Division 293 (A BootCamp Story) Part Two

The first few days of boot camp are the most difficult. A lot of people who’d never gone into the military would think living in a room with 100 strangers, in a strange place; unaware of the future is the biggest shock. That actually isn’t true as the greatest similarity between all of the new joins is they wanted a change. The only culture shock is taking on the constant level of unknowns and moving forward. Imagine walking into a world in which you have no control but figure the powers that be are there for your best interests. The first week or so is typically used to create a baseline. Just enough information is given as to not excite the newly minted recruits and to ensure they stay on track to the objectives at hand.

The first morning we were to be up at dumb ass o’clock once again and everyone was really excited to know what lie ahead. Most of the people ranged in their late teens and early 20s. The oldest recruits were in their mid 30s and somehow believed they were in charge of the younger people. I’ll just say that went belief went away fairly quick. 

During the first week we’d done so much paperwork it would make your eyes bleed, as words no longer had the same meaning. We’d march from building to building to building throughout the day. The base itself is the size of a small town and it just seems to go on forever regardless of the direction you travel. The RDCs began to find different people to take on various positions. The positions were as listed below:

Leadership

RPOC (Recruit Chief Petty Officer) – the liaison to keep the show running on behalf of the RDCs (in above photo standing behind gun and sword flag)

AROC (Assistant Recruit Chief Petty Officer) – assistant to the above liaison (in above photo standing behind large A flag)

MA (Master at Arms) – maintains order on behalf of RDCs (in above photo standing behind flag with large star)

Collateral Duties and Other Non Leadership Roles

Nasty Nine – In charge of cleaning the showers and bathroom area

Officer of the Deck – This person stood “watch” to ensure the security of the living quarters

Laundry Officer – this one is self-explanatory

Two Administrative Officers – In charge of making sure appointments are made when and people have the information as needed

Religions Officer - this one is also self-explanatory

There were definitely other positions but I can’t recall them all

Driving on, the first week is where people somewhat try to get the lay of the land. Beyond the paperwork all of the articles of clothing had to be stenciled with the last four of your social security number, last name and first initial. Everyone has their own personal stencil with that particular information. In the beginning everyone had been given the same number of everything from underwear, shirts, shoes, socks and all else. One of the RDCs was giving us instructions and I noticed one of the guys near me has my underwear. I knew the underwear were mine because I had a pair I started on but hadn’t finished as I stepped away after putting my last 4 on them. I proceed to take them back and let him know how I felt in the moment. The entire time he looks very happy and is smiling at me like an enthused psychopath. 

An RDC comes over to see what the commotion is and I tell him. He begins to question the recruit and receives the same crazed I'd taken on prior to his intervening. Someone in the distance says I don’t think he speaks English. My thoughts were how is this even possible. Someone told me the availability for the entrance exam was in several languages. They said he would be sent to a program known as FAST. What that stood for I never learned and sorry I can’t find anything online about the program. They had some sort of program so that people like the underwear thief could learn English in four weeks and then they would return to bootcamp training.

This concludes the first three days of my navy bootcamp experience, as there is more to come.

Click HERE for part one