25 Jul 10, 5-1 Hold Day
Mom and Dad,
I got a chance to read your letters today, and see the pics of the kittens. I can’t believe how much they’ve grown! They’ll be full grown tigers by the time I have leave.
We’ve started studying Damage Control (aka fire-fighting, etc), and Anti-terrorism. These are the big sections for the final test. We also had our PFA weigh in on Friday. I’m 155 pounds, same as always but I think my body composition is better, because I’m much stronger and “defined”. Some of my shipmates lost 20+ pounds.
This coming week we have our firefighting labs with live fire, which should be fun. Yesterday was Saturday, a day which I used to enjoy but now I dread. Since it’s a “hold” day, we don’t learn anything new, which means we have more time to screw up and get beat. Going to Freedom Hall for PT we really screwed up our marching, so right before bed we got beat for almost an hour, so we had to sleep all cold and sweaty. Hopefully people will pull it together for this final stretch.
This week we’ll also have our last personnel inspection (PI), this time in our dress uniforms (dress blues/whites and NSUs). I have become an expert at folding my dress uni’s and I’m getting pretty good at the square knot for my neckerchief.
We received our National Defense Medals and ribbons, and tomorrow we get our collar devices and patches (E-3 for me) for our dress uniforms. It’s for inspection only though; I’m still nothing (as the RDCs reminded us). I’m hoping this week breezes by, we are so close!
Next Tuesday is test 3 and Battle Stations, after which it’s smooth sailing until graduation on the 6th.
Everyone around me is dying of the flu or some “ricky crud” (or “AIDS” as the RDCs like to call it), but I am feeling healthy as an ox.
Time for my Hollywood shower, dress shoe shining and study sessions. Hopefully I’ll have exciting fire fighting updates this week!
Love Jackson
…. Bonus Letter ….
So we had lunch at 1110, which means I still have an hour of holiday routine left. My dress shoes look sharp, I disinfected my locker, and I held a study session on anti-terrorism and Force Protection. Everyone here is totally focused on graduating. Wearing our dress uniforms for PI is such a tease, but it’ll be good when I can finally wear that and call myself a United States Sailor.
Despite “beatings” and being treated like poo in general, I’m happy I made this decision and proud of how I’ve handled boot camp. So far I’ve accomplished the challenge, and it’s exciting to think that the journey is just beginning. Rumors are already starting to whirl about A-School. Word on the street is that HMDA school doesn’t start until the 23rd. The RDCs have us until Aug 10, then those of us who have to wait for A-school move to ship 5 in the meantime. Sort of like a transition between Hell and Heaven.
I’ve heard they let you watch movies and relax a little bit over there; after all we’ll be sailors by then. But the idea of 2 weeks of nothing to learn (and probably lots of cleaning) does not appeal to me. This would put my graduation at January 23rd, 2011. Probably a very frigid graduation. Hopefully I’ll know more for certain in the coming weeks.
In other news, my bunkmate has a respiratory tract infection, and this past week we had a shipmate get ASMO’d 2 weeks [Editor’s note: ASMO == Assignment Orders, where you get “sent back” in boot camp]. The shipmate was caught passing notes to a girl at medical, so they sent him back in training to week 2 and obviously to another division. Yes, if you break the rules they WILL ruin your life. He was a good shipmate too, but we know not to interact at all with females, so he made a really pointless mistake. Also, the females have just as much time to shower as us, so any recruit dumb enough to want to hook up with one is asking for it.
While I have the time, I’ll tell you more about my division. Chief Alex is a Gunner’s Mate (GM) who’s served mainly on destroyers. GM == bad ass with guns, from pistols to ship turrets. Next is petty officer Carlyle, who is an Air Rescue swimmer. He’s bald, in intimidating shape, and is scary when he’s angry (often). But he’s cool and committed to making us good sailors. Then there’s AC1 Neifer, who’s an air traffic controlman, and AO1 McCormack, and aviation ordanceman. A diverse group of good role models, but when pissed they can all bring the hurt.
Being the EPO (Educational Petty Officer) I’ve become familiar with every single person in the division. 90% of them try their best and work hard, but the bad seeds really bring us down sometimes. Most of the guys I hang out with are Nukes, aka the “smart” guys. There are a LOT of corpsmen, like 20 or so here, with 4 or 5 of us being HMDA.
RDC nicknames have stuck since P-days. We have Dirty, Creepy, K-Fed, Stretch, No-Neck, Nancy, Slowpez, etc. Luckily I didn’t screw up enough in P-days to get a nickname. Now I’m usually just referred to as EOP, or “Dehn you douche bag” or some other expletive. We’re so used to it that it’s funny, but laugh too much and you’ll be doing 8 count body builders.
I’ve become so accustomed to boot camp life, I seriously won’t know what to do what I can once again control my day. It’ll be like a Borg being separated from the collective!
More to come later. Also, I’m gonna want some deep dish Chicago pizza, and an milkshake! Start researching awesome places to eat in Chicago!
Love again, Jackson
29.7.10
27.7.10
End of Hell Week
22 Jul 10, 4-5 Day
Mom and Dad,
Hell week is officially over!
Right now it’s evening routine, 2100, and tomorrow is 5-1 day, the final stretch. It’s hard to believe that finally it’s only 2 weeks to go. Drill inspection and test 2 today went great for me, but less than stellar for the division. I was the only stick to not get chewed out by Chief after drill. Overall we did good, with only 2 “unsats”, but it wasn’t the best in the battle group, so the RDCs were pissed we can’t “Hall of Fame” anymore. To HOF, a division has to be #1 in their battle group on EVERY test and inspection in boot camp. It happens maybe once a year, and just think about how many divisions come through here.
Despite nailing all my drill moves (which you’ll see at Pass-in-Review [graduation] because it’s the same routine as drill inspection), the sticks were promised a group beating. One team, one fight! We haven’t got the beating yet, but the RDCs don’t forget. Test 2 was today, which I got a 4.92 on (59/60 questions right). Sadly, our division scored only a 4.17 average, which was good enough to flag again but not even close to the best. So HOF is out, but we can still fight for first in our battle group and get CNO Gold (a really high division award).
The weekend promises to be boring, with next week bringing firefighting. I’m enjoying your letters, it sounds like you are doing a great job keeping busy. My update on Sunday should be uneventful, but you never know. The mind games are kicking up, but we’re surviving!
Love, Jackson
Mom and Dad,
Hell week is officially over!
Right now it’s evening routine, 2100, and tomorrow is 5-1 day, the final stretch. It’s hard to believe that finally it’s only 2 weeks to go. Drill inspection and test 2 today went great for me, but less than stellar for the division. I was the only stick to not get chewed out by Chief after drill. Overall we did good, with only 2 “unsats”, but it wasn’t the best in the battle group, so the RDCs were pissed we can’t “Hall of Fame” anymore. To HOF, a division has to be #1 in their battle group on EVERY test and inspection in boot camp. It happens maybe once a year, and just think about how many divisions come through here.
Despite nailing all my drill moves (which you’ll see at Pass-in-Review [graduation] because it’s the same routine as drill inspection), the sticks were promised a group beating. One team, one fight! We haven’t got the beating yet, but the RDCs don’t forget. Test 2 was today, which I got a 4.92 on (59/60 questions right). Sadly, our division scored only a 4.17 average, which was good enough to flag again but not even close to the best. So HOF is out, but we can still fight for first in our battle group and get CNO Gold (a really high division award).
The weekend promises to be boring, with next week bringing firefighting. I’m enjoying your letters, it sounds like you are doing a great job keeping busy. My update on Sunday should be uneventful, but you never know. The mind games are kicking up, but we’re surviving!
Love, Jackson
24.7.10
Quick Draw McGraw
20 Jul 10, 4-3 Day
Mom and Dad,
I’ve been waking up at 0400 Monday and Tuesday this week, but it wasn’t so bad because we went to simulated fire yesterday and live fire today. Monday was also Zone Inspection, just another step in hell week. Luckily we re-did everything in our racks the night before, so I S.O.’d my zone, and we scored the highest compartment score in the battle group. So far I’m perfect for hell week, but drill and test 2 loom ahead.
For simulated fire on Monday we spent hours learning everything we need to know to fire the 9mm Beretta and 12 gauge shotgun. This included practicing with air and laser models. Safety was a big concern, but I got pretty comfortable handling and shooting the weapons. This morning we had the real deal, at the USS Wisconsin. Probably the most fun I’ve had in boot camp. We took 48 rounds with the 9mm, from the standing isosceles stance and kneeling position, shooting at 3, 7 and 15 yards. This was actually the real Navy marksmanship test for the 9mm, where you can earn the marksmanship ribbon. You get 0-5 points based on where you hit the target. We had to fire 2 rounds in 4 seconds, 4 rounds in 8 seconds with a reload in the middle, strong and weak hand, etc. So it was pretty intense.
A score of 180 or higher gets you the marksmanship ribbon, and I got a 193! Which means I graduate with 2 ribbons, which is awesome. And I can say I’m now a marksman with a 9 mm. We also got to fire 5 founds with the 12 gauge, which was intense.
Anyway, tomorrow is the drill, which we have sucking at hardcore. If the sticks blow it, I think I’m gonna get beat until graduation. We’ll see. Boot camp is all about the highs and then the lows. At least I got that ribbon! Later in the fleet I can try for sharpshooter or expert rating.
Love, Jackson
Mom and Dad,
I’ve been waking up at 0400 Monday and Tuesday this week, but it wasn’t so bad because we went to simulated fire yesterday and live fire today. Monday was also Zone Inspection, just another step in hell week. Luckily we re-did everything in our racks the night before, so I S.O.’d my zone, and we scored the highest compartment score in the battle group. So far I’m perfect for hell week, but drill and test 2 loom ahead.
For simulated fire on Monday we spent hours learning everything we need to know to fire the 9mm Beretta and 12 gauge shotgun. This included practicing with air and laser models. Safety was a big concern, but I got pretty comfortable handling and shooting the weapons. This morning we had the real deal, at the USS Wisconsin. Probably the most fun I’ve had in boot camp. We took 48 rounds with the 9mm, from the standing isosceles stance and kneeling position, shooting at 3, 7 and 15 yards. This was actually the real Navy marksmanship test for the 9mm, where you can earn the marksmanship ribbon. You get 0-5 points based on where you hit the target. We had to fire 2 rounds in 4 seconds, 4 rounds in 8 seconds with a reload in the middle, strong and weak hand, etc. So it was pretty intense.
A score of 180 or higher gets you the marksmanship ribbon, and I got a 193! Which means I graduate with 2 ribbons, which is awesome. And I can say I’m now a marksman with a 9 mm. We also got to fire 5 founds with the 12 gauge, which was intense.
Anyway, tomorrow is the drill, which we have sucking at hardcore. If the sticks blow it, I think I’m gonna get beat until graduation. We’ll see. Boot camp is all about the highs and then the lows. At least I got that ribbon! Later in the fleet I can try for sharpshooter or expert rating.
Love, Jackson
22.7.10
End of week 4
18 Jul 10
Mom and Dad,
It was great finally talking with you on the phone yesterday. Like I said, we were rewarded for our performances on the PFA, PI and WIT. I ran a 9:48 for my mile and a half, or something like that, not sure of the official time yet. I also SO’d by Personnel Inspection and Weapons Turnover Inspection, getting my hellweek off to a good start. But, as always happens, the good is followed by the bad. Our marching was off after the phone call and my fellow sticks (8 of us total) had trouble executing our moves perfectly. So Chief threw our flags across the drill hall and beat us while the rest of the division hydrated. Sometimes “one team, one fight” sucks, but oh well.
I’m taking charge of the sticks and having us practice in the compartment so we don’t look like a “hot bag of ass”. Honestly I don’t think we were as bad as the RDCs think, people just need to concentrate more and anticipate. If we don’t crush our drill inspection on Wed, boot camp is gonna be hellweek every day. But I’ll be in amazing shape!
After our drill beat down, we returned to our compartment to find our racks destroyed. The RDCs threw everything around so we could rearrange it perfectly for our Zone inspection tomorrow. And we have to wake up at 0400 again, which sucks. On the bright side, we’ve got less than 3 weeks to go. I can almost taste the Gino’s deep dish pizza. And despite the constant put-downs, they revealed that we are actually first in our battle group, which includes all the divisions of the USS Triton and a few in the next ship over. Clearly they don’t want us to get complacent.
Alright, time for my Hollywood shower (longer than 60 seconds). I’ll be spending the rest of holiday routine helping people study seamanship. Then we clean the compartment spotless for an hour, and then who knows. I want some pics of Luke and Leia [Editors note: Luke and Leia are the two kittens Jackson’s parents just got).
Love Jackson
Mom and Dad,
It was great finally talking with you on the phone yesterday. Like I said, we were rewarded for our performances on the PFA, PI and WIT. I ran a 9:48 for my mile and a half, or something like that, not sure of the official time yet. I also SO’d by Personnel Inspection and Weapons Turnover Inspection, getting my hellweek off to a good start. But, as always happens, the good is followed by the bad. Our marching was off after the phone call and my fellow sticks (8 of us total) had trouble executing our moves perfectly. So Chief threw our flags across the drill hall and beat us while the rest of the division hydrated. Sometimes “one team, one fight” sucks, but oh well.
I’m taking charge of the sticks and having us practice in the compartment so we don’t look like a “hot bag of ass”. Honestly I don’t think we were as bad as the RDCs think, people just need to concentrate more and anticipate. If we don’t crush our drill inspection on Wed, boot camp is gonna be hellweek every day. But I’ll be in amazing shape!
After our drill beat down, we returned to our compartment to find our racks destroyed. The RDCs threw everything around so we could rearrange it perfectly for our Zone inspection tomorrow. And we have to wake up at 0400 again, which sucks. On the bright side, we’ve got less than 3 weeks to go. I can almost taste the Gino’s deep dish pizza. And despite the constant put-downs, they revealed that we are actually first in our battle group, which includes all the divisions of the USS Triton and a few in the next ship over. Clearly they don’t want us to get complacent.
Alright, time for my Hollywood shower (longer than 60 seconds). I’ll be spending the rest of holiday routine helping people study seamanship. Then we clean the compartment spotless for an hour, and then who knows. I want some pics of Luke and Leia [Editors note: Luke and Leia are the two kittens Jackson’s parents just got).
Love Jackson
17.7.10
A Rare Mid-week Letter
13 Jul 10
Mom and Dad,
Hoorah! I’m writing this letter on Tuesday night. We got 25 minutes of evening routine to relax a bit and write. So far this week we’ve been doing good, or better at least. Today was a full but easy day. We had study time after morning chow, then a class on Sexual Assault and Rape (who knew these were bad things?). The Navy is really strict about this, and pretty much everything, which I love. It keeps good sailors in and weeds out the bad seeds. Then after that we had Chief talk with us about good decision making. Sounds like I shouldn’t get married and buy a BMW out of boot camp. Then was lunch, and after that a long time in the computer lab taking an online course on the 9mm pistol. I’m obviously not too familiar with firearms, but I’ve been rocking the practice Weapons Turnover Inspections, and I’m eager to learn all I can about the firearms I could potentially use, for my own and others safety.
Of course I always love learning new things. We’re also studying naval history now too which is old news to a salty history nerd like me. We had a great PT session today led by Chief. He played us some of his favorite metal, which I approved. In house PT is the only time we hear music.
Yesterday we had “classifications”, which we thought was going to be a chance to learn more about our jobs. Turns out it was boring, all they did was review our contracts with us for about 5 seconds. However I did get some important info. I will not be allowed to take leave until after “A” school, so aside from weekend liberty after graduation I’ll stay on base forever. I also learned that because I’m an HMDA (dental corpsman), my A school is 20 weeks (for the extra dental training), rather than the 14 weeks a regular corpsman gets. Not a big deal. I’ll get more training and have a better chance of making petty officer than the regular HMs. They also said I can still go to train with the marines as an HMDA, which is a good option. I’m not worried about what specialty the Navy ultimately assigns me, I’m just eager to serve as best I can. And a station in Japan wouldn’t be so bad either!
Tonight I have the 00-02 watch, which means I’m attempting to sleep from 2100-2315 and then from 0200-0445. Two big naps and then defending my shipmates from the terrorist ninjas in between. I hope my division can keep up our good streak but we’ll see!
Love, Jackson
Mom and Dad,
Hoorah! I’m writing this letter on Tuesday night. We got 25 minutes of evening routine to relax a bit and write. So far this week we’ve been doing good, or better at least. Today was a full but easy day. We had study time after morning chow, then a class on Sexual Assault and Rape (who knew these were bad things?). The Navy is really strict about this, and pretty much everything, which I love. It keeps good sailors in and weeds out the bad seeds. Then after that we had Chief talk with us about good decision making. Sounds like I shouldn’t get married and buy a BMW out of boot camp. Then was lunch, and after that a long time in the computer lab taking an online course on the 9mm pistol. I’m obviously not too familiar with firearms, but I’ve been rocking the practice Weapons Turnover Inspections, and I’m eager to learn all I can about the firearms I could potentially use, for my own and others safety.
Of course I always love learning new things. We’re also studying naval history now too which is old news to a salty history nerd like me. We had a great PT session today led by Chief. He played us some of his favorite metal, which I approved. In house PT is the only time we hear music.
Yesterday we had “classifications”, which we thought was going to be a chance to learn more about our jobs. Turns out it was boring, all they did was review our contracts with us for about 5 seconds. However I did get some important info. I will not be allowed to take leave until after “A” school, so aside from weekend liberty after graduation I’ll stay on base forever. I also learned that because I’m an HMDA (dental corpsman), my A school is 20 weeks (for the extra dental training), rather than the 14 weeks a regular corpsman gets. Not a big deal. I’ll get more training and have a better chance of making petty officer than the regular HMs. They also said I can still go to train with the marines as an HMDA, which is a good option. I’m not worried about what specialty the Navy ultimately assigns me, I’m just eager to serve as best I can. And a station in Japan wouldn’t be so bad either!
Tonight I have the 00-02 watch, which means I’m attempting to sleep from 2100-2315 and then from 0200-0445. Two big naps and then defending my shipmates from the terrorist ninjas in between. I hope my division can keep up our good streak but we’ll see!
Love, Jackson
14.7.10
End of week 3
11 Jul 10
Mom and Dad,
Greetings from week 3 of boot camp. Friday was 3-1 day, and the weekends don’t count. So tomorrow will be 3-2. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get a hold of you on the phone the other day. [Editor’s note: this is because Mom left her cell phone in the wrong place!]. I was looking forward to talking with you, but hopefully we can get our act together and earn another call in a week or two. Our division scored the highest on our first academic test out of our entire battle group (thanks to the awesome EPO of course). That night I got to unfurl the academic flag in front of the entire division, which was a rare moment of triumph. As “stick 6” I’m the one who gets to carry it now wherever we march, which is cool. Hopefully this is the first of many flags we earn. We can get honors flags for drill, comportment, inspection, etc.
This coming week we have marlinspike (finally) [Editor’s note: this is knot tying and rope work in general]. I’m looking forward to something other than bunk making and clothes folding. The RDCs are also stepping up their game, and we got beat a LOT for screwing up our marching of getting a street hit. If we don’t get out of bed fast enough, now we get beat first thing in the morning. We are either going to be smart sailors or strong sailors. Personally I’d like to be both.
Friday starts 4-1 day, which is the beginning of “hell week”. We have weapons turnover inspection, zone inspection, drill inspection and second academic test. And our next PFA test, but I’m stronger now anyway.
Last night they re-arranged the bunks to put trouble kids with smart ones, so the “fantastic 4” of friends in my area was sadly disbanded. Hopefully it will result in less beatings though. Our RDCs know their stuff, so I trust them.
Life here continues to go on and fly by. Hopefully next letter I will have more exciting updates. They are supposed to let us write during the week now, so hopefully I can keep in contact more. Keep those letters coming!
Love, Jackson
Mom and Dad,
Greetings from week 3 of boot camp. Friday was 3-1 day, and the weekends don’t count. So tomorrow will be 3-2. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get a hold of you on the phone the other day. [Editor’s note: this is because Mom left her cell phone in the wrong place!]. I was looking forward to talking with you, but hopefully we can get our act together and earn another call in a week or two. Our division scored the highest on our first academic test out of our entire battle group (thanks to the awesome EPO of course). That night I got to unfurl the academic flag in front of the entire division, which was a rare moment of triumph. As “stick 6” I’m the one who gets to carry it now wherever we march, which is cool. Hopefully this is the first of many flags we earn. We can get honors flags for drill, comportment, inspection, etc.
This coming week we have marlinspike (finally) [Editor’s note: this is knot tying and rope work in general]. I’m looking forward to something other than bunk making and clothes folding. The RDCs are also stepping up their game, and we got beat a LOT for screwing up our marching of getting a street hit. If we don’t get out of bed fast enough, now we get beat first thing in the morning. We are either going to be smart sailors or strong sailors. Personally I’d like to be both.
Friday starts 4-1 day, which is the beginning of “hell week”. We have weapons turnover inspection, zone inspection, drill inspection and second academic test. And our next PFA test, but I’m stronger now anyway.
Last night they re-arranged the bunks to put trouble kids with smart ones, so the “fantastic 4” of friends in my area was sadly disbanded. Hopefully it will result in less beatings though. Our RDCs know their stuff, so I trust them.
Life here continues to go on and fly by. Hopefully next letter I will have more exciting updates. They are supposed to let us write during the week now, so hopefully I can keep in contact more. Keep those letters coming!
Love, Jackson
8.7.10
End of Week 2
Dear Mom and Dad,
I finally started getting all of your letters last week! They are really helping me get through boot camp, so keep them coming. I can only write on Sunday, so I’m sure it’ll be forever before you get mine. I also got letters from Grandfather, the Mendoncas and my friends Mel, Kate Cassalla and Kate & Nick. The rest of my friends are dead to me! Just kidding.
Boot camp is slowly getting better. I’ve met some good guys in my division, and we stick together and make sure we are all one team. The PT (physical training) is getting better, but still not hard enough for my tastes. The beatings [see previous blog post] continue, which is frustrating, but you get used to it. If we are lucky we might get a phone call next Sunday.
I happened to get placed into a “push” division, which means we have to learn everything in one less week, hence the earlier graduation date. However, Chief says if we keep screwing up and getting compartment hits, he’ll send us back a week. If he’s serious, which I think he is, graduation could very well be on the 13th, so stay tuned. I’d rather not be here that long, but in boot camp you roll with the punches.
I’ve been teaching the division in my role as Educational Petty Officer, and our first test is on Tuesday, so we’ll see how much got through. We have to know rank and recognition, first aid, uniforms and grooming, ships and aircraft and the dreaded UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice). I’m not worried about that, but Tuesday is also our zone inspection, aka the fold and stow test. Everything has to be folded and ironed perfectly, no room for error. It’s a pain in the butt, but everything here is about attention to detail. We have to think about it as if our skivvies are multi-million dollar pieces of F/A-18 equipment. One wrinkle and KABOOM.
One area I’m really good at is standing watch at night and making entries into the deck log. Every few nights I stand watch from 0000-0200, to make sure terrorists or ninjas don’t come in and kill my sleeping shipmates. I don’t mind it; I like the responsibility. RDCs will often come in the middle of the night and grill you on chain of command or the deck log. I’m also one of 6 sticks for our drill formation, which means I get to stand in front carrying a flag for pass-in-review. It also means I have to learn a crap load of extra drill moves, and am under extra scrutiny. But I like it.
I’m glad the U.S. made the elimination round, but it sounds like a total heartbreak against Ghana :-(. Keep the updates coming! And throw in some news too. What’s going on with the oil spill? I’m still missing you guys a lot, but I’m almost enjoying my home here, and the letters help sooo much!
Love, Jackson
I finally started getting all of your letters last week! They are really helping me get through boot camp, so keep them coming. I can only write on Sunday, so I’m sure it’ll be forever before you get mine. I also got letters from Grandfather, the Mendoncas and my friends Mel, Kate Cassalla and Kate & Nick. The rest of my friends are dead to me! Just kidding.
Boot camp is slowly getting better. I’ve met some good guys in my division, and we stick together and make sure we are all one team. The PT (physical training) is getting better, but still not hard enough for my tastes. The beatings [see previous blog post] continue, which is frustrating, but you get used to it. If we are lucky we might get a phone call next Sunday.
I happened to get placed into a “push” division, which means we have to learn everything in one less week, hence the earlier graduation date. However, Chief says if we keep screwing up and getting compartment hits, he’ll send us back a week. If he’s serious, which I think he is, graduation could very well be on the 13th, so stay tuned. I’d rather not be here that long, but in boot camp you roll with the punches.
I’ve been teaching the division in my role as Educational Petty Officer, and our first test is on Tuesday, so we’ll see how much got through. We have to know rank and recognition, first aid, uniforms and grooming, ships and aircraft and the dreaded UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice). I’m not worried about that, but Tuesday is also our zone inspection, aka the fold and stow test. Everything has to be folded and ironed perfectly, no room for error. It’s a pain in the butt, but everything here is about attention to detail. We have to think about it as if our skivvies are multi-million dollar pieces of F/A-18 equipment. One wrinkle and KABOOM.
One area I’m really good at is standing watch at night and making entries into the deck log. Every few nights I stand watch from 0000-0200, to make sure terrorists or ninjas don’t come in and kill my sleeping shipmates. I don’t mind it; I like the responsibility. RDCs will often come in the middle of the night and grill you on chain of command or the deck log. I’m also one of 6 sticks for our drill formation, which means I get to stand in front carrying a flag for pass-in-review. It also means I have to learn a crap load of extra drill moves, and am under extra scrutiny. But I like it.
I’m glad the U.S. made the elimination round, but it sounds like a total heartbreak against Ghana :-(. Keep the updates coming! And throw in some news too. What’s going on with the oil spill? I’m still missing you guys a lot, but I’m almost enjoying my home here, and the letters help sooo much!
Love, Jackson
1.7.10
First Week Report
27 Jun 10
Dear Mom and Dad,
It’s finally good to get a chance to write you. I’ve been here almost 2 weeks, but we only get to write letters on Sunday, and the first Sunday didn’t count. Where do I even start to describe Navy Bootcamp. I arrived 13 or so days ago, a Monday night around 8 or 9 pm; don’t remember. From the second we stepped off the bus, I stayed awake for 40 hours. Seriously. There was a lot of processing, a lot of hurry up and wait, and a LOT of yelling and swearing. All that nonsense about no cursing in bootcamp is so not true, but I really don’t mind. It give it that salty boot camp feel. I’m in division 267, with Chief Alex and 3 first class petty officers as my RDCs. The first week we stayed in the temporary berthing compartments at the USS Pearl Harbor while we had “P week”. That week sucked. We had to wear full sweats everywhere all the time, even marching outside. We couldn’t do any exercise because we all had to be declared fit for full duty. And everywhere you go, everyone (the instructors and staff) treat you like shit. After being awake for 40 hours and being constantly crapped on, I was definitely having second thoughts. But that’s how its supposed to be. I also had night security watch the first night of sleep, so I was a zombie until the 3rd or 4th day.
Things are slightly better now. After P week we marched across base to Camp John Paul Jones, where we moved into our permanent home, the USS Triton. It’s named after a sub from WW2 I’m pretty sure. The “ship” is actually a huge, state of the art building/barracks. I would have preferred the USS Enterprise or the USS Theodore Roosevelt, but the Triton is still pretty cool. Once we moved in we also got to stop wearing our stinky hot never washed sweats and got our blue digital camo working uniforms (super cool), which we wear all the time except for PT (physical training). We also wear black combat boots about 15 hours a day, which really starts to kill your feet.
So far we really haven’t learned or done anything interesting except how to do things at warp speed. I can strip my rack in 2 minutes, make my rack in 10 minutes, and fold and store all my clothes EXACTLY the way they want. Everything we do is under high stress situations and even the slightest error can earn you a “beating”. They can’t actually hurt you physically, but they have 4 cards of varying difficulty which contain exercises to beat you into the ground. One recruit was sent to the hospital (we think). When the RDCs want to be mean and teach you a lesson, it is not pretty. But you’ll never make that mistake again. They also like making you hold in the pushup position for 5, 10 minutes at a time. The whole division (72 people) has been beat a handful of times, sometimes our fault, sometimes not. I don’t mind; it’s all designed to make us sharper and stronger.
The RDCs can be cool when they want to, but my division has a tendency to be slow and unreceptive, so we don’t see the nice side a lot. It’s definitely toughening me up and giving me a thick skin. You just can’t take it all too personally, and focus on graduation. Graduation will be the happiest day of my life by far. Boot camp isn’t that “hard”, but it can be demoralizing. So keep letters coming! So far I haven’t gotten any, because I think it takes a while to get here. In good news, I passed my 3rd class swim test and my PFA. I did 100 crunches in 2 minutes, 71 pushups and easily passed the 1.5 mile sprint. We’ve been marching more now too. Which is also fun (comparatively).
The other guys in my division are a mixed bag of everything. We’ve got some shipmates who don’t take it as seriously and hold us back, but a good portion are good people who want to succeed. This past week we were assigned positions. I was made educational petty officer (EPO) because I got a 99 on my ASVAB, and I was made athletic petty officer (APO) because I was a personal trainer. However, after a couple of days they realized that I couldn’t be both, so they made me just EPO. Which means I’m in charge of studying and preparing everyone for the tests. With this group, it could be a formidable task, but one which I’m going to give my all. Also, Chief said that however lower our test averages are below passing, that’s how bad I’M going to get “beat”. That’s how it works here. Our first test is next week, hopefully I can get these guys to pass. We have to know rank and recognition, the UCMJ, ships and aircraft, first aid, uniforms and grooming, and watchstanding procedures. It’s not too hard, but it’s a lot of information and some of it (like memorizing articles of the UCMJ) can be tricky.
The best part of boot camp is the food. We eat 3 squares a day, big healthy portions. I think the food here is pretty good. You have to eat fast, but not so fast you feel sick. I’m eating salad a fruit 2-3 times a day, keeping it pretty healthy. Now that we’re doing PT, my body feels a lot better than the first week. I hear that the first 2-3 weeks suck the most; then it gets better. So far I’m keeping my spirits high and keeping my eye on the prize. I really do miss you, home, my friends and the world cup! So please keep writing, you have no idea how big a difference a letter from loved ones makes. I’ll write again in a week.
Seaman Recruit Dehn
Dear Mom and Dad,
It’s finally good to get a chance to write you. I’ve been here almost 2 weeks, but we only get to write letters on Sunday, and the first Sunday didn’t count. Where do I even start to describe Navy Bootcamp. I arrived 13 or so days ago, a Monday night around 8 or 9 pm; don’t remember. From the second we stepped off the bus, I stayed awake for 40 hours. Seriously. There was a lot of processing, a lot of hurry up and wait, and a LOT of yelling and swearing. All that nonsense about no cursing in bootcamp is so not true, but I really don’t mind. It give it that salty boot camp feel. I’m in division 267, with Chief Alex and 3 first class petty officers as my RDCs. The first week we stayed in the temporary berthing compartments at the USS Pearl Harbor while we had “P week”. That week sucked. We had to wear full sweats everywhere all the time, even marching outside. We couldn’t do any exercise because we all had to be declared fit for full duty. And everywhere you go, everyone (the instructors and staff) treat you like shit. After being awake for 40 hours and being constantly crapped on, I was definitely having second thoughts. But that’s how its supposed to be. I also had night security watch the first night of sleep, so I was a zombie until the 3rd or 4th day.
Things are slightly better now. After P week we marched across base to Camp John Paul Jones, where we moved into our permanent home, the USS Triton. It’s named after a sub from WW2 I’m pretty sure. The “ship” is actually a huge, state of the art building/barracks. I would have preferred the USS Enterprise or the USS Theodore Roosevelt, but the Triton is still pretty cool. Once we moved in we also got to stop wearing our stinky hot never washed sweats and got our blue digital camo working uniforms (super cool), which we wear all the time except for PT (physical training). We also wear black combat boots about 15 hours a day, which really starts to kill your feet.
So far we really haven’t learned or done anything interesting except how to do things at warp speed. I can strip my rack in 2 minutes, make my rack in 10 minutes, and fold and store all my clothes EXACTLY the way they want. Everything we do is under high stress situations and even the slightest error can earn you a “beating”. They can’t actually hurt you physically, but they have 4 cards of varying difficulty which contain exercises to beat you into the ground. One recruit was sent to the hospital (we think). When the RDCs want to be mean and teach you a lesson, it is not pretty. But you’ll never make that mistake again. They also like making you hold in the pushup position for 5, 10 minutes at a time. The whole division (72 people) has been beat a handful of times, sometimes our fault, sometimes not. I don’t mind; it’s all designed to make us sharper and stronger.
The RDCs can be cool when they want to, but my division has a tendency to be slow and unreceptive, so we don’t see the nice side a lot. It’s definitely toughening me up and giving me a thick skin. You just can’t take it all too personally, and focus on graduation. Graduation will be the happiest day of my life by far. Boot camp isn’t that “hard”, but it can be demoralizing. So keep letters coming! So far I haven’t gotten any, because I think it takes a while to get here. In good news, I passed my 3rd class swim test and my PFA. I did 100 crunches in 2 minutes, 71 pushups and easily passed the 1.5 mile sprint. We’ve been marching more now too. Which is also fun (comparatively).
The other guys in my division are a mixed bag of everything. We’ve got some shipmates who don’t take it as seriously and hold us back, but a good portion are good people who want to succeed. This past week we were assigned positions. I was made educational petty officer (EPO) because I got a 99 on my ASVAB, and I was made athletic petty officer (APO) because I was a personal trainer. However, after a couple of days they realized that I couldn’t be both, so they made me just EPO. Which means I’m in charge of studying and preparing everyone for the tests. With this group, it could be a formidable task, but one which I’m going to give my all. Also, Chief said that however lower our test averages are below passing, that’s how bad I’M going to get “beat”. That’s how it works here. Our first test is next week, hopefully I can get these guys to pass. We have to know rank and recognition, the UCMJ, ships and aircraft, first aid, uniforms and grooming, and watchstanding procedures. It’s not too hard, but it’s a lot of information and some of it (like memorizing articles of the UCMJ) can be tricky.
The best part of boot camp is the food. We eat 3 squares a day, big healthy portions. I think the food here is pretty good. You have to eat fast, but not so fast you feel sick. I’m eating salad a fruit 2-3 times a day, keeping it pretty healthy. Now that we’re doing PT, my body feels a lot better than the first week. I hear that the first 2-3 weeks suck the most; then it gets better. So far I’m keeping my spirits high and keeping my eye on the prize. I really do miss you, home, my friends and the world cup! So please keep writing, you have no idea how big a difference a letter from loved ones makes. I’ll write again in a week.
Seaman Recruit Dehn
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