Navy Basic Training - Week 2 Day 2

02/04/10 Week 2 Day 2

Reveille was at 0500, more than half of my division had dentist appointment so the rest of us stayed in our compartment and cleaned. We stripped all the racks to get the sheets washed, checked everyone's lockers to make sure they looked good. We studied for a little while. You will be given a study guide and you will have it with you everywhere you go, classes, chow, marching. If you are waiting in line for something you will be looking at your book, you are not supposed to talk, look around but face towards the bulkhead (wall ) and study.

Overall it was an easy day, we have our first test tomorrow it will contain all the material covered during these first 2 weeks. Passing grade is 3.2, the division has to average 4.0 or above to get the scholastic flag. This flag will be carried everywhere we go.

A little bit of yelling here and there but it was a good day. Taps was at 2145. Right now most people are studying for the test. Folks that fail the test have another chance to take it and if they fail again they get set back in training and moved to another division. Tomorrow we will have 50 questions and I heard we have about 35 to 40 minutes to answer all the questions.

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Navy Basic Training - Week 1

As I promised I will begin to post my experience during the Navy Basic Training, I arrived in RTC Great Lakes on January 19th of 2010. It was a long day I was up at 4:30 am to get ready to go to MEPS. There I saw the doc again, participated on another oath ceremony, signed more documents, ate and waited to be taken to the airport. I left Minneapolis on the afternoon and arrived in Chicago at around 1700.

I checked in at the Military office at the airport and went to get something to eat, after that I met three Navy personnel that went thru some debriefing. The bus to RTC did not leave until 1900. We all (recruits) sat on the floor while we were waiting to go to RTC. Not a lot of yelling until this point. During the 40 minutes trip to RTC we were showned a movie about boot camp, no talking at all, we were not allowed to talk during our pleasant ride.

As it was pretty cold that night, nobody was waiting for us outside of the bus, all the petty officers were inside the building.....that is when the yelling starts. Get used to it from there on the yelling will follow you and your division during your stay.

We formed to lines one facing each other and we were showed how to properly stand at attention. I can recall all they said, but basically telling us what the expect from us and explaining what is going to happen throughout the night. It was a long night, we got out photos taken for our IDs, received our sea bags, shorts, shoes, socks, shirts, towels etc. We had to do the urinalyses again...you will be busy with activities or sitting waiting for something. I was voluntold to help out the petty officers with miscellaneous stuff and that was cool. Don't plan on getting any sleep on your first night at RTC.

The next day we got hair cut, shots (5 or 6 ) and yeah be prepared for the peanut butter shot...thats all I'm going to say :) We finally went to bed at 2200...by that time I had been up for 40 hours. Reveille was at 5:30 and we were "politely" asked to get up and get dressed. The next few days (Pdays) were filled with different activities, classes, learning how to fold your clothes, stencilling all of your stuff etc. You will have 5 days of Pdays and then you will start your actual first week of training. Training days go from Monday thru Friday, Saturday and Sunday don't count even though you will doing something.

It has been a while so already forgot some stuff. Don't stress too much about your first day(s), pay attention on the info the Petty Officer are putting out once we get to RTC, this should stay with you. If you pay attention and do what you are told you will be fine.

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Now I'm a Sailor!

Hi there, it has been a while since my last post, I reported to boot camp on January 19th and my graduation was on March 12th. Now I'm at my A-School here in Great Lakes. I still don't have my laptop and I'm using the computers available to sailors here at the TSC base. In the next few days I will be posting blogs of my experience during basic training. All the daily activities and hopefully it will help some of you that are thinking about joining the Navy. I won't be able to tell everything but I still think it will be helpful to the future Sailors out there.

Take Care!

Finally!

Great News! I signed my contract on December 1st and I leave to basic training in Great Lakes, on January 19th. Again there were not a lot of jobs to choose from and as I'm running out of time because of my age, I decided to take a Machinist Mate position and get my foot in the Navy. At least now, I can travel to Brazil without worrying about not being able to go to basic before April.

I will apply for American citizenship after A-School and that will make me eligible for more jobs later on, If I have the chance to change jobs I will go for it, otherwise I will get out after my contract is up. I'm pretty excited about this new challenge and the changes that will come with it.

I leave to Brazil next week to visit my folks and when I come back, I will get ready for basic training. I'm currently running 3 miles three times a week and lifting weight on my non running days and I'm feeling pretty good.

More updates coming soon!

Joining the US Navy - Another Try!

Hi everyone,

I'm going back to MEPS next week (December 1st) to see what ratings are available. As it has not been more than 30 days since my last trip to MEPS, I won't have to stay overnight. I'm leaving to Brazil in a few weeks and I would like to finalize this process, sign the contract and swear in before my trip.
Among all the ratings that were offered to me last time I was there, four of them picked my interest. As you know the rating that I wanted (corpsman), was not available to me because I went to Dental School in Brazil and according to the Navy that over qualifies me for that job. I'm not an American citizen and that narrows even more the jobs that I can pick from.
Eventually I want to be working in the medical field and that will be my goal as I join the US Navy.

That is it for now, I will post more updates soon.

Emerson Bertoni

Almost There!

Well, I was finally given the OK to enlist. Great news!

I went to Minneapolis last Sunday and on Monday morning I sat down with the classifier, to pick a job. I wanted to serve as a Corpsman (Medic) but because I went to Dental School in Brazil and I am considered a dentist (even though I'm not licensed to practice in the US), the rating was not available to me.

I'm also not an American citizen, so that narrows even more my options.

The classifier offered me a bunch of other jobs that did not interested me and I decided not to sign that day. He told me I can always change ratings after two years of service, so I am looking over some of the ratings that he offered me and I will make a decision by next week.

So pretty soon I could be finally joining the US Navy!

More updates to come.

Joining the US Navy