Alex is 2nd from the left in the back row.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
December 27
Picture is from the Burial at Sea in which Al participated.
You can't just straight up do an "any sailor" package. But the USO and
various churches do coordinate care package events and we get semi-anonymous
packages from people we don't know.
(In response to how frequent their port calls will be). The general consensus is one every month or so. We already know the first two and the middle ones are pretty definite by virtue of us being in the area. The back end is still up in the air as there's several ports we can go into in the vicinity on the way back. There's one most of the boat is crossing their finger for.
Will Ferell was just a rumor :-(. Now the rumor is was Michael Bay who was
shooting scenes for Bad Boys 3 or Transformers 3 depending on who you ask.
(I'm pretty sure that was BS since we most definitely weren't doing flight
ops and it would be far easier to do scenes on the interior on a carrier
that's IN port.)
Oh weird fact, our ship was the carrier in Behind Enemy Lines.
Alex
December 26
Daaaa Bears!! Its on armed forces network on the Sat tv. Bad quality and they
keep showing movie previews that I can't freaking see! Like the True Grit
remake!!!! GAH!
Tell the Miller family I said merry Christmas. I'm on Hawaii time now btw
too.Dangit.
Haven't found out about Will Ferrel. I think it was just a well thought out
rumor. Rumors spread like wildfire around here. Most of them just to see how
far it can go. Its kind of a game here to see how prolific a rumor you can
start
"the jp5 is contaminated! We're pulling into Hawaii to get new fuel"
"Did you hear? Clint Eastwood died yesterday"
"They're setting up a wifi network on the USS G. W. Bush, everyone can log
onto the internet with their laptops!"
"change in plans, we have a port visit to Australia now!"
"now we're going to new zeland"
(for the record we are going no where NEAR these places.)
(Alex has had no money for three weeks because his ATM account has to be set up on the ship. He is waiting for phone cards but got $10 in a Christmas Card).
See the problem is that 10 bucks actually has to go somewhere. I've been
showering with handsoap for a week. There's a list of stuff I need. MAYBE I
can pull a favor but most people don't have phone cards in my department. They're all mostly single and decided that email communication
works well enough for their family.
Quote of the day (QOTD)
"I wish were in a movie and the screen could just go "six months later," and
we're pulling into home. You know, like I have a random scar and a mustache
and my face is more weathered and I just LOOK like I matured"
"Maybe if we put on 80's montage music it'll work"
keep showing movie previews that I can't freaking see! Like the True Grit
remake!!!! GAH!
Tell the Miller family I said merry Christmas. I'm on Hawaii time now btw
too.Dangit.
Haven't found out about Will Ferrel. I think it was just a well thought out
rumor. Rumors spread like wildfire around here. Most of them just to see how
far it can go. Its kind of a game here to see how prolific a rumor you can
start
"the jp5 is contaminated! We're pulling into Hawaii to get new fuel"
"Did you hear? Clint Eastwood died yesterday"
"They're setting up a wifi network on the USS G. W. Bush, everyone can log
onto the internet with their laptops!"
"change in plans, we have a port visit to Australia now!"
"now we're going to new zeland"
(for the record we are going no where NEAR these places.)
(Alex has had no money for three weeks because his ATM account has to be set up on the ship. He is waiting for phone cards but got $10 in a Christmas Card).
See the problem is that 10 bucks actually has to go somewhere. I've been
showering with handsoap for a week. There's a list of stuff I need. MAYBE I
can pull a favor but most people don't have phone cards in my department. They're all mostly single and decided that email communication
works well enough for their family.
Quote of the day (QOTD)
"I wish were in a movie and the screen could just go "six months later," and
we're pulling into home. You know, like I have a random scar and a mustache
and my face is more weathered and I just LOOK like I matured"
"Maybe if we put on 80's montage music it'll work"
December 25
Aww man Meredith. It's A Wonderful Life is on the ship tv.
Neens: strangely the navy serves bacon everyday. And its not half bad. Weird
Lizzy: ouch that's cold lol (in response to not having Alex eat all the shrimp)
Sanj: I miss you too. Will avoid getting a tattoo (in response to "HOLD FAST")
UBM: I am staying safe. Its good to have the day off
Oh and WILLIAM FREAKING FERRELL IS ONBOARD. DRESSED AS ELF.
Yeah we've been having "celebrities" onboard the last few weeks. Nothing
huge. A few Padre's players. The midget from jackass. I think some Chargers
players. Pretty cool. But yeah will Ferrell is onboard. Will try to get a
picture with him. Oh and xmas dinner wasn't half bad.
Al
Neens: strangely the navy serves bacon everyday. And its not half bad. Weird
Lizzy: ouch that's cold lol (in response to not having Alex eat all the shrimp)
Sanj: I miss you too. Will avoid getting a tattoo (in response to "HOLD FAST")
UBM: I am staying safe. Its good to have the day off
Oh and WILLIAM FREAKING FERRELL IS ONBOARD. DRESSED AS ELF.
Yeah we've been having "celebrities" onboard the last few weeks. Nothing
huge. A few Padre's players. The midget from jackass. I think some Chargers
players. Pretty cool. But yeah will Ferrell is onboard. Will try to get a
picture with him. Oh and xmas dinner wasn't half bad.
Al
December 25
Merry Christmas
I got 3 packages yesterday. None had a phone card in it. The minute I got it I had to open them and throw them into my rack since we were prepping for an inspection (yeah someone did something stupid. Long story). So I don't exactly remember what was in what. I got the kindle and the noise canceling headphones and one with foot powder and insoles (one might have been a generic "any sailor" care package. I didn't really notice.
Either way thank you thank you thank you. I'll try to see if I can find wifi
in....um wherever we're going to put in. Bad idea putting Hunt for
Red October in there lol. There was QM (quartermaster-submarine) in my job choosing sheet along with a few others (like other things, volunteering for sub duty exempts
you from the normal waiting times for a-schools and such). Can't say I'm not
seeing the advantages; shorter deployments (3 months) that aren't much more
frequent than our current operations tempo, working with a tight group of
people (one issue with some in my group who would steal from their own mothers).
Luckily I already applied for the tests and haven't done anything stupid yet. I actually downloaded a bunch of books into my phone on the kindle app and I'm trying to figure out how to put them on the actual kindle. Headphones are a dream. NO PHONE CARDS AHHHH!HH!H!H!H!H. I got the Christmas card with 10 bucks in it, but phone cards are $20 minimum so....i don't know. I do know that I will have cash on the 1st
of Jan since that's when my cash card starts but till then....I'll try to pull
a few favors and see if I can call tonight.
I moved racks. Its hard to explain my berthing because its arranged in
horseshoe around our central lounge area, but its all connected, sort of. The
left and middle are basically one unit while a long hallway kind of segregates
the left from the rest of the berthing and is know as the "burbs" since most
of us are from Crypto, language and specwar drops that got deployed as UNDES'
(and we're all from suburban areas). We all kind of banded together since we
all ended up being friends pretty quick and had a collective desire to get
away from the noisier sections of the berthing. So it's a lot nicer than where
I was racked before.
What else....there's a Christmas party in the hanger bay tonight. Might hang
out for that. I had watch from 0000-0200 in the berthing; a new watch brought
about by the drama from yesterday (still a long story). Suffice to say some
people are idiots and don't think "Hey! Mouthing off the AFL (assistant
First LT our XO and mustang who was a Chief last year) isn't such a good idea
and continuing talking is only digging myself a deeper and deeper whole from
which I can't get out of." Some dude just let his frustrations boil over (and
they were stupid frustrations too like we couldn't go in the bathroom since we
just cleaned it for the aforementioned inspection and he didn't want to walk
20 FREAKING FEET to the one down the hall) and decided instead of properly
addressing it among the chain of command that he would directly bitch to a
superior officer. Dumbass.
Merry Christmas
I got 3 packages yesterday. None had a phone card in it. The minute I got it I had to open them and throw them into my rack since we were prepping for an inspection (yeah someone did something stupid. Long story). So I don't exactly remember what was in what. I got the kindle and the noise canceling headphones and one with foot powder and insoles (one might have been a generic "any sailor" care package. I didn't really notice.
Either way thank you thank you thank you. I'll try to see if I can find wifi
in....um wherever we're going to put in. Bad idea putting Hunt for
Red October in there lol. There was QM (quartermaster-submarine) in my job choosing sheet along with a few others (like other things, volunteering for sub duty exempts
you from the normal waiting times for a-schools and such). Can't say I'm not
seeing the advantages; shorter deployments (3 months) that aren't much more
frequent than our current operations tempo, working with a tight group of
people (one issue with some in my group who would steal from their own mothers).
Luckily I already applied for the tests and haven't done anything stupid yet. I actually downloaded a bunch of books into my phone on the kindle app and I'm trying to figure out how to put them on the actual kindle. Headphones are a dream. NO PHONE CARDS AHHHH!HH!H!H!H!H. I got the Christmas card with 10 bucks in it, but phone cards are $20 minimum so....i don't know. I do know that I will have cash on the 1st
of Jan since that's when my cash card starts but till then....I'll try to pull
a few favors and see if I can call tonight.
I moved racks. Its hard to explain my berthing because its arranged in
horseshoe around our central lounge area, but its all connected, sort of. The
left and middle are basically one unit while a long hallway kind of segregates
the left from the rest of the berthing and is know as the "burbs" since most
of us are from Crypto, language and specwar drops that got deployed as UNDES'
(and we're all from suburban areas). We all kind of banded together since we
all ended up being friends pretty quick and had a collective desire to get
away from the noisier sections of the berthing. So it's a lot nicer than where
I was racked before.
What else....there's a Christmas party in the hanger bay tonight. Might hang
out for that. I had watch from 0000-0200 in the berthing; a new watch brought
about by the drama from yesterday (still a long story). Suffice to say some
people are idiots and don't think "Hey! Mouthing off the AFL (assistant
First LT our XO and mustang who was a Chief last year) isn't such a good idea
and continuing talking is only digging myself a deeper and deeper whole from
which I can't get out of." Some dude just let his frustrations boil over (and
they were stupid frustrations too like we couldn't go in the bathroom since we
just cleaned it for the aforementioned inspection and he didn't want to walk
20 FREAKING FEET to the one down the hall) and decided instead of properly
addressing it among the chain of command that he would directly bitch to a
superior officer. Dumbass.
Merry Christmas
December 24
Mail came in the UNREP today. I'll see if anything came. You'll probably
know when I call you with the phone card lol.
December 23
Ok update since I JUST filled out the sheet to apply for my rating.
See the thing with A-school. It's a 2 year wait. But changing your rating
(which is actually MUCH easier paperwork wise) is also 2 years. So if I get
a rating in March (well actually may/junish, it takes that long to find out)
I'm really waiting about the same amount of time. Only with the former I'm
e-3 in deck. Whereas for the others, I can go for e-4 and above in another
department. Oh and its easier paperwork wise and you pretty much WILL get it
because you'll have 2 years in a rating with a performance record and
accolades and all that sumsuch.
So on the sheet I put down
1) Operations Specialist
2) Quartermaster
3) Yeoman
I would have put yeoman higher but the number of slots they're offering for
the ship is low so....
OS sounds like a cool rate. Its probably the most technically
challenging of the ratings.
I still didn't get an answer on diver and whether I can apply after we get
back even if I take the rating test. I have one person saying I'd have to
skip the rating exam if I wanted to do that and another saying the opposite.
Of course this could all go to hell and I don't get picked up to take ANY of
the 3 ratings (which could and has happened). If that's the case well then
DIVER here I come in June when we get back.
For STA-21 (officer college program), I can apply at any time and I'm going to
try to get more info for that. It's a huge package and is really hard to get
together at sea but....well its just like when I applied for marines. Just
getting letters of rec and a long essay on why you want to be a naval
officer and all that jazz. I'll slowly organize myself for that over the
deployment. Its probably best to wait until I have a few awards from this
deployment and a stellar record to hoist myself up on when I apply.
I'll keep you updated. We learn in a few weeks if we get to take the tests
we applied for. Then we can re-apply if we don't get anything if there's
time left.
Al
See the thing with A-school. It's a 2 year wait. But changing your rating
(which is actually MUCH easier paperwork wise) is also 2 years. So if I get
a rating in March (well actually may/junish, it takes that long to find out)
I'm really waiting about the same amount of time. Only with the former I'm
e-3 in deck. Whereas for the others, I can go for e-4 and above in another
department. Oh and its easier paperwork wise and you pretty much WILL get it
because you'll have 2 years in a rating with a performance record and
accolades and all that sumsuch.
So on the sheet I put down
1) Operations Specialist
2) Quartermaster
3) Yeoman
I would have put yeoman higher but the number of slots they're offering for
the ship is low so....
OS sounds like a cool rate. Its probably the most technically
challenging of the ratings.
I still didn't get an answer on diver and whether I can apply after we get
back even if I take the rating test. I have one person saying I'd have to
skip the rating exam if I wanted to do that and another saying the opposite.
Of course this could all go to hell and I don't get picked up to take ANY of
the 3 ratings (which could and has happened). If that's the case well then
DIVER here I come in June when we get back.
For STA-21 (officer college program), I can apply at any time and I'm going to
try to get more info for that. It's a huge package and is really hard to get
together at sea but....well its just like when I applied for marines. Just
getting letters of rec and a long essay on why you want to be a naval
officer and all that jazz. I'll slowly organize myself for that over the
deployment. Its probably best to wait until I have a few awards from this
deployment and a stellar record to hoist myself up on when I apply.
I'll keep you updated. We learn in a few weeks if we get to take the tests
we applied for. Then we can re-apply if we don't get anything if there's
time left.
Al
Monday, December 27, 2010
December 23
Check the Facebook and Navy.mill photo page. They were taking pics of the
burial at sea practice today. I will definitely be in them when we actually do
it. Those kind of photos tend to make it to the navy.mil page, not just the FB
one. The ceremony is Monday and we are honoring about 20 veterans who opted to have their ashes scattered. I'm in the honor platoon. My part is pretty simple. I walk out there. Then stand there looking good. Then walk back.
Quote of the Day
(while watching CNN)
Black sailor (sarcastically) "Oh so you change the channel because its Barrack
Obama huh? Racist."
Sailor 2 "hell no, you know I hate all the presidents"
Sailor 3 "yeah @#$% William Taft"
burial at sea practice today. I will definitely be in them when we actually do
it. Those kind of photos tend to make it to the navy.mil page, not just the FB
one. The ceremony is Monday and we are honoring about 20 veterans who opted to have their ashes scattered. I'm in the honor platoon. My part is pretty simple. I walk out there. Then stand there looking good. Then walk back.
Quote of the Day
(while watching CNN)
Black sailor (sarcastically) "Oh so you change the channel because its Barrack
Obama huh? Racist."
Sailor 2 "hell no, you know I hate all the presidents"
Sailor 3 "yeah @#$% William Taft"
December 22
I have a good group of 4 guys (Stevens, Rodriguez, Merren) all SWCC drops. Stevens is 25 and engaged, Rodriquez is 19 and sheltered and Merrens similar. We plan on sticking together and using the hell out of the tours and avoiding bars like the plague (there’s a lot of people who head for the bar closest to the dock and don’t leave it for 3 days, there’s others that go to even lower places of socializing and don’t leave for 3 days). Besides, half our department is still on liberty restriction from the LAST deployment (meaning they can’t go for the full time or even off the boat at all) so we could be by ourselves (not alone mind you but we’ll be with the group that actually sees the country as apposed to getting blacked out). I should mention Deck has a reputation for being in the latter group.
December 21
Okay now for the daily what's goings on. We just turned west and cranked the
speed up to cruising. So we are gone. What this means for packages and mail
I have no clue. Maybe when we go past Hawaii we'll get some CODs (Carrier On-Board Delivery)?
As for my next stop keep watching the news. I'll tell you all I can once I,
well, can. In any case we have a few good ports we got lined up.
Life here. Well we just hit some moderate seas for the first time. A carrier
can be weirder than most any ships. It doesn't list much (3-4 degrees in
heavy seas). The problem is that since its so big that 3-4 degrees is about
12 feet up and down on the edges of the flight deck. Plus the period of the
rolls is so slow it can be even weirder. It's easier to get into
the rhythm of the rolls. However, in high seas it can be easier to walk on
the walls than the floor. So it could be worse. What else about here would
anyone want to know? Um, flight quarters go on far more than you would
think.
Career wise I still don't know. Seabee rates are A school only sadly. If I
want to wait for an A school it will be about 2 years here as a UNDES. You need a year min to apply for it, 18 months until you can leave but most commands won't
let you until you hit 2 years. I might go for yeoman. You get a security
clearance and can do actual things that apply outside the navy.
Oh good news. I found out I can put in a diver package immediately. No
minimum time, no waiting for my departments approval to let you go when they
can fill your spot. Dropping SWCC only affected applying for SWCC again for
2 years (and possibly SEAL), but not diver, EOD or Airt Rescue. However you need a dive physical and a recent PST (both of mine from SWCC are about a month too old).
This means I can't do all that until once we pull back in. So 6 months then
dive school (hopefully). The couseler said I can and should still strike for
a rate, make PO3 in whatever rating, go for good evals. He basically said
they're still so undermanned that as long as you qualify you'll get to go.
Not too much xmas stuff planned. Only a small tree in the galley and a
Christmas Story played the other day. Surprisingly not too many people are
in the holiday spirit within a month of departing. Maybe holiday cheer will pick up on the 24th or 25th. Fingers crossed we will have a little time off then.
Alex
speed up to cruising. So we are gone. What this means for packages and mail
I have no clue. Maybe when we go past Hawaii we'll get some CODs (Carrier On-Board Delivery)?
As for my next stop keep watching the news. I'll tell you all I can once I,
well, can. In any case we have a few good ports we got lined up.
Life here. Well we just hit some moderate seas for the first time. A carrier
can be weirder than most any ships. It doesn't list much (3-4 degrees in
heavy seas). The problem is that since its so big that 3-4 degrees is about
12 feet up and down on the edges of the flight deck. Plus the period of the
rolls is so slow it can be even weirder. It's easier to get into
the rhythm of the rolls. However, in high seas it can be easier to walk on
the walls than the floor. So it could be worse. What else about here would
anyone want to know? Um, flight quarters go on far more than you would
think.
Career wise I still don't know. Seabee rates are A school only sadly. If I
want to wait for an A school it will be about 2 years here as a UNDES. You need a year min to apply for it, 18 months until you can leave but most commands won't
let you until you hit 2 years. I might go for yeoman. You get a security
clearance and can do actual things that apply outside the navy.
Oh good news. I found out I can put in a diver package immediately. No
minimum time, no waiting for my departments approval to let you go when they
can fill your spot. Dropping SWCC only affected applying for SWCC again for
2 years (and possibly SEAL), but not diver, EOD or Airt Rescue. However you need a dive physical and a recent PST (both of mine from SWCC are about a month too old).
This means I can't do all that until once we pull back in. So 6 months then
dive school (hopefully). The couseler said I can and should still strike for
a rate, make PO3 in whatever rating, go for good evals. He basically said
they're still so undermanned that as long as you qualify you'll get to go.
Not too much xmas stuff planned. Only a small tree in the galley and a
Christmas Story played the other day. Surprisingly not too many people are
in the holiday spirit within a month of departing. Maybe holiday cheer will pick up on the 24th or 25th. Fingers crossed we will have a little time off then.
Alex
December 21
I just got Aunt Tracy's and Uncle Steve's xmas gift. Can you get me their
emails so I can thank them? Family Guy DVD. VERY NIIIICE.
I don't think this is a secret, but we just turned West and picked it up to cruising
speed. So off we are! I'll email you more when I can, I guess.
emails so I can thank them? Family Guy DVD. VERY NIIIICE.
I don't think this is a secret, but we just turned West and picked it up to cruising
speed. So off we are! I'll email you more when I can, I guess.
December 20
I just got neens' other package. BRUCE!! AND AWESOMELY BAD KUNG FU
MOVIES!!!!! Very nice! Thank you sooooo much! Me and the other new guys are
the only ones getting gifts since most everyone on the ship had a
"Thanksgiving Christmas" (a common navy invented holiday in which one
combines the two holidays on either Christmas, Thanksgiving or some other
random day in October when deployment gets in the way.)
Whats wrong with arresting gear dept? Then again I never deal with those
people lol. The photogs (MC's mass communications specialists in navspeak)
aren't around too much lol. They do take pics of our unreps most times
though.
Ps the profanity censoring is thanks to a certain girlfriend. She bugs me
lol.
Pssss. I can chug coffee and then fall asleep now lol. 7 cups in 30 min on
the bridge. Fall asleep on bridge is something I don't want to find out
about.
HOPEFULLY I'll get your package at 2100 tonight so sorry in advance if
there's a late phone call.
Got anthrax shots today. Not too bad....OH MY GOD WHAT IS UNDER THE
SKIN OF MY ARM! Rumor is that smallpox can be much worse.
In class all week so I don't have to work!! WOO HOO! Just sit in sex ed,
hazmat, maintenance and such all day from 6-1400 so not bad, me thinks.
Oh went to GQ for 6 hours yesterday. FUN!!! Actually I'm a fireteam
investigator (AKA I look for fires) but 6 hours with little ventilation in a
small room with 100 people....not fun.
Tell Meredith happy birthday and that I'm sorry for a lack of gifts. Whole
deploying on short notice thing. I hope she understands.
Merry Christmas!
MOVIES!!!!! Very nice! Thank you sooooo much! Me and the other new guys are
the only ones getting gifts since most everyone on the ship had a
"Thanksgiving Christmas" (a common navy invented holiday in which one
combines the two holidays on either Christmas, Thanksgiving or some other
random day in October when deployment gets in the way.)
Whats wrong with arresting gear dept? Then again I never deal with those
people lol. The photogs (MC's mass communications specialists in navspeak)
aren't around too much lol. They do take pics of our unreps most times
though.
Ps the profanity censoring is thanks to a certain girlfriend. She bugs me
lol.
Pssss. I can chug coffee and then fall asleep now lol. 7 cups in 30 min on
the bridge. Fall asleep on bridge is something I don't want to find out
about.
HOPEFULLY I'll get your package at 2100 tonight so sorry in advance if
there's a late phone call.
Got anthrax shots today. Not too bad....OH MY GOD WHAT IS UNDER THE
SKIN OF MY ARM! Rumor is that smallpox can be much worse.
In class all week so I don't have to work!! WOO HOO! Just sit in sex ed,
hazmat, maintenance and such all day from 6-1400 so not bad, me thinks.
Oh went to GQ for 6 hours yesterday. FUN!!! Actually I'm a fireteam
investigator (AKA I look for fires) but 6 hours with little ventilation in a
small room with 100 people....not fun.
Tell Meredith happy birthday and that I'm sorry for a lack of gifts. Whole
deploying on short notice thing. I hope she understands.
Merry Christmas!
December 18
To Aunt Denise and Uncle Michael,
HOLY COW THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR THE CARE PACKAGE. Came at the perfect time by the way. Love the brownies and the chapstick. And the OOOOH FUUUUUDGE (but I didn’t say fudge). They had that movie on in the galley the other day, made me homesick. If they serve fried chicken and play It’s A Wonderful Life on Xmas Eve I might just lose it lol. All is well. Keep checking the old blog since my Dad should be posting the daily emails there.
Alexander
HOLY COW THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR THE CARE PACKAGE. Came at the perfect time by the way. Love the brownies and the chapstick. And the OOOOH FUUUUUDGE (but I didn’t say fudge). They had that movie on in the galley the other day, made me homesick. If they serve fried chicken and play It’s A Wonderful Life on Xmas Eve I might just lose it lol. All is well. Keep checking the old blog since my Dad should be posting the daily emails there.
Alexander
December 17
There’s some idiots here lol. A good number. I’d say the navy is the 30% best people you can count on trying to control the 30% worst and the middle who are just shooting for the date till they get out.
Funny quote of the day
“Bridge, Aft lookout. I got an air contact bearing one-eight-zero. Target angle 1. 1000 yards and closing”
“Aft, are you calling in the LANDING aircraft now?”
“uh…..would you believe me if I said no?”
“Aft, bridge. I need you to check an air contact for me bearing one four three. Small and white, should have tail number Charlie-dash-Golf-Uniform- One – One”
“Bridge, I don’t see it? You said it was C-GU11?”
“Yep”
“All I see is a flock of bir….wait a minute.”
“So Stevens, you liking being in deck so far?”
“Love it petty officer. My life is accelerating SO FREAKING HARD. Someone wants to read a book about my life. Somewhere some poor soul is buying a minivan (hums metal song from recruiting commercial)
“Okay Joe Navy, don’t get too motivated lol”
Funny quote of the day
“Bridge, Aft lookout. I got an air contact bearing one-eight-zero. Target angle 1. 1000 yards and closing”
“Aft, are you calling in the LANDING aircraft now?”
“uh…..would you believe me if I said no?”
“Aft, bridge. I need you to check an air contact for me bearing one four three. Small and white, should have tail number Charlie-dash-Golf-Uniform- One – One”
“Bridge, I don’t see it? You said it was C-GU11?”
“Yep”
“All I see is a flock of bir….wait a minute.”
“So Stevens, you liking being in deck so far?”
“Love it petty officer. My life is accelerating SO FREAKING HARD. Someone wants to read a book about my life. Somewhere some poor soul is buying a minivan (hums metal song from recruiting commercial)
“Okay Joe Navy, don’t get too motivated lol”
December 16
It's a maze here. The 2nd deck (galley) is the most "open" in terms
of wider(ish) hallways and it spans the entire ship. But stuff still dead
ends and brings you in a direction different from where you wanted to go.
You can go in the hanger always and I use that to get around most of the
time. Most deck department spaces are directly off the hanger bay such as
the mooring stations and the stuff we use for UNREPs. The only other level
is the 03 level (hanger deck is deck 1, below that is deck 2,3, etc. above
that is level 01, 02, 03 etc.) but that's officer country where all the
operations and intel offices are and officer berthing and pilot ready rooms
and its pretty easy to get lost. There's 10 "levels" above the hanger (04
and above is the tower) and 7 or 8 decks. I really don't know since I don't
ever really have to go below the waterline for anything since that's where
the reactor and ordnance magazines are and its automatic meeting with the
captain if you go there. Its also a maze anyway.
My berthing is right at the waterline on the bow on the 3rd deck. But you can't reach it from the third deck, you have to go to the second deck and take the ONLY ladderwell that leads into it. A lot of berthings can be like this since it gives some measure of privacy...sometimes. About 100 people in a room that's ABOUT the
size of our ground floor. Probably smaller. I've been hanging with a few people.
Most SWCC and SEAL drops. Maybe about 2-3 hours a day to my self if lucky
but I have laundry and a bunch of other stuff to do.
Al
December 14
Hey,
Work is very long. We did another unrep today and I had
watch back aft from 0000-0400. Then immediately after another UNREP. I'm
hopefully done after this next watch from 16-1800 (watches are 4 hours
except the two that straddle dinner so everyone can eat).
Food is meh. Its actually better NOW than the galley at the base (which
doesn't say much). Everyone says the entrees get worse. However, chicken
wings basically last the entire deployment, everything can be improved with
tobasco AND being on a carrier has its perks like a full bake shop that
other ships don't have. Near the end, everyone says you basically eat cake,
rice or boxed mashed potatoes flavored with tobasco/ketchup and peanut
butter.
Also let Lt. Cmdr Summa know I'm jealous. They get some pretty good cookies
and hot pastries up on the bridge, which I of course get to deliver as
Messenger of the watch (thankfully the bakers downstairs always leave a few
extra in the box to disturbed amongst the rest of us).
Ok job wise. I have been told many different things about this since there is
a department career counseler and a ships counseler. The rumor is that Deck
is notorious for holding onto people for dear life. We have a few people who
struck for a rating like OSSN or QMSN and are still in the department for a
few months after picking it up. Deck is always semi under manned and 1st Lt
is in a situation where he has to keep people who aren't idiots in the department or else nothing would get done. I am told I will definitely be taking the ratings test in March this is by the ships counseler). I may not pick up RANK (make 3rd class Petty Officer) but I will pick up a rate, so I'd be Gunner's Mate seaman or something to that effect. You basically have to qualify for all my stuff and then STOP and don't do anything extra before you qualify for a watch that only 3 people on the boat have and you have to stay in your department. There's something called master helmsman and they man the helm during GQ, heavy seas, and get to do the whipperdills (basically power sliding the ship while going 35 knots.) One guy got qualed and can't leave the department because he's one of the only people who has
that qual. Oh and if I wanted to go to A school you have to be on the ship
at least a year before they let you even apply.
Right now I am REALLY looking towards the Seabee rates. One because I think
I'd genuinely enjoy it. All the work I did on hold after SWCC was for
various seabee commands at the base and I love their command atmosphere. And
I get to shoot guns and do cool stuff like that. Few undes's strike into
Seabees since theres a lot of requirements. No legal/disciplinary problems
(that cuts out about 1/2 undes's) and high PT scores (which cuts out most of
the rest) and various medical requirements. All of which I know I already
qualify for since I qualified for it in specwar.
There is another more self serving motive for the Seabees. One since it's a
non sea rating the ship HAS to let me go once if I pick up the rate. I kinda
sort of forgot to mention but we're doing back to back deployments (6 months
out, 6 months in, 6 months out again NEXT December). While the ship is pretty
cool in its own way and I'm happy for the experience right now, I'm almost
positive I'm going to hate that next deployment. So getting off the ship
before then is sort of a priority. Cross your fingers I get it.
Love
Al
PS. I can sort of get on facebook when people don't do stupid stuff like tell
where we are going.
No laptop access to internet. No zip drives on the gov computers
PSS. And we are still off California. That's not really a state secret yet. Where
we are going, well, Grandpa Alex would be proud.
PSSS. Oh other fun stuff. I saw a whale trailing the ship on watch the other
night. Dolphins were jumping off our wake this morning. And I saw a really
freaky shooting start the other night while on lookout watch (looking for
sea and air contacts).
Funny quote of the day
Heard this exchange over the comm net while I was aft
"Bridge, forward lookout. I have an air contact bearing 000. Moving forward
at 100 yards now 200 yards now 300 yards..."
"Forward, Bridge. Are you calling out our planes as they launch?"
"Uh yeah"
"WHY?!"
"I am really, really bored"
Work is very long. We did another unrep today and I had
watch back aft from 0000-0400. Then immediately after another UNREP. I'm
hopefully done after this next watch from 16-1800 (watches are 4 hours
except the two that straddle dinner so everyone can eat).
Food is meh. Its actually better NOW than the galley at the base (which
doesn't say much). Everyone says the entrees get worse. However, chicken
wings basically last the entire deployment, everything can be improved with
tobasco AND being on a carrier has its perks like a full bake shop that
other ships don't have. Near the end, everyone says you basically eat cake,
rice or boxed mashed potatoes flavored with tobasco/ketchup and peanut
butter.
Also let Lt. Cmdr Summa know I'm jealous. They get some pretty good cookies
and hot pastries up on the bridge, which I of course get to deliver as
Messenger of the watch (thankfully the bakers downstairs always leave a few
extra in the box to disturbed amongst the rest of us).
Ok job wise. I have been told many different things about this since there is
a department career counseler and a ships counseler. The rumor is that Deck
is notorious for holding onto people for dear life. We have a few people who
struck for a rating like OSSN or QMSN and are still in the department for a
few months after picking it up. Deck is always semi under manned and 1st Lt
is in a situation where he has to keep people who aren't idiots in the department or else nothing would get done. I am told I will definitely be taking the ratings test in March this is by the ships counseler). I may not pick up RANK (make 3rd class Petty Officer) but I will pick up a rate, so I'd be Gunner's Mate seaman or something to that effect. You basically have to qualify for all my stuff and then STOP and don't do anything extra before you qualify for a watch that only 3 people on the boat have and you have to stay in your department. There's something called master helmsman and they man the helm during GQ, heavy seas, and get to do the whipperdills (basically power sliding the ship while going 35 knots.) One guy got qualed and can't leave the department because he's one of the only people who has
that qual. Oh and if I wanted to go to A school you have to be on the ship
at least a year before they let you even apply.
Right now I am REALLY looking towards the Seabee rates. One because I think
I'd genuinely enjoy it. All the work I did on hold after SWCC was for
various seabee commands at the base and I love their command atmosphere. And
I get to shoot guns and do cool stuff like that. Few undes's strike into
Seabees since theres a lot of requirements. No legal/disciplinary problems
(that cuts out about 1/2 undes's) and high PT scores (which cuts out most of
the rest) and various medical requirements. All of which I know I already
qualify for since I qualified for it in specwar.
There is another more self serving motive for the Seabees. One since it's a
non sea rating the ship HAS to let me go once if I pick up the rate. I kinda
sort of forgot to mention but we're doing back to back deployments (6 months
out, 6 months in, 6 months out again NEXT December). While the ship is pretty
cool in its own way and I'm happy for the experience right now, I'm almost
positive I'm going to hate that next deployment. So getting off the ship
before then is sort of a priority. Cross your fingers I get it.
Love
Al
PS. I can sort of get on facebook when people don't do stupid stuff like tell
where we are going.
No laptop access to internet. No zip drives on the gov computers
PSS. And we are still off California. That's not really a state secret yet. Where
we are going, well, Grandpa Alex would be proud.
PSSS. Oh other fun stuff. I saw a whale trailing the ship on watch the other
night. Dolphins were jumping off our wake this morning. And I saw a really
freaky shooting start the other night while on lookout watch (looking for
sea and air contacts).
Funny quote of the day
Heard this exchange over the comm net while I was aft
"Bridge, forward lookout. I have an air contact bearing 000. Moving forward
at 100 yards now 200 yards now 300 yards..."
"Forward, Bridge. Are you calling out our planes as they launch?"
"Uh yeah"
"WHY?!"
"I am really, really bored"
December 13, 2010
Hey all!
Its been a busy week, working 20 hours a day, hauling lines, singing sea chanteys, drinking grog and doing other sailorish activities. Speaking of which I get 2, count em, TWO whole lite beers after 45 days at sea. (To my Leading Petty Officer (LPO) “That’s BS, the Royal Navy still gets a rum ration daily.” He laughed.) It's in some ways not as bad as I thought It would be.
Ok important info to follow. I cannot tell you where the ship is going. It's seriously top secret "stuff" (STSS) so I can only reveal where I’ve been. From what I can tell I MIGHT be able to hint at in generalities (like “hey guys, send winter gloves and ski masks in the next care package” I’m obviously not going to pull into Dubai.”). My emails get screened and if I should do so, the entire ship loses their outgoing internet and email privileges (you can still receive stuff too). If it's really bad we can lose outgoing letter writing privledges and miss a port of call all together.
On that note, from time to time we go to heightened alert status if the evil country of Redistan invades the noble National Republic of White or Mr. President says “GO HERE” and go we shall. In that case we can also lose internet privileges. When this happens its usually a week or two but sometimes as long as a month. Just know that I AM FINE. IF THIS HAPPENS ASSUME THAT I AM DOING SOMETHING IMPORTANT. Some wives and girlfriends can be less than intelligent and start sending off a lengthy tirade of angry emails back (which we can still read) thinking their significant other is ignoring them. Some people have watched their marriages and relationships crumble before their eyes with nothing they can do since they can’t send out emails. So again, be patient if you don’t hear from me. Assume its something important and if I or the ship really is in some sort of dange, CNN will PROBABLY know about it.
Oh and right now it's just wargames and exercises off the coast of California. There’s the evil country of Red which is attacking White’s ships and there’s the countries of Black and Blue that are allied with each other and we’re in the middle. We’ve been going on and off General Quarters a couple times (I’m in a damage control fireteam). I can’t say much more about the exercises since they may or may not simulated situations we may or may not face in the areas of the world we may or may not know, lol.
About my job? Well I just started standing watches and yeah, I get to drive the 1000 tons of diplomacy :D. And it handles like its 1000 tons. Oversteers like a big mother and can easily drift off course if your heavy handed or don’t pay attention. There’s basically 4 watch stations, helm (driving), lee helm (throttle but not really, you're just ordering engineering to make a certain speed), messenger of the watch (coffee boy/ getting cookies from the wardroom) and the lookouts (theres a few of these but their basically the same). It seems odd that there are a few people in deck department for DUIs but the navy lets them drive the ship but that’s irony. UNDES is basically bosun’s mate seaman. Actually it IS bosun’s mate seaman. There is literally no difference.
Why do we drive the boat you ask? Well back in the day bosuns did all the line handling which in the age of sail meant they also controlled the sails. Makes sense to have the guy driving know about the sails and how they affect the steering huh? Well now we get different ways of moving the boat, but we still steer it. My day job when I’m not on watch consists of a few things. UNREPS where we resupply the ship on the move (hence Underway REPlenishment) and cargo and fuel go from a supply ship to us. We don’t chip paint too much. The hull is painted and maintained in the yards which I missed. I do paint some random compartments. There’s also a lot of moving and organizing equipment, preparing for the next UNREP, cleaning etc. It results in long days. There’s about 3 types of people who work in deck: Bosun’s who came into the Navy to do this. They’re pretty cool, my Petty Officers know their job. Then there’s the special program drops: SEALS, Crypto, a few Nukes, Crypto interpretive (translators). All exceptionally smart and all stuck doing deck work. The SEAL/SWCC/DIVER, are pretty cool since manual labor isn’t too bad but the crypto guys can be annoying with their “I’m too overqualified to do this”. Then there’s the screw-ups. Guys who couldn’t get through Quartermaster school (really? The entire rate is just high school Trig) or they got Captain’s Masts and stuff. Some are ok but most shirk work and basically mess up everything for the rest of us.
Actually the old stereotype about Bosuns and deck having a lot of hazing and being really hard on the junior sailors isn’t true. Most of the Bosuns can figure out if you are not pretty quick and treat you accordingly. So it really stinks for the chronic screw-ups but is fine enough for the rest of us. All my officers are mustangs (firmer enlisted who became officers)or warrants save for one.
Well that’s all folks
Al
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Alex Passed Battle Stations
Alex called today at 1640 (Navy talk) to tell us he passed Battle Stations at 0700 this morning. Following that they had a graduation ceremony attended by about 50 different Naval captains and commanders. They played music, announced each recruit as Seaman for the first time (as opposed to recruit) and handed them their Navy ball cap.
Alex said he was very tired. He had been up since 0600 Thursday morning and had to stand a 2 hour watch Wed night/Thu morning.
Alex gave a more detailed preview of the next four months. He gets about 30 minutes to spend with family after his Pass and Review on Thursday. Then he has to move to the Great Lakes side of the base. He should be able to have dinner with us Thursday for a couple of hours. He has liberty Friday thru Monday from 0700 to 2000. He will stay at Great Lakes until September 20 and then ship out to Coronado, CA. His SWCC group classes up on October 30. That is when the real trial and weeding out begins. The initial SWCC training is basically two weeks and a 72 hour final evolution that is essentially very similar to Navy Seal training. SWCC training continues thru December 17. Alex should then get leave thru Christmas.
Between now and October 31 when SWCC classes up, Alex will continue to train at Great Lakes and Coronado with the rest of the Navy Special Warfare groups (Seals, SWCC, rescue swimmers and divers).
Alex said he was very tired. He had been up since 0600 Thursday morning and had to stand a 2 hour watch Wed night/Thu morning.
Alex gave a more detailed preview of the next four months. He gets about 30 minutes to spend with family after his Pass and Review on Thursday. Then he has to move to the Great Lakes side of the base. He should be able to have dinner with us Thursday for a couple of hours. He has liberty Friday thru Monday from 0700 to 2000. He will stay at Great Lakes until September 20 and then ship out to Coronado, CA. His SWCC group classes up on October 30. That is when the real trial and weeding out begins. The initial SWCC training is basically two weeks and a 72 hour final evolution that is essentially very similar to Navy Seal training. SWCC training continues thru December 17. Alex should then get leave thru Christmas.
Between now and October 31 when SWCC classes up, Alex will continue to train at Great Lakes and Coronado with the rest of the Navy Special Warfare groups (Seals, SWCC, rescue swimmers and divers).
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Graduation and Labor Day Weekend Plans
Alex’s Boot Camp Graduation is at 9:00 am Thursday, September 2, provided he passes Battle Stations tonight. We have four guaranteed tickets for the graduation. However, they do have standby seating available and we have had friends get in through standby, in the past.
To go standby, I believe that you need to plan on getting to the base at 7:30-7:45 am. You will have to go through security screening.
Graduation lasts about 90 minutes and Alex will be able to spend some time with us after graduation. It might only be a couple of hours, because he has to move from the Recruit Training Center to the “regular” Great Lakes base. Because it is the Navy, that takes about 5 hours. He does have Liberty on Friday – Sunday, and maybe Monday, from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm each day. Liberty rules are that he cannot drink, smoke, drive a car and he must stay in uniform and cannot travel more than 50 miles. Luckily, we are 6 miles from the base and can shuttle him back and forth each day. We probably will have a get together/cookout one of those days for everyone who wants to see him but cannot go to the graduation.
Still no real news on when he would ship from Great Lakes to Coronado, CA. Last discussion with Alex is that he may be in Great Lakes for a couple of weeks. On that point, not really sure if he can leave the base during those two weeks.
Alex
To go standby, I believe that you need to plan on getting to the base at 7:30-7:45 am. You will have to go through security screening.
Graduation lasts about 90 minutes and Alex will be able to spend some time with us after graduation. It might only be a couple of hours, because he has to move from the Recruit Training Center to the “regular” Great Lakes base. Because it is the Navy, that takes about 5 hours. He does have Liberty on Friday – Sunday, and maybe Monday, from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm each day. Liberty rules are that he cannot drink, smoke, drive a car and he must stay in uniform and cannot travel more than 50 miles. Luckily, we are 6 miles from the base and can shuttle him back and forth each day. We probably will have a get together/cookout one of those days for everyone who wants to see him but cannot go to the graduation.
Still no real news on when he would ship from Great Lakes to Coronado, CA. Last discussion with Alex is that he may be in Great Lakes for a couple of weeks. On that point, not really sure if he can leave the base during those two weeks.
Alex
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Answers to Questions
QUESTIONS:
1. Pass in Review on Thursday 9/2?
a. I’m still not sure the details but yes, it is on that day.
2. You have to move to non-recruit side the day right after Pass in Review?
a. Not right after. I have a few hours but not the rest of the day.
3. Do you have liberty Friday, Saturday, and Sunday?
a. Yes probably. More details later.
4. What are restrictions?
a. Not sure what we can and can’t do on liberty?
5. Any friends with guys going SWCC?
a. All my friends in the division are going SWCC except Butts, who lost his Air Rescue contract for medical reasons. He’s now a CTR.
6. Will you stay at the Great Lakes for a week or two for prep before Coronado?
a. Probably.
7. Food? You never mentioned it. Edible? SOS? Spam? Info.
a. It’s dorm-quality. Not good or bad enough to write about. Better than expected though.
8. Favorite food?
a. Mac and cheese day is awesome. As is personal pizza day.
9. Food you miss the most?
a. Good burgers and breakfast food.
10. Where do you want to go and eat when home?
a. A good breakfast place and 5 Guys and Mickey Finns but I don’t think I can drink so forget that.
11. What do you want me to cook?
a. Flank steak but I don’t know how liberty is going to work yet.
12. What do you like the most?
a. Love SPEC war PT so far. And the few times we can let loose a little.
13. What do you like the least?
a. Not being able to EAT! I miss my 5000 calorie diet.
14. Harder or easier than you thought?
a. It’s different than I expected. I adjusted better than I thought.
15. Pistols/shot guns? How did you do?
a. I qualified and had no safety unsatisfactories. Past that, don’t know.
16. Battle Stations? When? What do you know about it? Or is it a secret? I can get info.
a. They tell us nothing other than it’s 12 hours all night Thursday 26-27 morning.
17. Education Petty Officer? Hardest part/easiest?
a. I like learning this info but I get 30 stupid questions a day. There’s about 2-3 people who just over think it and lose sight of what they need to know.
18. Section Leader? What is it?
a. Never mind, I’m not going to be one. They are in charge of about 15 recruits.
19. Do you still have to do Watch?
a. There’s a main watch 24/7 that’s made up of 25 people on rotation. At night, they add a 2nd guy from the other 60 of us. It’s 2 hours. I’ve done it 3 times total and 1 was on P-days. That was the first night and it stunk. It always stinks to get watch but I don’t get put on that often so far. The “permanent” watch has actual stuff to do but the extra guy just stays awake and stands there. It’s a 4 hour shift during the day and 2 hours after sunset.
1. Pass in Review on Thursday 9/2?
a. I’m still not sure the details but yes, it is on that day.
2. You have to move to non-recruit side the day right after Pass in Review?
a. Not right after. I have a few hours but not the rest of the day.
3. Do you have liberty Friday, Saturday, and Sunday?
a. Yes probably. More details later.
4. What are restrictions?
a. Not sure what we can and can’t do on liberty?
5. Any friends with guys going SWCC?
a. All my friends in the division are going SWCC except Butts, who lost his Air Rescue contract for medical reasons. He’s now a CTR.
6. Will you stay at the Great Lakes for a week or two for prep before Coronado?
a. Probably.
7. Food? You never mentioned it. Edible? SOS? Spam? Info.
a. It’s dorm-quality. Not good or bad enough to write about. Better than expected though.
8. Favorite food?
a. Mac and cheese day is awesome. As is personal pizza day.
9. Food you miss the most?
a. Good burgers and breakfast food.
10. Where do you want to go and eat when home?
a. A good breakfast place and 5 Guys and Mickey Finns but I don’t think I can drink so forget that.
11. What do you want me to cook?
a. Flank steak but I don’t know how liberty is going to work yet.
12. What do you like the most?
a. Love SPEC war PT so far. And the few times we can let loose a little.
13. What do you like the least?
a. Not being able to EAT! I miss my 5000 calorie diet.
14. Harder or easier than you thought?
a. It’s different than I expected. I adjusted better than I thought.
15. Pistols/shot guns? How did you do?
a. I qualified and had no safety unsatisfactories. Past that, don’t know.
16. Battle Stations? When? What do you know about it? Or is it a secret? I can get info.
a. They tell us nothing other than it’s 12 hours all night Thursday 26-27 morning.
17. Education Petty Officer? Hardest part/easiest?
a. I like learning this info but I get 30 stupid questions a day. There’s about 2-3 people who just over think it and lose sight of what they need to know.
18. Section Leader? What is it?
a. Never mind, I’m not going to be one. They are in charge of about 15 recruits.
19. Do you still have to do Watch?
a. There’s a main watch 24/7 that’s made up of 25 people on rotation. At night, they add a 2nd guy from the other 60 of us. It’s 2 hours. I’ve done it 3 times total and 1 was on P-days. That was the first night and it stunk. It always stinks to get watch but I don’t get put on that often so far. The “permanent” watch has actual stuff to do but the extra guy just stays awake and stands there. It’s a 4 hour shift during the day and 2 hours after sunset.
Letter No. 10
Tuesday August 17
Dear Everyone,
So we got divisional photos today. I got the deluxe package so none of you have to worry about not having pictures. I took 2 different ones for my individual photo. Serious and smilihg. I went with serious for the prints since the smiling one looks goofy. Sorry Dad if my writing isn’t the best but they ARE scribbled as fast as possible in the little time I have. If you’re letter writing, you’re sacrificing something. Right now, I have to shine my boots later after taps.
Claire and Calista, your letters are awesome. I look forward to them all the time. Dad, enclosed is your 20 questions which I’m about to do. Oh, and send pictures. Especially ones since I’ve been gone. My friends here keep getting pictures they are in taken earlier in the summer. No one’s done that to me so far, but just an FYI.
Thursday August 19
Wow time flies by. Anyway, you probably won’t be able to see my compartment and all that on graduation. The other services put all platoons that graduate on a certain date together in the same building so there can be a family date like that. Ours are spread over every ship here so we have 2 other divisions that graduate with us, a few various weeks behind us, and a few just started. The spreading is to keep everything going smoother since our ships are pretty self contained with a few classrooms, a chow hall, and other facilities like haircut places and laundry. We only leave to do training that requires equipment like firefighting or line handling.
Gas chamber was today. A bit of a letdown. No one puked and the gas wasn’t that bad. I almost had a good time. I’d do the gas chamber a dozen times over getting a second Penicillin shot.
Friday August 20
Alright, another week down. Battle Stations is this Thursday night/Friday morning. Only 2 things are left: final drill and our final test. We did our Personal Inspection and a bunch of people bombed it. Still don’t know what the consequences of that will be since we rushed back to our firefighting classes which went all day and have been running in circles till now. Those consequences might be pretty bad since Chief was in a chair breaking mood when we were leaving. (“this is why we can’t have nice things” – PO Maudsley). Ah well, I’m past the point where I’m going to get upset at people. Partly because the people who mess up don’t care. I’ve come to expect nothing else so there’s no use stressing myself out over it. Partly because I’m realizing that no matter how many pushups or 8 counts we end up doing, I’m still going to keep doing them and eventually we’re going to have to do something else, either chow or another class or they just get bored with beating us. I want the next step too much to let a little discomfort stop me at this stage (“Raise your acceptable level of discomfort” – the Master Diver Chief at the SPEC War office says all the time).
Oh by the way, I aced my final SPEC Ops PST – 9:43 swim (I think I swam an extra lap though), 70 pushups, 64 sit ups, 12 pull ups, 9:38 1.5 mile run. Yeah, I was hauling on the run, fastest I’ve ever ran it. AND I’m still hacking up snot (not as bad as before though. The gas chamber is like a super cough drop – it just cleared everything out).
Love,
Al
RDC quotes:
“It’s interesting that I married a Korean girl. She barely speaks English, I barely speak Korean. But it works. I point at the kitchen and she cooks.”
New Phrase is “Don’t nuke it.” Basically, nukes are the red headed step children of the navy known for being smart with no sense. The phrase means don't over think it since a nuke would find the perfect complicated answer to a problem and try getting 6 steps ahead. But this being the Navy, the plan either changes at step 2 or there were only 2 steps to begin with. So they end up screwing it right up. A nuke recruit gives a long smart explanation when a "Yes, Petty Officer" would have worked.
Dear Everyone,
So we got divisional photos today. I got the deluxe package so none of you have to worry about not having pictures. I took 2 different ones for my individual photo. Serious and smilihg. I went with serious for the prints since the smiling one looks goofy. Sorry Dad if my writing isn’t the best but they ARE scribbled as fast as possible in the little time I have. If you’re letter writing, you’re sacrificing something. Right now, I have to shine my boots later after taps.
Claire and Calista, your letters are awesome. I look forward to them all the time. Dad, enclosed is your 20 questions which I’m about to do. Oh, and send pictures. Especially ones since I’ve been gone. My friends here keep getting pictures they are in taken earlier in the summer. No one’s done that to me so far, but just an FYI.
Thursday August 19
Wow time flies by. Anyway, you probably won’t be able to see my compartment and all that on graduation. The other services put all platoons that graduate on a certain date together in the same building so there can be a family date like that. Ours are spread over every ship here so we have 2 other divisions that graduate with us, a few various weeks behind us, and a few just started. The spreading is to keep everything going smoother since our ships are pretty self contained with a few classrooms, a chow hall, and other facilities like haircut places and laundry. We only leave to do training that requires equipment like firefighting or line handling.
Gas chamber was today. A bit of a letdown. No one puked and the gas wasn’t that bad. I almost had a good time. I’d do the gas chamber a dozen times over getting a second Penicillin shot.
Friday August 20
Alright, another week down. Battle Stations is this Thursday night/Friday morning. Only 2 things are left: final drill and our final test. We did our Personal Inspection and a bunch of people bombed it. Still don’t know what the consequences of that will be since we rushed back to our firefighting classes which went all day and have been running in circles till now. Those consequences might be pretty bad since Chief was in a chair breaking mood when we were leaving. (“this is why we can’t have nice things” – PO Maudsley). Ah well, I’m past the point where I’m going to get upset at people. Partly because the people who mess up don’t care. I’ve come to expect nothing else so there’s no use stressing myself out over it. Partly because I’m realizing that no matter how many pushups or 8 counts we end up doing, I’m still going to keep doing them and eventually we’re going to have to do something else, either chow or another class or they just get bored with beating us. I want the next step too much to let a little discomfort stop me at this stage (“Raise your acceptable level of discomfort” – the Master Diver Chief at the SPEC War office says all the time).
Oh by the way, I aced my final SPEC Ops PST – 9:43 swim (I think I swam an extra lap though), 70 pushups, 64 sit ups, 12 pull ups, 9:38 1.5 mile run. Yeah, I was hauling on the run, fastest I’ve ever ran it. AND I’m still hacking up snot (not as bad as before though. The gas chamber is like a super cough drop – it just cleared everything out).
Love,
Al
RDC quotes:
“It’s interesting that I married a Korean girl. She barely speaks English, I barely speak Korean. But it works. I point at the kitchen and she cooks.”
New Phrase is “Don’t nuke it.” Basically, nukes are the red headed step children of the navy known for being smart with no sense. The phrase means don't over think it since a nuke would find the perfect complicated answer to a problem and try getting 6 steps ahead. But this being the Navy, the plan either changes at step 2 or there were only 2 steps to begin with. So they end up screwing it right up. A nuke recruit gives a long smart explanation when a "Yes, Petty Officer" would have worked.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Another Call from Alex
Alex called when we were in Omaha buying Meredith stuff for her dorm. He called a couple of times (I generally don't answer numbers I do not know). The number comes from 847-473-xxxx. He was frustrated because he didn't catch Christine and had trouble getting me. But we got 5-6 minutes. He did think the card fiasco was funny. He sounds like his "crud" is almost gone and was in high spirits and sounded like he was having fun at "summer camp" (as Meredith put in one of her letters).
He did get his three stripes on his dress uniform for being at the higher pay grade, E-3. He said they the dress uniforms are very cool.
Gas Chamber is today. Yuk! Battle Stations is Friday, August 27. He technically graduates after passing Battle Stations. At that The Pass-in-Review on September 2 is really just for us.
I sent him a list of 15 questions last week, so hopefully he will answer these burning questions tnext week.
TTFN Dad
He did get his three stripes on his dress uniform for being at the higher pay grade, E-3. He said they the dress uniforms are very cool.
Gas Chamber is today. Yuk! Battle Stations is Friday, August 27. He technically graduates after passing Battle Stations. At that The Pass-in-Review on September 2 is really just for us.
I sent him a list of 15 questions last week, so hopefully he will answer these burning questions tnext week.
TTFN Dad
Letter No. 9
Saturday, August 14
Dear Everyone,
Well, we got put to bed early mostly because Chief wanted to go early but hopefully in part because we're doing a better job. So, I'm starting this letter now since I feel like if I get 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep, when I get 4 the next night because we have Special PT so early, it will mess with my body. We're past the point where I feel tired all the time and could fall asleep instantly on demand anywhere (Fun fact, I took a 15 minute nap in the bathroom at Dental back in the first week) So yeah, I can how basically get 5 hours a night and have it affect me. We however usually get 7-8 hours on the weekends so hopefully the good sleep yesterday and tonight will clean up the last remnants of this cold. We have our final must pass SWCC PT test this Thursday plus a whole bunch of stuff. Two (2) days of fire fighting plus the gas chamber Wednesday. We as a division are all eating 3 bowls of fruit loops per person for breakfast or lunch before we go, lol. Our inspection in our dress and service uniforms is this Friday. And Battle Stations is a week after that. Oh, by the way, as freaking awesome as our dress blues look, god that is an evil uniform! For inspections, they give us a certain amount of time to put it on. The whites are fine....you just slip them on. The blues must be buttoned on the pants, put them on, then rebutton all 20. Then, they actually watch us take them off and fold them, then go in our racks and inspect our folding. THAT is timed as well so all 20 but unbuttoned then re-affixed. Thank god I'm pretty good at tying the neckerchief. Most people suck and end up using half the time just getting that perfect. Plus, the blues are hot and itchy. Rumor has it that the powers that be are changing the whites so that they have piping on the sleeves and back bib so that they're not so bland. Of course, that might also be because we only have our lonely national defense ribbon on there (for joining during a time of conflict). Hopefully it'll be joined by my pistol qualifying ribbon. I know I qualified but I don't know what (marksman, sharpshooter, expert). I know not expert since they told the 2 recruits in our division who got it. Hopefully sharpshooter. Our only fire was the qualification plus an electronic trainer plus a bunch of drills and stuff to be sure we're safe. They really only cared if we followed procedures and were safe. The instructors could care less if we hit the target or qualified. A lot don't at all. Nearly all did for us.
What else...oh yeah - I know the last letter said no cookies. BUT they are allowing those who got them to eat one or two then if they don't want the rest to give them away to whoever we want. But still don't send cookies.
Well, I think I'll finish this tomorrow during free time.
RDC quotes:
wait a second. Butts is like, spasming in his sleep and just woke up telling me he was dreaming that our Petty Officers were chasing him. Hilarious! "No Petty Officer," he says in his sleep.
RDC quotes --
(Chief keeps making Vu do PO Torrez impressions)
PO Torrez: Vu, where are you from?
SR Vu: Vietnam, Petty Officer. I moved here a few years ago.
PO Torrez: Were your parents in the Vietnam War?
SR Vu: Yes Petty Officer.
PO Torrez: Well I'm going to send you back to the Vietnam War if you keep doing impressions of me.
SR Vu: Petty Officer, the Vietnam War is over.
PO Torrez: Well, I'm just going to restart it. By myself. Just for you, Vu."
Chief: Vu, what did Petty Officer say about the impressions I make you do of him?
SR Vu: He said he'd send me back to the Vietnam War.
(Chief laughs)
Sunday August 15
Ok, I'm multitasking and shining my boots as I do this. I'm doing my dress shoes too. I'm ok at it. The end result is a smooth shiny surface, but it's nowhere near the blindingly mirror-like finish of the Petty Officers. When asked for his tips, PO Torrez says he "uses Turtle wax and an industrial electric buffer." PO Maudsley says instead of spit shining, he uses "the blood and tears of recruits". So no help on that front.
I think everything is getting weird here. I mentioned Butt's thing but he woke up and then went back to sleep and within 2 minutes, he was spasming again going "One Petty Officer. Two Petty Officer." I woke him up again and he said he was dreaming of doing 8 counts. Another recruit, Masteller, just woke up at 7am and for no reason started doing 8 counts for 40 minutes before getting back in bed. He says he remembers but has no clue why. Another guy, Scott, woke up, quickly got dressed then stood at attention in front of his rack for 15 minutes before he retired. The lights were off and it was 2am and no one was joining him. It's funny in it's own demented way. Thankfully, I have no such problems other than people telling me I sleep at perfect attention.
Other news, I lost 13 lbs. Now down from 184 to 171. I'm lean as heck now. A lot of people lost more. Well, I guess that's all for this week. I literally have no more to write about.
Love,
Al
Dear Everyone,
Well, we got put to bed early mostly because Chief wanted to go early but hopefully in part because we're doing a better job. So, I'm starting this letter now since I feel like if I get 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep, when I get 4 the next night because we have Special PT so early, it will mess with my body. We're past the point where I feel tired all the time and could fall asleep instantly on demand anywhere (Fun fact, I took a 15 minute nap in the bathroom at Dental back in the first week) So yeah, I can how basically get 5 hours a night and have it affect me. We however usually get 7-8 hours on the weekends so hopefully the good sleep yesterday and tonight will clean up the last remnants of this cold. We have our final must pass SWCC PT test this Thursday plus a whole bunch of stuff. Two (2) days of fire fighting plus the gas chamber Wednesday. We as a division are all eating 3 bowls of fruit loops per person for breakfast or lunch before we go, lol. Our inspection in our dress and service uniforms is this Friday. And Battle Stations is a week after that. Oh, by the way, as freaking awesome as our dress blues look, god that is an evil uniform! For inspections, they give us a certain amount of time to put it on. The whites are fine....you just slip them on. The blues must be buttoned on the pants, put them on, then rebutton all 20. Then, they actually watch us take them off and fold them, then go in our racks and inspect our folding. THAT is timed as well so all 20 but unbuttoned then re-affixed. Thank god I'm pretty good at tying the neckerchief. Most people suck and end up using half the time just getting that perfect. Plus, the blues are hot and itchy. Rumor has it that the powers that be are changing the whites so that they have piping on the sleeves and back bib so that they're not so bland. Of course, that might also be because we only have our lonely national defense ribbon on there (for joining during a time of conflict). Hopefully it'll be joined by my pistol qualifying ribbon. I know I qualified but I don't know what (marksman, sharpshooter, expert). I know not expert since they told the 2 recruits in our division who got it. Hopefully sharpshooter. Our only fire was the qualification plus an electronic trainer plus a bunch of drills and stuff to be sure we're safe. They really only cared if we followed procedures and were safe. The instructors could care less if we hit the target or qualified. A lot don't at all. Nearly all did for us.
What else...oh yeah - I know the last letter said no cookies. BUT they are allowing those who got them to eat one or two then if they don't want the rest to give them away to whoever we want. But still don't send cookies.
Well, I think I'll finish this tomorrow during free time.
RDC quotes:
wait a second. Butts is like, spasming in his sleep and just woke up telling me he was dreaming that our Petty Officers were chasing him. Hilarious! "No Petty Officer," he says in his sleep.
RDC quotes --
(Chief keeps making Vu do PO Torrez impressions)
PO Torrez: Vu, where are you from?
SR Vu: Vietnam, Petty Officer. I moved here a few years ago.
PO Torrez: Were your parents in the Vietnam War?
SR Vu: Yes Petty Officer.
PO Torrez: Well I'm going to send you back to the Vietnam War if you keep doing impressions of me.
SR Vu: Petty Officer, the Vietnam War is over.
PO Torrez: Well, I'm just going to restart it. By myself. Just for you, Vu."
Chief: Vu, what did Petty Officer say about the impressions I make you do of him?
SR Vu: He said he'd send me back to the Vietnam War.
(Chief laughs)
Sunday August 15
Ok, I'm multitasking and shining my boots as I do this. I'm doing my dress shoes too. I'm ok at it. The end result is a smooth shiny surface, but it's nowhere near the blindingly mirror-like finish of the Petty Officers. When asked for his tips, PO Torrez says he "uses Turtle wax and an industrial electric buffer." PO Maudsley says instead of spit shining, he uses "the blood and tears of recruits". So no help on that front.
I think everything is getting weird here. I mentioned Butt's thing but he woke up and then went back to sleep and within 2 minutes, he was spasming again going "One Petty Officer. Two Petty Officer." I woke him up again and he said he was dreaming of doing 8 counts. Another recruit, Masteller, just woke up at 7am and for no reason started doing 8 counts for 40 minutes before getting back in bed. He says he remembers but has no clue why. Another guy, Scott, woke up, quickly got dressed then stood at attention in front of his rack for 15 minutes before he retired. The lights were off and it was 2am and no one was joining him. It's funny in it's own demented way. Thankfully, I have no such problems other than people telling me I sleep at perfect attention.
Other news, I lost 13 lbs. Now down from 184 to 171. I'm lean as heck now. A lot of people lost more. Well, I guess that's all for this week. I literally have no more to write about.
Love,
Al
Letter No. 8
Dear Everyone,
Tuesday, August 10
Okay, so thank you for the card, the singing one I mean (Meredith sent him a Toy Story singing card – prompted by Dad). No, I didn’t do any IT for it. Petty Officer was in the office when it was passed out. But I was trying to find a way to open the thing without it sounding off, so I could read the thing. Someone suggested pulling off the pull tabs that plays the card when it’s open. BAD IDEA!. Only made the card play when it was closed. By this point everyone is giggling like idiots and I’m thinking, “Oh No”. So I dropped the card and started stomping on it. And that only made it repeat.
STOMP
“You gotta friend”
STOMP
“You gotta fr”
STOMP
“You gotta friend in me”
That’s about when I picked it back up, sprinted to the trash in the head and pulled the speaker out and snapped it. Everyone was laughing and somewhat disappointed that this didn’t get out to the Petty Officer. DON’T DO THAT AGAIN.
Thursday August 12
OK, so we S.O. our drill assessment. Yeah, FIVE POINT ZERO. All 86 of us had zero unsats in our hour-ish assessment (which consisted of marching to the drill hall and going through every movement that we’ll have to do at graduation). No divisions ever Five Oh’s drill. So that was awesome.
Oh, PO Maudsely said we have to write, “this is a great experience. My RDC’s are nice. Send cookies” (FYI, they eat all our cookies. Every time. They’re eating someone’s right now as I write this.)
But yeah, I did say they’re letting loosea bit. Still Boot Camp though. We did neckerchief tying drills (1 min to tie this thing). Got it perfect the first time but did 40-8 counts because it wasn’t even.
Oh, the RDC’s got pizza (for themselves) from that place Dad always used to insist we order from when we lived in Grayslake (Wayne’s).
But they do get more hilarious. Chief said once we get closer/after Battlestations, we’ll start doing pranks and stuff with the other divisions and having a bit more fun. But we have to stay locked on. We have no competition with any division on anything except out test averages. And when I say no competition, I mean it. We got 2hits on one inspection. The closet the other divisions were was 20-ish. I think I’ll explain the flags and honors like Hall of Fame, CNO gold/silver, Battle E in the next letter.
Love,
Al
RDC Quotes of the Week
OK, so the new thing is “IT DOESN’T MATTER IF (fill in the blank).
For example:
PO Maudsely: “Yeoman, what time is chow?”
Yeoman: “It is at …”
PO Maudsley: “IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT TIME CHOW IS!)
So, they either ask a question and then cut off their reply OR when someone asks a stupid question.
PO Maudsely: “Do you like pink ponies?”
Recruit: “Uh …”
PO Maudsley: “IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU LIKE PINK PONIES!”
So yeah, we find this funny as hell and now do it to each other.
Tuesday, August 10
Okay, so thank you for the card, the singing one I mean (Meredith sent him a Toy Story singing card – prompted by Dad). No, I didn’t do any IT for it. Petty Officer was in the office when it was passed out. But I was trying to find a way to open the thing without it sounding off, so I could read the thing. Someone suggested pulling off the pull tabs that plays the card when it’s open. BAD IDEA!. Only made the card play when it was closed. By this point everyone is giggling like idiots and I’m thinking, “Oh No”. So I dropped the card and started stomping on it. And that only made it repeat.
STOMP
“You gotta friend”
STOMP
“You gotta fr”
STOMP
“You gotta friend in me”
That’s about when I picked it back up, sprinted to the trash in the head and pulled the speaker out and snapped it. Everyone was laughing and somewhat disappointed that this didn’t get out to the Petty Officer. DON’T DO THAT AGAIN.
Thursday August 12
OK, so we S.O. our drill assessment. Yeah, FIVE POINT ZERO. All 86 of us had zero unsats in our hour-ish assessment (which consisted of marching to the drill hall and going through every movement that we’ll have to do at graduation). No divisions ever Five Oh’s drill. So that was awesome.
Oh, PO Maudsely said we have to write, “this is a great experience. My RDC’s are nice. Send cookies” (FYI, they eat all our cookies. Every time. They’re eating someone’s right now as I write this.)
But yeah, I did say they’re letting loosea bit. Still Boot Camp though. We did neckerchief tying drills (1 min to tie this thing). Got it perfect the first time but did 40-8 counts because it wasn’t even.
Oh, the RDC’s got pizza (for themselves) from that place Dad always used to insist we order from when we lived in Grayslake (Wayne’s).
But they do get more hilarious. Chief said once we get closer/after Battlestations, we’ll start doing pranks and stuff with the other divisions and having a bit more fun. But we have to stay locked on. We have no competition with any division on anything except out test averages. And when I say no competition, I mean it. We got 2hits on one inspection. The closet the other divisions were was 20-ish. I think I’ll explain the flags and honors like Hall of Fame, CNO gold/silver, Battle E in the next letter.
Love,
Al
RDC Quotes of the Week
OK, so the new thing is “IT DOESN’T MATTER IF (fill in the blank).
For example:
PO Maudsely: “Yeoman, what time is chow?”
Yeoman: “It is at …”
PO Maudsley: “IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT TIME CHOW IS!)
So, they either ask a question and then cut off their reply OR when someone asks a stupid question.
PO Maudsely: “Do you like pink ponies?”
Recruit: “Uh …”
PO Maudsley: “IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU LIKE PINK PONIES!”
So yeah, we find this funny as hell and now do it to each other.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Letter No. 8
Saturday, August 14
Dear Everyone,
Well, we got put to bed early mostly because Chief wanted to go early but hopefully a part because we're doing a better job. So, I'm starting this letter now since I feel like if i get 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep, when I get 4 the next night because we have Specular PT so early, it will mess with my body. We're past the point where I feel tired all the time and could fall asleep instantly on demand anywhere. (Fun fact, I took a 15 minute nap in the bathroom at Dental back in the first week) So yeah, I can how basically get 5 hours a night and have it affect me. We however usually get 7-8 hours on the weekends so hopefully the good sleep yesterday and tonight will clean up the last remnants of this cold. We have our final must pass SWCC PT test this Thursday plus a whole bunch of stuff. 2 days of fire fighting plus the gas chamber Wednesday. We as a division are all eating 3 bowls of fruit loops per person for breakfast or lunch before we go, lol. Our inspection in our dress and service uniforms is this Friday. And Battle Stations is a week after that. Oh, by the way, as freaking awesome as our dress blues look, god that is an evil uniform! For inspections, they give us a certain amount of time to put it on. The whites are fine....you just slip them on. The blues must be buttoned on the pants, put them on, then rebutton all 20. Then, they actually watch us take them off and fold them, then go in our racks and inspect our folding. THAT is timed as well so all 20 but unbuttoned then re-affixed. Thank god I'm pretty good at tying the neckerchief. Most people suck and end up using half the time just getting that perfect. Plus, the blues are hot and itchy. Rumor has it that the powers that be are changing the whites so that they have piping on the sleeves and back bib so that they're not so bland. Of course, that might also be because we only have our lonely national defense ribbon on there (for joining during a time of conflict). hopefully it'll be joined by my pistol qualifying ribbon. I know I qualified but I don't know what (marksman, sharpshooter, expert). I know not expert since they told the 2 in our division who got it. Hopefully sharpshooter. our only fire was the qualification plus an electronic trainer plus a bunch of drills and stuff to be sure we're safe. They really only cared if we followed procedures and were safe. The instructors could care less if we hit the target or qualified. A lot don't at all. Nearly all did for us.
What else...oh yeah - I know the last letter said no cookies. BUT they are allowing those who got them to eat one or two then if they don't want the rest to give them away to whoever we want. But still don't send cookies.
Well, I think I'll finish this tomorrow during free time.
RDC quotes:
wait a second. Butts is like, spasming in his sleep and just woke up telling me he was dreaming that our Petty Officers were chasing him. Hilarious! "No Petty Officer," he says in his sleep.
RDC quotes --
(Chief keeps making Vu do PO Torrez impressions)
PO Torrez: Vu, where are you from?
SR Vu: Vietnam, Petty Officer. I moved here a few years ago.
PO Torrez: Were your parents in the Vietnam War?
SR Vu: Yes Petty Officer.
PO Torrez: Well I'm going to send you back to the Vietnam War if you keep doing impressions of me.
SR Vu: Petty Officer, the Vietnam War is over.
PO Torrez: Well, I'm just going to restart it. By myself. Just for you, Vu."
Chief: Vu, what did Petty Officer say about the impressions I make you do of him?
SR Vu: He said he'd send me back to the Vietnam War.
(Chief laughs)
Sunday August 15
Ok,, I'm multitasking and shining my boots as I do this. I'm doing my dress shoes too. I'm ok at it. The end result is a smooth shiny surface, but it's nowhere near the blindingly mirror-like finish of the Petty Officers. When asked for his tips, PO Torrez says he "uses Turtle wax and an industrial electric buffer." PO Maudsley says instead of spit shining, he uses "the blood and tears of recruits". So no help on that front.
I think everything is getting weird here. I mentioned Butt's thing but he woke up and then went back to sleep and within 2 minutes, he was spasming again going "One Petty Officer. Two Petty Officer." I woke him up again and he said he was dreaming of doing 8 counts. Another recruit, Masteller, just woke up at 7am and for no reason started doing 8 counts for 40 minutes before getting back in bed. He says he remembers but has no clue why. Another guy, Scott, woke up, quickly got dressed then stood at attention in front of his rack for 15 minutes before he retired. The lights were off and it was 2am and no one was joining him. It's funny in it's own demented way. Thankfully, I have no such problems other than people telling me I sleep at perfect attention.
Other news, I lost 13 lbs. Now down from 184 to 171. I'm lean as heck now. A lot of people lost more. Well, I guess that's all for this week. I literally have no more to write about.
Love,
Al
Dear Everyone,
Well, we got put to bed early mostly because Chief wanted to go early but hopefully a part because we're doing a better job. So, I'm starting this letter now since I feel like if i get 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep, when I get 4 the next night because we have Specular PT so early, it will mess with my body. We're past the point where I feel tired all the time and could fall asleep instantly on demand anywhere. (Fun fact, I took a 15 minute nap in the bathroom at Dental back in the first week) So yeah, I can how basically get 5 hours a night and have it affect me. We however usually get 7-8 hours on the weekends so hopefully the good sleep yesterday and tonight will clean up the last remnants of this cold. We have our final must pass SWCC PT test this Thursday plus a whole bunch of stuff. 2 days of fire fighting plus the gas chamber Wednesday. We as a division are all eating 3 bowls of fruit loops per person for breakfast or lunch before we go, lol. Our inspection in our dress and service uniforms is this Friday. And Battle Stations is a week after that. Oh, by the way, as freaking awesome as our dress blues look, god that is an evil uniform! For inspections, they give us a certain amount of time to put it on. The whites are fine....you just slip them on. The blues must be buttoned on the pants, put them on, then rebutton all 20. Then, they actually watch us take them off and fold them, then go in our racks and inspect our folding. THAT is timed as well so all 20 but unbuttoned then re-affixed. Thank god I'm pretty good at tying the neckerchief. Most people suck and end up using half the time just getting that perfect. Plus, the blues are hot and itchy. Rumor has it that the powers that be are changing the whites so that they have piping on the sleeves and back bib so that they're not so bland. Of course, that might also be because we only have our lonely national defense ribbon on there (for joining during a time of conflict). hopefully it'll be joined by my pistol qualifying ribbon. I know I qualified but I don't know what (marksman, sharpshooter, expert). I know not expert since they told the 2 in our division who got it. Hopefully sharpshooter. our only fire was the qualification plus an electronic trainer plus a bunch of drills and stuff to be sure we're safe. They really only cared if we followed procedures and were safe. The instructors could care less if we hit the target or qualified. A lot don't at all. Nearly all did for us.
What else...oh yeah - I know the last letter said no cookies. BUT they are allowing those who got them to eat one or two then if they don't want the rest to give them away to whoever we want. But still don't send cookies.
Well, I think I'll finish this tomorrow during free time.
RDC quotes:
wait a second. Butts is like, spasming in his sleep and just woke up telling me he was dreaming that our Petty Officers were chasing him. Hilarious! "No Petty Officer," he says in his sleep.
RDC quotes --
(Chief keeps making Vu do PO Torrez impressions)
PO Torrez: Vu, where are you from?
SR Vu: Vietnam, Petty Officer. I moved here a few years ago.
PO Torrez: Were your parents in the Vietnam War?
SR Vu: Yes Petty Officer.
PO Torrez: Well I'm going to send you back to the Vietnam War if you keep doing impressions of me.
SR Vu: Petty Officer, the Vietnam War is over.
PO Torrez: Well, I'm just going to restart it. By myself. Just for you, Vu."
Chief: Vu, what did Petty Officer say about the impressions I make you do of him?
SR Vu: He said he'd send me back to the Vietnam War.
(Chief laughs)
Sunday August 15
Ok,, I'm multitasking and shining my boots as I do this. I'm doing my dress shoes too. I'm ok at it. The end result is a smooth shiny surface, but it's nowhere near the blindingly mirror-like finish of the Petty Officers. When asked for his tips, PO Torrez says he "uses Turtle wax and an industrial electric buffer." PO Maudsley says instead of spit shining, he uses "the blood and tears of recruits". So no help on that front.
I think everything is getting weird here. I mentioned Butt's thing but he woke up and then went back to sleep and within 2 minutes, he was spasming again going "One Petty Officer. Two Petty Officer." I woke him up again and he said he was dreaming of doing 8 counts. Another recruit, Masteller, just woke up at 7am and for no reason started doing 8 counts for 40 minutes before getting back in bed. He says he remembers but has no clue why. Another guy, Scott, woke up, quickly got dressed then stood at attention in front of his rack for 15 minutes before he retired. The lights were off and it was 2am and no one was joining him. It's funny in it's own demented way. Thankfully, I have no such problems other than people telling me I sleep at perfect attention.
Other news, I lost 13 lbs. Now down from 184 to 171. I'm lean as heck now. A lot of people lost more. Well, I guess that's all for this week. I literally have no more to write about.
Love,
Al
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Letter No. 7
Sunday August 8th
Dear everyone,
So I aced my Pt test: 83 pushups, 84 sit ups. I don’t know what the run was but it was probably ok. Round 2 of the sickness is hitting me again so the entire 1.5 mile, I was hacking up this lovely mixture of phlegm, snot, and blood (I’m hardcore like that lol). My sinuses are getting raw so that happens if I’m hacking hard during PT. So during the run, I hacked up this big snot ball into my hand (it can’t hit the deck) and this other guy from a normal division was running beside me, looks at it and goes, “is that blood?” and I decided to mess with him and I scream out, “that’s not blood! THAT’S MOTIVATION!”and then sprinted for the next lap. FYI I’m not THAT bad sick-wise so don’t worry. That little incident probably contributed to the rest of the normal divisions to thinking we’re mentally messed up. We have a reputation (as does all 800 divisions) of being well…I guess how we are. Montano was sick in quarters the other day and had to go down the hall since we are all somewhere else as a division so he got to sleep in an empty rack in the other division’s compartment. He said there was a lot of screwing around and when their RDC’s get fed up, made some guy do 30 8-counts. Everyone shut up like that was some serious stuff. We get IT’d and we have to do 30 in 1:45 or keep doing them. One of their guys asked Montano if that would be something we’d do as IT and Montano laughed and goes, “Dude, I’m SIQ (sick in quarters) and I could knock out 30 like it was nothing.”
Oh, I aced my second Personal Inspection and weapons clearing inspection. The division got 13 hits total for the PI and 2 for the weapons one. (30 and 20 is the norm!). So we got phone calls and then promptly got them taken away Saturday morning for messing around. So I really don’t know when I can call again. Hopefully soon but probably not this week with all the stuff we’re doing. We have live fire with pistols and shotguns this Monday and Tuesday (heck yeah!)
Oh and the RDC’s wants to move me to section leader? He said he’d talk to me Monday about it. Also, that stuff about changing to Diver? Forget I said that – I’m staying SWCC.
Love,
Al
p.s. no letters from anyone except Claire (I will “stay cool.” That drawing was AWESOME!) and grandma. You guys can’t write on vacation lol?
RDC Quotes:
Watch: Good morning, Petty Officer.
PO T: How do you know it’s a good morning? You haven’t been outside. The apocalypse could be on and you wouldn’t know.
Watch: Oh…I have faith it is Petty Officer?
PO T: Oh you have faith huh? Well I’m not having a good morning.
Watch: I’m sorry to hear that Petty Officer.
PO T: No you’re not, you hate me.
This next one happened yesterday while I was eating dinner. Petty Officer Maudsley walks up ridiculously close to me while I’m eating. He was about 2 inches from my face:
PO M: George, do you believe in the space bubble?
Me: Say again, Petty Officer?
PO M: You know, personal space. Keeps everyone from getting uncomfortable.
Me: Possibly, Petty Officer?
PO M: George, is this the closest you’ve been to another man?
Me: I honestly can’t recall Petty Officer.
PO M: Well make sure to respect people’s personal space. That’s my advice to you today.
Me: Aye Aye, Petty Officer.
Letter No. 6
Dear Everyone,
Tuesday, August 3
So, I bet you are wondering why you are getting a letter on Thursday? I CAN WRITE ON TUES/THURS NOW! (Sorry turns out we can only write but still not send until Sunday). Chief just told us to site and write, because FQA (Fleet Quality Assurance) is coming to check to make sure we’re writing. FQA is oversight here (50/50 recruits and RDC’s). They make sure the RDC’s are doing stuff and they can give demerits and stuff like that to recruits if we’re on our own or compartment chits if they come in and our ship is messed up.
If you haven’t guessed, Chief tends to do whatever he wants (we haven’t done PT “by the book” once). So understandably, they bug him a lot. On another note, did you know that every rank is rated yearly at each base? Want to guess who is the No. 1 rated Chief Petty Officer? Want to guess who are the No. 1 and 2 rated Second Class Petty Officers? Yeah, I have the top 3 RDC’s on this base.
So life is good. Thanks for the letters. Mere write more. Your letters are funny .
Graduation is early Thursday, September 2. We are supposed to be done at 1000 or 1100. So, I have until 2100 (really 2000) to be back here. Still don’t know how everything else will go. They said SWCC will be at Great Lakes at least a few days now. Divers leave the next day to go across the street to Dive Prep and Air Rescue leaves for O’Hare at 2:00 am Friday morning.
Thursday August 5
Okay, so more info on graduation on the 2nd. We should be checking into Great Lakes (the non-recruit training side of the base) which takes 5-6 hours. So I can hang out for a little bit, but then have to be back. The upside is we have Friday, Saturday and Sunday all as liberty from 0700-2000 (that’s subject to change). Next week is hell week; we have inspection and PT (normal Navy) test on Friday. Then we have a compartment inspection on Monday, Drill and Test 2 the next Friday and a bunch of events throughout the week.
We did Marlinspike (line handling) today and I got to be Bosun of the Watch (basically in charge of the whole thing), which was cool. After next week we’re basically on cruise control until graduation. We have our dress uniforms back in a week or so which will definitely be cool.
Everything is going a lot better. The RDC’s are actually having a little fun with us. Even Torrez is . . . well he’s still plain mean but he’s cracked a joke or two. At least I think they were jokes (he’s extremely deadpan). Keep writing. See you all in less than a month! 28 days and counting.
Love, Al
RDC Quotes (featuring PO Torrez)
PO Torrez: “Is there sugar in this coffee?”
PO Maudsley: “Yes”
PO Torrez: “You know I hate sugar. See this is why I’m insane.”
------
PO Maudsley: “I don’t mean that I took it personally, BUT I TOOK IT PERSONALLY”
------
Chief: “Always ask yourself with these new trends . . . would John Wayne do it?
PO Torrez: “Who is John Wayne?”
PO Maudsley: “He’s that guy you fought in that bar last month”
PO Torrez: “Oh, right”
Tuesday, August 3
So, I bet you are wondering why you are getting a letter on Thursday? I CAN WRITE ON TUES/THURS NOW! (Sorry turns out we can only write but still not send until Sunday). Chief just told us to site and write, because FQA (Fleet Quality Assurance) is coming to check to make sure we’re writing. FQA is oversight here (50/50 recruits and RDC’s). They make sure the RDC’s are doing stuff and they can give demerits and stuff like that to recruits if we’re on our own or compartment chits if they come in and our ship is messed up.
If you haven’t guessed, Chief tends to do whatever he wants (we haven’t done PT “by the book” once). So understandably, they bug him a lot. On another note, did you know that every rank is rated yearly at each base? Want to guess who is the No. 1 rated Chief Petty Officer? Want to guess who are the No. 1 and 2 rated Second Class Petty Officers? Yeah, I have the top 3 RDC’s on this base.
So life is good. Thanks for the letters. Mere write more. Your letters are funny .
Graduation is early Thursday, September 2. We are supposed to be done at 1000 or 1100. So, I have until 2100 (really 2000) to be back here. Still don’t know how everything else will go. They said SWCC will be at Great Lakes at least a few days now. Divers leave the next day to go across the street to Dive Prep and Air Rescue leaves for O’Hare at 2:00 am Friday morning.
Thursday August 5
Okay, so more info on graduation on the 2nd. We should be checking into Great Lakes (the non-recruit training side of the base) which takes 5-6 hours. So I can hang out for a little bit, but then have to be back. The upside is we have Friday, Saturday and Sunday all as liberty from 0700-2000 (that’s subject to change). Next week is hell week; we have inspection and PT (normal Navy) test on Friday. Then we have a compartment inspection on Monday, Drill and Test 2 the next Friday and a bunch of events throughout the week.
We did Marlinspike (line handling) today and I got to be Bosun of the Watch (basically in charge of the whole thing), which was cool. After next week we’re basically on cruise control until graduation. We have our dress uniforms back in a week or so which will definitely be cool.
Everything is going a lot better. The RDC’s are actually having a little fun with us. Even Torrez is . . . well he’s still plain mean but he’s cracked a joke or two. At least I think they were jokes (he’s extremely deadpan). Keep writing. See you all in less than a month! 28 days and counting.
Love, Al
RDC Quotes (featuring PO Torrez)
PO Torrez: “Is there sugar in this coffee?”
PO Maudsley: “Yes”
PO Torrez: “You know I hate sugar. See this is why I’m insane.”
------
PO Maudsley: “I don’t mean that I took it personally, BUT I TOOK IT PERSONALLY”
------
Chief: “Always ask yourself with these new trends . . . would John Wayne do it?
PO Torrez: “Who is John Wayne?”
PO Maudsley: “He’s that guy you fought in that bar last month”
PO Torrez: “Oh, right”
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Letter No. 5
Sunday August 1, 2010
Dear Everyone,
Thank you for all the letters. Claire and Calista, your drawings were cute. Everyone else, the letters are always a pick me up before bed.
Well, how did this week go? I've been sick as heck since Tuesday. Went to pick up cold meds. Wednesday, I was supposed to get people who missed our first test (due to watch, illness, etc) but was too sick. Went to medical Thursday, finally got put on light duty. So now it is just a really bad cold/upper respiratory infection but the Doc said that she was worried it might turn into pneumonia. I got put on full duty again Friday.
As for my division, it was a bad week. We're going over weapons cleaning inspections with the M9 (pistol). We have an inspection on it next Friday. We were royally screwing it up. The inspector goes "release the magazine . . . proceed" and we go before proceed and miss the question. So, we do 20 bear crawl laps around the compartment and now my hands are raw. The day before, I got IT'd for calling Chief a "Petty Office Chief" and did 8 laps bear crawl. Each lap is about 75 yards. On the last lap P.O. Maudsley tells me to start doing 8 counts (I was supposed to be doing 8 laps, but . . . ) and all told he basically forgot about me and I ended up doing them for an hour. You have to go until he says stop and you never ask if you can stop. By that time, Chief had come back to the compartment and asked if I did anything else wrong and I explained that on my last lap, P.O. told me to do 8 counts. He told me, "Well, don't make a stupid mistake like that again." So yeah, any indiscretion can turn into a lot of PT but thankfully, I got the sense that I didn't screw up too bad, I was just paying for my screw ups.
Well, what else . . . EPO is going good. We had our first test Monday, still don't know how I personally did. The Division did OK, 4.08/5.o, which is good. We "flagged" it, meaning we now get to carry a flag with a scroll and quill on it whenever we march somewhere, and we march alot. Some Divisions end up getting one for almost every event and carry close to a dozen of them, for drill inspecting, etc. But we really should have done better. We're still going over alot of basic stuff but we should hopefully be going over more technical stuff soon (line handling, fire fighting, damage control). We have our pistol and gun familiarization the week after next (firing guns = awesome).
Also, we're apparently a "Grad and Go" Division, meaning I am flying out Friday, Sept 3rd in the morning for California. Still waiting for more details on that because the SWCC guys at the Dive office said we would not do that. I am actually seriously considering switching to Diver, but a) I'm definitely not sure yet, and b) I'm playing it by ear for this other guy who is trying to switch as well. Don't read too much into this. I'm just trying to figure out if I am more suited to something. I have friends who are doing both.
We got our dress and service uniforms this week which was awesome. We also got haircuts (high and tights woot!) and our dog tags. They weren't kidding about the historical-ness of these things. Our dress blues have 30 buttons (they are basically pantaloons) and they are made of this extremely coarse wool that's itchy as heck (hopefully that will improve in the wash). They are also heavy too. I guess the general consensus is that the blues look awesome, but are absolutely a pain to wear while the whites might look a little stupid, but are comfy. Whites have normal pants with a belt and are made of this light, comfy material. We also got our service uniforms, a khaki button down with black pants.
I'm making some good friends. Butts (first name, Austin, but no one goes by their first name) is now my rack mate on the bottom bunk. We shift around as people leave or get moved closer to Divisional leadership because they are having problems. We've had a few guys leave. 1 is getting kicked out. Another 3, soon to be 5 or 6, are losing their contracts because of more in depth physical problems or they get injured so they are getting move out of the Division. One guy tore his shoulder and a few have color deficiencies or eye problems that the initial physical didn't pick up. Butts actually lost his combat air rescue contract but decided to stay here in this Division. He's trying to get FMF Corpsman (Marine Doc) or another air crew job. He finds out this Monday.
Hope to hear from all of you in your letters. Hopefully, I can get another phone call but don't count on it for at least another week or two. Hooyah 818! "No short shorts!" "This is my dirty gear and I LOVE IT!" (Inside jokes, I'll explain in the next letter).
Love,
Al
Quote of the Week
P.O.Maudsley: "Look, just use gravity. I understand you won't get that because it's a magical thing from imagination land where you can meet Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny but it exists and you need to use it"
Dear Everyone,
Thank you for all the letters. Claire and Calista, your drawings were cute. Everyone else, the letters are always a pick me up before bed.
Well, how did this week go? I've been sick as heck since Tuesday. Went to pick up cold meds. Wednesday, I was supposed to get people who missed our first test (due to watch, illness, etc) but was too sick. Went to medical Thursday, finally got put on light duty. So now it is just a really bad cold/upper respiratory infection but the Doc said that she was worried it might turn into pneumonia. I got put on full duty again Friday.
As for my division, it was a bad week. We're going over weapons cleaning inspections with the M9 (pistol). We have an inspection on it next Friday. We were royally screwing it up. The inspector goes "release the magazine . . . proceed" and we go before proceed and miss the question. So, we do 20 bear crawl laps around the compartment and now my hands are raw. The day before, I got IT'd for calling Chief a "Petty Office Chief" and did 8 laps bear crawl. Each lap is about 75 yards. On the last lap P.O. Maudsley tells me to start doing 8 counts (I was supposed to be doing 8 laps, but . . . ) and all told he basically forgot about me and I ended up doing them for an hour. You have to go until he says stop and you never ask if you can stop. By that time, Chief had come back to the compartment and asked if I did anything else wrong and I explained that on my last lap, P.O. told me to do 8 counts. He told me, "Well, don't make a stupid mistake like that again." So yeah, any indiscretion can turn into a lot of PT but thankfully, I got the sense that I didn't screw up too bad, I was just paying for my screw ups.
Well, what else . . . EPO is going good. We had our first test Monday, still don't know how I personally did. The Division did OK, 4.08/5.o, which is good. We "flagged" it, meaning we now get to carry a flag with a scroll and quill on it whenever we march somewhere, and we march alot. Some Divisions end up getting one for almost every event and carry close to a dozen of them, for drill inspecting, etc. But we really should have done better. We're still going over alot of basic stuff but we should hopefully be going over more technical stuff soon (line handling, fire fighting, damage control). We have our pistol and gun familiarization the week after next (firing guns = awesome).
Also, we're apparently a "Grad and Go" Division, meaning I am flying out Friday, Sept 3rd in the morning for California. Still waiting for more details on that because the SWCC guys at the Dive office said we would not do that. I am actually seriously considering switching to Diver, but a) I'm definitely not sure yet, and b) I'm playing it by ear for this other guy who is trying to switch as well. Don't read too much into this. I'm just trying to figure out if I am more suited to something. I have friends who are doing both.
We got our dress and service uniforms this week which was awesome. We also got haircuts (high and tights woot!) and our dog tags. They weren't kidding about the historical-ness of these things. Our dress blues have 30 buttons (they are basically pantaloons) and they are made of this extremely coarse wool that's itchy as heck (hopefully that will improve in the wash). They are also heavy too. I guess the general consensus is that the blues look awesome, but are absolutely a pain to wear while the whites might look a little stupid, but are comfy. Whites have normal pants with a belt and are made of this light, comfy material. We also got our service uniforms, a khaki button down with black pants.
I'm making some good friends. Butts (first name, Austin, but no one goes by their first name) is now my rack mate on the bottom bunk. We shift around as people leave or get moved closer to Divisional leadership because they are having problems. We've had a few guys leave. 1 is getting kicked out. Another 3, soon to be 5 or 6, are losing their contracts because of more in depth physical problems or they get injured so they are getting move out of the Division. One guy tore his shoulder and a few have color deficiencies or eye problems that the initial physical didn't pick up. Butts actually lost his combat air rescue contract but decided to stay here in this Division. He's trying to get FMF Corpsman (Marine Doc) or another air crew job. He finds out this Monday.
Hope to hear from all of you in your letters. Hopefully, I can get another phone call but don't count on it for at least another week or two. Hooyah 818! "No short shorts!" "This is my dirty gear and I LOVE IT!" (Inside jokes, I'll explain in the next letter).
Love,
Al
Quote of the Week
P.O.Maudsley: "Look, just use gravity. I understand you won't get that because it's a magical thing from imagination land where you can meet Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny but it exists and you need to use it"
Friday, July 30, 2010
First Phone Call
I received our first phone call from Alex on the train last night. "Hi Dad". My response, "Jack?" (I thought it was Jack using a friend's phone). "No, this is your other son, Alex". As I only have two, I was slightly ahead of him.
He said he really is doing just fine. Bootcamp is going by very fast and it is hard to believe that he really only has 4 weeks to go. He actually graduates after Battle Stations, which occurs a week before his Pass-in-Review on September 2. Battle Stations is a nightlong final evolution that brings all of his training together on a 1/5 scale actual ship. As "Leuitenant Dan", one of the guys with whom I work, says Battle Stations is really cool. After passing Battle Stations, they are no longer addressed as "recruit", but addressed as "sailor".
He likes his role as Education Petty Officer (EPO). He said he is not sure if having the RDC's know him by name is good or bad. He said some of the RDC's come up to him and harass him quietly and then walk away and laugh.
As EPO, he is responsible for coordinating the testing schedules of his division and scheduling retests if a recruit misses a test due to a medical appointment or illness. The division test score is a reflection on him. As such he has to "remediate" the low scores of other recruits. That involves tutoring. He said he had to stay up very late one night tutoring several recruits.
He does have a case of "ricky crud". Crud is a cough or upper respiratory illness that eventually gets almost every recruit. It comes from putting 90 recruits together in one barracks, or ship as it is referred to in the Navy (go figure). He said it is getting better.
He only had ten minutes, as he was able to talk with Christine for 10 minutes also. You could hear the Petty Officer in the background yelling "5 minutes" halfway through the call. When I heard in the background "TIME'S UP", Alex said "Gotta go Dad, Bye" very quickly and the call ended.
Keep the letters coming to him. He said to say thanks to everyone who has been writing him. It helps alot.
He said he really is doing just fine. Bootcamp is going by very fast and it is hard to believe that he really only has 4 weeks to go. He actually graduates after Battle Stations, which occurs a week before his Pass-in-Review on September 2. Battle Stations is a nightlong final evolution that brings all of his training together on a 1/5 scale actual ship. As "Leuitenant Dan", one of the guys with whom I work, says Battle Stations is really cool. After passing Battle Stations, they are no longer addressed as "recruit", but addressed as "sailor".
He likes his role as Education Petty Officer (EPO). He said he is not sure if having the RDC's know him by name is good or bad. He said some of the RDC's come up to him and harass him quietly and then walk away and laugh.
As EPO, he is responsible for coordinating the testing schedules of his division and scheduling retests if a recruit misses a test due to a medical appointment or illness. The division test score is a reflection on him. As such he has to "remediate" the low scores of other recruits. That involves tutoring. He said he had to stay up very late one night tutoring several recruits.
He does have a case of "ricky crud". Crud is a cough or upper respiratory illness that eventually gets almost every recruit. It comes from putting 90 recruits together in one barracks, or ship as it is referred to in the Navy (go figure). He said it is getting better.
He only had ten minutes, as he was able to talk with Christine for 10 minutes also. You could hear the Petty Officer in the background yelling "5 minutes" halfway through the call. When I heard in the background "TIME'S UP", Alex said "Gotta go Dad, Bye" very quickly and the call ended.
Keep the letters coming to him. He said to say thanks to everyone who has been writing him. It helps alot.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Letter No. 4
Sunday, July 25
Dear Everyone,
Thanks for all the letters. I had a really bad day this last Tuesday (things just built up) and I got six letters that night. My rackmate said that, with all the ripped envelope paper and the grin on my face, I looked like a four year old at Christmas.
In other news, I am no longer then Head (bathroom) Petty Officer. My friend Montaro who was the Recruit Petty Officer (RPOC) got fired for messing up drill. Unlike the Marines and Army, we DO NOT have Drill Instructors. Our RPOC leads drill and marching completely. You can be a good leader but still mess up drill. So, Montaro got moved back to Head PO and I was able to move to Education PO (EPO) which means I lead study, teach classes and do all the paperwork for when we take tests. A few days ago, Petty Officer Maudsely wanted me to be EPO but couldn’t since we had nobody to fill in as Head PO. So when Montaro got fired it ended up working out. I guess I have a reputation for knowing our stuff really well.
Dad, its great your bike ride goes by the base, though the odds of actually seeing me are slim. There is a tunnel that runs under Route 137 between the south and north base. We are on the North side permanently now. We occasionally go to the South side for classes and every morning at 0430 for Spec Warfare PT which is at the pool on the other side. Church is on the south side too, which by the way I probably won’t see for awhile here. It takes 1-1/2 hours to get there and back. Church is during our four hour break on Sunday morning where we have to fold our stuff, get ready for inspections and write letters. Church means not being able to write letters. I might go later once our stuff gets together better.
Sleeping: I am OUT when my head hits the pillow but still not getting a lot of sleep. Everyone has to share six (6) irons for 90 recruits. You have a 30 minute block in the middle of the night in which you can use the iron. EVERY NIGHT. Taps is at 2200 and weekdays we get up at 0430. Weeekends, we get up between 0500 and 0600 and same for days we do not have Spec Warfare PT. Normal divisions get up between 0530 and 0600.
Friends: I have been making friends. My buddy, Butts, got moved to be my rackmate which is cool. We shifted around since Division leaders have to be in certain areas – RPOC is closest to the door. Butts was going to Air Rescue/Combat SAR but lost his contract due to a color deficiency in his eyesight. Now, he going to be a corpsman to support the Marines.
Watch: I did stand watch during the first night after that first 48 hour long day. So, I went to bed, got up an hour later then went to sleep for three more hours before waking up again. We were all zombies during processing.
Inspections: A perfect inspection is 5.0. I received a 5.0 on personal inspection (uniform and some basic questions they ask as they inspect you) and a 5.0 on DMI (15 minutes to strip and remake our racks). Our zone inspection (checking our lockers for proper folding and check the compartment for cleanliness) is this Monday. I am happy for myself but our division was “jacked up”. A lot failed badly. A hit is 1.0 off, so 3 hits is a failed inspection. We had guys take 8 hits or not even finish making their racks.
Times up and I gotta turn this in now.
Bye,
Al
Dear Everyone,
Thanks for all the letters. I had a really bad day this last Tuesday (things just built up) and I got six letters that night. My rackmate said that, with all the ripped envelope paper and the grin on my face, I looked like a four year old at Christmas.
In other news, I am no longer then Head (bathroom) Petty Officer. My friend Montaro who was the Recruit Petty Officer (RPOC) got fired for messing up drill. Unlike the Marines and Army, we DO NOT have Drill Instructors. Our RPOC leads drill and marching completely. You can be a good leader but still mess up drill. So, Montaro got moved back to Head PO and I was able to move to Education PO (EPO) which means I lead study, teach classes and do all the paperwork for when we take tests. A few days ago, Petty Officer Maudsely wanted me to be EPO but couldn’t since we had nobody to fill in as Head PO. So when Montaro got fired it ended up working out. I guess I have a reputation for knowing our stuff really well.
Dad, its great your bike ride goes by the base, though the odds of actually seeing me are slim. There is a tunnel that runs under Route 137 between the south and north base. We are on the North side permanently now. We occasionally go to the South side for classes and every morning at 0430 for Spec Warfare PT which is at the pool on the other side. Church is on the south side too, which by the way I probably won’t see for awhile here. It takes 1-1/2 hours to get there and back. Church is during our four hour break on Sunday morning where we have to fold our stuff, get ready for inspections and write letters. Church means not being able to write letters. I might go later once our stuff gets together better.
Sleeping: I am OUT when my head hits the pillow but still not getting a lot of sleep. Everyone has to share six (6) irons for 90 recruits. You have a 30 minute block in the middle of the night in which you can use the iron. EVERY NIGHT. Taps is at 2200 and weekdays we get up at 0430. Weeekends, we get up between 0500 and 0600 and same for days we do not have Spec Warfare PT. Normal divisions get up between 0530 and 0600.
Friends: I have been making friends. My buddy, Butts, got moved to be my rackmate which is cool. We shifted around since Division leaders have to be in certain areas – RPOC is closest to the door. Butts was going to Air Rescue/Combat SAR but lost his contract due to a color deficiency in his eyesight. Now, he going to be a corpsman to support the Marines.
Watch: I did stand watch during the first night after that first 48 hour long day. So, I went to bed, got up an hour later then went to sleep for three more hours before waking up again. We were all zombies during processing.
Inspections: A perfect inspection is 5.0. I received a 5.0 on personal inspection (uniform and some basic questions they ask as they inspect you) and a 5.0 on DMI (15 minutes to strip and remake our racks). Our zone inspection (checking our lockers for proper folding and check the compartment for cleanliness) is this Monday. I am happy for myself but our division was “jacked up”. A lot failed badly. A hit is 1.0 off, so 3 hits is a failed inspection. We had guys take 8 hits or not even finish making their racks.
Times up and I gotta turn this in now.
Bye,
Al
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Letter No. 3
Dear Everyone, 07/18/10
Crap, what a week. Yesterday was definitely a BAD day. Got IT’d hard for about 45 minutes and for an hour as a division. The second was mostly because of a recruit in a completely different division. FYI, the RDC’s in our division are apparently the “go to guys” for problem recruits in other divisions to get corrected.
This guy shoved another guy in their compartment. We were getting dropped already for one of our own guys messing up on watch. When Chief came in it was game on. The guy was a total dirtbag. Chief gave him the option of doing 200 pushups and the rest of the division would be able to stop and he said hell no. Weiss, one of our slower recruits was asked “what time is it?” and he answered “Butt kicking time”. Chief made us do 30 eight count bodybuilders (google that) in under 1 min 45 seconds. Chief stopped us because the guy only did four! We recovered but the guy was limping and hobbling and doing a poor job of faking it. Today he was on crutches. The kicker was that he was three weeks ahead of us in a normal division.
In other news, I am the new Head (bathroom) Petty Officer. Not too worried about that. The old Head PO, one of the guys I am getting to know, Montaro, is the new RPOC (Division Leader) and he chose me as his replacement. I was one of the workers there at first. It’s not too bad. Yeah, cleaning that stuff stinks but it is roughly 50% of our inspections so it is important. I also do not have to stand watch (meaning I don’t have to get up at night) and we generally don’t get messed with if our work is good. So now I’m in charge of that. Plus our group is real tight.
Montaro, Erik, Butts, Humphreys and I are a good friends but now ironically getting broken up. Humphreys is Master at Arms (RPOC's right hand man) and Erik and Butts got moved to guard duty since their stuff is squared away. Watch involves sounding off to the Chief and you must have good bearing to do it. A lot of guys have been messing it up.
I don’t mean to sound like it is all good. Yesterday the old RPOC and Master at Arms wrote down names of people who were talking when we were sitting down. Of course the Chief asks for the names of the ten weakest recruits and the old RPOC falls back on that list. There were several on the list, including me, that shouldn’t have been on the list. The Yeoman (in charge of paper work who works with the Chief a lot) is going to say something the Chief. Either way, I’m going to lay low and get my job done.
I hope you guys realize that writing letters is definitely a sacrifice. Any time we have to write it is on our own time and we basically have to sacrifice something to do this. Other than on Sunday, it is done at night and then I’m giving up sleep. Even on Sunday, there’s a lot of stuff to do. I’m only writing this now because I am waiting for an iron to open up so I can iron my clothes. Please write though. I was ecstatic to get letters from Mom last Thursday. I’ll do my best to answer questions in these communal letters.
Love, AL
P.S. By the way on PO Torrez. He’s just mean. He doesn’t yell. He isn’t physically imposing (5’-7” 150-160 lbs). He’s just mean. We were in crucifixes for 20 min. Crucifixes are when you lie flat on your back with arms to the side with your head, arms and legs off the deck. Hold there for 20 min.
RDC Quote of the Week: Chief (points to his head): “that was from an airplane falling on my head. Yeah, it hurt”
Crap, what a week. Yesterday was definitely a BAD day. Got IT’d hard for about 45 minutes and for an hour as a division. The second was mostly because of a recruit in a completely different division. FYI, the RDC’s in our division are apparently the “go to guys” for problem recruits in other divisions to get corrected.
This guy shoved another guy in their compartment. We were getting dropped already for one of our own guys messing up on watch. When Chief came in it was game on. The guy was a total dirtbag. Chief gave him the option of doing 200 pushups and the rest of the division would be able to stop and he said hell no. Weiss, one of our slower recruits was asked “what time is it?” and he answered “Butt kicking time”. Chief made us do 30 eight count bodybuilders (google that) in under 1 min 45 seconds. Chief stopped us because the guy only did four! We recovered but the guy was limping and hobbling and doing a poor job of faking it. Today he was on crutches. The kicker was that he was three weeks ahead of us in a normal division.
In other news, I am the new Head (bathroom) Petty Officer. Not too worried about that. The old Head PO, one of the guys I am getting to know, Montaro, is the new RPOC (Division Leader) and he chose me as his replacement. I was one of the workers there at first. It’s not too bad. Yeah, cleaning that stuff stinks but it is roughly 50% of our inspections so it is important. I also do not have to stand watch (meaning I don’t have to get up at night) and we generally don’t get messed with if our work is good. So now I’m in charge of that. Plus our group is real tight.
Montaro, Erik, Butts, Humphreys and I are a good friends but now ironically getting broken up. Humphreys is Master at Arms (RPOC's right hand man) and Erik and Butts got moved to guard duty since their stuff is squared away. Watch involves sounding off to the Chief and you must have good bearing to do it. A lot of guys have been messing it up.
I don’t mean to sound like it is all good. Yesterday the old RPOC and Master at Arms wrote down names of people who were talking when we were sitting down. Of course the Chief asks for the names of the ten weakest recruits and the old RPOC falls back on that list. There were several on the list, including me, that shouldn’t have been on the list. The Yeoman (in charge of paper work who works with the Chief a lot) is going to say something the Chief. Either way, I’m going to lay low and get my job done.
I hope you guys realize that writing letters is definitely a sacrifice. Any time we have to write it is on our own time and we basically have to sacrifice something to do this. Other than on Sunday, it is done at night and then I’m giving up sleep. Even on Sunday, there’s a lot of stuff to do. I’m only writing this now because I am waiting for an iron to open up so I can iron my clothes. Please write though. I was ecstatic to get letters from Mom last Thursday. I’ll do my best to answer questions in these communal letters.
Love, AL
P.S. By the way on PO Torrez. He’s just mean. He doesn’t yell. He isn’t physically imposing (5’-7” 150-160 lbs). He’s just mean. We were in crucifixes for 20 min. Crucifixes are when you lie flat on your back with arms to the side with your head, arms and legs off the deck. Hold there for 20 min.
RDC Quote of the Week: Chief (points to his head): “that was from an airplane falling on my head. Yeah, it hurt”
Letter No. 2
Dear Everyone, 07/10/10
Good News! We moved most of our stuff to the Burke today. We’re sleeping in the reception ship, USS Pearl Harbor, but we make the permanent move soon. Also two (2) RDC’s have half days on the weekends. Normally that means we’re alone with the beast that’s beginning to haunt our nightmares. That is PO (Petty Officer) Torrez. But for now we just got chaperoned by two other RDC’s that went real easy. No dropping (push-ups)and easy instruction on making racks (beds)/folding clothes that don’t evolve into slay sessions. All in all, it was a good day. We even got to wear our boots instead of tennis shoes. We were put to bed at 2100 and aren’t waking up until 0530. Tomorrow though will be more of the same. Our initial PT (physical training) test for Special Contracts (Seals, SWCC, Rescue, etc.) is either Monday or Tuesday and I get the feeling the other shoe is going to drop after that. I am actually looking forward to it.
Chief rides us hard, but everything is different with him. He’s an excellent instructor and the differences are apparent. We’re falling in and marching and getting our “stuff” squared away when every other division is still messing up standing at attention or mixing up Petty Officers and Chiefs (biggest mistake one can make here). “Demoting” a Chief is considered the most disrespectful thing you can do here short of spitting in the face. The Chief even said PT won’t be the same BS it ends up being with every other division. He said he will get in the pool with us (Chief: ”You’ll all try to beat me and you WILL fail”). Or, as he put it “we’ll get in here crank some heavy metal on the stereo and put out. But you guys will love it.”
FYI, PT is different from dropping us. PT makes us stronger. Dropping, slaying, IT-ing, trashing is for when we mess up and is solely for the pain (making us a little stronger or mentally taking that pain is a happy bonus). Good stuff is ahead.
I still don’t know when I can send these letters out but hopefully it is soon.
Met some great guys already: Hill, Eric (last name, first name), Gilligan (not real name but sounds like it), Butts (real name, but Chief calls him Seymour), Montaro , all great bunch of dudes. We have some turds and some guys who are too cocky for their own good, but that should smooth out as guys drop out of the program or get knocked down a few pegs. We will be the best here. Hell, this is a group that PT’d ourselves tonight after lights out
Love, Al
RDC quote of the Day: “Chief, I don’t know how the three of us got the nickname the ‘Trifecta of Hate’. We’re the “Trifecta of Love’.”
Good News! We moved most of our stuff to the Burke today. We’re sleeping in the reception ship, USS Pearl Harbor, but we make the permanent move soon. Also two (2) RDC’s have half days on the weekends. Normally that means we’re alone with the beast that’s beginning to haunt our nightmares. That is PO (Petty Officer) Torrez. But for now we just got chaperoned by two other RDC’s that went real easy. No dropping (push-ups)and easy instruction on making racks (beds)/folding clothes that don’t evolve into slay sessions. All in all, it was a good day. We even got to wear our boots instead of tennis shoes. We were put to bed at 2100 and aren’t waking up until 0530. Tomorrow though will be more of the same. Our initial PT (physical training) test for Special Contracts (Seals, SWCC, Rescue, etc.) is either Monday or Tuesday and I get the feeling the other shoe is going to drop after that. I am actually looking forward to it.
Chief rides us hard, but everything is different with him. He’s an excellent instructor and the differences are apparent. We’re falling in and marching and getting our “stuff” squared away when every other division is still messing up standing at attention or mixing up Petty Officers and Chiefs (biggest mistake one can make here). “Demoting” a Chief is considered the most disrespectful thing you can do here short of spitting in the face. The Chief even said PT won’t be the same BS it ends up being with every other division. He said he will get in the pool with us (Chief: ”You’ll all try to beat me and you WILL fail”). Or, as he put it “we’ll get in here crank some heavy metal on the stereo and put out. But you guys will love it.”
FYI, PT is different from dropping us. PT makes us stronger. Dropping, slaying, IT-ing, trashing is for when we mess up and is solely for the pain (making us a little stronger or mentally taking that pain is a happy bonus). Good stuff is ahead.
I still don’t know when I can send these letters out but hopefully it is soon.
Met some great guys already: Hill, Eric (last name, first name), Gilligan (not real name but sounds like it), Butts (real name, but Chief calls him Seymour), Montaro , all great bunch of dudes. We have some turds and some guys who are too cocky for their own good, but that should smooth out as guys drop out of the program or get knocked down a few pegs. We will be the best here. Hell, this is a group that PT’d ourselves tonight after lights out
Love, Al
RDC quote of the Day: “Chief, I don’t know how the three of us got the nickname the ‘Trifecta of Hate’. We’re the “Trifecta of Love’.”
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Letter No. 1
7/9/10
Dear everyone,
Holy crap, we got hammered today and yesterday. We’re technically in procession day 2since we got no sleep and pulled an all nighter Wednesday and Thursday which count as one super day. We also met our RDC's Chief Medina, an Air Rescue swimmer and “total guy in charge” as he would say. Makes the guy in Full Metal Jacket look easy. He’s dropped us (ie made us do PT till we’re drenched in sweat) about a dozen times, something no other division CAN do at P-days. Two recruit have quit their special contracts to go back to “normal” divisions. The Chief reduced one recruit to tears. The 2nd Petty Officer is PO1 Maudsley, a 5’6” 200 lb. solid muscle beast who looks to be 75% upper body. The other one, PO Torrez we haven’t even met because he’s with another division graduating this week. Torrez is the stuff of legend around here. As Chief said, “if Zeus and Thor had a kid and Hades and Poseidon had a kid AND those two kids mated, the result would be Torrez. He has gone to Sunday chapel (a no RDC zone) and dropped people. He straight up does not care.
I should mention thought that this team, which forms for the special contracts divisions, over the 10 or so times they’ve led divisions, Five (5) have been Hall of Fame divisions (meaning the division has outscored every other division in every evaluation, from day 1 to week 8). It is exceedingly rare for any division to EVER get Hall of Fame. Chief switches between beating our butts and mentoring WHY we got dropped. He gets real laid back and honest with us, then hammers the fear of God into us over anything less than absolute perfection. The last special division finished with around 70/90 though, so I got a feeling they’re just warming up. We move from reception “ship” (our name for barracks) to our permanent ship, The Arleigh Burke, this Monday hopefully. Then we start actually training and get to wear real uniforms instead of this PT gear and sweats that make us look like we’re the dorkiest idiots on the planet. But the move definitely promises more pain.
Still don’t regret my decision. I love and miss you all. Hopefully, mail will start up soon since this letter’s going to sit in my bunk awhile until I can mail it.
Dad and Christine, please don’t edit these letters. You want people to know what it’s like and so do i. This is literally going to pound us into successful spec-ops candidates like a chisel or break us.
RDC quote of the day:
“Petty officer Maudsley, Chief wants to know what you would do to me if hugged you.”
Answer: “I WILL ANNIHILATE YOUR SOUL!”
Love,
Al
Dear everyone,
Holy crap, we got hammered today and yesterday. We’re technically in procession day 2since we got no sleep and pulled an all nighter Wednesday and Thursday which count as one super day. We also met our RDC's Chief Medina, an Air Rescue swimmer and “total guy in charge” as he would say. Makes the guy in Full Metal Jacket look easy. He’s dropped us (ie made us do PT till we’re drenched in sweat) about a dozen times, something no other division CAN do at P-days. Two recruit have quit their special contracts to go back to “normal” divisions. The Chief reduced one recruit to tears. The 2nd Petty Officer is PO1 Maudsley, a 5’6” 200 lb. solid muscle beast who looks to be 75% upper body. The other one, PO Torrez we haven’t even met because he’s with another division graduating this week. Torrez is the stuff of legend around here. As Chief said, “if Zeus and Thor had a kid and Hades and Poseidon had a kid AND those two kids mated, the result would be Torrez. He has gone to Sunday chapel (a no RDC zone) and dropped people. He straight up does not care.
I should mention thought that this team, which forms for the special contracts divisions, over the 10 or so times they’ve led divisions, Five (5) have been Hall of Fame divisions (meaning the division has outscored every other division in every evaluation, from day 1 to week 8). It is exceedingly rare for any division to EVER get Hall of Fame. Chief switches between beating our butts and mentoring WHY we got dropped. He gets real laid back and honest with us, then hammers the fear of God into us over anything less than absolute perfection. The last special division finished with around 70/90 though, so I got a feeling they’re just warming up. We move from reception “ship” (our name for barracks) to our permanent ship, The Arleigh Burke, this Monday hopefully. Then we start actually training and get to wear real uniforms instead of this PT gear and sweats that make us look like we’re the dorkiest idiots on the planet. But the move definitely promises more pain.
Still don’t regret my decision. I love and miss you all. Hopefully, mail will start up soon since this letter’s going to sit in my bunk awhile until I can mail it.
Dad and Christine, please don’t edit these letters. You want people to know what it’s like and so do i. This is literally going to pound us into successful spec-ops candidates like a chisel or break us.
RDC quote of the day:
“Petty officer Maudsley, Chief wants to know what you would do to me if hugged you.”
Answer: “I WILL ANNIHILATE YOUR SOUL!”
Love,
Al
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
First Letter from Alex
Well it actually wasn't a letter but a form letter with his address and graduation date (September 2).
I'm doing fine.Very tired. Love you all. Dad, DO NOT find out how I'm doing through your
Navy guys. My RDC's were nicknamed the "trifects of pain" by their last division. Keep
writing.
-SR George
RDC's are the Recruit Division Commanders and they are the petty officers that are with the recruits 24 hours/day.
"the first thing they take from you in the Navy is not your hair. It is sleep. And then they take your hair."
Another good website to visit is http://www.bootcamp.navy.mil
I'm doing fine.Very tired. Love you all. Dad, DO NOT find out how I'm doing through your
Navy guys. My RDC's were nicknamed the "trifects of pain" by their last division. Keep
writing.
-SR George
RDC's are the Recruit Division Commanders and they are the petty officers that are with the recruits 24 hours/day.
"the first thing they take from you in the Navy is not your hair. It is sleep. And then they take your hair."
Another good website to visit is http://www.bootcamp.navy.mil
Monday, July 12, 2010
Address
Alex's address at Great Lakes is:
SR George, Alexander C. IV
Ship 04 Div 818
Recruit Training Commnad
3600 Ohio Street
Great Lakes, IL 60088-7103
Use the exact format above. Again, please send only cards and letters. NO FOOD. He will not receive any letters until about July 22-23. After that date he will get mail call every day. The recruits have no idea what is happening outside the base. Current events, sports scores, etc. are helpful. Please also keep in mind that Alex can only write back on Sundays and even then will only have limited time. The Navy officers I work with said that they keep them intentionally very busy the first couple of weeks and Sunday is the day they get to catch up and prepare for the next week. That includes polishing shoes, ironing uniforms, etc. He will likely write us and we will post what he is up to.
Alex is in a Special Warfare division comprised of Seals, Rescue Swimmers, Divers, EOD (Explosive Ordinance Division) and SWCC (Alex's Navy Occupation). Spec War is about 15% of all recruits. As a result he gets less time and sleep than the regular recruits. Right now he is getting into the routine of getting up at 4:30 a.m. for extra physical training and then training with the regular Navy later in the day. He will also still be required to rotate with other recruits standing watch in the middle of the night.
SR George, Alexander C. IV
Ship 04 Div 818
Recruit Training Commnad
3600 Ohio Street
Great Lakes, IL 60088-7103
Use the exact format above. Again, please send only cards and letters. NO FOOD. He will not receive any letters until about July 22-23. After that date he will get mail call every day. The recruits have no idea what is happening outside the base. Current events, sports scores, etc. are helpful. Please also keep in mind that Alex can only write back on Sundays and even then will only have limited time. The Navy officers I work with said that they keep them intentionally very busy the first couple of weeks and Sunday is the day they get to catch up and prepare for the next week. That includes polishing shoes, ironing uniforms, etc. He will likely write us and we will post what he is up to.
Alex is in a Special Warfare division comprised of Seals, Rescue Swimmers, Divers, EOD (Explosive Ordinance Division) and SWCC (Alex's Navy Occupation). Spec War is about 15% of all recruits. As a result he gets less time and sleep than the regular recruits. Right now he is getting into the routine of getting up at 4:30 a.m. for extra physical training and then training with the regular Navy later in the day. He will also still be required to rotate with other recruits standing watch in the middle of the night.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Alex will not receive any letters for two weeks. We will publish Alex's address to the blog once his division forms up later this week. He can only receive letters and postcards. No food.
We will get at least a ten second phone call tomorrow letting us know that he is there.
If you want information about Navy Boot Camp visit http://www.navy-info.com/.
We will get at least a ten second phone call tomorrow letting us know that he is there.
If you want information about Navy Boot Camp visit http://www.navy-info.com/.
Life In The Navy Rocks Even Harder Than The Commercial Implied
Ok, I lied about only my Dad and Christine updating this from now on. They actually have a computer at the hotel. Not much to report on the whole leaving for boot camp thing but I am at a hotel in Milwaukee and getting up at 4:30 a.m. to drive back to Great Lakes tomorrow (5 miles from home). Go figure?
And of course, this post wouldn't be complete without some over the top Navy commercials
SWCC Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWLIILpL3Aw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7Bctymq4bE
General Navy Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqkU3WSfw9Y&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MorDCtBPR8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DriBYQvG_4&feature=channel
See you in September,
Al
And of course, this post wouldn't be complete without some over the top Navy commercials
SWCC Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWLIILpL3Aw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7Bctymq4bE
General Navy Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqkU3WSfw9Y&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MorDCtBPR8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DriBYQvG_4&feature=channel
See you in September,
Al
Leaving
Welcome to my blog. Christine came up with the name.
If you want to write letters (please, they are like ice cream in the summer) then ask my parents next week and they should have my address. And check this thing out for how and what to send
http://navy-info.com/boot_camp_letters.html
the part about including newspaper clippings is smart btw.
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