I did however learn how to tie a mean ass knot. (729 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.55 on 11 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by RockDocv2.0 (View user info) at 2007-12-18 10:55:15 EST
Entera wanted to kill himself with a razor, I was busy planning a wedding and avoiding the instructors at any cost, and bootcamp carried on.
I talked entera out of the razor thing, told him it wasn't worth it, that it's going to get better, and no your girlfriend isn't cheating on you.
I had started writing in a journal. I had brought with me several very small notebook things. Things I could stuff in the fanny pack I brought with me. I thought I was a pretty smart guy, brought everything I needed for bootcamp in a fanny pack, easy to conceal and full of phone numbers and tiny notebooks for writing down my adventures in bootcamp.
There weren't many adventures to be had in bootcamp, so I wrote about tests and being forced to write in a different fashion, my dreams, and a letter my father wrote that made me cry. The man told me he was proud of me. Yeah...I cried a bit.
During the first few weeks I was there, I went to sickcall and church...alot. I wanted to be as far away from the "ship" as much as possible, so these two seemed like perfectly good excuses to get away for a bit. Sickcall was a huge operation involving hundreds of recruits who had the same idea I did, and it took a very long time for them to get to my problems. No worries, the longer I was there, the longer I was away from chief. Worked for me. As for church, I sampled every religion they had, finally settling on the buddhist services at 8 o' clock, and the pagan services at 9 o' clock. Two full hours away from bootcamp was a blessing, no matter how much chanting and holding hands was required.
Something happened about halfway through though. Something weird. I started hating sickcall. Started hating the fact that I was letting my chief down every time I went to the clinic, either to take someone there, or go there myself. I started hating that I was leaving my "shipmates" out there while I was taking it easy in a comfy chair, while they were busy getting yelled at. So I stopped. I started only going to one service on sundays, and I began to spend more time in the ship, with the people that were slowly becoming a sort of dysfunctional family. It was...different, to want to share in the hardships with these people, hell, to even start to enjoy it as long as they were there with me. I had never before willingly put myself through something like this just so I could share in it with people I had never met before. I was socializing more, learning about these people I was living with, sharing in their joys and their pains, and I even started to like Chief. I took a more active role in pushing these guys along, life began to get easier and I began to realize that while this may end, I'm going to know these guys for the rest of my life.
About two thirds through bootcamp I injured my back...again. Earlier in my life I had attempted some very stupid flying kick combination and I wrenched the crap out of my back, it healed, or so I had thought.
As I lay in sick bay, hating the fact that I was there and not with my team a doctor came in (again, some guy with something very big and shiny on his collar) and told me that I had a chance to get out on disability. This was huge for me. I could get out, I could marry primm, I could live a nice easy life, never really having to care about a damn thing. I could leave all this behind me and just move on, maybe go to college, just go home. Off in the next room someone's radio was on, and as he left me to think about it, foo fighters came on. I recognized the song immediately, having heard it before, but this time it meant a little something different; the song was called "My Hero", and for some damned reason it startled me. "Fuck" I thought, "I didn't come here to quit because my damn back hurts, I'm not going to go home, not like this" and something clicked in my head, "I came here to fight, to prove to myself that I'm worth a damn, I'm not quitting"
I left that office with a stunned medical officer, having just told him that I wasn't going to take his offer, and that I'd really like to get back to my unit now. I hoped I wasn't being too brisk with him, but I had to get back, they were doing drill, and I sorely needed the pointers.
The days seemed to move quicker after that, less thrashings and more training were on the agenda. Getting ready for battlestations was our only intent, and I was personally looking forward to the challenge.
During this time I had also been practicing my singing skills. Alece once told me I had a halfway decent voice, and primm sent me lyrics from some of the songs we used to listen to; so with a few like minded friends, we sat down in a little corner and sang little snippets of songs that we knew. Something to pass the time on sundays. I had finally decided I was going to sing to primm for our engagement, and I needed to practice. Chief, seeing that most of the unit needed a little bit of fun decided to make us all on one sunday sing on the ship's 1MC for the benefit of the group.
I was forced from my hiding to go show my vocal skills, and after a very stirring rendition of "whats left of the flag" I was then forced back into hiding. Never to do that again.
Battlestations came upon us. We ran forward in our new coveralls, proud to be one of the first units to test these uniforms, and just proud that we actually made it through bootcamp more or less in one piece.
I was looking forward to a very grueling 48 or so hours of running, jumping, swimming, and generally doing a lot of real navy things.
It turns out the navy is actually not as action orientated as the recruitment commercials led me to believe. Battlestations was a lot of running though, that much was true. A little too slow for my taste (weird that I could say that....considering that I had my first mile and half only two or so months earlier, and nearly died) but not as much action. No explosions or firefights, or great battles. I did command a drill where we passed ammo through a hole in a wall because the magazine was filling. I attempted to use cadence to move the guys faster. That got a chuckle out of my chief, but not much from the guys. I was motivated, no clue why noone else was.
Battlestations ended, and we trudged wearily into a room dominated by pictures of huge ships, images of september eleventh, and stirring paintings of naval battles fought in the past. It was the capping ceremony, and as I was handed my Navy ballcap, the SAR petty officer shook my hand, and told me that he'll see me at my first command, then kick my ass for bothering him; called me shipmate and went on to the next guy.
Yeah, again, I cried...but only a little.
Such was bootcamp. Yes, I sang to primm as form of asking her to marry me. I would subsequently do some very stupid things not much after that and she would leave me, but for the time being, I was just happy that I was out of bootcamp, and ready to go to SAR school.
Or a holding unit, whichever came first.
User Reviews
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-12-20 11:26:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2007-12-18 15:53:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I think your Navy stories are readable and entertaining. Keep 'em coming.
I have some too. http://www.ubersite.com/m/81238 and http://www.ubersite.com/m/81445
Submitted by i_can_get_you_a_toe (user info) at 2007-12-18 15:00:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2007-12-18 11:04:09 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
What...your spelling and punctuation or the story itself?
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I hate it when people get all 'I'm a high school English Teacher blah blah blah'
I'm loving this series.
Submitted by triangle_man (user info) at 2007-12-18 14:20:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
good story
Primm is a proper noun, I think?
"The Ship" LOL, I love training.
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2007-12-18 12:11:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2007-12-18 12:04:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Right, yeah, I've noticed that you cry a lot. Are you a chick and is Primm a dude with werid parents?
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2007-12-18 11:50:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2007-12-18 11:16:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
You signed up two days before me, but are half as fucking awesome.
Submitted by rockdocc (user info) at 2007-12-18 11:07:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2007-12-18 11:04:09 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
What...your spelling and punctuation or the story itself?
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both
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2007-12-18 11:04:09 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
What...your spelling and punctuation or the story itself?
Submitted by rockdocc (user info) at 2007-12-18 10:57:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
oh don't worry, it only gets worse.