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My Kid Just Joined the US Navy
My youngest on our back deck signing her paperwork to enlist in the Navy. She still has to finish her senior year in high school, hit that 18th birthday, and then she ships directly out to basic.
“I want to serve my country and see the world,” she says to us. Was she serious? Uh yeah, she was and is. In fact, she’s probably more mature and clear-sighted at 17 than I am today at 52. I am one proud papa today!
Published in General
New uniforms on the way, in the early stages right now. Recruiter said the current crop made folks too hard to see in water, sort of an odd thought but what do I know.
Yeah. That is something that has made me shake my head. Might as well have the plain blues of yesteryear. Must have been someone’s relative who got the contract for those.
Which isn’t great in a rescue situation.
When I was in, the Crackerjack uniform was authorized for enlisted, and it was pretty danged sharp.
If being in the water is really the thing, the uniforms should be fluorescent orange . . .
Outstanding!
All the best to you and her. Mostly, especially her (you’re old). Tell her that once she decides quitting is not, nor will ever be, an option, everything gets easier.
Congratulations! That’s a fine thing.
Best wishes to her!
Congratulations all around!
At OCS, we were taught to march, and we marched everywhere – to class, to meals, and to the Friday afternoon Pass In Review.
After OCS, I only marched one time, and that was at my submarine’s commissioning ceremony when the crew was ordered to “station the watch”. We marched to the middle hatch and climbed down. The reality was, there was already a watchsection stationed below, but you know – tradition.
Nonetheless, we kinda-sorta marched, which wasn’t easy on a curved surface. Aside: This was also the only time I ever wore a sword, but it was definitely cool!
You need to talk to @Percival about going around undressed that way.
Congratulations and best wishes to you and your daughter.
Being so immersed in politics can often leave you feeling exhausted, depressed, or even cynical. It’s refreshing and inspirational to see a young person step forward and offer up the prime years of their life to serve and protect their country. She’ll learn that few things in life offer the kind of honor and privilege of belonging to the most professional organization in the world: the U.S. armed forces.
Make sure you come back and post graduation photos when the time comes.
Good idea, will do!
You were wearing a sword and you had to descend through a hatch? If that’s not a part of the ceremony for becoming a Shellback, it ought to be.
Congrats! You will be amazed what the Navy experience will do for your daughter. I’m traveling today with our son who is soon exiting the Air Force after his 4 year enlistment. He is a much more mature, experienced, and fit man. He has selected his first real civilian job from among several offers. The US military can deliver a great experience for those that serve.
@curtnorth
Congrats on your daughter! I’ve had the privilege in my career to work with every branch of the military. I was AF, did an Army residency, then later worked at Camp Lejuene with the Navy and Marines, and currently working with the Army again at Ft Bragg.
I gotta ask. What’s with the Blue Camo in the Navy? Is that so you guys blend in when you fall overboard?
Congratulations.
Congratulations! My youngest finished basic training the end of May. The new uniforms are out. The Navy discovered that the new boots didn’t come in a size big enough for Li’l Skinner.
That is Ms Skinner’s greatest fear. The more things change the more they stay the same.
Congrats, Curt!
Tell her we are proud of her and God speed. Be great to hear how she is doing now and then.
Another lefty. She’ll probably end up in the medical corps.
(I mean her dominant hand, of course.)
It sure is! Especially when you contrast it with the sign-carrying, ski-masked human debris on the streets these days . . .
I recall the two most powerful people on my submarine were the Corpsman and the Yeoman. You had to make sure both of them liked you. If not, the Corpsman could “lose” your vaccination record, and the Yeoman could “misplace” your approved leave slips . . .
From one left-dominant to another, she’ll be great at whatever MOS she’s drawn to, but it’d be great if we get to call her “Doc”… :-)
When I was working out of a DEW-line station, I believe it was the cook. Great big Danish guy with an uneven temper. The story was someone criticized his cooking and he threatened to poison him. It was believable enough that I developed a enthusiasm for his liver and onions, feigned to the point of asking for seconds. If pressed hard, I would say they were a little better than Mama Skinner’s, but I think she’d understand.
She heads to MEPS on Monday to clear her medically and get her training opportunities, won’t ship out till Summer of 2019 after graduation. As much as I’ve tried over the years, she simply has no passion for the medical field :(
Like the idea of communications or the legal field, bear in mind she is enlisting active duty, not ROTC.
I think I’d rather be poisoned . . .
I was not an officer in the Air Force. Once, the people running the mess halls decided that corpsmen had to do KP. That was long ago when KP existed. After that, no one got sent home sick from the mess hall. They went right back to duty and soon the KP thing vanished.
Craig Venter was a corpsman in the Navy and he got crossways with a senior nurse at Balboa Hospital. She got him sent to Vietnam where he spent a lot of time caring for Marine Corps wounded. That’s where he decided to go medical school. After he got out, he did his college and applied to USC medical school. A professor of molecular biology at UCSD took a liking to him and convinced him to stay and get a PhD. A few years later, he deciphered the Human Genome.
Starting as a corpsman is not a bad plan.
Thank God, there are people like her.