

Back in January 2019 I won a clarinet audition for a military band, was over the moon, signed my papers, and shipped off for 10 weeks of Basic Combat Training... and everything went great until I fell from an obstacle during week 9, and broke my shin in half.

I went to the hospital on-post, got surgery, and they inserted a 12-inch-long metal rod under my kneecap and into my bones. It's still in my leg to this day! Always gives TSA a good scare.

Anyway, Basic Combat Training ("Boot Camp") is exactly how you imagine it to be. Constant yelling, swearing, and insults, and almost zero phone/internet access. Once a month, you get 5 minutes to call your family and tell them you're alive. This prisoner-of-war style environment is designed to make you into a warrior, and it's only supposed to continue for 10 weeks. But for me... I was stuck there for FOURTEEN MONTHS.

I won't get into the details, but the military decided it was a wonderful idea to send INJURED TRAINEES to a rehabilitation program that was run by DRILL SERGEANTS. That's right... imagine the Drill from Fullmetal Jacket, and now imagine he has ZERO medical training, and that he's trying to rehabilitate someone who just had a major life-changing surgery. That's what I did for 10 months. It was not fun.

Some things I experienced during this time:

-2 DAYS after my leg surgery, my military doctors tried to make me carry a 100-pound duffel bag to the airport by myself. (My mother ended up flying over to help me briefly, but they came close to sending me off like that.)

-I met a trainee who claimed to have a demon following her since she was 6 years old, granting her demonic powers. I didn't believe her, but she knocked over a stack of M-16 rifles just by looking at. Creepy.

-That same trainee scratched another trainee in the face, leaving bloody gashes, but then tried to tell the Drill Sergeant that it was a PAPERCUT from the BEDSHEETS.

-Our barracks were haunted. I saw a ghost with my own two eyes while on night watch. At 3am it crossed the hallway into the bathroom, and started crying in a shower stall. When we checked the bathroom, the crying stopped, and nobody was inside.

-Another Drill Sergeant later saw the same ghost. He freaked out and made every male trainee pull night watch with him so he wouldn't have to be alone lmao

-I asked my Drill Sergeants if I could have my mom mail my clarinet to me, since that's my profession in the military. That way I could practice it a little bit instead of not playing for TWELVE MONTHS. They said no, so I turned my crutches into flutes and played those instead. I turned into a military urban legend that day.

-If you google "Army crutch flute" you can still find me to this day.

-I kept a small notebook in my uniform pocket and whenever we had free time, I continued writing Hibike Euphonium fanfiction! Because I'm a dork.

Anyway, I went through a LOT in 2019. I basically lived like a prisoner for 12 months, unable to decide how to spend my money, or how I should be medically treated, or where I could go, or what I could eat, or what I could buy. For about 8 months straight, I never saw ANYTHING but the barracks I lived in.

I finally got out on March 13, 2020. I was SO excited to have my freedom back, and immediately started booking travel tickets, concert tickets, etc...

...and then on March 15, 2020, America shut down. :(

It's been an insane 2 years, but I'm happy to be where I'm at today. I EARNED my place as a military musician after a trip through hell and back. It's changed me profoundly and given me the friends I never had before. (The good thing about going through Rehab Hell with a bunch of people is that you know real quick who'd throw you under the bus, and who would take a bullet for you and stand by your side through any kind of pain or hardship.) I'm still not fully recovered and still suffer from leg pain, but my new band is so understanding and wonderful, and I love the job I do.

Anyway, that's it. Don't know why I felt like writing this. Too much Gatorade, for sure.