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).
Friday, August 27, 2010
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"
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