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dream-_-
United States1857 Posts
Overall boot camp was quite easy, almost dissapointing in a way. Still, it was a fun experience and I think it made me appreciate alot of the things I have in my life more(both little and big), and gave me a better understanding of people, myself, and the world. I think it also helped my discipline and my self controll, as well as other things. If anyone is interested I can type up a summary of my experience. Just let me know, im happy to do it. Luv ya TL   | ||
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Descent
1244 Posts
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TommyG
United States102 Posts
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FirstBorn
Romania3955 Posts
Congrats on making it though boot camp and welcome back to TL/internetz. | ||
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Duke
United States1106 Posts
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Rayzorblade
United States1172 Posts
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dream-_-
United States1857 Posts
I arived at the meps(millitary entry processing station) hotel with my fiance, and after a long night of talking attempted to sleep. I didnt get too much sleep, but I was pumped and ready to go so 2 hours of sleep wasnt touching me. I woke up at 5am, and after a long half day at meps got on the MAX train(portland public transit and went to the airport. My fiance got a clearance to go through security so I waited with her for a while, and then hopped on the plane. 6 hour flight, we arive at O'hara at around 8-9 pm and gather up to wait for the bus. Once the bus gets here we all pile on (4 busses worth of recruits), and head over to boot camp. As soon as we step off that bus it begins. Every person is screaming, cursing, and doing everything they can to scare, confuse, and dissorient you. We run through processing, getting our clothes and shoes and toiletries and such, then we wait. And we wait. And we do some paper work. And we wait. All the while getting screamed at. So, around 36 hours later we finally head up to our temporary baracks with our division and sleep. The next morning we are awoken to the sound of screaming as our 3 RDCs (Recruit Division Comannders) head in for 'morning routine' and begin to rip us all a new one. Now let me tell you this isnt just any screaming. We are awoken to the sound of TEN, NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN, SIX, and so on. We have 10 seconds to get up, put on socks and shoes, and get on the toe line. Now needless to say not everyone made it the first day, and so after those induviduals had their own verbal abuse, the RDCs proceeded to beat the living crap out of us for the next hour. Nothing like looking down at your reflection in a giant pool of sweat first thing in the morning. Because of our hour beating we had no time to hygene. Now at this point we had all gone close to 3 days without showering or brushing our teeth. Not fun, but MEH. So after our beating we head down to breakfast. 12 minutes of relaxation. But at the time we were all so on edge that there was no way anyone was relaxing. The next 7 days consist of what is called Processing, or P-days. 7 days of hell. I wont go into detail on them but let me just say I would find it hard to imagine how they could make it worse short of physicall abuse. We had 6 people in our division leave during this time(most of them got medical disscharges for depression). Next week we begin 1-1 day. HORRAYZ, REAL BOOT CAMP! But we aren't quite out of the woods yet. Now that real boot camp has begun we are faced with more responsibilities and rules, and new ways of screwing up and getting ourselves in trouble. One example of this is marching. Marching in boot camp during your first week is chaos. We are expected to keep our intervals of a half arms length, while staying in step with AROCs (the recruit who does caidance) shitty caidance, and avoiding stepping on each others heels. In theory it sounds easy, but when you throw in 75 people, it becomes a mess. At this point however, I didn't need to worry about this aspect of marching. I had a much more difficult task. Some time around day 3 or 4, my chief had fired his initial RPOC( Recruit chief petty officer), and made me the new one. Now let me explain to you what RPOC is/does. RPOC is the leader of the group. When the RDCs are not around, RPOC is the 4th RDC. I was in charge of everyone and everything. And to make things worse, we had not yet picked out many of the essential jobs that help support the rpoc, like master at arms, yeoman, section leaders, and starbord and port watch leaders. We had none of these. So not only was I doing my job, but I was doing the job of these people as well. Now in theory this might sound fun to be able to boss around a division of 75+ people. But let me tell you, there is nothing more stressfull than being RPOC during the first few weeks of boot camp. While everyone is so busy worrying about making sure they are doing the right thing, RPOC is worried about making sure they all do the right thing too. However I was also worrying about making sure that I was doing the right thing. It was intense at times. Now I am sure you have all heard the expression shit rolls down hill. Well in boot camp, shit rolls up hill. If anyone fucks up who is underneath you, its your ass. Unfortunatly for the RPOC, everyone in the division is underneath you. So no matter what happens, at any time, any place, anywhere, if ANything goes wrong, its RPOCs fault. At least that was my chiefs view. The other big task that RPOC has is when we march. I stand off to the side of the division and make commands. Sounds easy enough, but things can get quite interesting. There is quite a bit of construction happening at RTC Great Lakes, and so getting people to hear you over 18 pieces of construction equipment can get interesting. My voice was almost constantly sore and after a few weeks I started to sound like robert deniro from whatever that one millitary movie is. So I stumble through that for a few weeks, and things start to improve. We all are starting to get some idea of whats going on. I have always picked up things quickly, so by this time I was having no problems. Boot camp was running smoothly, I was leading my division with pride, and my chief was getting increasingly pleased with me. Then came week 4. I woke up in the middle of the night and immediatly knew I was about to vomit. I run to the head(bathroom) and cant even make it to the toilet, so I vomit in the sink. After this I feel better, and head back to sleep. However that wasnt the end. 5 more times that night I made similar trips, all ending the same way. I woke up the next morning feeling like my stomach was swirling around my insides. I went to medical and got SIQ (Sick in quarters). My chief didnt like this. Being sick is a weakness apparently, and so he was quite unhappy with me at this point. But I delt with it, and I was ok. The next morning I woke up and was told by my petty officer I had to go down and eat chow. The issue was, I felt like if I stood up I was going to throw up. But regardless I head down to the galley with my division, and as im standing in line, I start to feel another one coming. I begin to make a run for the bathroom, but as soon as I start to run I begin to feel dizzy and light headed. Next thing I know I am lying on the floor of the hallway with the officer of the deck standing over me screaming "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY P-WAY(hallway)" as he kicks me. I told him I didnt know if I could get up, and he said either I had to get up and walk the fuck away or he was calling an ambulance. So I slide myself up the wall and somehow make it to my feet. Let me tell you, I never thought it would be that difficult to get to my feet. I took 5 steps, turned into the bathroom and passed out again. Luckily he didnt follow me into the bathroom and I was awoken by another recruit. However when I returned, I realized that the officer of the deck had contacted my chief, and apparently the story that chief was told was that I was sleeping in the P-way. Yes, apparently both men had decided that I layed down in the hallway of a millitary base and decided to take a quick nap. Anyways, chief never fired me, he never even talked to me for at least a week, but when I finally came to out of my haze of sickness, we had a new rpoc. But I didnt mind, infact I was quite relieved. I felt so good after that, like a huge weight was off my shoulders. In a way I wish I had graduated RPOC, but I cant help what happened. The rest of boot camp was quite different. As things went on our RDCs went easier and easier on us, and there was something else that helped that process. We were good. Overall we scored a 4.76 out of 5 at the end of boot camp. This is good enough for hall of fame, except for one mistake. During our first drill inspection (marching) we had 2 large issues called Street Hits. Both coming from our new RPOC (who wasnt new anymore at this time). Dont get me wrong im not talking crap about the guy im really good friends with him, and this really could have happened to anyone, was just terrible luck. Now let me start off by saying RPOC carrys around a cutlas when we march. That is his power. Without it uncased he cant make any commands to the division. After we lined up in front of the inspector to get ready for our first drill inspection, rpoc had a brain fart, and forgot to uncase his cutlas before adressing the division. Bam, street hit. Just like that, we are down to a 4.85 at least. Not good. However we shake it off and keep going. Now unfortunatly thursdays are the days they mow the grass, and our drill inspection happened to be on a thursday. We were coming onto a street we needed to cross, and cars were coming so our road guards couldnt post, so rpoc called a marktime march(march in place) over the sound of the lawn mowers. Sadly the front part of the division didnt hear him and kept marching straight forward, while the back stayed in place. Bam, 4.6. Already we had lost out chances of Hall of Fame. But lifes tough sometimes. We still managed to be an honor division, and we made CNO GOLD(meaning the best division in our class, wich had 10 divisions). So in a way our bootcamp experience was made alot easier by us doing what we were supposed to do, and getting our shit done. I will continue this in a bit, but for now im going to leave it at this. feel free to ask any questions you might have. | ||
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Snet
United States3573 Posts
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TommyG
United States102 Posts
What were your fellow recruits like? were they easy to get along with? did you guys build a lot of strong relationships between each other as a result or bootcamp? | ||
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PH
United States6173 Posts
Now I know for a fact I wouldn't do well in the military. ): It sounds like it'd be an interesting experience, too. | ||
JWD
United States12607 Posts
You should edit your story into the OP | ||
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Track
United States217 Posts
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stroggos
New Zealand1543 Posts
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Pioneer
994 Posts
On June 08 2009 06:23 stroggos wrote: does the screaming of the instructors affect people at all? I'd think most people in the post full metal jacket age are pretty are pretty strong minded and would shrug it off as an amusing stereotype. just want confirmation though. This was in the Navy (dream-_-'s boot camp right)? Don't know how it is in the Navy but in the Marines I know that they are pretty brutal. Going to take it's toll when someone is sitting there calling you horrible names in your face and all you can say is "Yes sir". The point of boot camp is to break you and rebuild and that's exactly what they do. Drill sergeants are good at that. It's easy for an outsider to go 'I could deal with that.' but when it's actually happening to you it's different =p. | ||
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MiniRoman
Canada3953 Posts
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PH
United States6173 Posts
I don't think I'd be able to handle boot camp. I would either get my ass beat on a regular basis, or end up having to drop out. -____-;; | ||
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evanthebouncy!
United States12816 Posts
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FragKrag
United States11567 Posts
respect yo~ | ||
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vincimus
United States28 Posts
On June 08 2009 09:32 evanthebouncy! wrote: You finished boot camp? Post a picture of yourself half naked, Let's see the results! Before and after thank ya please much | ||
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kdog3683
United States916 Posts
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