| I'm in boot camp now what have I done? |
Numerous reasons exist including many nukes are not popular with their non nuke counterparts. Another reason was many nuke pre boot camp experience, gave them no heads up on the rigors of military life.
I recalled my time in basic training in Orlando from March to May 1994. Some companies who were loaded with recruits who had chosen to go nuke. Many of the company commanders, who for whatever reason had some bad experiences with nukes and seemed determined to pay these recruits, pay the price.
During my 8 weeks at Naval Training Center there were five major takeaways which I took away long after the completion of my time as a nuke. My first and most important one, involved learning of the E1 – E7 relationship. As E1 you didn’t speak advice or suggest, you followed instructions. Thanks goodness for advancement. The second thing emphasized the importance of finishing the job. I remember my getting a discipline in ranks (DIR) for a bunk inspection before I moved after trying to nudge my book back into its pocket before time was called. Of course, since my bunk was perfect the cycling which came later felt that much worse. The other insight I took away, after looking back, is the mental aspect to everything. I would have stressed a lot less had I been less afraid of everything in boot-camp. The process consisted of a game to get to the start of the rest of your Navy career. I guess its water under the bridge now. The final takeaway is even though I had designated going nuke why did I need to learn about putting out fires and tying knots? The answer seemed simple, I was in the Navy now like all of the other poor bastards who volunteered themselves.
Now with my lessons in hand all good things come, including boot camp, come to an end. And for us nukes the fun would be just beginning. The time for A school had arrived, at least now you get off base, albeit, on rare occasions.
Photo courtesy of http://thepowerof3.typepad.com/deborah/2010/06/index.html
If you can relate to what you read and wanted to sound off please feel free to comment. Please make sure to follow us on Twitter @Ex_Navy_Nuke
1 comment:
I was amazed at how many guys never had to put up with much boot camp bullshit at all.
If you played a musical instrument, you could get into the band and if you had done any high school marching band it was total gedunk. They ran boot camp on the cheap and used a lot of recruit labor to do it.
I was the company yeoman. I just kept my head down and churned out the muster reports and watch bills. Two weeks in, I snagged a job as recruit chaser in charge of the medical hold and reassignment company. Great job. I kept them occupied and out of trouble and a paper pusher chief checked in with me once a week. I lived in the little company commander suite in the barracks where we were quartered. Office, bedroom, bathroom, no hassle, it was nice. I was sorry to leave. I would have gladly done my 36 months there.
Post a Comment