Author: Cynical Woman

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It’s funny because it’s TRUE! I don’t know how things work these days, but waaaaaaaaaay back when I was a college graduate and recently commissioned second lieutenant, there was a few months of waiting between the day a cadet got their commission and the day they got to start Officer Basic Course (OBC). In my case, I had to wait almost six months, and since no companies were interested in hiring someone for six months only to watch them disappear for five months of military training, I was stuck taking on various part-time jobs. Among other things, I worked one part-time job as a recruiter for the VTCC and  another part-time as an artist for a t-shirt company that went bankrupt halfway through the summer. Yeah, fun times.

Then I went off to OBC for five months at Fort Eustis, and when I was done with that… I went right back to lousy part-time jobs. I had no idea what I wanted to do after college, and I ended up being selected for the Reserves instead of the regular Army, so I just sort of floated around for a while. I got a job at Hardee’s in Squires Student Center (and to this day I hate fast food). Then I signed up for grad school at Radford University and got a job as a graduate teaching assistant. That was better. I spent most of my time developing computer graphics for the oral communications department at Radford, and to this day, I still do that kind of work from time to time. Then I finished my course work, moved to be with my husband, and got another lousy part-time job as a cashier at an arts and crafts store where I spent way too much time restocking the silk florals aisle. I hate silk flowers almost as much as I hate fast food.

After that, I sold advertising for a local newspaper, which was… okay. I was not a natural salesperson, and driving around all day trying to convince people to buy advertising was “challenging,” shall we say? Then I got a job as a government contractor doing computer graphics for a two-star general. And the work there varied from interesting to mind-numbing to outright frustrating. It was the highest paying job I ever held. I worked with some Very Important People in the military, I put in 80 hours a week and I got paid for 40. I quit working for other people after four years at that job.

Then I was on my own, doing whatever I could figure out how to do. It’s taken me years to figure out how to run my own business, and to be honest, I’m still learning. But that’s okay, because I have a full-time job outside of that. It’s called “Mom” and I get paid in hugs and kisses and the occasional spatter of cat puke.

See what you cadets have to look forward to in life?!

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My freshman year, we had a cadet first sergeant who was tough as nails and mean as spit. His name was Cadet First Sergeant Phillips, and I believe he went on to be a Navy Seal after he graduated. He was tall, ugly, and hell-bent on whipping us rats into shape. He sort of succeeded with me. I did somehow survive my freshman year at any rate.

This comic and all the ones that follow were drawn the year after I graduated from Virginia Tech and got my commission in the Army Reserves. I moved off campus that summer, moved into an apartment with two friends, and then headed off to Officer Basic Course that fall. While I was at OBC, I had to mail in my comics to my new fiancé, a smart, gorgeous young man named Michael who eventually became the Hubster. Michael would then hand-deliver the comics to the Collegiate Times. This went on for five months, and then I returned to Blacksburg, got a lousy part-time job at the Hardee’s at Squires Student Center, and eventually moved into my own apartment, adopted three cats, started graduate school at Radford University. Honestly, at this point in my life, I had no idea what I wanted to do, even though I had my bachelor’s degree and my commission.

So anyway, the next two years’ worth of comics were drawn with a more hind-sight view of the VTCC. My view of the Cadet Corps as a graduate may have been a bit different than my view of it as a cadet. I can’t say for sure. You’ll simply have to read the comics and tell me.

By the way, I realize the earlier comics, from episode 01 to about episode 80, are screwed up. It has something to do with the change over from my old webhost to my new one. All I can say about it is that I am working to fix it, but will have to fix each entry by hand, so it will take a while. Also, GoDaddy sucks. ‘Nuff said.