Attention on deck!

The captain came to visit the detachment today. It’s not often that the commanding officer of your rate visits the students here at Defense Information School (DINFOS).

To prepare for the captain’s visit, we had an all hands (all students) cleaning for two hours last night. My section was responsible for cleaning the kitchen, dayroom, tv room, game room and the common area for the “C” school students (more advanced technical training students). We dusted, scrubbed, mopped and swept for 90 minutes. It was cool because everyone was cleaning and rocking out to music. I put on some Massive Attack “Mezzanine” for my section and you should have seen us mopping to the rhythm.

We had a quick PT this morning. It was pretty cold anyway, so the fast run was more than welcome. I’ll definitely have to work out tonight though since the PT was lite.

The captain and master chief spoke to us at length starting around 0715. It was a great talk and very inspiring. He basically reiterated what I already know. The Navy is a wonderful job to have and to take advantage of all the opportunities the job offers.

I can’t tell you how proud I am of my decision to be in the US Navy. It’s nice to have a career where people actually recognize your talents and leadership abilities. Never before have I felt this appreciated and needed in a job. It’s the right fit for me. I’m getting excellent, state-of-the-art training in the career field that I once thought could only be a hobby.

I’m learning, growing, seeking and achieving.

This morning I took a mulligan.

I was supposed to wake up at 0415, get dressed in PT gear (t-shirt, sweatpants, hooded sweatshirt and New Balance running shoes along with my gloves and ear warmer), muster (attendance to make sure all hands are present and/or accounted for) and begin morning physical training (PT; 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 3 to 4 mile run).

I was up until midnight last night filling out holiday cards (let me know if you want to be on my mailing list) while watching the Sunday night football game. I knew I should have gotten to bed earlier, but I was caught up in letter writing to my friends.

Needless to say, when it came time to get out of bed and dressed, I opted to cash in on one of my “get out of PT free cards.”

Our rooms and uniforms are inspected once a week. We can score an outstanding, satisfactory or unsatisfactory during inspections. The leading petty officer of the detachment (barracks) looks for clean rooms, uniforms, vacuumed floors, polished shoes, wrinkle free uniforms, clean refrigerators and trimmed haircuts, as well as other inspection worthy items. Getting three straight outstanding room/personal inspections means that you can use them to get out of PT for a morning.

That is what I did this morning. I sent a text message to my assistant section leader* and told her I would not be at PT. I went right back to sleep and woke up, well rested, at 0615.

Today we’ve been working on our second feature for basic journalism. It’s a news interest topic which means a story that doesn’t have a dateline, that a newspaper could use any time of year. I chose to write about “frocking” in the Navy.

Frocking is a tradition in the Navy. When enlisted sailors are promoted to a new rank- typically petty officers (there are three classes of petty officers), they are allowed to wear the insignia of their new rank and take on the responsibilities of their new rank. The catch is that they do not begin getting paid until they are officially promoted, which could take months.

I finished my rough draft last night. This morning in class, my instructor edited my draft, then I revised it, typed up a headline and now it’s 1400 and I’m waiting to turn it in at 1600. After class I have a study session from 1600-1700 for my photojournalism class midterm tomorrow. After that, the evening is mine. I’ll cook dinner, study, work out, surf the internet and then watch one of the three movies I’m getting from Netflix.

What do you think about frocking? Would you take on the responsibility of a higher position at your job before they actually started paying you?

*An assistant section leader is a student here. There are three sections of mass communications students. Each section has approximately 20 students. The staff of petty officers, a chief and officer at the detachment look for leaders among the students to be section leaders. I was chosen as an assistant section leader in October and officially became a section leader today when my section leader went on grad status (students graduating in a week go on grad status).

Sixteen hours. That was how long each day was at boot camp. Sixteen hours where you could not touch your rack (bed). In between doing physical training (PT), attending classes, eating chow, marching and training, many of those hours were spent sitting on hard tile floors. You couldn’t lean, you couldn’t write and you could barely talk. All you would do is sit until it was time to do something else. Every single day.

Every day I lived for the end of the day. The end of the day meant mail call. That is what got me through the tediousness of boot camp.

You’ll need letters from home to get you through boot camp, said Nikki, my friend and a person with prior military service.

Nikki said that I may not think I will now, but once I get there letters from family and friends are the only thing that we keep me sane. She was right.

As soon as I was able to get my address out to family and friends (by the second week of boot camp) I did. For the first two weeks I felt like I was the only person who wasn’t getting mail. Part of that reason was because on our first night at Great Lakes, I wasn’t able to reach anyone by phone. Thus, every night I’d stand there listening to every get mail but me.

That soon changed. By the end of the third week my name being called became a staple. I started getting so many letters that people wondered if I was some sort of celebrity who was going to boot camp for an acting role. It didn’t help that people found out my age (31) and where I was from (Southern California).

It felt good to hear from my many friends. They would send me news clippings, photographs and tell me how proud of me they were and how much they missed me. Friends like Nikki, Ashlee, Brandi, Amber, Caroline and Annelise as well as others showed me that I was a valuable friend in their lives and that what I was doing meant something to them.

On Sundays from 0700-1300 we had our “holiday routine.” That was the time during the week when we were permitted to write letters, attend church services and take a shower lasting longer than four to eight minutes. Not including the 30 minutes in between for chow, I probably spent five hours during holiday routine writing letters. Those letters to my family and friends became my journal. I’d tell them about my week, share my thoughts, ask for news and sports updates and ensure them that my morale was high.

Letter writing and receiving became my rock in boot camp. Without both, I’m not sure how I would have retained my smile and kept my focus.

Next I will talk about the Dear John letter that never arrived.

Everyone’s favorite question is, “what was bootcamp like?” Up until now, I haven’t answered the question with much more than a, “it was easy, boring and nothing to write home about.”

Actually it was a lot to write home about. I could not wait until Sundays to write home and to my friends to tell them about bootcamp and what was going on with me there.

To start this journal about bootcamp, I must first start from the very beginning.

28July08- Chicago O’Hare Airport

It’s about 1700. We’ve been at the airport all afternoon. We landed from Port Columbus International and went straight to the USO office. They told us that we were early and to hang out in the airport until other recruits arrived. I remember eating McDonald’s and talking to the other recruits I had flown there with from Columbus.

Columbus, Ohio is my home. It will always be. But for nearly a decade I called Orange County, Calif. home. Now when people ask me where I’m from, I usually say, “I’m from Orange County, CA, by way of Columbus, Ohio.” I do that because living in Cali is what made me a man. It shaped me into the person I am today. Living there and experiencing the multitude of things I did broke me out of my shell and taught me a lot about who I am and what I want.

Two months prior to leaving for bootcamp, I moved back to Columbus to spend time with my family and friends. It was a good decision. I got back to my roots and it was wonderful to see all the people who I love dearly.

That day at O’Hare, I thought a lot about where I had been the past decade. Here I was embarking on a whole new adventure. I knew what waited for me at the end, but I had no idea what my journey would be like for the next eight weeks.

I had no idea that the person I thought I might have a future with would leave me. I had no idea that friends who I thought were close would not write me. I had no clue how much it would mean to hear my name called when it was time to get mail.

1700…

The yelling begins. We are ordered to form up in a line and separate ourselves by sex. For the next 36 hours I would go without sleep. I would question my decision. I would curse my recruiter, haha. I would learn that everything I learned was right the previous 31 years would be wrong at Recruiting Station Great Lakes, IL.

Stay tuned…

Hello and welcome!

While I was running on the 3.5 mile trail today, I thought about all the questions my friends ask me about being in the U.S. Navy. Often my friends ask me, “why did you join the Navy,” “what was boot camp like,” “what do you do now,” and “where are you going?”

I created this blog page to answer those questions and give them more insight into what it’s like. Also, this page will be a tool for me to share my travels, photos and thoughts.

In a way this will be like a journal for me. I’ve found that I like sharing my life with others, not so much for the purpose of getting attention, but because I simply enjoy it.

With this blog I hope to answer all the questions I get and answer new questions as they come. I’ll have blogs about my experiences in boot camp and what it’s been like at “A” school.

Again, this is more like a journal than a blog. Those of you familiar with my blog writing will not find me writing what you were accustomed to. No controversial topics or discussions. This is simply a day-to-day journal that I hope my friends and family will enjoy.

Hooyah!