When I was in boot camp I was training hard to become a SEAL.  There was a guy in my brother division that wanted to be a SEAL also.  Wouldn’t you know it, his last name was Manly.  This guy was a total stud.  Top in his division in push-ups, sit up’s, etc.  He broke up with his girl friend to join and everything.  He was dedicated.

I was inspired by him so I always trained with him and talked with him and becoming a SEAL.

To become a SEAL you first have to pass an initial physical fitness test.  You have to do a certain amount of push-ups and sit-ups within 2 minutes.  You also have to complete a 1 1/2 mile run and a swim under a certain time to pass.  Once you do then you have to go to dive school. Then I think the SEAL school (BUD’s) comes after that.  I don’t know because I never got that far.

Now comes the point where I tell you about one of the biggest regrets of my life.  I was training really hard to pass the initial physical fitness test and then one day I got to thinking.  I thought that if I become a SEAL I will be far away from my family and would rarely see them.  I had heard that SEAL’s can sometimes be gone as long as 8 months out of the year.  So I decided to quit.

Why? Did I get cold feet?  Was I really afraid of leaving my family for so long?  Was I just flat out scared??

To this day I still don’t know why I quit.

For the longest time I really wanted to do it.  I thought I was crazy enough and that I would be able to hack it.  Then one day, I just didn’t want it anymore.  I regret the decision because I now wish I would of at least tried.  What if I did make it.  70% drop out of SEAL training within the first 2 weeks.  What if I made it all the way?  Would I be able to quit then?  Probably not.  There is so many if’s involved and that is what bothers me.  I should of at least tried.  Well I didn’t try and finished boot camp and went on to do my regular job.

In the next episode I will tell you about a small place I stayed before I went onto my ship.

A Change in Lifestyle

The end of P-week and onto the first official week. The first three weeks of Navy Boot Camp are clearly the toughest both physically and mentally. If you can get through the first three weeks then you’ll pretty much be able to go all the way to graduation.  The key is getting used to a whole new life routine.  They will always push you into quitting and they will use that as a tool to make you want to succeed.  Nobody likes being told they can’t do something.  They will tell you things like, “I guess you are not cut out for this opportunity”, etc.

Marching and Drilling In the first week of navy boot camp you will be learning the all about the basic foundations of what it means to be a sailor in the United States Navy.   You will spend hours and hours learning the complexities of marching and drilling moving as one entity.  You will march EVERYWHERE!  The first couple of weeks, you’ll notice that everyone messes up on everything.

It is actually funny to watch total noob recruits trying to march, as they all stare at their feet while they walk and bump into each other.  It is stressful.  On multiple occasions I saw two recruits break out in a fist fight because one was stepping on the others boots while they were trying to march. Marching is all about learning to move with others as one.  There are strict patterns you must follow depending on where you are in the ranks.  There are simple terms you need to understand:

• March – To start marching from whatever position you are at.
• Ranks – This term describes the rows of people in the group.  “In the ranks” means, “in the lines of people”.
• Left Face – To turn your body facing 90 degrees left from where you are now.
• Right Face – To turn your body facing 90 degrees right from where you are now.
• About Face – To turn your body facing 180 degrees from where you are facing now.
• To the Rear – To suddenly start marching in the opposite direction.
• Dress – To execute a dress order.  To line your self up with other people in the ranks.
• Dress right – To line yourself up to the person on your right.
• Dress Left – To line yourself up to the person on your left.

These are some basic terms involved with marching.  Marching terminology is much more technical and can get very complex.  There are trick drills and complex formations and more.  We will speak of the basics for now.  We have many posts to talk about marching as it is a constant throughout all of your time in boot camp.  For full details on drilling and marching terminology and procedures you should go to your local recruiting office and join the Navy. Haha!  Just Kidding.

You Have to Learn to Swim

Also in this week you will be required to take your initial swim qualifications. Before you can  graduate boot camp, you have to be able to swim on one level or another.  Even if it is doggy paddling.  They call basic swimming 3rd class swim qualifications.  I already knew how to swim so this was easy for me but not so for others. When they test you initially they separate the people who already know how to swim from the ones that need to learn.  I am not lying when I say this: but when they separated us, the group who couldn’t swim was about 75% African American.

I know this is a cliche but I am telling you from experience it was true.  It is irrelevant though because they all eventually learned to swim anyway.  It was just interesting to note. You ever heard that when someone is drowning and they panic they will drown someone else to stay alive?  Well, when they started to train the ones who couldn’t swim they would throw a group of them into a small circular area the pool.  They would yell at them to doggy paddle around this little area to stay afloat.

This may seem cruel but there were professionals around that would not let anyone drowned.  RDC’s also had these long sticks to help control each person. Well, during the training one guy panicked and started to literally drowned the guy in front of him to keep afloat.  I remember watching him doggy paddle toward the guy in front of him and literally start to try to climb on his back like he was climbing a ladder.  The RDC’s noticed and started yelling at him to stop and swim on his own.  He stopped ,then again began to climb on the person again.  This time the RDC’s made him get out of the pool and he was disqualified.  I think he may have been dropped from boot camp also, but I am not sure.

Classroom Time Does Not End with High School

We spent hours in the classroom each day learning about about rank/rate recognition, rape awareness, equal opportunities, sexual harassment and fraternization, core values and more.  It was horrible, trying to stay awake during these classes because you were always so sleepy.  Most instructors would allow you to go in the back of the class room and do push-ups and sit-ups if you were unable to sit without falling sleep.  Many times did I get caught sleeping and had to go in the back to workout to stay awake. I remember they would always tell us, you can sleep, as long as you can sleep with your eyes open.  The crazy thing was I saw someone do it before, it was creepy!

The Ship, Organization and Neatness, and Uniforms

In boot camp you don’t waste much time sleeping.  You use all but a couple hours thought the day learning and organizing, everything!  The barracks was considered your ship.  We slept in very basic and uncomfortable bunk beds which were lined up perfectly inside the ship so the RDC can see all the way down the row to the end and carefully watch each and every recruit. We spent lots of time inside the ship organizing, stenciling, ironing and listening to the RDC tell us stories and more.  Once you pass P week you will get your first official uniform, the dungarees.

This is the uniform you will be wearing most of the time you are in the Navy.  It is a utility uniform used for general tasks and working. In boot camp you get to learn the very technical skill of stenciling your uniforms with your name in very specific places, with very specific measurements.  It was amazing how much you had to pay attention to detail during this part of the training.  You would be doing push-ups and sit-ups for even the simplest mistakes on your informs.  During the first week you will spend lots of hours getting this part right so that all 80 or so folks in your division look exactly the same.

Interesting Details About the Ship

The ship always had to be perfect, you could not leave it at anything but spotless at all times.  Every detail of the cleaning was handled by the recruits on a daily basis.  There was a soda machine at the end of the hall that could not be touched, ever!  This was an interesting psychological test and it will come into play later on in this series.  There was a gun rack for M-16s that always had to be cleaned, but we had no guns!  It was a circus of things that didn’t make any sense throughout boot camp but there are reasons for it.

Stay tuned for the next episode where I will go into week 2 of Navy boot camp stories.  If you haven’t done so already, subscribe to this blog using the links below, so that you get the next post as soon as I publish it.  Thanks for reading.

Click here for previous posts in this series. The U.S. Navy boot camp is run out of Great Lakes, Illinois.  It is a place with square shaped concrete buildings that look kind of like an old school grounds.  When you first get there you go through an initial processing phase that last about days.  I thought MEP’s was pretty horrible standing in lines for 12 hours.  When you arrive at Great Lakes you do this for 3 days straight with almost zero sleep!

The Arrival

I remember getting off of the bus when we arrived, and gett yelled at to go straight into a line.  There was constant yelling from drill instructors and senior recruits to shut up and not speak until asked a question.  There were many lines of recruits at different stations for different things.  Below is a list of things that you must do before you are processed into boot camp:

• Fill out a zillion forms to create your first service records
• Get a hair cut
• Send back all your civilian stuff
• Get your first uniform (Sweatsuit called SMURF’s)
• Take a urinalysis
• Get yelled at a lot
• A lot more things

The first thing you do is fill out tons of forms to create this detailed service record.  I remember hating this the most.  After creating the records they send you over to a new station where you get to pick up your first uniform.

The Smurfs

This is the first military uniform you will wear.  They had about 80 of us in one room and they told us all to strip down completely naked and change clothes.  This was our first lesson in changing in front of other people.   Most of you who played sports in high school will probably be used to this.

The reason it is called smurfs is because its an all blue uniform which makes you look like a smurf.  It is just sweat pants and a sweater and a hat that says recruit on it.  When you walk around the base wearing this uniform you stick out like a paris hilton video sitting on a church pew. All of the other senior recruits will make fun of you and laugh as you march around the base with 80 other guys you never met, trying your hardest to march in line.  I remember watching in awe at the senior divisions marching around in a super tight, flawless group.  Everyone in the division moved so smoothly like one solid entity.  The RDC would tell us that if we listened, we would be like them one day also.

The First Hair Cut

I remember getting my hair cut.  For guys they just shave your whole head with one small clip.  For girls they trim their hair very carelessly to the bottom of the collar.  I distinctly remember most of the girls crying after their hair was cut.  Many guys laughed at them.

The Piss Test

Also, when they gave you a urinalysis they had to see it come out of the source.  At the same time they were watching me, they were insulting me, saying lots of smart ass remarks, and all kinds of uncomforting things that had to do with sexuality, manliness, being gay, size, etc.

No sleep

The very first day you should get 1-2 hours of sleep if you are lucky.  The second night you may get 3-4 and the third night it depends.  When I was there I remember getting maybe 1-2 hours of sleep when I was suddenly woke up to get my stuff ready to start the next day.

Assignment

Once you complete all the records and get all of your stuff you will be assigned to an RDC.  RDC is short for Recruit Division Commander.  Your division will have between 1-3 of these guys in charge of you at all times.  Once you get assigned an RDC they will assign you to your bunk where you will sleep(BARELY) for the next 8 weeks.

After it’s all done

Short and sweet.  There isn’t much to it the first three days but a lot of standing in lines and being in fear of everything.  These days go by like a blur and before you know it you are marching around this base wondering what you are doing there. Stay tuned for the next episode of Navy Stories.  In the upcoming posts I will talk about each week of boot camp and what we did.

Read the next episode about the first week of boot camp.