Daily Archives: December 14, 2011

I am re-posting Part I and Part II of this series of blogs, as I never finished posting the rest last year. This can be a refresher for those who read my following blogs. Enjoy!

For some reason, I’ve been pretty nostalgic about my Naval career lately. Maybe it’s the fact that I recently went over 12 1/2 years in the Navy and extended until almost my 15-year mark, or that I’m transferring back to the Fleet (the USS Halsey). However, it’s likely due to the fact that I had to essentially break down my career and explain it to my wife, the wonderful Mary, as she’s a new Navy wife and Navy life can be confusing. Essentially, this series of blogs started off as a long email to her, and I just decided to clean them up, expand on some things, and post them.

So, I’ll spend some time writing about my Naval Career, which may bore some of you, and it may educate some of you. Hopefully it’s more educational and interesting than boring. I’m going to get specific on some things, but I’ll try to make it easily digestible for those who aren’t familiar with the Navy. I do want to caution, for those that are in the Navy, there are times when I’m going to be pretty generic (like with my job descriptions, shipboard life, etc.), so please understand that and don’t hammer me on the minutiae. Not to mention, for you Navy youngin’s, things likely have changed in the 13 years since I went to boot camp. This is simply my recollection of how things happened. And, please, no one take offense to anything like my dislike of factory work-it just wasn’t for me.

Why I came in:
In May 1997, I decided I was sick of college, so I dropped out. I touched on that in my post about college, so I won’t harp on it here. I moved back to Battle Creek, living with my best friend Dave, and working in a factory. I had worked in that factory for two summers previously, once as a temp through Manpower, the other as “summer help” through the factory. I realized quickly that factory work was not right for me, despite the fact that I was working 90+ hours a week and gobbling up any overtime I could get at the time. I knew that if I stayed in Michigan (specifically, the Battle Creek area), that I’d end up always working at a factory. I had originally looked into joining the Navy Reserves earlier that year while I was still in college, but that didn’t materialize. So, when I had enough of college, I just decided to actually join the Navy.

Let me say one thing though-I’d never had any intentions whatsoever to come into the Military. I really, really did not think I was cut out for it. In High School, as my friend Justin was preparing for entrance into the USAF Academy, I was intent on going to college. My father was in the Navy from 1971-1978, but didn’t leave under particularly good circumstances, and never talked much about it until after I was in the Navy. I had a Grandfather who’d been in the Air Force, another in the Army, an uncle who was also in the Army, and a great-something or other that was also in the Navy, but I never had considered myself to have any sort of military lineage. It honestly came about very quickly, and I can not say it that I regret it at all, as obviously I’ve had a great career thus far.

I was a Recruiter’s dream for the most part: I came in and said “I’m joining the Navy, we just gotta figure out what I’m going to do”. I say for the most part because I had to get some waivers due to a couple of misdemeanor arrests and a minor history of drug use. In June, I took the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) and did well on it, then taking the Nuclear Field Qualifying Test, which I missed by a couple of points (and I was OK with that-I knew I didn’t want to be a “Nuke”). They dangled a $4,000 bonus in front of me to come into the Advanced Electronics Computer Field (AECF) and I jumped on it-I just had to wait until October to come in (known as being in DEP, short for “Delayed Entry Program”). I came in with intentions of being a Data Systems Technician (DS), which is the computer hardware technicians, but that rate was phased out the month that I came in, and eventually I ended up being an Electronics Technician (ET) instead, which I’ll talk more about in a later post. DS’s, ET’s and Fire Controlmen (FC’s) were all taken from the Advanced Electronics Tech Core (AETC) school, so when you came in AECF, you didn’t have any guarantee of what Rating you would eventually be.

That summer, I kept working the factory job until a week before I shipped out for boot camp. I spent that last week relaxing, packing up my apartment and watching things like the entire Star Wars trilogy, and McHale’s Navy. Seriously.

Don’t get me wrong, as much as I wanted to come in and get away from living in Michigan, it wasn’t easy as the time approached. At that time, I had a girlfriend and my own apartment, and I was getting rather nervous and had essentially changed my mind. However, a minor car accident one day cemented my entry into the Navy, as I had to spend the last $100 to my name just to get my car towed back to my mom’s house and I realized that I needed a fresh start.

I was originally supposed to come in on October 27th; however, a snowstorm and the ensuing loss of power at the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) delayed my entry by a day. They said they’d still start my ADSD (Active Duty Start Date, and thus, my pay) that day, but it never happened. I think that was really the only lie or misconception during my processing into the Navy. Instead, what we did get was an extra night in the hotel in Lansing, Michigan, and I was able to watch Game 7 of the World Series. The next day, I flew to Chicago, IL, went to the USO and rode a bus to Great Lakes for Recruit Training (Boot Camp).

Boot Camp:

When you arrive at Boot Camp (in Great Lakes, IL), they typically put everyone in a 900-Division. All Divisions are numbered (by Fiscal Year), and the 900 Divisions are the ceremonial divisions (think “Color Guard”) and there’s one with each graduation group. I don’t know much what the differences are regarding what they miss out on, but they do a lot more drill (flags, rifles, etc.), and a lot less of getting their a**es kicked like the rest of us. Once they have enough recruits to start breaking up into divisions, they do so. You can spend several days at Boot Camp (which I did) before you are even in your permanent division. They do the medical stuff during P-Days (Processing Days), at which point they can’t “PT” or “beat” you (make you work out, etc.) (NOTE: If I had come in a day earlier as I was supposed to, I would’ve been in a graduating class a week earlier and my entire career trajectory would have been changed!)

Boot camp was…well…not as bad as I thought. It wasn’t easy per se, but I survived. Not without issues, mind you: I got in trouble once (can’t remember why, but knowing me, it was likely for mouthing off) and was “punished” by being put on the “Nasty Nine” (which were the berthing cleaners) and being put on the Watch rotation for the Quarterdeck (entrance) of the “ship” (we refer to out buildings as “ships” in boot camp, ours was the USS The Sullivans, named for 5 brothers who were all lost when they were stationed together on the same ship and it was sunk), in addition to some extra PT, of course.

The thing was, neither of those punishments were real punishments-as part of the “Nasty Nine”, we got up and went to breakfast early, then came back and cleaned berthing as the rest of the Division was eating breakfast. We then marched ourselves to wherever we were meeting up with the Division. It was actually a pretty good deal in my opinion, and my biggest responsibility was taking out the trash. As far as being on the the Quarterdeck watch for the building, they didn’t put me on it after TAPS (bedtime), so it didn’t affect my sleep-it only affected me missing some of the training and evolutions that the rest of the Division was part of. And, although I sometimes got yelled at, it was more interesting than sitting in class all the time.

Our RDC’s (Recruit Division Commanders) were very difficult, particularly since one of them was going through a divorce at the time. I know they were difficult because our “brother” division was located in an adjacent room, and I would later be told that they were often woken up by the sound of us getting our a**es beat in the morning. But, you know what? We survived. They were on a mission to make us the best Division in the Graduating class, as we were the only ones without a “Nuke” (at least according to them). Academically we were the best: we were the only ones to be a “Battle E” Division, which, although I can’t remember the specifics for achievement, meant that we had a certain overall grade level among all 70+ recruits in the Division.

So, what did we do during boot camp? Well, here’s the Navy’s official rundown. Essentially, we do physical training (PT); get a lot of medical stuff taken care of, including a ton of shots; get drug tested when we get there (which sent a lot of people home); learn the basics about the Navy, attention to detail, Navy heritage, ranks, etc; learn firefighting and marksmanship (although, as I went in the winter, we had a rifle range simulator, I never fired a live weapon in boot camp); and learned about Navy/Military programs, such as the Montgomery GI Bill. Also, a big part of it is getting fitted for all of our uniforms, then learning the proper wear, care and stowage of the uniforms. We also get taught basic hygiene things, and honestly, I never really learned to shave until I was in boot camp. We get paid during this time, although it’s weeks before we see any of that money, and during boot camp we only are able to spend it on the necessities (shampoo, phone cards, etc.) when permitted. I came into the Navy as an E-3 (Enlisted, third paygrade)., not an E-1 like most of my fellow recruits, and I made a few hundred dollars more during boot camp than most of them did, although we were all referred to as Seaman Recruits, despite the fact that I was technically a Seaman

The most difficult part of boot camp, other than the exercising and getting yelled at constantly, was being cut off from your family. I think we had something like 3-5 chances to call home in the two-plus months we were there. The first one is shortly after you arrive, just to tell your parents that you got there safely and you’ll contact them again in a few weeks. For one of the later phone calls, we were allowed on the phone for something like 2 minutes, then yelled at and forced to hang up. It was rather deflating at the time to finally be talking to a loved one again, and barely being able to say “hi”, that you love them, and “bye”. But, again-we survived, and such is life. The sad thing is that as the time has gone by, I’ve gotten used to just that-sometimes going for weeks, a month (or more) without contact with some of my loved ones.

During one of the weeks in boot camp, we had “Service Week”. It came around the halfway point, and we were assigned different jobs, mostly in the Galley, with mostly everyone preparing food, serving food, or cleaning or whatever. After a day working in the Bakery, I was put on a “Tiger Team” that essentially had to shovel snow, as there was a lot of it (it was late November). It sounds bad, but it was at least interesting, and mostly we took turns shoveling snow for a half hour, then came back inside to warm up for a half hour or so, then went back out. As much as I hate snow, at least it kept me awake and alert. When we weren’t shoveling snow, we did other odd jobs as well-whatever we were told to do.

Since we had passed Service Week by Christmas, we were allowed to go on the “Adopt-A-Sailor” program, where people in the surrounding communities would come and get some Sailors, sign them out and take them to their homes for a home cooked meal and some time away from the rigors of boot camp. We were instructed to stay in uniform all day, but the family I was with had sweat pants and sweat shirts for us (two others from my Division were adopted by the same family that I was) to wear so we could be more comfortable. It was nice, and although we couldn’t bring any gifts back or anything, the family I was with bought us some “gifts”, which were things like candy and snacks for us to eat there that day.

I spent my 22nd birthday in boot camp, which was interesting considering I was actually born at Naval Station Great Lakes when my father was stationed there. At 2206 (10:06pm for some of you) on December 22nd, I was just getting into my “rack” (bed) after standing a watch on the Quarterdeck. I laid there for a few minutes, just thinking about how I’d come full-circle, in essence, in my 22 years.

Graduation:

For the final evolution of boot camp, the divisions do “Battle Stations“, although what we did was an early iteration of it (not exactly like what is described in the article). This was (as it is now) essentially the culmination of all that you’ve learned in boot camp, and putting that to practical use. And, as rough as it was, and as much as we were stressing it, it was one of the most fun evolutions during boot camp.

I graduated Navy Recruit Training on December 31, 1997. My mom, sister, best friend (Dave) and girlfriend (at the time) came for the graduation. Unfortunately, my father did not, and at the time that really upset me, as I was graduating from Boot Camp some 26+ years after he had graduated from Navy boot camp (also at Great Lakes). It hurt to look out into the crowd and not see him, and I teared up a bit.

Due to the timing of the graduation, we had an extended “booter weekend” (5 days, since 12/31 was a Wednesday), and then we returned to RTC (Recruit Training Command) Great Lakes until January 7th, in a weird status where we were no longer Recruits, but we were still there at Boot Camp. It was fine though, as we didn’t have much further instruction (classes), and there was only minimal PT and other responsibilities. Our RDC’s were actually nice to us at that point, and I remember actually being able to sit and read, or talk with others during that time.

UP NEXT: My Naval Career, Part II (Follow-on Training), 1998-1999