At the time of this post (naturally after midnight), I have 5 days until I ship out. 5. Whole. Days. The time has finally come, after waiting since August 26. It makes me realize the whirlwind of major changes that have shaken my life the past 3 years. Makes me realize how little our plans for the future mean when stacked up against reality. In all honesty, through good and bad, I've lived somewhat of a charmed life. God just reminds me everyday how feeble I am for thinking I had it all figured out. Oh the absurdity of life. Pardon me, that was my existentialist inner self talking.
I don't get surprised often, but I was dropped last Thursday when Ted flew in from France for the weekend. Props to Greg for the setup and to Phillip for semi-orchestrating (despite being unable to fly in). If Phillip had come in, I would've been overwhelmed. Good weekend though. Thanks, Ted, for suffering through the plane rides and the weird feeling to see me. It means a lot, probably more than I could describe.
So the Navy: I realize I never gave and specifics as far as what is going down for my career, what my plans for the future are, and how this will all work. Here's a good shot at that right now.
I will leave Sunday to be at my Waco recruiting station by around 11 (yes the military is still open for Easter). I will then board the MEPS charter as it starts in Waco and heads all the way down to San Antonio, stopping at various recruiting stations picking up kids from all branches. That night I'll stay in the MEPS hotel (a very nice La Quinta on the south side of town). After getting out into the city, I have to be back and in bed by 10. Waking up at 4 the next morning, I board a bus with all 100 or so kids to head to Fort Sam Houston for MEPS.
What is MEPS you ask? It is simply Military Entrance Processing Station. It's where I went back in August to have a thorough physical and to select my job. This time around, I won't be waiting around. I'll be bumped to the front of the line as part of the shippers. After redoing all of those physicals and swearing into the service of my country for real, I am given a plane ticket and put on another bus going to the airport in San Antonio. I then fly to O'Hare in Chicago that very Monday afternoon, at this point about 4 hours from bootcamp.
After landing at O'Hare, I'll have to immediately find the USO. Once I do, and everyone else that's supposed to be with me makes their way there, we board yet another bus, only this one is heading for Naval Station Great Lakes, home of Recruit Training Command (RTC). Once I step off the bus and onto land at RTC, my adventure begins. Neato.
I will be going into boot camp at E-3, which is a higher rank than the usual starting rank (E-1) and therefore higher pay. This is simply because I had a high ASVAB score (98th percentile on the AFQT composite) and selected the Nuclear Field as my job. There are a lot of advancement opportunities in this job, and since I have 2 years of college under my belt already, the plan is to do whatever can make me an officer. This is my goal. Whether that is being picked up for Annapolis (Naval Academy), going back to school as part of STA-21, using my Baylor credits and whatever credits I can get from the nuke pipeline to automatically graduate from somewhere and apply for OCS, anything. If not, I'll serve my enlisted time then head back to school with my GI Bill or become a Plant Operator for one of 14 new nuclear power plants scheduled for construction in the US.
At any rate, after boot camp is over I will report to Charleston, SC immediately. From there I will know if I have any liberty as far as being home for a week or so over the summer. If not, I'll be home for just a day to grab the jeep and get it to Charleston. I'll start what's known as Nuclear Field A School (NFAS) first. By then I'll know if I am a Machinist Mate (MM), Electrician Mate (EM), or Electrician Technician (ET). They are all different types of specifications (known as rates in the Navy), but the point is that if I am an MM, NFAS is only 3 months, but the others have a 6 month NFAS. NFAS is all about the basics as far as algebra, calculus, physics, chemistry, etc. are concerned. Classes are held all day M-F, but the fun doesn't end there. Based on your grades, you are mandated study hours from your instructors (read: superior officers). Problem is that the material is confidential, meaning you have to do all homework and studying in the class/lab, where they actively monitor whether or not you're actually studying. Basically, if you're failing and they see that you're not trying, you get booted the program and spend the rest of your Navy career painting new coats of grey on battleships. Life will suck at this point.
After graduating from NFAS, I'll stay in Charleston for the second leg of training known as Navy Nuclear Power Training Command (NNPTC). This is approximately 6 months and covers reactor principles/theory. At this point I will have been promoted to E-4 (Petty Officer 3rd Class). The class schedule is just like in NFAS.
Once graduated from NNPTC, I will then be stationed in either Charleston or Balston Spa, NY for the final leg of training known as Prototype (Proto for short). Here I will practice all that theory on an actual reactor with my classmates under supervision of Navy instructors. My work shifts will be like those in the fleet, and life will therefore continue to suck.
After that it's to my first deployment (a naval station that is the home port for whatever carrier or sub I am assigned to). Hopefully I will have hit my officer track by this time.
So that's the long of it. I know it's a hefty read. Sorry for the inconvenience. Now for the payoff:
The Tidal Wave
(Note: Not for the faint of heart... or liver)
1 ounce light rum
.5 ounces dark rum
.5 ounces gin
.5 ounces vodka
.5 ounces tequila
2 ounces pineapple juice
1 ounce orange juice
1 teaspoon grenadine
1 cup crushed ice
Pour into a blender, blend well, pour, and drink. No that's not brain freeze you're experiencing. That's alcohol poisoning.
RP
