Navy Stories 15 Young And Stupid
May 18th, 2010 by Ben Moreno
’)As an 18 year old punk, you often think you have all the answers. You think you know what you are doing. However, you are usually mistaken, because you don’t realize that you are still growing, there is so many things you don’t know and your mind is going to probably change. This truth created some big problems for me in my first years in the Navy.
Back in the introduction I talked about why I wanted to join the Navy. I said I wanted to become a SEAL and be the best of the best. Well, that all changed when it came down to ACTUALLY doing it.
In boot camp I had a one track mind. All I cared about was being a SEAL. I was in great shape, afraid of no challenge and was on my way. I had already passed the preliminary physical test and was about to go to dive school. Then something suddenly changed.
I started thinking about what life would be like if I were actually a SEAL. What if I did go all the way through the training and make it. I thought about how that lifestyle would be. I already had a good idea of how it would be and I began to doubt myself.
I started asking myself if this is what I really wanted to be. In a matter of minutes I had changed my mind and decided against becoming a SEAL. Why I made that decision, I am still not quite sure. I think all along I just wanted to become a SEAL just so I could show off to my brother and father.
It is obvious it wasn’t really what I wanted to do. I don’t think I really knew WHAT I wanted to do, so it confused me. I lost sight of the goal and this is where it began to go downhill.
So after announcing that I was no longer interested to my division leader I told him I just wanted to go to my duty station and perform the job I picked initially at MEPS. I really wish I would of given more thought to the job selection process. I chose Seaman Apprenticeship which if you were in the Navy you know what that job really entails.
Seaman Apprenticeship is basically a nice way of saying deck ape. Your job is basically shipboard preservation. The ship is mostly metal and metal in salt water is not a good combo. So the ship rusts easily and quickly. Someone must keep the rust under control or the ship will fall apart in no time.
This is the job of the deck division. As an E-1 in the seaman apprenticeship program you will be in deck division and you be spending many hours per day chipping and sanding rust, priming and painting and cleaning. Then you will do more sanding and more painting and cleaning.
As you would imagine I didn’t enjoy doing this job. It was tedious work that never ended and I hated it. This along with other aspects of the Navy, such as watches and authority started to make me not want to be there. I starting thinking that this was not for me and I wanted to get out.
One day I was spending the night over at a friends house. We were partying and having a great time like usual and I ended up spending the night. I remember setting the alarm to wake me up in time to get back to the ship and be on time for quarters. So, I fell asleep and when I woke up it was around 11 o’ clock. It turns out I accidentally set the alarm for 11PM instead of 11AM. Quarters usually starts at 8AM. I was late! In the military when you are late it is a big deal. It doesn’t matter if you are late one minute or ten days. It is still a major offense.
This was the beginning of a life changing experience for me. Things went seriously downhill from this point. Stay tuned…and don’t forget to subscribe to get the next story sent to you automatically.
Tags: ben moreno, military, navy, Navy Stories, seaman apprenticeship, young and stupid
