1. How it started

This is a blog dedicated to 6 years in AFMS, Air Force Military School, Jos, where I had my secondary education. I will be writing on everything I can remember, if any EXJAM writes something about his time in AFMS too I will post it on here, I might not be exactly accurate, any EXJAM who reads this and notices any errors should not hesitate to correct me please, I will try to write something new as often as possible, until i think I have exhausted my memories of AFMS. I see AFMS as the main place that built me into who I am, where I developed most of my abilities, I also see life in AFMS as very close to what I dream Nigeria to be like, a place where things work the way they are supposed to. Please enjoy.

How it all started
How did it all start… two young men, named Dotun and Deji Adetoro, we attended the same church, Zion Baptist Church, Adewole Estate, Ilorin, and spent quite sometime together, they constantly talked about their school, AFMS, Jos, I loved hearing the stories, the stories of marching, learning how to use guns, sports every morning etc, I decided this was the secondary school I also wanted to attend, I have an uncle who was in the military, and because of him I had always dreamt of joining the military, I was always drawing cartoons of soldiers, loved watching war films, and always played battle scenes in my compound using toy guns and sticks. This was my chance to actually hold a real gun and march in military uniforms and I wasn’t going to let it pass me by.

In Nigeria, after primary education, you write a set of exams called ‘common entrance examinations’ in order to get into to secondary school, I wrote the exams for the federal and state schools, and some other schools like navy Abeokuta, Nigerian military school Zaria, command secondary school and of course, air force military school Jos. I passed all these exams and got admission letters from all the schools, AFMS was one of them; I was invited for an interview, to be held on the school premises in Jos.

The interview was loads of fun, first time away from home for so long, did all the necessary exams and tests, did medical check-ups, the school was like heaven, freedom to do whatever you wanted, made new friends, we all laughed and played the whole time, the food was not too bad, this was my world, I couldn’t wait to start living in that world, marching in military uniforms and learning how to shoot guns like the guys in the many cartoons I drew, after the interview I came home, waiting for my admission letter, waiting to resume in AFMS, my dream secondary school.

Well, the admission letter refused to come, I was very convinced that this was where I wanted to be, so I did not accept any of the other offers, and the deadlines for each one came and passed one after the other, my dad was getting scared I would not get the admission from AFMS and would miss all the other opportunities and have to stay home for one extra year, so when only Unilorin Secondary School was left, he insisted we go and pay the non-refundable deposit, I begged him to wait till the deadline date, that fateful morning I went to the post office, and there was no letter for me, I knew that was it, my dad wouldn’t let this last opportunity pass, so by 12noon we were in the car, on the way to the bank to pay the deposit for USS, I told my dad in the car, if God truly wants me to go to AFMS like I believe he does, my letter would be there now, he just laughed, because I had checked just 2 hours earlier, but he agreed we could stop by the post office again… and there in the mail box… was a letter addressed to me… I opened it… and it was an offer of admission from AFMS… I made it, being admitted into AFMS is no child’s play, the best 4 or 5 from every state in Nigeria are selected, so you must be extremely good to be admitted. My dad smiled and gave me hug, and we were on the way back home. Bye to USS, welcome to AFMS.