New RTC Video
Check out this Navy propaganda video aimed at making the mothers of new recruits confident that their children won't be having a hard time at Recruit Training:
I was impressed to see that Recruits now have bedpans instead of lockers; that would seem to make it more realistic. The small arms training part was also interesting
What are some of your memories of initial accession training? Do you think the change to a less stressful Boot Camp is a problem? (Personally, I loved boot camp, and wasn't stressed out at all; this was in 1983. My CCs were a couple of Filipino EM1s with great senses of humor. The first full day still feels like the longest day of my life. OCS wasn't hard either, but I think that without Boot Camp experience, it would have been a lot tougher.)
posted by Bubblehead at 4:22 PM
55 Comments:
When I went through, we had one guy in our division who was saying that he wanted to quit. Our recruit division commander heard about him while we were in the chow line for dinner and told him to go stand by a bulkhead. The rest of us ate our chow and when we were done, we marched back to our "ship" in the rain. A few hours later, the Command Master Chief came to speak to us and during his speech, our RDC told him, "Yeah Master Chief, we have one who wants to quit... By the way, where is Seaman Schmuckatelli?" No one could find him and they started saying that he must have "made a run for the border" and that the penalty for desertion during time of war is death, etc., etc. So about an hour later, the aforementioned Seaman comes in, dripping wet, and the RDC is all over him: "SO THEY CAUGHT YOU TRYING TO RUN AWAY, EH? YOU'RE GOING TO FRY NOW. YOU JUST WAIT!" The shivering Seaman looked at him with sad eyes and said, "No sir, I've been standing at the bulkhead in the galley, just like you said. They finally told me I had to leave, so I came back here..."
7/16/2009 4:44 PM
I spent the 3 best years of my career as a Recruit Company Commander at RTC Orlando. There is no better job and given the opportunity, I would have returned for each of my shore tours. Everyone thinks boot camp is softer than when they went through, and in many ways it probably is. Having said that, I'm mighty impressed with how much shipboard life has been injected into recruit training now. BST-21 is simply awesome. I sure wish we had those tools at our disposal back in the late 80s!
7/16/2009 5:04 PM
OCS (88005) was pretty easy. Toughest moments was in INDOC week and the maze.
Funniest memory was people from NAPS raiding our quarterdeck and tying up the watch one night. That was pretty good. (we retaliated, of course).
A close second was a fire caused by INDOCS attempting to shine their shoes late at night.
7/16/2009 5:06 PM
Dude, she's hot!
I'd let her do my physical anytime!!!!
7/16/2009 5:21 PM
I have only good memories from OCS (89006 Echo). Depends on your attitude and perspective going in (and time of year - NETC Newport is nasty in winter).
Best memory is BMC Goglia going full bore at the end of Indoc week: after what seemed like hours of "pumpin' em out" in the pway because of our disgraceful performace in the maze, he had the whole batallion crammed in a King Hall ladderwell waiting for a bus to take us God knows where. Then he ended the ruse with "Congratulations for passing Indoc week!"
7/16/2009 5:41 PM
I remember Chief Goglia; I was glad I wasn't in 2nd Batt. In 3rd Batt, we had everyone line up and tell them that "LCDR Ball" was going to come to decide if they'd get sent home for doing so bad in the Maze. Then we yelled "Here comes LCDR Ball!" and everyone threw rubber gym balls at the newly-passed INDOCs.
7/16/2009 5:43 PM
I remember Goglia. Glad he wasn't my BAT Chief (I was in 4th Batalion). How long was he there for?
7/16/2009 5:46 PM
I completed boot camp at Great Mistakes in 1984. Other than the -80F temperatures, it was a joke. I was in great shape going in - so, so upon graduation.
7/16/2009 5:50 PM
At the end of the maze, we were told that one OC had done so badly that he was getting thrown out-- unless we all went through INDOC week again. So we all volunteered and they said we passed the maze. This was Papa company.
7/16/2009 5:50 PM
She is definately MILF hot!
The recruits look like they are getting better practical training now.
I went to Great Lakes in 1982, Oct-Dec. They ran out of gloves, so our company was not issued them. We were allowed to put our hands in our jacket pockets while standing in line.
Fast forward to Sub school. I was walking from the barracks to class along with a few others from my boot camp company. We all had our hands in our jacket pockets because it was so cold (all of us were from SOCAL).
A Master Chief walks up behind us and starts yellling and telling us we were issued gloves for our hands for a reason. We reply that we were not issued gloves...wrong answer!
The Master Chief, a QMCM, marched us to the back door of the uniform shop and gave us each a pair of gloves...no charge!
I returned the favor about a year before I retired. I was in the uniform shop and a YNSR needed a new cover and belt. He was in front of me and his debit card would not work. I handed the lady the money and told the YN don't worry about, just help someone else out someday if they need it.
I saw the YN3(SS) about two months ago at the exchange and he recognized me and said he still remembers what I did. So I told him the story and he said he will remember that for the future.
Jim Cortez, QMC/ETC(SS)
Retired ANAV
7/16/2009 7:11 PM
Interesting video. I'm applying for OCS. Neat to see what happens on the enlisted side of things.
Only complaint about the video was that the camera was never held steady for more than a second or so before the scene changed.
7/16/2009 7:11 PM
Things have certainly changed since I went to boot camp in San Diego during the early 60s. My CC was a very salty First Class Signalman (Skivvie Waver). He helped me grow up and appreciate the soft home I left. I remember scrubbing our clothes with a ki-yi brush on a cement table and using clothes ties to tie our clothes to a clothes line. No washing-machines for us. All our drying skivvies were required to be lined up on 2 lines with the fly facing the Marine boot camp, “Piss on the Marines.”
7/16/2009 8:03 PM
Fresh off the farm and in Boot Camp May 28th, 1976 in sunny funny San Diego. Boot was a lot easier that farming but the hours were about the same. Our CC, Push Up Parker, was a MM1 Skimmer who rode me hard because I was the only MM and I was going to Subs. He thought everyone who went to boats was a push button who didn’t have to earn the rank.
I ran into him 13 years later when he was a contractor on the McKee. How he recognized me, I’ll never know.
That Damn Good Looking Aganger From Iowa
7/16/2009 8:26 PM
Did I just watch Navy's 'MTV Cribs'?
7/16/2009 9:14 PM
I got to RTC SD in Sept. 82. We piled off the bus and were herded into this room with 2X2 blue tiles on a white floor. We had to stand at attention in those blue tiles. Then this gorilla with a shave wearing a senior chief uniform walks into the room. He asks who has been in the marching band in HS or played a musical instrument. He tells the guys that raised their hands to go with PO2 Shmegawitz, they're going to be a special company with extra privileges.
Then he asks if any of us thinks they can't run 2.25 miles in 18 minutes. A bunch of fat guys raise their hands. I wasn't sure if i could, but i wasn't going to express those doubts. ET1(SS) Dad taught me better than to say "can't. SCPO Kong tells the "fat fucks" to stand on the side of the room.
Then he asks who doesn't think they can float for 5 minutes. A bunch of black guys raise their hands - no joke, no disrespect, that's just how it happened. He tells them, the "sinkers" to stand with the "fat fucks".
Then he asks if there were any "fags" who came in on the buddy program. I raised my hand, which pissed my friend off because he then had to raise his. I didn't care. The Senior Chief Magilla told us "fags" to stand over with the fat fucks and the sinkers.
Then he turned to the guys that were left and said, "This is going to be my last company, and you're it, Company 168. The rest of you shitheads are company 169. Your company Commander will collect you in the morning." Then he left.
Despite my company being formed from the "dregs", we took every achievement flag, and we never got a street mark. I don't think I ever met up with anyone from my company after bootcamp/BE&E school
7/16/2009 9:26 PM
bubblehead and phw: Goglia was definitely worse when observed from outside 2nd batt. Except for the complexion, he reminds me of the Lew Gossett character from Officer & a Gentleman. I was a surface nuc and went back to Newport a year later for SWOS (Best. Summer. Ever. 6 months in a resort town after winter at NPTU Idaho (9004 S5G) and a very skatable SWOSDOC course. Ahhhh) Anyway, while rollerblading around the piers, who do I see watching over the BMs on an FFG there, but good 'ol Chief Goglia. Had a nice conversation. All the hard ass Marine DI stuff now seemed to be a bit of a act.
Oh, and was HMC Eddy the doc when you guys were there? She was now a DI (!?)
7/16/2009 10:29 PM
Can someone explain to me this paragraph on the Navy website's boot camp page?
Week 5: "This week is all about you. Where you want to go, what you want to do, and how fast you intend to get there. So you find the shortest distance between where you are and where you want to be. If you’re feeling a sense of accomplishment for making it this far — good for you. That means that 180-degree-life-change your Recruiter told you would come — has come."
Um, what exactly do you do during week 5?
7/16/2009 11:37 PM
During week 5, rather than spend 6 days sweating it out in the "ship's" galley, this week is spent trying to get the recruits to begin to think for themselves. Where do you want to go, what ship, what kind of ship? If you're striking for a rate, what interests you the most? At this point, the Navy is trying to get to know their new E1/E2. Plus this is the first stage of turning him/her into a sailor who can think for themselves and not just a robotic mindless recruit any longer who constantly needs to be babysitted. This weeks also serves well for those who need to work on their swim qual, PT scores, and any other part of basic sailorization that's been covered during the last 4 weeks. it's a breathing space really, both for the RDCs and the recruits.
Some of you old salts will call this whole line of thinking a wasted week, but actually it's most effective for everyone involved for the reasons and training mentioned above.
7/17/2009 12:13 AM
I was in RTC San Diego 25 years ago today. In many ways it was an easy 8 weeks, having already been through college and a 16 week police academy elsewhere (note to prospective police: it was 16 weeks of unbelievable abuse, with the instructors hoping you'd quit before they gave you a badge and gun and caused problems because you were a nut-bag. Nice way to weed out all but the hardy.)
Boot was a great introduction, and while another commenter has it right that we all think it's too soft now compared to whatever era we remember, it does look like some practical things they do make lots of sense. Much of boot camp is just to test your mettle, and if you can do it while actually learning something useful for the future, so much the better.
As to those concrete tables and ties, I was damned glad to have them when the recruit laundry had a little fire and melted all of our chambray shirts.... kind of made me wonder how those would fare on my skin in a real fire.
7/17/2009 12:32 AM
One additional thought regarding the 5th week is, what is the new recruit qualified to do? Forget all the BS Mr. con artist told you (oops, I mean recruiter). How did you do on the ASVAB? Alot of guys who want to go submarines may have to re-take certain ASVAB portions in order to get into BESS.
If you're open contract, what interests you the most? do you wanna try and play "Top Gun" on the flight deck of the nearest carrier? Do you want to go skimmer on the nearest destroyer or FFG?
Basically, we're playing 20 questions during the 5th week in order to find out where in the hell our newest and brightest will fit in the best and become the most effective and productive once it's time to turn to and enter the fleet.
These thoughts and the ones in the post directly above, pretty much explain what happens nowadays during the 5th week.
7/17/2009 12:41 AM
I remember in Great Lakes, summer 1984, near the end, we marched past the "grinder" opposite the reviewing stand for the current graduates. We were too far to make out individual people, but we were downwind of them.
The smell of perfume instantly produced a stiffie.
Two mater, while in "A" school, I walked to RTC to visit my younger brother. I asked permission at the quarterdeck & from the CC, and spent about 30 minutes there. Weird experience- outside my E-3 self was saluted like an admiral, inside the other ricks acted like I was a rock star.
-3383
7/17/2009 12:44 AM
Okay, where was this HMC when I was at Great Mistakes? We didn't have any RDCs who were nearly as hot as she is. Now I want to go back and work on my 3c swim qual with her jumping in and giving me close instruction. If I choke while trying to tread for 5min, maybe she'd give me mouth to mouth resuffication..lol.
7/17/2009 1:45 AM
OK, let's get the griping finished first. The shaky video, the jittery between scene cutaways. They sucked. Somebody else said MTV Cribs. I thought of "Pimp My Ride". I guess the assumption was that all the moms of prospective recruits are MTV-watching MILFs.
Aside from that:
The extensive simulations of life at sea are interesting. First view of the barracks dissapointed me: NO "B" DRAWERS, a la NTC/RTC San Diego in 1977. However, the ship-like racks are an excellent replacement.
I was very impressed by the BS21 simulator in the video. At San Diego we had the USS Recruit. It was rather static, and I remember (perhaps incorrectly) that we spent only about half a day on it, where we tied some knots.
Memories:
Getting off the bus from AFEES Los Angeles at RTC San Diego tied, sleepy and dirty. Getting yelled at to have my stenciling done in certain way "and you should be finished NOW..." and I was nowhere close to being finished
One very marginal company commander, a GMG1 who was probably a very good GMG2, had clearly developed a drinking problem, and probably was never going to be an effective company commander or a GMGC. The things were doing wrong (marching in particular) as a company were demoralizing for sure. We weren't smart enough to realize we weren't being taught right.
Four weeks into it, he was replaced by a "troubleshooter", who wore a different colored shoulder braid (two colors ? that the GMG's red braid). He came from somwhere on the the "RTC staff", and did normally "push boots". These were mythical words to us.
I would eventually serve for 21 years, and the four weeks under his guidance still leave him as one of the five people who most influenced anything I would ever to right in the navy
Here's what I learned from ABHC Charles Phillips:
-Fill your people with positive expectations. He told us we would leave RTC with awards for our marching, and we did. Not too shabby since the first guy forget to teach us how.
-Put in the hours it takes to take care of whatever you MUST take care of. We seldom say the GMG1. The ABHC apparently never slept
-Treat even your most junior subordinate with professional respect. Well...duh
I really loved that guy. Even though some of the other recruit leaders were replaced when he came on board, he kept me as the company yeoman (I was the college dropout with the most college credts; I was from Ocean County, NJ, and he had spent time at Lakehurst..).
I sure hope ABHC Charlie Phillips --who would have to be nearing his 70s by now-- is still alive: he was one fine Chief who deserved a fine, healthy and long retirement.
Other than that: I remember blistered ears from marching on the grinder, being glad I wasn't at the USMC boot camp on the other side of the fence, staring longingly at the hotties in boats while going over the Worm Island bridge, being an R&O goat upon arrival, and of not being able to wait to get on one of those planes taking off from the airport next door...
Finally, boot camp was a great place to begin learning how to be a shipmate. Regardless of the amount of instruction and repetition, I never got the hang of making a rack perfectly or folding clothes to standards. Others helped me with that, and I helped them with academics. Fair enough for everybody.
PS: At RTC San Diego in 1977: there were no company commanders who looked like the HMC in this video:-)
7/17/2009 4:37 AM
Certainly after INDOC week there was a definite lightening up by the Battalion chiefs. Also when I did my MPI work for the incoming class's INDOC week(88006), the word of the day was "pressure", so I had my own act.
In general the Chiefs seemed to be really good guys. I had a lot of respect for them all. BMC Francis was my chief.
7/17/2009 9:55 AM
One thing I liked about Boot Camp was it allowed me to re-invent myself. Nobody knew me, where I came from or what baggage I was bringing with me. I was able to get rid of old habits and mold myself into what I wanted to be. The whole world was open to me and I could go and be what I wanted to be.
My uncle was a Drill Instructor in the Army during the Korean War and gave me some advice.
1. They can’t kill you and they can’t draw blood. Everything else if fair game.
2. Volunteer for everything. After the first few, they’ll tell you to shut up and sit down.
3. When they ask you a question, yell the answer back to them. It’ll back them off and if you’re right you’ll look like you know your stuff and they’ll leave you alone. If you’re wrong at least you did it with conviction.
It worked for me.
When I went through San Diego in the 70’s, we saw only one female. She was a full figured cook in the galley on Worm Island.
7/17/2009 11:05 AM
RTC Orlando mid-1070s. Was in Batt 9, across the way from the Wave barracks. Batt 9 ate in the same chow hall with the girls. Boot camp liberty at Disneyworld.... It was a great time to be young, single, and willing, because the girls were too.
We also had our CC replaced mid way through. We also did much better as a company (394) with our second CC.
Birdie
7/17/2009 11:53 AM
"I remember scrubbing our clothes with a ki-yi brush on a cement table and using clothes ties to tie our clothes to a clothes line. No washing-machines for us."
That is my most vivid memory of NTC San Diego. That and the poor dope saluting uncovered... "Are you looking for Indians, son?"
7/17/2009 1:47 PM
"That and the poor dope saluting uncovered... "Are you looking for Indians, son?"
You're not the only one guilty of that one Don. When I did my time at Great Lakes, I was one of two Recruit Mail Petty Officers for our company. As we were walking back to the ship with mail and parcels in hand one afternoon, I walked out uncovered. I didn't even think about it. We were having a detailed discussion about some of the female recruits we'd seen everyday during our "luxurious" stay at Great Mistakes. So granted, I was distracted.
Well, it wasn't an RDC who saw me and corrected me on my mistake. Um no, it was the Commanding Officer of Naval Station Great Lakes. He and his XO and 3 or 4 side boys were in the middle of conducting a tour of the base. The Tour was for the Captain's counter part of Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Recruit School and his "entourage." I found this out later on.
As we were making our way back, We saw the "boarding party" coming in close and we both switched everything to our left hands the best we could so we could stop and salute and make way. At that point I still didn't have my cover on.
As the party passed us, we stood to the side and rendered a salute. As they passed through, The CAPTAIN, turned to me and asked, "Son, did this afternoon's wind blow off your cover?" My face was beet red as I magically discovered that I was saluting the CO and party while uncovered. Even today, almost 7 years later, I've never had a more embarrassing moment in life.
As they passed, I scrambled to get my cover back on my head. The Commander of the RAN school also made a comment/observation of: "Well, it appears that the mail boys are on top of their job today." A few chuckles were heard from everyone else in the Captain's detail.
I swear the Fuck Christ, I never thought I could screw up any more badly in life at the age of 17 and 8 months. Fortunately, my RDC never found out about my "indiscretion".
The Captain knew where we came from but never asked where we were proceeding to. So no one was the wiser.
But for about a week there after, I pretty much figured I was going to the brig. Granted I was never found out and then subsequently killed for it, but I did learn one helluva' lesson from my fuck up at that age.
Appearance and attention to detail is everything. Even now I feel that what I learned on my own that afternoon helped me make it through Boot, BESS and my schools at KB.
So that's my life learning experience while at RTC. As I look back at it a few years later, I wouldn't trade that afternoon for anything else in this whole world.
7/17/2009 5:08 PM
The post dated: 7/17/2009 5:08 PM, is from me. It might be a great help in life if I try and remember my own name from time to time.
MT1 WidgetHead
7/17/2009 5:12 PM
Sounds like OCS is a little different now than it used to be. Not too fun these days. All the prior enlisted guys I went through with said it was boot camp on steroids. They were also slightly more likely to get weeded out.. with a nice job they were used to still waiting for them, why put up with it? Depends on who your drill instructor is I guess, but all the ones I came across were sadistic Marines with a singular goal to isolate, humiliate, and beat down the weak. Some of those people still make it through though.
7/17/2009 5:26 PM
November 1971. Was supposed to go to Orlando - dressed accordingly. Handed ticket to O'Hare - froze for 3 days. They put us in temporary barracks (WWII temporary on Hospital side) until enough showed up to form a company. There were no windows with all the panes.
Finally went to RTC side. My company was Blue Jacket Choir. Sister company was drill team. We sang on Sundays at the main side chapel and at every graduation.
We all hand washed our uniforms, etc. and then hung them up with close stops. It was so cold that everything froze before we could hang it up. Had to slam things against the bulkhead to break off the ice.
Never marched - too much ice. I remember the shots (bicillin, square needle in left nut).
Didn't see the CC too much after the first week. We had our schedule and as long as we stuck to it we didn't catch much grief. Anyone else out there part of a "Hummers and Strummers" company?
OldCOB
7/17/2009 5:28 PM
WidgetHead...7 years ago, was that CAPT O.W. Wright? He had his change of command there when I went through back in the winter of '01.
He came in the quarterdeck once while I was on watch. I was standing at attention so hard, he asked the senior enlisted guy in the ship (I forget what his billet was) if I was feeling ok. Seemed like a friendly CO.
7/17/2009 5:40 PM
Yes that was him. I remember when he turned and looked at me with a cocked eye brow and all knowing smile. As I look back on it, I'm happy to know the Captain saw that I was at least trying to make an effort in the middle of a detail.
He was a friendly CO. I definitely have to agree with that.
Good shot.
MT1 WidgetHead
7/17/2009 6:17 PM
My memory:
Getting off the bus and being marched around in a brewing rainstorm (we had raincoats). Our RDC was a burly, tattooed, scary GM, and I had no idea what was going on or what I had gotten myself into. As we're marching lightening strikes, and my RDC shakes his fist at the sky and yells, "That all you got motherf***er?!?!"
7/17/2009 10:00 PM
Boot camp wasn't real tough for me except for one aspect-I was living in S.E. Alaska when I came in and the Navy sent me to RTC Orlando. In July. I had never experienced heat and humidity like that before. Just about killed me the first few weeks.
One of the other companies in our division had a CPO who was called in like a hired gun whenever any of the other companies needed some extracurricular attention. He was greatly feared and we called him Idi Amin both for his demeanor and the physical resemblance.
When I reported to my first ship (actually a pre-comm unit) after "A" school the LPO got me all settled in and said the Chief was going to school and would be back next week. At quarters that next Monday my jaw hit the deck-holy shit! The Chief is Idi Amin! We are truly fucked!
Actually QMC Armond was a great guy and of course he was nothing like Idi Amin now that he was back in the fleet. His favorite saying was "duty section, handle it. Everyone else, get the fuck outta here."
7/17/2009 10:05 PM
"it was the Commanding Officer of Naval Station Great Lakes. He and his XO and 3 or 4 side boys"
Okay, that's way better than mine. The only other really dumb-guy story I have from basic is politely asking an enlisted wave where the "bathroom" was. "There ain't no bathrooms in the Navy, sailor; only heads!"
7/18/2009 9:59 AM
I went to bootcamp at Great Lakes as a nuc in 85, and after A school I was TAD in the Galley at Orlando Boot Camp. It was amazing when a company of women would come in wearing shorts and T shirts for PT. ALL the boots in the galley would look and stare extensively. Also noteworthy was the number of cooks and other shore duty guys who got busted for creating trouble with them....
7/18/2009 1:35 PM
Not be a smart ass, but how in the hell did you as a NUC get sent from one RTC to another to play FSA after you graduated? I've never even seen or heard of a NUC playing FSA on the boat or on the shore. That includes any NUCs involved in storeloads just before getting underway. Who did you piss off?
7/18/2009 2:57 PM
anon @ 2:57 - NFAS was in Orlando then. SJV was waiting to class up for power school and got sent to the RTC galley, which was an incredibly cushy job considering there were boots on work week doing all the hard work.
I, on the other hand, spent 4 weeks buffing the floors on the dark side.
7/18/2009 6:43 PM
I was waiting for Nuke School. It was pretty common then to have a few weeks TAD before starting.
I never really pissed anyone off until I told my CO I'd reenlist if he got the SECNAV to reenlist me in the battery well. Another story.
7/19/2009 7:22 AM
"Not be a smart ass, but how in the hell did you as a NUC get sent from one RTC to another to play FSA after you graduated? I've never even seen or heard of a NUC playing FSA on the boat or on the shore. That includes any NUCs involved in storeloads just before getting underway. Who did you piss off?"
You're shittin' me, right? Of course nucs FSA. I did my time as an EM2 in the shipyard (92 days, to be exact), and my son, a new EM3, just recently completed a term as FSA on his boat. Back when I went through RTC Orlando as a recruit (1980), there were nuc students waiting to class up serving as MAA's in the RTC galley. Most of them got off on the power trip, since they got to tell recruits where to line up and "remind" them to remain silent in line. I remember one MM3 who particularly loved to chew ass, until one particular day. He had pulled one of our guys out of line and was really letting himself go, until he felt the presence of the MSCM behind him. After the MSCM got through removing nearly his entire ass, he was sent back to NPS (I assume), never to be seen again.
7/20/2009 6:12 AM
C059. Orlando, 1990. Our CC's had their sh*t together. Thankfully for us one of them had a recent DUI and needed to really perform. We were rack making, test taking, clothes folding, marching machines. Our scores were off the charts high. We ended up a Hall of Fame class and an extra day of liberty graduation weekend. I had the pleasure of being a sports PO and spent about 2 weeks hanging out at the pool swimming laps while the sinkers got extra time in the water.
The worst experience was that I had to cycle in a closet sized room for a couple of hours after a rack inspection showed I had way more than 6 inches of sheet at the head of my bunk. I had to personally apologize for being a POS to each member of the company. This was my first rack inspection. On the second on, my CO started riding me again for the same issue. I was perplexed, I freaking KNEW I had it right. Come to find out he did not actually measure it, but he used a bar on the rack as a guideline. Also come to find out I had a rack with a bar that was 4 inches instead of 6 which gave the appearance of my sheet being to long. Most valuable lesson I learned in the Navy shortly followed. OWN YOUR MISTAKES. He apologized for his earlier mistake and actually told everyone else he was wrong and I was not a POS. Pretty stand up thing to do given the circumstances.
MM2/SS ELT
7/21/2009 10:01 AM
Re: BMC Goglia at OCS in 1989 - He definitely lightened up after INDOC week, even more so with the Seniors. He was still a hardass, though. As a graduate of the Marine Corps DI school, he ensured you got the full experience. He managed to turn my mild dislike of running into a life long hatred of the activity. But we did excel at the athletic competitions, especially against those pansies from 3rd batt. :)
For me, being a NUPOC, OCS was just an exercise in tolerating BS while trying to learn as much about the Navy as I possibly could. For the most part, the former enlisted guys were invaluable for helping separate what was important from what was not. It's actually kinda funny that my indoctrination into the Navy bore no resemblance whatsoever to what the following 8 years would be like (other than the tolerating BS part, of course).
OCS 89001 Delta
7/21/2009 10:10 AM
SD boot 1980. I just watched the video. They have an indoor Gym???? Funny story once I left Boot and went to subscho;; I had to back to SD for a school at NASWTPAC or was it FLEAWSTPACAC...anyway the Blue Building across from NTC. I went to find my Boot company commanders and they asked me if the knew wherethey are ...both went AWOL while I was at subschool ...ahwww the 80's......
7/21/2009 10:22 PM
I would bang Chief Arlene. Who's with me?
7/23/2009 5:58 PM
I'm going to have to agree with that. Even if they take my A-school away and make me a striker and along with being an E-1 for the next four years, I'd still take the chance if offered and see how well she can deep throat and swallow. I'd also like to find out if her favorite way of getting it is from behind while standing with her ass arched outboard. That might just be worth running the risk of getting caught. So hopefully, the HMC MILF, is not a screamer or a loud moaner. sometimes you just have to take a chance in life.
7/23/2009 8:09 PM
Totally agree, anon. I remember I had a female CC in boot back in the day. Not so hot, but after a few weeks, I totally would fantasize about pumping hot man gravy down her throat.
7/23/2009 9:35 PM
Trust me there's no one that can ever escape RTC Great Lakes. It's 30 miles from the nearest town and there is MA scattered all around there at the posts near the train station down the road so good luck with that. Sides the punishment for trying to escape is just being sent to a holding cell for a bit then taken to Cpt. Annie Andrews then be court marshalled then either be fined then returned to another division that just started out or be sent to one of the other buildings for the removal process which ends up taking over a month or 2 even though they say it won't.
10/03/2009 7:54 PM
WOW MAN... Has the NAVY and basic changed... Do them bed pans include pampers? Eight weeks... I remember twelve weeks of hell, I mean training. But then that was when we still had Iron ships, Brass propellers,steam turbines and steel men. Waves still did shore duty at type writers, unarmed.
8/09/2010 7:41 AM
I am here now, and unfortunatly, This place is a joke. I will be suprised if a damn one of them can survive out in the real navy.
12/09/2010 2:00 PM
I was at Great Lakes in summer 1982 (Co. 112) I got off the bus and a CC grabbed my pony tail and started yelling "we got us one!, we got us one!" I was terrified!, 2 weeks later I was made squad leader. I went to GM A school across the street. I was on a working party on night swabbing the deck in the corridor where the C.O.'s office was (Flatley?) I was angry at having been stuck on a working party and as i pushed the bucket along with the mop, it tipped over and ALL ran under the door into the ADM's locked office and soaked into the carpet. I played stupid, and never heard anything more about it.
3/20/2011 7:28 PM
july 7th 1982 13th division company 169 Great Lakes RTC
CC Richard E Frey
CC Tom Gabriel
SR RS BELMER
recruit yeoman
I was issued bootys way too big tried to get the right size but they wouldnt let me Feet slipped and slidded in my boots so bad got infected bloisters to the point I couldnt walk...after getting my ass licked in 3 weeks later I wound up in the hospital headed for a honorable discharge.. R Frey was cool the other guy was a asshole
30 years later I still lament because I really wanted to be a sailor like my dad and uncles...
1/14/2012 11:57 PM
I was at great lakes in November of 1984 that place is as cold as it gets and I was raised in northern Maine. I remember it all hit me while I was still on the bus just passed through the gate my thought at that moment was wtf did I get into, needless to say I soon found out compliments of HT1 Adair a hard drinking swearing lifer with red strips. back then they pulled shit like air raid drills in the middle of the night after the bars closed. Singled out guys as"bugs" and made they're life's hell, oh and the asmo button
They liked to set guys back a few weeks I doubt they do that now. But for me the worse Part of boot camp was service week working in the gallery that sucked worse then doing 3 months in the scullery onboard the Proteus. But its all good members now just passed 20 years as a civilian working for the navy .....
6/16/2012 6:07 PM
RBELMER, I also had Richard E. Frey, ET1 (SS) as my CC from Sep 24 - Dec 7 1982. My other CC was FCT1 Hoppes, I could look his rate up if I wanted to dig my book out of the attic. I was in Company 283 "The Cobras" we won color company, boot camp was a blur then I spent 20 years in the fleet. The Navy did alot for me and I enjoyed the travel, I contract now for the govt. Reading all these blogs sure stirs up some memories though. Fun stuff for sure. G. Joslin
8/02/2012 5:23 AM
I am 42 years old that was raised in the military and then married a submariner. I work at RTC and after viewing the "New RTC Video" is a joke. I have been in that gym and it is pathetic. So many of them are so out of shape and fat. these are kids around 18-25 years old. Being a 42 year old women I should not be able to outrun an 18 year old. I work with these kids every signal day and I have to tell you a lot of these kids have become spoiled brats that have no work ethic and no integrity in their work. I don't know about but when an enlisted or officer tell you to stop talking in the waiting room in boot-camp, that means no talking. Not these kids, then they whisper. I feel like at times I am babysitting kids that don't know how to follow instructions. These days all I hear enlisted say is how they want to get out and get some form of disability from the navy. Now keep in mind most of the ones that say that have never been out to see and only experience shore duty and even better are dental techs. seriously? they want disability for what? we have over 300 civilians as dental staff ranging from the age of 19-65 years old and they are not looking for disability. These kids are not even teching. they come in and take muster, play on the computer, visit friends, go to lunch , pt then go home. all in that order. when eval time comes, they take all the work YOU do and take credit for your hard work, then they get promoted. It's one jacked up system. I have been at their barracks (ship)college dorm environment has dismantled the navy with good strong sailors like back in the day. Back then you walked in the rain/sleet and snow to go to the galley. Now they do not have to do that, it's all in their ship. Maybe having boot-camp like it used to be created better men and women and future leaders. Now we have lazy, self righteous and entitle sailors. Please don't get me wrong but I only speak for what I have seen here at Great Lakes. It is very rare I see a sailor with an old soul. I blame the parents for raising or lack of good self disciplined adults. I always can tell the recruit that had good parents/parent. They are usually the ones that follow orders and want to achieve greatness and they are not looking for a hand out. To become a good leader, you must be a good listener.
3/10/2013 6:21 PM
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