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.
EPO. That sounds important.
ReplyDeleteGetting a call from Al was crazy - I couldn't believe it...quite unexpected! But it was really great just to hear his voice and to directly hear his unwavering dedication. Al mentioned how everyone was actually supposed to have a full hour on the phone but some recruits messed up with various things during the day which cost everyone their total phone time. He also mentioned how he should have at least one more phone call in a few weeks -- something to definitely look forward to! :)
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