Have A Fine Navy Day

Boot camp is over, I am a US Navy sailor! This is most definitely the proudest accomplishment of my life, it marks the beginning of real change. This was a decision I made on my own and I’m on my way to reaching my goals. This is only my short term goal though, I’ll have many more boring essays for my progress in the future. Walking this path I chose, I’ve met many amazing people and seen things I never would have experienced if not for the Navy. Still, this is only the beginning of the journey, I still have to work hard in “A” school and in the fleet. I have some serious motivation to do well, something I didn’t have in HS or college. I am pretty happy where I’m at and hopefully where I’ll be in the future.

With that said, the military isn’t for everyone. It is a huge commitment with a lot of sacrifices. Leaving your family, friends, spouse, your nice cozy home. I was busy all through boot camp and stressed out with the training, but when graduation came, the weight was lifted and all those feelings came out. I had never missed my family that much, but at least I got to see my parents on liberty weekend before I left. Not sure when I’ll be able to come home, hopefully there will be a good time when I can take leave. Before I left boot camp my division received a speech from one of my RDC’s (recruit division commander) pumping us up with the navy pride. Not everyone can say they joined the military during a time of war and that number is dwindling because our generation is the most educated ever. The future generations will be more educated still. Should that conflict with our core values? Honor, Courage, and Commitment is a big part of my life now, and I gained confidence in my abilities even though this stuff is all propaganda.

Wearing this uniform, an anonymous person paid our breakfast bill at a restaurant on liberty weekend. Couple of people at the airport thanked us for our service and I met a retired chief in the bathroom. A group of girls asked to take a picture with me at the pier. Those are some little things that make it awesome, but I have a new set of responsibilities now to conduct myself in a military manner and perform my duties. I guess I see the world in a different light now, I enjoyed my time in boot camp and the beginning of “A” school. It’s too bad there is a widespread belief that you are going to die in the military. There are so many other positive aspects and opportunities even if you have a college degree. I will say this though. Straight out of HS, the best jobs are in the nuclear field and advanced technical field programs. Advancement is quick and they have large bonuses if you can get the scores to get in. Navy educational programs can get you an associates/bachelors in 2-4 years, you will be earning a salary at age 18 close to what you might earn after you graduate from 4 years of college, navy pays for all your tuition and housing/food, you get the military experience, job experience, discipline, and very likely get to travel all around the world. But people are scared of dying at a desk job in California. So sad. College is probably easier, but that’s up to you. Don’t aim for mediocrity. Apply yourself in college and you can graduate in 4 years and have a cushy air-conditioned desk job like me and don’t even have to mess up your fingernails. Plus you get to keep your hair!

P.S. My “A” school issues all students a free PDA so I still win. More updates on loot and languages later.

See ya space cowboys.

No place for heroes

The military has become a job that Americans don’t want to do. People in general have a terribly misguided opinion of the grunt work required for a profession like this. I suppose it is really a extension of fear people have of the Iraq war, after all, soldiers are dying every week. But should fear make you ignorant of the facts?
War has always been sensationalized, but the people who work in and close to the war machine, they are simply people doing their jobs. For many people it is more than a job, a sense of duty and patriotism affects their lives, the kind of stuff that gets kids killed over there. It’s sad really. Nationalism has become a bit of a dirty word around these parts and understandably so, but I doubt the Republicans are sending off their sons to fight in Iraq. So who is more patriotic?

Recently, the people I’ve told honestly think that I am going to die in the war. Normally it wouldn’t bother me, but fear and ignorance lead up to something that does make me sadface.

Society has no place for heroes. Only the dead ones get that title. So what does that make me? Am I destined to be chopped liver?

Growing up double-time.

On a more serious note, the topic of the day is:

Why I really joined the Navy.

That is a question I have to answer for the next few months till I ship out. I will try my best to give a satisfactory answer.

Most kids grew up with the idea that they would go through school, college, and then go out into the world to get a job. I had those thoughts once, but of course life isn’t always so convenient. The general idea was that the educational system would teach us things, and as we learn these things, we could eventually use it for real world situations, like making money. My third grade teacher told me that, and of course, I now know she was a filthy stinkin liar. As we matured, you probably realized that most of this stuff you will never ever see again after you take that test at the end of the term. Thats not to say learning that stuff is useless because for the most part, any sort of knowledge has value, even if you never get the chance to spend it. I guess for most people, that’s fine. For me, that would be fine too, except for the 4 year commitment. That is a little thing called irony, since I’m signing away 6 years to the navy.

I went through 3 years of college, piece of crap school, learned middle school math, high school math, and some classes related to my major. Did I waste my college experience? Probably. But my grades in high school sucked so I didn’t that much choice. Good intentions and excuses don’t make the world go round, responsibility for that lies solely with me. One of the main reasons I looked at the navy was for an education. A real one that I couldn’t get here. And a degree eventually.

I think most people have the idea that you went to college for things like, education, the college experience, maybe maturing for life. For the most part, that has become a pipe dream. Simply a tactic parents use to dangle the carrot in front of us ignorant enough to try a bite. Kids today don’t go to college primarily anymore for the education, they go because everyone else is going to college. They go to party, hang out with friends, drinking, all this fun stuff, that in the end, lands them back at the end of high school four years later. College kids coming out of college with no work experience, a googled resume printout, and a desire to recieve an awesome paying job, based solely on the fact that they went to college. Yea… good luck with that.
-College is for internships. Secret is out.

Another big reason I joined, was to get working experience, I had a little bit, an internship as an electrician at Bloomingdales for $19.35 an hour. I learned more in 2 months there than in 2 years of college and made $7000 over the summer. I would go back to that in a second. Too bad you need connections, union membership, and an actual job opening for a great job like that. Like I said, life isn’t that convenient. Oh yea, college degree is optional.

FDR once said, “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself”. Obviously, he never met the hippy crybabies that live in NY. People these days fear the Iraq war, turbans, black people, jewish people, airport security lines, Hillary Clinton’s piercing eyes, Tom Cruise’s sorcery, Youtube celebrities, and most importantly for me, common miscontrued stereotypes of the military. Quite a large number of people here, including most (all) members of my family when I told them, thought I was going to fight in the war. Navy and Air force are support branches, they don’t actually do the fighting. In my case, the closest I would ever get would be a carrier off the gulf and more likely than not, I will be stationed at my first choice of port somewhere in Asia. For all you aspiring Miss South Carolina wannabes out there, on a map, that would be not the Iraq.
With that, is another reason for joining up, I want to travel. It is not a top priority, but aside from the brainmelting kool-aid whitewash propaganda the navy recruiters try to feed dumb kids, for me, seeing the world is a big bonus.

Seriously, I lost three years of my life with the college thing, and I’m taking a longcut to get out into the real world, I need to grow up double-time.

There are still other less glamorous reasons to list, brought to you by the letter M and the number 20,000. Stay tuned.