Anyone who has had the phrase "skinny, fat, fat, skinny" yelled in their face and understands it's meaning has been in US Navy basic training. The Phrase is one that guides a seaman recruit in how to fold their T Shirt in a perfect rectangle. It is a phrase that was screamed at me while my rack was torn apart, my locker dumped over and my ditty bag strewn all over the barracks. I had made the fatal mistake of folding a t shirt fat, skinny, skinny, fat. The memory of that incident is comical to me now but then it was very serious and very surreal.
The first night I arrived at boot camp I cried myself to sleep. I was exhausted, scared, lonely, and pretty sure that I had just made the biggest mistake of my life. That first night I cried myself to sleep and comforted myself with the thought of escape. However when morning came my Recruit Division Commander (RDC) knew exactly what was on my mind and probably on the minds of every other puffy eyed girl standing in ranks. After enduring a long lecture while standing at attention I learned that my only ticket out of boot camp was to either attempt suicide or murder along with one other choice; I could develop a bed wetting problem. I had no choice but to resign myself to the fact that the only way I was going to get out of that place was to graduate.
There were many things about boot camp that I had to overcome. Things I would have never thought I could have handled or adapted to. My first challenges were learning to maintain silence at all times, never looking my RDC in the eyes, even if they were talking directly to me, never pushing up my sleeves during chow and also learning to shower naked with forty other females in one12X12 room with 8 shower heads and a time limit of 15 minutes. I learned how to cope with all the changes fast by watching the slower learners around me get disciplined for misunderstandings that were taken as stupidity or defiance by the RDC’s. When it was time for haircuts I watched a girl get dragged away in hand cuffs kicking and screaming because she would not let them come near her with scissors. I watched another girl do pushups until she threw up because she had forgotten that there was no talking allowed during chow and had asked the person sitting next to her for a napkin. The person next to her also had to do pushups for passing them. My moment of “glory” came when I walked out of the shower room with the towel still on my head (a major uniform infraction) I had to stand in front of my RDC’s office at attention with the towel on my head for almost two hours. I didn’t take long for me to learn that while in boot camp the best policy is to keep your mouth shut and try to remain as invisible as possible.
The days passed by at an excruciating pace but they did pass and before I knew it I was one day away from my graduation march. For the first time in two months I was allowed to look in the mirror and wear gel in my hair. My picture was taken in my dress uniform and I couldn’t help but feel just a little proud of myself. When I boarded the plane that took me to my first duty station I was saluted by a little boy when I disembarked, the look on his hopeful and smiling face is one I’ll never forget. Even though they were the most challenging two months of my life, I came out of boot camp with a sense of pride and confidence that I had never had before and to this day when things aren’t going my way I just try to remember how awful life was in boot camp and realize that whatever is going on today…it can’t be worse than the way life was then.
The first night I arrived at boot camp I cried myself to sleep. I was exhausted, scared, lonely, and pretty sure that I had just made the biggest mistake of my life. That first night I cried myself to sleep and comforted myself with the thought of escape. However when morning came my Recruit Division Commander (RDC) knew exactly what was on my mind and probably on the minds of every other puffy eyed girl standing in ranks. After enduring a long lecture while standing at attention I learned that my only ticket out of boot camp was to either attempt suicide or murder along with one other choice; I could develop a bed wetting problem. I had no choice but to resign myself to the fact that the only way I was going to get out of that place was to graduate.
There were many things about boot camp that I had to overcome. Things I would have never thought I could have handled or adapted to. My first challenges were learning to maintain silence at all times, never looking my RDC in the eyes, even if they were talking directly to me, never pushing up my sleeves during chow and also learning to shower naked with forty other females in one12X12 room with 8 shower heads and a time limit of 15 minutes. I learned how to cope with all the changes fast by watching the slower learners around me get disciplined for misunderstandings that were taken as stupidity or defiance by the RDC’s. When it was time for haircuts I watched a girl get dragged away in hand cuffs kicking and screaming because she would not let them come near her with scissors. I watched another girl do pushups until she threw up because she had forgotten that there was no talking allowed during chow and had asked the person sitting next to her for a napkin. The person next to her also had to do pushups for passing them. My moment of “glory” came when I walked out of the shower room with the towel still on my head (a major uniform infraction) I had to stand in front of my RDC’s office at attention with the towel on my head for almost two hours. I didn’t take long for me to learn that while in boot camp the best policy is to keep your mouth shut and try to remain as invisible as possible.
The days passed by at an excruciating pace but they did pass and before I knew it I was one day away from my graduation march. For the first time in two months I was allowed to look in the mirror and wear gel in my hair. My picture was taken in my dress uniform and I couldn’t help but feel just a little proud of myself. When I boarded the plane that took me to my first duty station I was saluted by a little boy when I disembarked, the look on his hopeful and smiling face is one I’ll never forget. Even though they were the most challenging two months of my life, I came out of boot camp with a sense of pride and confidence that I had never had before and to this day when things aren’t going my way I just try to remember how awful life was in boot camp and realize that whatever is going on today…it can’t be worse than the way life was then.
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