the best is yet to come

So while I'm exhausted and excited and still in disbelief, and despite having told most of my friends and family asap, here's the official update.

Today, out of seemingly nowhere, we finally got to pick orders. Having the highest GPA, I was awarded first pick. Nervous but anxious, I sat down and looked at the list. Going in, I was hoping for a decent ship billet or some exotic FMF orders, but expecting nothing but boring shore stations. Much to my amazement, the possibilities were unbelievably good: Multiple 3rd Dental Co. Okinawa, 11th Dental Co with Marine Air Wing Iwakuni, the USS Stennis Aircraft Carrier out of Bremerton Washington, USS Pearl Harbor Dock Landing Ship out of San Diego, USS George Washington Aircraft Carrier out of Yokosuka, Japan, etc. There were a few other stateside FMF, South Carolina, Florida, Rhode Island, etc. Admittedly the first thing that caught my eye was the Gdub. Never in a million years did I expect to have the option of an aircraft carrier, let alone TWO! I had never heard of anyone in corps school getting on a CVN. Still, I asked first about the Okinawa and Iwakuni FMF billets. Yes, I had been telling myself I wanted to go FMF. The hard work with the marines was always a goal of mine... but something just wasn't sitting right. Okinawa is a small tropical island, not much to do, and then I'd be in Iraq or Afghanistan (which is something I had been planning on). One day I still hope to go with the marines and earn their respect, but the George Washington is a ONCE in a lifetime adventure. Stationed right outside of Tokyo, she makes tours all over the Pacific. Singapore, the Philippines, Korea, Australia... I could see it all. Not to mention she's on the front lines with our current conflict with North Korea. And as far as my career goes.. the Gdubs was far and away the best choice. For an HM straight out of corps school to get on a ship is rare enough as it is, but a carrier like the George Washington! Better yet, I'll be able to earn both my Surface Warfare and Air Warfare devices. The experience will be unbeatable, I'll get to see the world, when I'm not at sea I'll be able to visit Tokyo all the time... I took the Gdubs, and I could not be happier!!

In my heart of heart's I've always been an explorer more than anything, and that's why I've always been attracted to the Navy. Now I worked my ass off, got first pick, and am stationed on an amazing ship in an exotic far away land. I feel like I'm about to realize a dream.

In other less exciting news, as of today I am no longer EPO. I was anticipating to continue my duties as EPO in dental, but our instructor had other plans for me. I am now the Adjutant of Dental... aka the guy in charge. Never thought I'd be in this position, not really much to do except keep everyone in line and probably get yelled at by Chief, but that's ok. It seems like a good way to go out of Corps School.

Reason #3 today rocked, dinner was served personally by 2 chefs from the Food Network! Gorilla and some other guy who makes pizza in California...I forget. Homemade pizza with bacon, ham and sausage, and dry rub ribs. Holy shit, it was REALLY good. And I probably won't eat for the next 24 hours, but was totally worth it. It was awesome of those guys to come down and cook us sailors some quality food. They thanked us for our service, and I thanked them for the extra hours I'm gonna have to work out tomorrow.

It's past taps, so time for bed. Today was awesome, but the best is yet to come!

220-2

Clinicals secured! Dental begun! Class 220 graduating! It's a turbulent and freezing time in Great Lakes.

First off, we finished Clinicals. The last week was slightly discombobulated. I spent Monday in 200H taking a SOAP notes class (don't ask), Tuesday in 200H in the dental department, and Wednesday somehow back at the VA on the gen med floor. Working in dental was actually pretty awesome. I got to observe up close some routine but fascinating dental procedures, and learned how to file medical records (not glamorous but SO very important to know).

While the rest of 220 spent today in the outbrief and picking up plane tickets home, the HMDA's finally split off to form 220-2, dental strand! And we're all going to be in amazing shape, because dental classes are on the 12th floor of 200H. We spent the morning being briefed by two Chiefs, both giving us great advice and FINALLY shedding some light on this mystery that is dental training. I'm feeling a lot better about getting the dental training, as it sounds really interesting, and will only enhance our repertoire in the field (and help us get promoted faster!). As for orders, our friendly lady in charge of contacting the detailer said we will have them before the holiday exodus, and that we COULD even have them as soon as tomorrow. I'm doubtful, so expect something more in lines with next week. Wednesday or Thursday is my guess. Test 1 is already on Wednesday, and Test 2 is the day before we leave on exodus, so it's going to be a busy couple of weeks before shore leave. Graduation is set for the 25th of January, after which I will go straight to my first duty station, or be put on hold like a few shipmates from 220.

Speaking of 220, bravo zulu shipmates for making it to the very end of Corps School, and good luck to all at your first duty station! I'm going to definitely miss some of you, but its a small navy, so I hope to see you out in the fleet one day.

thanksgiving/last week of clinicals

Entering the last week of clinicals after a great 4 day Thanksgiving weekend. Sad I couldn't be home, but glad I had my navy family to spend it with. We spent Thanksgiving day at the "world famous" Brat Stop (www.bratstop.com), enjoying good food, great beer and of course football. Carbone's dad even won 2 lobsters from a crane drop game where you actually catch the lobsters. Yeah, it was kind of awesome. The rest of the weekend was spent eating and drinking around Chicago, including picking up the new TR book (yessss!). Only through the prologue, which details Roosevelt's African Safari, but so far its amazing. Today we were re-assigned clinical destinations, so I've said goodbye to the VA and hello to 200H. It's really more a class than clinicals though. Oh well, it should only be until Thursday, which is when we are supposed to class up for dental. "Supposed to".

Special thanks to Mama Dehn and Christine Perez for sending me super sweet delicacies! The south east wing of 129 is about to plump up for winter. Speaking of which, I could really use some PT after that long weekend... hopefully my next update will be in the dental phase!

clinicals

So we're into clinicals now. I'm assigned to the VA, or rather the hospital complex formerly known as the VA. It's now the Lovell Federal Health Care Center, named after the famed Apollo 13 astronaut (and Navy captain!). He was actually in town to dedicate it a month or so ago, but sadly I could not catch a glimpse of the legend as I was in class. Anyway, right now I'm working on the general med ward, which isn't so bad. The Nurses are great and keep us busy, and they call us Corpsman which is awesome. Most of our work is pretty routine, such as linen changing, patient transport, hygiene etc., but sometimes we get to do cool things like draw blood samples. We muster at 0545 and don't get back to the barracks until around 1630, so the days are long, but it's good to finally be doing some hands on health care. It's going to be a short week of clinicals due to Thanksgiving break, and then next week we should only have 3 days at the most before graduation/dental begins.

Despite the Terps football heartbreak on Saturday night, I still would have given anything to be back at the game with my friends. It sounds like they had a good time though, which is great. Still not sure what I'll be doing for Thanksgiving or the rest of break, but rest assured it will include watching an entire game of football (which I haven't done since before joining) and purchasing Colonel Roosevelt, the final book in the TR trilogy. Talks of Milwaukee are also abound, so we'll see.

Looking forward to more time in the hospital and the upcoming break. And of course still missing everyone terribly! December 17th is less than a month away

Life rolls on

HM exams over. Finished with a 97.67% average from 12 tests. First place in my class, which is all good and dandy but really doesn't matter at all in the long run. Proud of all my other shipmates who finished with good GPAs. Tomorrow we finally start Clinicals, with dental to start at a still unknown time, possibly the 2nd of December. Don't expect any juicy updates from clinicals! It's called HIPAA and its kind of a big deal! Don't want to lose/never receive my caduceus. Shaved the stache today. It was fun growing one, and it might come in handy if I stick around long enough to make Chief, but its back to smooth lip sailor business.

wrigleyville weekend

Great weekend. Friday night most of our class ended up in Highwood, indulging in some Goose Island ales and karaoke at our favorite Irish pub. Saturday I finally visited the famed Wrigleyville with some shipmates. We had sushi and then saw Brian Posehn do standup comedy at the Cubby Bear, directly across from Wrigley Field. Hilarious show, I was literally laughing the entire time. After the show I got to meet him, and he told me that he likes Dream Theater, so all is well in my world. Today was a typical Sunday, filled with laundry, some studying, and "The Town" at Ross Theather. Great movie. Tomorrow is our LAST full day of class, and then its Test 12 on Tuesday and straight in to clinicals after that. Dental should be doing our clinicals with the rest of the class, but we'll see if they drop any last minute changes on us. I'm also planning on bringing some pizza to my last night of night study tomorrow, to celebrate all the good times we've had (pff). Our duties as EPO's don't end there though, as we are expected to come help the other classes on their night studies. If I can even remember what was on test 2!

So lets finish this exam and be that much closer to graduation!

good start to the week

Parenteral medication lab on monday, aka sticking people with needles! It was short but surprisingly satisfying. We got to inject normal saline into the deltoid (intra muscular) and the posterior upper arm (subcutaneous). I can't wait to do more of the hands on work once I finish Corps school. Speaking of finishing Corps school, today we secured Test 11, which means only one more test to go before HM clinicals (not thinking about dental training right now). Test 11 is feared throughout the school as the corpsman killer because so many people fail. The class before us had 13 or so failures, but our class rocked the hell out of it! I got my 4th 100% of school, and we had almost a 90% average as a class. Overrated test to say the least.

Good lab, perfect test, Cowboys at 1-7. Good start to the week! This Thursday we have off because of Veterans Day, which means we only have Wednesday, Friday and Monday to learn Test 12 material before we test on the 16th. So close to the end.. of the beginning. Anyway, I'm excited and pumped to be almost finish testing and start HM clinicals, hopefully I'll get assigned to Red Rover back at RTC and get to stick recruits all day. Obviously still no word on orders yet, that won't come until dental.