Civilian to U.S. Sailor

You guys I only have a month & a half to go. Ish is def getting real! It was a lot of fun though. I went & did my 30 day indoc with the Chief. Then we went to this Veterans building && had the meeting. So we played this trivia game and we were split up into like four team. I swear everybody was hating on us and calling us the “dream team”. lol It was me & all of my buddies and we won! I’ve gotten close to a few of them and the going away parties are supposed to start soon :[ Ahh I hate goodbyes, but I know we’ll reunite in the fleet one day. One daaaaaay *Acuve commercial singing voice* lol Am I the only person who hears that in my head when you hear one day? haha Anyways so chief ended up giving us a talk and everything. I love him. He is so amazing & humble. He was basically telling us stories about how happy and appreciative he is for deciding to become a part of the Navy. We are few out of the ten percent of our peers who have the courage to defend our country. He was telling us a story about how he was walking the streets of Boston one day. Usually you see older guys with a bunch of World War or Vietnam hats on. So he’d go up to them and shake their hand and think them for their service. So he said he went up to this one guy and shook the guys hand and he held his hand tight and didn’t let go. A few minutes later this older guys was in tears expressing how much it meant to him to see people such as Chief out there to continue the path that he once walked. Chief told us the story to remind us that no matter what job we have in the Navy we’re all working together to get the job done & we should all be proud of ourselves for making such a decision. He said we’re gonna have more stories to tell from our experiences in the Navy than someone who is thirty years old will have their whole life. It just made me happy & confident in my decision that I made to serve for our country. I can’t wait to get basic training out of the way so I can get my career started already. I only have but so much longer. Whoot can’t wait!

NC1 was randomly asking me the general orders & I said them all like a boss. I went over what I knew & all of the recruiters were shocked. Ahaha some of them said that they didn’t remember that stuff. Smh lol

So I found out I have to go through mad ish before I ship because I ship out on Monday. I have to go to MEPS on Thursday because something about MEPS being closed on Friday? Or they don’t do something on Friday. Idk. You’re supposed to go to MEPS the day before you ship is all I know. So I’ll  most likely be at MEPS for the day for the final questioning and interview. They review everything and make sure I’m ready to ship out. Then I have to go to the hotel on Sunday. I’ll be at the hotel all day on Sunday. Monday comes and I think that I’d be shipping out early that morning. Wrong. I go to MEPS and they have our little going away ceremony. Then we’ll be at MEPS majority of the day before we ship out. They say we more than likely won’t get there until that evening. So I have to do all of this before I ship out. It all sounds a bit chaotic. 

We had another meeting yesterday and it was a good time. I’m getting to know all  of the other Deppers better and everyone seems like cool people. We just basically went over the things we should expect during P-days. Everyone asked questions and I learned a few new things. 

Also Chief was there and he talked to everyone. I know a lot of people say that if you’re in DEP then you shouldn’t call yourself a sailor or say that you’re a sailor because you’re not yet. Well this is what Chief said, “I want to thank each and everyone of you for becoming a part of the United States Navy. You may not have a uniform on, but you are all sailors. So I expect you to carry yourself as one.” So coming from him I guess it is safe to say we are sailors. I guess I’ll get the full feel of it once I complete basic training and I’m in uniform. 

It’s getting really cold out so doing PT outside just isn’t working but we did find another plan. Not too far from the recruiting office is the YMCA. After all this time we’re just now finding out that we’re all able to get free memberships there. All we have to do is show our contract and ID. They have an indoor track, pool, and some other equipment which is def going to come in handy. So we’re all about to start meeting there. Thank God we found it so we dnt have to quit. I’ve grown to love PT.

The Sailors Creed

11 General Orders

Ranks

RTC Maximum

RTC Chain of Command

Phoenetic Alphabet

Military Time

Does anyone know what else I should know for the PQS?

The Navy stationary is so cute, but small! She didn’t say too much, but she did that boot camp sucks. My response was I expect nothing great to happen in “Great” Lakes (besides graduation) so the name is pretty ironic. Back to her letter, she said that a lot of things are adjusting to be everything they need you to be. It’s all following orders. No thinking. She also said a hard part was dealing with the home sickness.

Things that you should know before going in are how to make a perfect military rack and the RTC Chain of Command. I’m def going to hop on that. I’d do anything to make sure I have less work for later. 

I just wrote her back and realized that she’ll still be in there for Christmas. I know that has to really be hard for her, but she’ll make it through. I respect and adore her. She had an influence on my decision to follow through w. the Navy. I will be proud of her when she graduates!

So I’ve been studying for the PQS lately and I already know majority of what I’m supposed to know. I’ve always had a good memory so I’m grateful for that. Without a doubt I know by the time comes for me to take the PQS I will be able to pass it like it’s nothing. Also, I’ve referred two people. I didn’t go out looking for people, but a friend of mine from school and my cousin both came to me for info on how to join. They’re both serious about it and it’s something they really want to do so I referred them to my recruiter. Hopefully all goes well for them at MEPS and they’ll make it in. I’d be so proud and happy for both of them. Especially for my cuzo, he has always had a dream of coming into the military so for it to really come true would mean a lot to him. I believe that I will get ranked up by the time I leave boot camp whether it’s from only the PQS or if I’m lucky it’ll  be the referrals as well. Either way I’ll be happy.

That’s the day! I spoke with the new chief yesterday and he was saying because not too many people qualify for my job so there’s a really slim chance that I’d be able to ship early. I was kinda disappointed because April is pretty far off. By the time I leave that will mean that I would have been in DEP 8 months. Three quarters of a year. A long time. I hate the waiting. At first it was okay, but 4 months in DEP I’m just ready for basic training. I’m ready to get it over with. I’m ready for my Navy life. I hate waiting. I’m ready to go now. It sucks, but the year flew so I’m hoping time will fly by. I’m going to make the best of the time I do have left. It’s all I can do. 

PT today went okay. Besides the fact that it was 50 degrees & mad windy out. There were only 4 of us but we still had a good time. We basically just focused on individual training. My upper body strength is slowly but surely improving so I was happy about that. I also came into realization that I need to see a podiatrist. I’m slew footed meaning my feet don’t go straight they kinda go outwards. I always knew I was, but I didn’t think it was a big big thing. Kirstin, the girl who runs PT, pointed out to me today. She was talking about the problems it could cause in the future which kinda scared me a bit because I’ve never even thought too much about it. So I’m def going to try & go see a podiatrist before boot camp in case they do decide to call me out for it.

Oh & please tell me why there are 5 girls in our DEP program, but somehow there still manages to be drama. Really though? I’m not about it. All I can do is smh.