The first few days of boot camp are the most difficult. A lot of people who’d never gone into the military would think living in a room with 100 strangers, in a strange place; unaware of the future is the biggest shock. That actually isn’t true as the greatest similarity between all of the new joins is they wanted a change. The only culture shock is taking on the constant level of unknowns and moving forward. Imagine walking into a world in which you have no control but figure the powers that be are there for your best interests. The first week or so is typically used to create a baseline. Just enough information is given as to not excite the newly minted recruits and to ensure they stay on track to the objectives at hand.
The first morning we were to be up at dumb ass o’clock once again and everyone was really excited to know what lie ahead. Most of the people ranged in their late teens and early 20s. The oldest recruits were in their mid 30s and somehow believed they were in charge of the younger people. I’ll just say that went belief went away fairly quick.
During the first week we’d done so much paperwork it would make your eyes bleed, as words no longer had the same meaning. We’d march from building to building to building throughout the day. The base itself is the size of a small town and it just seems to go on forever regardless of the direction you travel. The RDCs began to find different people to take on various positions. The positions were as listed below:
Leadership
RPOC (Recruit Chief Petty Officer) – the liaison to keep the show running on behalf of the RDCs (in above photo standing behind gun and sword flag)
AROC (Assistant Recruit Chief Petty Officer) – assistant to the above liaison (in above photo standing behind large A flag)
MA (Master at Arms) – maintains order on behalf of RDCs (in above photo standing behind flag with large star)
Collateral Duties and Other Non Leadership Roles
Nasty Nine – In charge of cleaning the showers and bathroom area
Officer of the Deck – This person stood “watch” to ensure the security of the living quarters
Laundry Officer – this one is self-explanatory
Two Administrative Officers – In charge of making sure appointments are made when and people have the information as needed
Religions Officer - this one is also self-explanatory
There were definitely other positions but I can’t recall them all
Driving on, the first week is where people somewhat try to get the lay of the land. Beyond the paperwork all of the articles of clothing had to be stenciled with the last four of your social security number, last name and first initial. Everyone has their own personal stencil with that particular information. In the beginning everyone had been given the same number of everything from underwear, shirts, shoes, socks and all else. One of the RDCs was giving us instructions and I noticed one of the guys near me has my underwear. I knew the underwear were mine because I had a pair I started on but hadn’t finished as I stepped away after putting my last 4 on them. I proceed to take them back and let him know how I felt in the moment. The entire time he looks very happy and is smiling at me like an enthused psychopath.
An RDC comes over to see what the commotion is and I tell him. He begins to question the recruit and receives the same crazed I'd taken on prior to his intervening. Someone in the distance says I don’t think he speaks English. My thoughts were how is this even possible. Someone told me the availability for the entrance exam was in several languages. They said he would be sent to a program known as FAST. What that stood for I never learned and sorry I can’t find anything online about the program. They had some sort of program so that people like the underwear thief could learn English in four weeks and then they would return to bootcamp training.
This concludes the first three days of my navy bootcamp experience, as there is more to come.
Click HERE for part one
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Thanks!
So many positions in bootcamp. Nasty Nine sounds like hell to me but I would do it if I'm force to.
Yeah it was just as bad as it sounds...lol. Somehow I found myself in the Nasty Nine. Being honest there was so much responsibility in such little time it was one of the only jobs that had absolute certainty in comparison to the others as they would involve an awful lot of unknowns and wild cards.
These positions were on a rotation basis I guess or once a bog cleaner, always a bog cleaner?
Even though they could have rotated the positions could have been rotated there was too much that had to be covered in such a short period of time. Whoever took on the role just had to get good at it and in a hurry.
On any given day the amount of things you'd have to learn was ridiculous. Imagine being force fed six months of material that you have to know by the end of the week and the cycle never stops. So whatever position someone wound up with they had to learn it and learn it well otherwise they'd be in a really bad position. The collateral duties such as nasty nine or what have you weren't so bad but the leadership positions they'd always have a ton of eyes on their every move.
If given a chance, would you go back to the navy? Why or Why not? :)
I tried my hand at it for a bit years ago with the army but it wasn't for me as I was no longer the overly eager world explorer fresh out of college. Instead, I'm someone with a lot more patience for the unknown and little to know patience for things that are absolute. All in all I just grew tired and decidedly sought out things in which I could continue to be the ever so eager explorer.
Also, it has changed a lot and the old guard in which I was a part of is no longer. I can't relate to how the newer, younger, kinder gentler military is. Somehow things got lost in translation along the way and people gathered the belief that they were entitled or owed something. I'm not a fan of that way of life or mentality and know when to pick and chose my battles.
I like your answer. I admire those who serve their country to protect and fight for it. But I'm not a fan of that way of life. I like my freedom and I enjoy the kind of lifestyle that I have. I can do more, I just need to work harder like you. D
Don't ever look at is as working harder. Instead, just look at it as though you are ceasing every opportunity. In life a lot of people will achieve something and then they are happy for a while. Why stop long enough to feel awesome about something that happened when you can do that same thing everyday ;).
I totally agree! :D
It’s building up – waiting for more!
waiting for your next post
thanks for sharing
Thanks
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