My Happy, but Heavy, Heart

[SimplyRio]

Re: Thanks...

....so, we simply rebuilt him

LOL It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who's idea THIS was! 😉 Leave it to my nutty huband to take what could have been a teary event and turn it into one where we were cracking up instead!


On a related note, for those of you who might be interested... there is a great book I'm reading that was written by J.F. Leahy, a Great Lakes Recruit Training Center graduate. It's entitled, "Honor, Courage, Commitment: Navy Boot Camp". It was written in 2000 and consists of Leahy's observations as he follows one Division from Processing through Pass in Review. It also includes many excerpts from RDC's and recruits. For me it's chock-full of little details that I'd otherwise probably never know - for some of you guys it'll be a walk down Memory Lane (or something like that LOL)

 

[tyf69]

I served 10 years and 5 months in the Navy. I rode submarines. Wouldn't trade those memories for a million dollars. Be proud. I would die for my country today if need be. What makes our country great is the people like your son. Not the Bushes or Reagans.

 

[SimplyRio]

Thank you for your kind words, tyf... and a special thanks to you and all our military, current and retired, for blazing a path for all our sons and daughters.

 

[giantfan121262]

Just to bring this thread to the forefront.

how about an update of how your son is doing? I'm sure we'd all like to hear it.

 

[SimplyRio]

Thank you so much for asking! 😀

You have great timing... after 3 weeks of hearing absolutely nothing, yesterday we FINALLY got a letter! The time went by at an excruciatingly slow pace, but not I feel like I can finally exhale.

In his 3-page(!) letter he told us that Boot Camp was even tougher than he anticipated, but already felt a strong sense of accomplishment because the "Division is really coming together as a team." When he read our letters it made him realize how much he missed everybody and everything about home... but to please keep writing! LOL He summarized his situation quite intelligently, I thought. He wrote, "a couple of times I have thought about quitting, but I realize: 1) the quickest way out of here is to graduate, 2) I'm already almost halfway through, and 3) the rest of my Navy career won't be like this."

He is about halfway through his 3rd week, almost halfway through the ordeal. Most of their days are spent marching/running for miles, hours of intense physical training, and 3 hours of classroom studies every day. He has more more intense physical training and classroom training, the dreaded gas chamber drill, mastering navigation skills, firefighter training, and the obstacle course still left.

I think he's doing relatively well, all things considered. He's been appointed as Ship Staff and Division Staff! And this afternoon he earned phone privileges and he called home! I wasn't here, though, 🙁 but David got to talk to him. According to David, he sounds tired but confident. I'll take that! Much better than him feeling defeated or debilitatingly homesick! The fact that he got phone privileges on a Friday afternoon indicates to me that he must be doing great!

It was really so very sweet of you to ask... thank you so much for your caring and support (HUGS)

 

[giantfan121262]

As I told you in previous posts, the first three weeks are brutal. As he gets further along in his training, the authoritive figures (drill master, teachers, instructors) will ease up on him. He sounds like he is doing better than I was. After three weeks, I was MORE confident but not as much as I thought I should have been. I never felt defeated, but I was homesick as hell. Tired goes without saying.

I never did the gas chamber but the hardest test I had was called an oil and fire test. We went to the pool and had to imagine we were on a ship and the ship was sinking. Obviously, the only way off the ship was to jump but there was an oil fire ring in the water. What we had to do was jump in the pool in our full work uniform and swim from one end of the pool to the other like you were going through that fire. It doesn't sound too tough but boy it was a bitch and a half. We had to go as deep as possible in the pool, swim as far as you can before coming up for air, and then repeat the process until you were to the other end of the pool. It was so bad two recruits passed out halfway through and I was WINDED and I was in shape. I'm not trying to scare you but that was by far the toughest test I endured. I had to do it three times it was that tough. The obstacle course should be no problem. I went through that like nothing. I have to say, fire fighting was fun. I really enjoyed that. In order for us to graduate, we had to pass a fitness test. It really was a joke when you think about it. All we had to do was 20 push ups, 40 sit ups, 4 chin ups, and run 1 1/2 miles in like 20 minutes, and swim 2 laps. If an 17-20 year old couldn't do that then that was pathetic. There was an advanced form which I did. you did 75 sit ups, 50 push ups, 10 chin ups had to run 1 1/2 miles in 10 minutes, and swim two laps in 2 minutes. Out of a possible 500 points I got like 490. The only thing I messed up in was the run.

You can expect a phone call about once a week now that he has phone privleges. It was great when I got it. I felt like I was reconnected to my "real" world. Another way to tell how far along we were in our training was the color belts we had. I don't know if they still do this but when I was there we "earned" our green belts after 3-4 weeks. This entitled you to certain privleges like marching back from the chow hall to the barracks in groups of four instead of waiting for the entire company to finish and get in line, random smoke breaks, and phone privleges. After 6 weeks, you earn your blue belt. When you have that, you are treated like you are more out in the field, like a human being. It was a real weird feeling at first to be able to talk to your drill master, who had been screaming at you nonstop, like a human being but whenb that happened, it was a sign that you earned his respect which is every recruits ultimate goal.

Keep us posted. It's only down hill from here. The toughest part is almost over. He really sounds like he's got a good head on his shoulders with his way of thinking.

Best of Luck

Dave

 

[SimplyRio]

It sure sounds like the oil and fire test was definitely no picnic... wow! Excellent scores you earned, too - very impressive!

They have a 2-part Physical Test now. Part 1 is taken in the 4th week. To pass the 17-19 year old males must do 62 sit ups, 51 push ups, and run 1.5 miles in under 11 minutes. Part II is taken in the 7th week (the week after the Obstacle/"Confidence" Course). To pass that one the 17-19 year old males must do 71 sit ups, 60 push ups, and run the 1.5 miles in under 10.30 minutes.

Neither he or his recruiter mentioned anything about colored belts, so I'm not sure they're still doing that. I'll make sure to ask him, though. That would sure be a lot easier to distinguish time put in vs. the length of their hair!

I sure do hope you're right about it being down hill from here! While I'm obviously not physically there, I sure do feel like *I'm* going through Boot Camp, too! LOL I hope you're right about the phone calls, too. I really, really need to hear my baby's voice. Yes, yes, yes... I know he's a young man, but he will ALWAYS be my baby 😀

 

[giantfan121262]

Yes, yes, yes... I know he's a young man, but he will ALWAYS be my baby 😀 [/B]

Spoken just like every boys mother. I'm 41 and I'll never be anything else. When he said his division was really coming together as a team, that is what every drill instructor wants to see. As long as the instructor sees that, it may entice him to cut the men some slack. Basically, there is no I in team so if one screws up everyone pays. Just as long as it's not him. We used to get pennants on our company flag. We got a possible 12 pennants each week to the seventh week. The catch to that was that if you messed up even once, you did not earn any pennants , so it was all or nothing. Basically, the more pennants you earned, the more hours of liberty we got. we started this in our third week if memory serves me right. out of a possible 48 hours, we earned 36. IN the third week, we all got smashed with IT (intensive training) cuz we failed our barracks inspection. At that point, I would have taken 2 hours. But at least I was able to spend some time with my new friends AND meet my parents. We were in Cape May, and went to the shore and got a hotel room. Then later in the day met up with my family.

I'm sure he will tell you all about his privleges when you talk to him on the phone. Basically you are stripped of all your rights and have to earn them all over again. I remember in my first week, I couldn'r put anything in my pockets.