Got a text from my recruiter today:
"DROP!! Give me 30 push ups right now! Don't think about it, just get it done! Text me back when your done."
And so, at work (I do have a cube where no one else could see me), I tried very hard to do 30 push-ups, and I did more than I thought I could. But the last 15-20 of them were pretty sloppy; I need to build up my strength. Gosh, I was breathing hard and my body was shaking. It's a good thing nobody saw or heard. LOL
And I still don't know if I did anything wrong, or if he texted the wrong person, or if it was just for fun... who knows!
The rule is: obey.
"Aye, aye, Petty Officer!"
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Thinking and Re-Thinking
Just went and visited my brother this last weekend.
He's coming up on one year in the Corps next week, and he's pretty much not thrilled about being stuck in Yuma. He is isolated there and keeps talking about how he is looking forward to getting out... making plans for how he's going to leave and what he'll do when he gets home.
I found out, by him talking about coming home for the 4th of July, that weekend leave is very restricted. You can only go so far away from your station depending on how long a weekend (I was already familiar with this part), but what I didn't know was that when you go on liberty (personal time off), weekends count as part of the days you take from your allotment.
It's always un-motivating to hear him talk about how backwards and boring the military is, but it's better to go in with your eyes open than to have a romantic picture of it (as I'm sure he did).
I think I will get along just fine. I've gotten to the point where I can control some of that impatience with things I don't agree with or understand. Working at Aerojet has certainly helped with that. I had a really rough time in ROTC, because I just wouldn't conform... and most of the fun things were too difficult, physically. I regret many of the attitudes I had then and I'm ready to make up for it now and serve with dignity. I'm excited to go into this with a perspective on what it's like to hold a regular job and how unfulfilling it can be... to live for weekends and then not know what to do with them when you get them... yuck.
I was thinking about what it is I like to do; what I *really* want to spend my time on. All I could really think about was photography, sports and reading classic books... So why waste most of my life going to an office working on something I don't really believe in (finding life in outer space) when I could serve the Navy instead, which I do believe in (with oppertunity to do what I enjoy anyway)? Thank the Lord I'm joining the Navy.
He's coming up on one year in the Corps next week, and he's pretty much not thrilled about being stuck in Yuma. He is isolated there and keeps talking about how he is looking forward to getting out... making plans for how he's going to leave and what he'll do when he gets home.
I found out, by him talking about coming home for the 4th of July, that weekend leave is very restricted. You can only go so far away from your station depending on how long a weekend (I was already familiar with this part), but what I didn't know was that when you go on liberty (personal time off), weekends count as part of the days you take from your allotment.
It's always un-motivating to hear him talk about how backwards and boring the military is, but it's better to go in with your eyes open than to have a romantic picture of it (as I'm sure he did).
I think I will get along just fine. I've gotten to the point where I can control some of that impatience with things I don't agree with or understand. Working at Aerojet has certainly helped with that. I had a really rough time in ROTC, because I just wouldn't conform... and most of the fun things were too difficult, physically. I regret many of the attitudes I had then and I'm ready to make up for it now and serve with dignity. I'm excited to go into this with a perspective on what it's like to hold a regular job and how unfulfilling it can be... to live for weekends and then not know what to do with them when you get them... yuck.
I was thinking about what it is I like to do; what I *really* want to spend my time on. All I could really think about was photography, sports and reading classic books... So why waste most of my life going to an office working on something I don't really believe in (finding life in outer space) when I could serve the Navy instead, which I do believe in (with oppertunity to do what I enjoy anyway)? Thank the Lord I'm joining the Navy.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Books
I finished reading the 619 page, 24th Edition, Bluejacket's Manual (2009) on January 23rd this year. Some parts were kinda slow, like retirement benefits or marlinespike knots, but in general I went right through it. It was published in May, I had it by June, and it only took that long of off and on reading to finish. Lots of stuff that I will become familiar with in the future, but it was good to get my toes wet and know going into it some of the things I will have to deal with.
Just recently I've discovered the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy's (MCPON's) Reading List. So I got a couple titles and discovered one more. I bought a reference timeline, and "Brave Ship, Brave Men" by Arnold Lott. The discovery was referenced in the Bluejacket's because it was by the same author. Thomas J. Cutler of the Naval Institute Press wrote "A Sailor's History of the U.S. Navy" (2005) and I received it in the mail the day before leaving on a week plus vacation to North Carolina. As he says in it, it's more of a book about Navy heritage than history. It jumps around on the timeline of events, but has a baseline of themes, telling stories about individual people. It was fabulous! And I finished it by reading solely on the airplane, both going and coming; I could barely put it down.
For certain, Mr. Cutler is proud to have served in the Navy, and it's inspiring.
Just recently I've discovered the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy's (MCPON's) Reading List. So I got a couple titles and discovered one more. I bought a reference timeline, and "Brave Ship, Brave Men" by Arnold Lott. The discovery was referenced in the Bluejacket's because it was by the same author. Thomas J. Cutler of the Naval Institute Press wrote "A Sailor's History of the U.S. Navy" (2005) and I received it in the mail the day before leaving on a week plus vacation to North Carolina. As he says in it, it's more of a book about Navy heritage than history. It jumps around on the timeline of events, but has a baseline of themes, telling stories about individual people. It was fabulous! And I finished it by reading solely on the airplane, both going and coming; I could barely put it down.
For certain, Mr. Cutler is proud to have served in the Navy, and it's inspiring.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
5th Monthly Meeting: 3 Mar 2010
Today I was there in plenty of time again, but I was rushed on the way because there was so much to do at work that I left a little later than I wanted to. I volunteered to lead the group in the Creed, which was fun and very slightly nerve-racking. There were only 15 of us there, but I continue to not like being in front of a group. It's seemingly better if you know what you're doing when you're doing it though.
Next we had an exercise with cards where we would have to draw a card and then say the corresponding General Order with everyone listening. I drew #6 and left out the second word, "obey". It was a great way to see where we're at under pressure.
The district chief petty officer was there again tonight and most of the meeting was him talking about how hard it is to get into the Navy these days. He had to discharge 7 people out of the district programs last week for being overweight or getting a DUI or the like. He was there especially to talk to the couple people who are shipping out this month to make sure they are good to go. My recruiter has taken over as office lead, so he ran the rest of the meeting. And afterwords, as my first meeting as Recruit Yeoman, I stayed afterwords and filed all of the re-certification sheets that we must fill out every time we come in. It was nice to help out.
Next we had an exercise with cards where we would have to draw a card and then say the corresponding General Order with everyone listening. I drew #6 and left out the second word, "obey". It was a great way to see where we're at under pressure.
The district chief petty officer was there again tonight and most of the meeting was him talking about how hard it is to get into the Navy these days. He had to discharge 7 people out of the district programs last week for being overweight or getting a DUI or the like. He was there especially to talk to the couple people who are shipping out this month to make sure they are good to go. My recruiter has taken over as office lead, so he ran the rest of the meeting. And afterwords, as my first meeting as Recruit Yeoman, I stayed afterwords and filed all of the re-certification sheets that we must fill out every time we come in. It was nice to help out.
4th Monthly Meeting: 10 Feb 2010
This time I got of work early enough to get there on time. This meeting was not during the first week of the month, like normal, because the station had a review that week. Our first topic was military bearing since one person from our program had been less than formal when talking to an officer recently. That officer chewed out the office lead, so he was not happy. We talked about why and how and when to be militarily formal, including how to sit at attention and not look around ever when at attention and how to be rigid. One letter from someone at boot camp right now talked about how the RDC caught them not being rigid enough by being able to move their arm by pushing it out of position while they were at attention. It's nice to learn things like this... what expectations will be like before getting there.
This lead us in to a discussion about what the first three weeks of boot camp will be like... lots of yelling and vulgarity designed to disorientate us, how we will wonder why on earth we joined and how we will feel like it was a mistake... until we get used to it. And most of all, how we will be extraordinarily tired the entire time. He told us about the awful shots they give and about his awkward experience trying to get a uniform that fit when he went thorough.
The next bit was about some of the benefits of being a Sailor. The college fund, the GI bill, and things I didn't know before like the program that takes the profits from the Navy Exchange and uses that for recreational assistance when available. We talked about paid leave and how it's possible to use military aircraft and bases for significantly reducing the costs of traveling. Immediately I thought of seeing Germany... :) We'll see...
We ended the meeting by going over military bearing one more time. Petty Officer Jordan selected me along with two others to try and get people to mess up, and I was flattered, but I am terrible at getting in people's faces.
This lead us in to a discussion about what the first three weeks of boot camp will be like... lots of yelling and vulgarity designed to disorientate us, how we will wonder why on earth we joined and how we will feel like it was a mistake... until we get used to it. And most of all, how we will be extraordinarily tired the entire time. He told us about the awful shots they give and about his awkward experience trying to get a uniform that fit when he went thorough.
The next bit was about some of the benefits of being a Sailor. The college fund, the GI bill, and things I didn't know before like the program that takes the profits from the Navy Exchange and uses that for recreational assistance when available. We talked about paid leave and how it's possible to use military aircraft and bases for significantly reducing the costs of traveling. Immediately I thought of seeing Germany... :) We'll see...
We ended the meeting by going over military bearing one more time. Petty Officer Jordan selected me along with two others to try and get people to mess up, and I was flattered, but I am terrible at getting in people's faces.
3rd Monthly Meeting: 6 Jan 2010
This meeting I brought my friend Julie along with me because we had just spent the day together having fun on a little trip to the peninsula. We got there on time, because I wasn't coming from work for the first time. After the creed, the only thing we talked about for the rest of the meeting was ship and aircraft recognition. Petty Officer Jordan held up pictures of ships and aircraft and told us about the unique characteristics of some of them, like the difference between destroyers and frigates. And then there was an informal test in groups, writing down the names of a series of pictures he held up. The team with the most right answers ended up not having to do ten push-ups. It was a rather long meeting, and my friend said she wouldn't like the Navy because of all the profanity. She's the daughter of my dad's friend who was led to Christ by a fellow Sailor.
2nd Monthly Meeting: 2 Dec 2009
I was a little late for this one again, but as before, I called my recruiter to let him know. Unfortunately, it was an important joint meeting that day with the Woodinville office there, as well as the area Master Chief and a few officers, reviewing how we were doing. The information we went over was military time and the alphabet... and short speeches about how some people before had made bad decisions that kept them from joining the Navy. They talked about drugs and drunk driving and about recruits who could not keep their weight down. When I talked with my recruiter afterwords, he made me promise to maintain or lose weight by the next time we met. After the meeting, everyone had to meet privately with one of the officers or chiefs for them to make sure we were doing well. I met with a Lieutenant, and he could hardly believe that I wanted to enlist, even though I had a degree. It's really quite cumbersome and annoying, trying to explain something to someone who just doesn't understand.
1st Monthly Meeting: 4 Nov 2009
My first meeting in the program, we talked about Navy ethics, rank structure and recognition and advancement. But before we began, I tried to keep up with everyone else as they recited the Sailor's Creed to officially begin the meeting. Along with two other new recruits, I had to go up front and introduce myself, saying a few basic things like where I lived and had my schooling and why I was joining.
As we were working on rank recognition, a newly graduated from boot camp seaman dropped by and he was quickly ushered into the front where he was told to tell us about recruit training. He had joined because he was doing nothing else before, and became a boatswain's mate because it was the shortest school. I think he was assigned to Naval Station Everett. He seemed very lackadaisical about everything in general, saying things about how it was better to be in an easier rate so you don't have to hang out at Great Lakes for schooling, especially since things were a little backlogged and people were waiting to get into their A schools.
Because of all this, the meeting went a little longer than usual... I think it took til 1830, when we started at 1630. That also made it difficult for me because I had to get off work a little early just to make it there (and I was a minute or two late).
As we were working on rank recognition, a newly graduated from boot camp seaman dropped by and he was quickly ushered into the front where he was told to tell us about recruit training. He had joined because he was doing nothing else before, and became a boatswain's mate because it was the shortest school. I think he was assigned to Naval Station Everett. He seemed very lackadaisical about everything in general, saying things about how it was better to be in an easier rate so you don't have to hang out at Great Lakes for schooling, especially since things were a little backlogged and people were waiting to get into their A schools.
Because of all this, the meeting went a little longer than usual... I think it took til 1830, when we started at 1630. That also made it difficult for me because I had to get off work a little early just to make it there (and I was a minute or two late).
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Movies
Just recently I've watched a few movies relating to the Navy and the core values specifically.
"The Blind Side" (2010) is a true story about a poor kid who is taken in by a family and a school. He's really good at football, but was never taught how to pass tests or write papers. With a private tutor he works on his final paper for a literature class and writes on "The Charge of the Light Brigade". He writes about the difference between Courage and Honor; how anyone can be brave, but how you only get honor by doing the right thing for the right reason. How you should not blindly obey orders, but do what is right. I'm going to get this movie and watch it again.
"Antwone Fisher" (2002) is about a petty officer who gets into fights and is assigned the task of seeing a Navy psychologist. It's a true story about how the officer helps Antwone deal with his abusive upbringing and neglect by forgiving and moving on and how he changes the officer's life as well. It shows a bit of real navy life, although a little scewed (they arrive in a port the next scene after setting out to sea), but in general is a great picture about the navy and hope restored.
"The Caine Mutiny" (1956) is a fictitious account of a mutiny on a tiny ship in World War II. It's a great setup dealing with navy leadership and the decisions the officers and men make to get around a crazy old-timer captain.
Other great movies on the Navy that I've seen and loved:
My favorite: "Mister Roberts" (1955). This is a great one about men stuck on an "old tub" of a supply ship in the later part of World War II in the Pacific and how they cope with a maniac and showman of a captain and how Mister Roberts fights for the men and what he sacrifices, and what they do for him.
"Tora, Tora, Tora" (1970) is by far the best film about Pearl Harbor. It shows both sides rather well, having real Japanese actors making up half the film (speaking in Japanese with subtitles - in the tradition of The Longest Day).
The "Horatio Hornblower Miniseries" (1998-2003) on A&E was a great telling of the classic books. Very fun and full of aspects of life in the Royal Navy.
"Master and Commander" (2003) is another great film of another classic series about the Royal Navy.
"Men of Honor" (2000) about Navy Diver Carl Brashear follows the story of this courageous young man as he is the first African American to enlist in the program.
"The Fighting Sullivans" (1944) about the five brothers who grew up and died together in WWII off of Guadalcanal.
"The Hunt for Red October" (1990) a good, fun film based on Tom Clancy's novel.
"Crimson Tide" (1995) is another tense film about mutiny on a submarine.
"Midway" (1976) is more of a soap opera, but it is a grand, epic film about the colossal battle.
Others:
Here's a host of submarine movies... some relevant, some not.
There's been bunches of WWII movies... too numerous to count...
Here's a list of all navy films.
Here's a top ten.
"The Blind Side" (2010) is a true story about a poor kid who is taken in by a family and a school. He's really good at football, but was never taught how to pass tests or write papers. With a private tutor he works on his final paper for a literature class and writes on "The Charge of the Light Brigade". He writes about the difference between Courage and Honor; how anyone can be brave, but how you only get honor by doing the right thing for the right reason. How you should not blindly obey orders, but do what is right. I'm going to get this movie and watch it again.
"Antwone Fisher" (2002) is about a petty officer who gets into fights and is assigned the task of seeing a Navy psychologist. It's a true story about how the officer helps Antwone deal with his abusive upbringing and neglect by forgiving and moving on and how he changes the officer's life as well. It shows a bit of real navy life, although a little scewed (they arrive in a port the next scene after setting out to sea), but in general is a great picture about the navy and hope restored.
"The Caine Mutiny" (1956) is a fictitious account of a mutiny on a tiny ship in World War II. It's a great setup dealing with navy leadership and the decisions the officers and men make to get around a crazy old-timer captain.
Other great movies on the Navy that I've seen and loved:
My favorite: "Mister Roberts" (1955). This is a great one about men stuck on an "old tub" of a supply ship in the later part of World War II in the Pacific and how they cope with a maniac and showman of a captain and how Mister Roberts fights for the men and what he sacrifices, and what they do for him.
"Tora, Tora, Tora" (1970) is by far the best film about Pearl Harbor. It shows both sides rather well, having real Japanese actors making up half the film (speaking in Japanese with subtitles - in the tradition of The Longest Day).
The "Horatio Hornblower Miniseries" (1998-2003) on A&E was a great telling of the classic books. Very fun and full of aspects of life in the Royal Navy.
"Master and Commander" (2003) is another great film of another classic series about the Royal Navy.
"Men of Honor" (2000) about Navy Diver Carl Brashear follows the story of this courageous young man as he is the first African American to enlist in the program.
"The Fighting Sullivans" (1944) about the five brothers who grew up and died together in WWII off of Guadalcanal.
"The Hunt for Red October" (1990) a good, fun film based on Tom Clancy's novel.
"Crimson Tide" (1995) is another tense film about mutiny on a submarine.
"Midway" (1976) is more of a soap opera, but it is a grand, epic film about the colossal battle.
Others:
Here's a host of submarine movies... some relevant, some not.
There's been bunches of WWII movies... too numerous to count...
Here's a list of all navy films.
Here's a top ten.
Re-Signing Meeting
Yesterday evening (1 March) after work (I arrived at NRS Bellevue just before 6PM) I met with my recruiter to sign my change of entry date form. My recruiter has recently been promoted to 1st class and has just taken over as station lead. He and ET1 Jordan and I were all very pleased that the request was approved and my date was moved out to something so satisfactory.
Weighed in at 169, and we talked for a few minutes. This gets to count for my 2nd meeting this month, so I don't have to worry about scheduling anything later!
My recruiter has been talking about giving my a leadership role in the Future Sailor Program, and yesterday he assigned me the role of Yeoman, which gives me the responsibility of filing paperwork after monthly meetings.
Weighed in at 169, and we talked for a few minutes. This gets to count for my 2nd meeting this month, so I don't have to worry about scheduling anything later!
My recruiter has been talking about giving my a leadership role in the Future Sailor Program, and yesterday he assigned me the role of Yeoman, which gives me the responsibility of filing paperwork after monthly meetings.
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