Ahhh!!!! I got to call home today and I had about 30 minutes to spend on the phone. I was able to talk to both mom and dad. Unlike last time, this was a good phone call. I think since I had more time to talk it made it less emotional. I found out that my parents finished the basement project and it turned out really nice-can't wait to come home and see it. I also found out that my poor little Jackson has caught a cold. I guess like father, like son. I'm still suffering from my cold but I think it may be getting better. I told my parents they need to tuck him into bed and put my fleece blanket over him-he gets cold really easily.
I'm so excited to see my family in 15 days. I've missed them so much and I'm so fortunate they are making the trek all the way from South Dakota. I owe them big time. Maybe I'll take them out to dinner in Chicago on my graduation day.
Not much new here at boot camp. Still alot of sitting and waiting, and marching. Today we got a second round of shots and one of the ones they put in my arm hurt terribly. I feel like I can barely lift my arm. After that we got our 3rd haircut and my lady just shaved it all off agian cause I'm so thin on top. Oh well.
On a side note, it's amazing all the different ways people eat. I've probably seen a dozen different ways to peel a banana! I guess thats what you get when you put people from all different places and walks of life together.
We're all counting down the days and getting excited for graduation. I finally got the top to my dress blue uniform. So now it's complete. It's going to stink wearing it at graduation-it's all wool- very hot. At least it looks cool.
I'm getting excited about Corpsman school. I've heard from other HM's that it isn't that hard. So I'm hoping they're right. Those are good skills to have.
Alright, letter writing time is almost over, so I'm going to finish up. R :)
Sunday, October 16, 2011
October 4, 2011
It's been an interesting couple days. Yesterday we were practicing for our drill inspection that we had today. We spent a few hours marching in the pattern we will be marching in during graduation. During all the marching, I couldn't help but enjoy the cool breeze and the changing colors. It reminded me of camping and made me really wish I could have gone camping this summer. Fall is the perfect time to camp, and I would give anything to be at the camp sight in Northern Minnesota with a pop up camper, sitting next to a camp fire and eating a great hamburger, cooked on the grill over open flames. But no! I'm stuck here in prison. Maybe next year.
Yesterday we got our dog tags. It seems everyday now it becomes clearer that we are becoming sailors. I also found out that I'm O Negative blood type. I never knew that.
This morning we woke up at 5 am and went to chow quick. After chow, we had just enough time to practice our marching one more time. Then we headed in and got ready for our inspection. The inspector came and we marched across the base to the drill hall and did our drill routine. Our petty officers said we did really well, so they rewarded us with a phone call. Hopefully this time I'll make the trip so I can use the phone.
After drill inspections, we ate chow again then packed up for our 2nd test. I didn't really study for it and I passed. Not sure what I scored, but all I care about is that I passed.
Right after the test, we marched over to Freedom Hall (our athletic training facility) and did some PT (physical training). Then we came home and ate chow again. Now we are sitting and going over people's orders. I found out that my Corpsman school starts on Novemer 1st and hopefully ends February 29th. 4 MONTHS!!! Hope it's better than boot camp!
Alright, I'm tired of writing . Talk to you soon. Thanks again for the letters. R :)
Yesterday we got our dog tags. It seems everyday now it becomes clearer that we are becoming sailors. I also found out that I'm O Negative blood type. I never knew that.
This morning we woke up at 5 am and went to chow quick. After chow, we had just enough time to practice our marching one more time. Then we headed in and got ready for our inspection. The inspector came and we marched across the base to the drill hall and did our drill routine. Our petty officers said we did really well, so they rewarded us with a phone call. Hopefully this time I'll make the trip so I can use the phone.
After drill inspections, we ate chow again then packed up for our 2nd test. I didn't really study for it and I passed. Not sure what I scored, but all I care about is that I passed.
Right after the test, we marched over to Freedom Hall (our athletic training facility) and did some PT (physical training). Then we came home and ate chow again. Now we are sitting and going over people's orders. I found out that my Corpsman school starts on Novemer 1st and hopefully ends February 29th. 4 MONTHS!!! Hope it's better than boot camp!
Alright, I'm tired of writing . Talk to you soon. Thanks again for the letters. R :)
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Oct. 2, 2011
The last three days have been difficult. Everyone here is catching colds and I caught one too. Mine has been pretty bad. Head congestion, headache, body aches, sore throat and cough. It started Friday morning. We woke up at 0830 so we could be at our live fire training (that's where we qualify to shoot the 9 mm pistol and the 12 gauge shotgun). For most recruits, it's the best day of bootcamp, but for me, it has been by far my worst. My body hurt so much I couldn't get comfortable no mater if I was sitting or standing. And there was a lot of both. On top of that, I probably only got a couple hours sleep, so I was exhausted. If you fall asleep during live fire, you get pulled out and sent back to your barracks. So that was another challenge. The 5 minutes we actually got to shoot the guns was very nerve racking. There were instructors all over the place screaming in your ear what to do and if you don't do it, it's called "breaking blue". If you break blue, there is a good possibility that you could get sent back a couple weeks in training. I'm not even sure how I did cause I was so nervous, and they rushed us out as soon as we were finished. I'll find out a week before graduation if I scored high enough for a ribbon on my uniform. I sure hope so. When we got back to the barracks around noon, we went straight to lunch. I had absolutely no appetite, so I barely ate anything. After lunch, I asked my petty officer if I could go to medical to get checked out. He let me go, and I spent about an hour there and came back with some medicine, which seems to be working. I still feel terrible, but all the body pain is gone.
Yesterday at lunch when standing in line, the 4 rows of tables next to us were a fresh batch of new recruits. You can tell because they all have freshly shaved heads. I thought to myself back when I was that recruit and I was looking up to the guys with longer hair-thinking I would never get there. It feels nice to know that i made it. I'm now the guy with the longer hair and I wouldn't go back for anything. We are now the senior division in our barracks building. Only 19 days til graduation!!! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I was thinking to myself, I'm more excited to be done with my job as starboard watch than I am for bootcamp to be done. I think bootcamp would be easy if I didn't have a job to do. I envy my shipmates that just get to do what their told. Oh well, like I said...only 19 days.
Thanks to everyone who is sending me letters. It definitely helps cheer me up. Special thanks to my brother Mike for his encouraging words. Thanks Mike! He was in the Army so he knows what I'm going through, but I'm sure his Army bootcamp was much more difficult that my Navy bootcamp is.
Hopefully this week will be easy and go fast. Ha.
R :)
Yesterday at lunch when standing in line, the 4 rows of tables next to us were a fresh batch of new recruits. You can tell because they all have freshly shaved heads. I thought to myself back when I was that recruit and I was looking up to the guys with longer hair-thinking I would never get there. It feels nice to know that i made it. I'm now the guy with the longer hair and I wouldn't go back for anything. We are now the senior division in our barracks building. Only 19 days til graduation!!! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I was thinking to myself, I'm more excited to be done with my job as starboard watch than I am for bootcamp to be done. I think bootcamp would be easy if I didn't have a job to do. I envy my shipmates that just get to do what their told. Oh well, like I said...only 19 days.
Thanks to everyone who is sending me letters. It definitely helps cheer me up. Special thanks to my brother Mike for his encouraging words. Thanks Mike! He was in the Army so he knows what I'm going through, but I'm sure his Army bootcamp was much more difficult that my Navy bootcamp is.
Hopefully this week will be easy and go fast. Ha.
R :)
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Sept. 28, 2011
Dearest Blog,
Today was a good day. It's about time.
Last night I got woken up twice by the officer of the deck (the guy who checks on all the divisions during the night). He woke me up the first time so he could yell at me because my watch stander was carrying his flashlight in his pocket instead of his hand. The second time he woke me up was due to the fact that my watch stander wrote something wrong in the deck log. Each day we write about 8 pages worth of info into the deck log and everything has to be perfect. Every period, comma and every letter and number perfectly formed. It it's wrong, I get chewed out.
Anyway, I got up at 3:15 am so I could shave and proof the deck log before Reveille (time to get up). We immediately got our sweats on and marched to Freedom hall (which is the huge athletic training facility here on base). This morning was our second physical fitness assessment, which of course I passed. I did 70 some sit ups in 2 minutes and 60 some push ups in 2 minutes. Then I had 14 minutes to run my 1.5 mile, but I got it done in 11:32 minutes.
After PFA, we marched back to our barracks and ate chow. Then we went to class to study Naval History for a couple hours. It's all computer based training which makes it very difficult for me to stay awake. After that, we had to get ready for our personal inspection and weapons turnover inspection. The first being where the inspector inspects your uniform to make sure you are wearing it properly. He also asks you a question that you have to answer correctly. You can take two hits before you fail the inspection. Needless to say, I took zero hits. The second inspection involves turning over a 9 mm pistol. I passed that one flawlessly too. The entire process took about 2 hours-and we were standing at attention the entire time-it kills my legs and back to stand at attention for that long. After that, we went to chow for dinner which was actually good tonight-meatball subs. The rest of the night was spent preparing our rack for tomorrows inspection. We will be gone and an inspector will go through our bunk to make sure everything is ironed and folded to Navy's specifications, and placed in the right spot inside our bunk.
Anyway, today went really fast, so that made me happy.
OH!!!!!Almost forgot-Our Chief (who leads our division)called me into the office today after the inspection and actually told me I was doing a good job! Apparently there were no mistakes in my deck log-each mistake counts as a hit towards our division score. Hits are very bad. But it was great to hear from her! It gave me the umph I needed to get through the next 22 days.
I better get some sleep. Night. R:)
Today was a good day. It's about time.
Last night I got woken up twice by the officer of the deck (the guy who checks on all the divisions during the night). He woke me up the first time so he could yell at me because my watch stander was carrying his flashlight in his pocket instead of his hand. The second time he woke me up was due to the fact that my watch stander wrote something wrong in the deck log. Each day we write about 8 pages worth of info into the deck log and everything has to be perfect. Every period, comma and every letter and number perfectly formed. It it's wrong, I get chewed out.
Anyway, I got up at 3:15 am so I could shave and proof the deck log before Reveille (time to get up). We immediately got our sweats on and marched to Freedom hall (which is the huge athletic training facility here on base). This morning was our second physical fitness assessment, which of course I passed. I did 70 some sit ups in 2 minutes and 60 some push ups in 2 minutes. Then I had 14 minutes to run my 1.5 mile, but I got it done in 11:32 minutes.
After PFA, we marched back to our barracks and ate chow. Then we went to class to study Naval History for a couple hours. It's all computer based training which makes it very difficult for me to stay awake. After that, we had to get ready for our personal inspection and weapons turnover inspection. The first being where the inspector inspects your uniform to make sure you are wearing it properly. He also asks you a question that you have to answer correctly. You can take two hits before you fail the inspection. Needless to say, I took zero hits. The second inspection involves turning over a 9 mm pistol. I passed that one flawlessly too. The entire process took about 2 hours-and we were standing at attention the entire time-it kills my legs and back to stand at attention for that long. After that, we went to chow for dinner which was actually good tonight-meatball subs. The rest of the night was spent preparing our rack for tomorrows inspection. We will be gone and an inspector will go through our bunk to make sure everything is ironed and folded to Navy's specifications, and placed in the right spot inside our bunk.
Anyway, today went really fast, so that made me happy.
OH!!!!!Almost forgot-Our Chief (who leads our division)called me into the office today after the inspection and actually told me I was doing a good job! Apparently there were no mistakes in my deck log-each mistake counts as a hit towards our division score. Hits are very bad. But it was great to hear from her! It gave me the umph I needed to get through the next 22 days.
I better get some sleep. Night. R:)
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