My Navy Days - Boot Camp

I joined the Navy before my senior year of high school on the delayed entry program. By signing up early I was  guaranteed the training I wanted, aircraft electronics. On July 8th, 1980, three weeks after graduation, I said goodbye to my family and friends, and hopped on a bus to the processing center in downtown Los Angeles. I was ready to start a new adventure. 

The first thing I remember after getting to the center was them herding us into a room where we were told by a so called doctor to strip naked, face the wall, bend over, and spread our cheeks. He then proceeded to walk around the room inspecting us for any signs of hemorrhoids. I remember this because of the comments he made; "Ooh, nice". "Oh yes, I like that one". "Mmmm, no tan lines, you dirty boy".  "Uhuh, I could sure do that". He might have been messing with us, but I think he was a bit light in the loafers. Even if I did have hemorrhoids, I was so puckered up after hearing those comments you wouldn't have been able to see them.

After we were processed it was back on another bus heading to the Naval Training Center in San Diego. Where the fun would begin. The bus stopped half way between Los Angeles and San Diego so we could have our last civilian meal before before getting to the training center. It was a Bob's Big Boy we stopped at. I had the best burger I had ever eaten.

My first day in boot camp was a long one. We got new clothes, that weren't anywhere close to fitting. We got all our hair cut off by the fine barbers at the training center. We had to run a gauntlet of corpsmen giving us shots with airguns. What the shots were I have no idea, I just remember them making us do push-ups afterward with sore arms.

The barracks

The second day we were divided into companies, mine was Company 161. We marched to our barracks where we were taught how to make our beds and fold our clothes the Navy way. We then marched off to chow for some of that great Navy food. When we returned to the barracks, our company commanders had totally destroyed the barracks, clothes and bunk parts everywhere. We had to do push-ups in the scattered piles of crap. It was fun trying to do push-ups with one hand on a mattress, and the other on a pile of underwear.

Most of our time in boot camp was spent in classrooms learning all about the Navy. Except for marching everywhere, we didn't have to do a lot of physical exercise. I can't remember much of what our classes were about, I was usually just trying to stay awake. We had one instructor that carried a mallet. If he caught you sleeping he would slam that mallet down on your desk, usually breaking the desk. The mallet didn't break the desk, it was you jumping out of your seat that did the trick.

One of the things I remember was a device called the buttercup. It was basically a water tank that looked like a room on a ship. It had a bunk and a few other things in it. They would start filling the tank with water through holes in the wall. You had to stop the leaks using whatever was in the room. Luckily I would never have to put that training to use. I think they would have been better off teaching us how to drink alcohol without puking.

What a punk I was.

Most of our time not spent in a classroom was spent marching and drilling on the parade ground. We learned how to march in columns, how to march in lines, how to wheel, how to do turn, we learned how to do all kinds of marching. By the end of boot camp we would be a real drilling machine. After book camp I would rarely march in formation again, it was time well spent. Again I wished they had taught us how to drink without puking.

In order to graduate from basic training we had to do a two and one half mile run. Since we didn't do much exercising I took it upon myself to make sure I would pass. I would go out every night after we were done with the days activities and run. I would go on to pass the test. I weighed 203 pounds when I joined the  Navy, I was 175 pounds by the time I was done with boot camp.

One of our little pranks - pushing the racks together.

We did our share of pranks when we had the time. The usual stuff, shaving cream in or on the shoes, short sheeting the beds. One of our favorites was to wrap dental floss around a guys rack while he slept, basically we would tie him to his bed. It was always fun to watch him try to get out of his rack in the morning.

About half way through basic training we had to do our service week. That was were you spent the week doing various duties around the base. I was assigned to the scullery, that was where all the chow hall dishes were washed. It was so hot and steamy in there that I broke out in a whole body rash. I spent the rest of the week in our barracks painting our company's "go to hell" flag. A pretty fair trade I would have to say.

Our "Go To Hell" flag.

I remember the letters I got from my family and friends. I still have those letters in a bag at home. One of the people that wrote me was a girl named Kris, I really liked her, and got a lot of letters from her. One of the people I went into then Navy with didn't make it through boot camp because he ended up with flat feet. He would go home and end up marrying Kris.

When it came time for graduation we would march out to the parade ground in our dress uniforms,  stepping in perfect unison, to be hailed by our families. Or that was the plan anyway. We had marched for two months using the cadence of our company commanders, when we marched to the parade ground, it was to a band playing Anchors Aweigh, the cadence was different. We ended up looking like a long centipede with everyone out of step. so much for our perfection. We were standing there so long at attention that a  couple of the guys ended up passed out. It was nothing like we planned.

Goofing off in our spare time.

All and all, my time in boot camp was pretty good, after growing up with a former Marine for a dad , and the discipline that went with it, boot camp was like a vacation. And I was free.