Week 2 update in OP.

Reading between the lines I’m guessing you’re in drill instructor training? I’m certainly not up on Navy lingo.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Reading between the lines I’m guessing you’re in drill instructor training? I’m certainly not up on Navy lingo.

Yes, Navy boot camp instructor. My 13 week course is PT intensive with training focusing on learning everything we have to teach the recruits.

Very cool. I just didn’t want to assume. I know we have DIs and then support instructors that aren’t DIs.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Very cool. I just didn’t want to assume. I know we have DIs and then support instructors that aren’t DIs.

For the Navy it’s almost 100% all DIs. First year you push boots, second year you perform a less time intensive job, and third years you push boots again. So MOST instructors will just be DIs in their “rest” year. Which is usually anything but peaceful from what I’m seeing. There are some full time staff HMs at the hospital and at the Freedom Hall where recruits perform their PT tests.

Update in OP.

I know things have changed there, i have no idea how much they have changed while this is pretty general, maybe you can find something useful.

Now that you are out on the street, pay attention to the RDCs you interact with styles.
- some RDCs are huggers, some are haters. Think of it as a scale. You will see some staff who befriends the recruits, and some will remain distant and aloof. My 2nd push was with 2 CPOs who were one of each. It was challenging.
- some RDCs will make the recruits do everything, some will do everything for the recruits. I shit you not, I have CPOs on their hands and knees with a sponge, touching up the wax on the deck before a CI. I have seen RDCs go through lockers and fix items, and RDCs that go through lockers and just toss anything thats not correct.
- some RDCs are trainers, some RDCs are more of a training supervisor. You can teach a couple recruithow to do something and then have them teach the other recruits, or you can teach every recruit yourself. An example it taking the division to the drill hall to practice pass and review. You can grab a couple of service weeks and have them teach you stickmen the marks, or you can teach them yourself.
- the size of your box. You have learned boundaries so far. The ITE card is an example. We could start the card on any exercise and stop at any exercise, but you had to run the card in order and no more then twice through in any session. So RDCs would stick to this, some would push the boundaries of the box out some. Some would blow the box wide open. You will have to determine the size of your box, while you are a blue rope, you don't get a say in the size of the red rope's box, but if you are in a situation where you are not comfortable with what is going on, leave. Go down to the RDC lounge and watch the news. You can always ask them about it later on. I've seen people go down just for being there. If your trainers are worth a shit, they will tell you to go take a break at times.

As you look around at RDCs, take the RDCs that you like and try and classify their styles. Then figure out how their style makes them good at training recuits and steal it and make it your own. You can do the same in reverse with bad RDCs.

I guess you can't slack off on your own appearance. It seems like it's inspection day every day.

Week 4/5 update in OP.

Emailed a reply (finally).

quote:

My normal week is Mon-Sat with 3 Sundays a month off. The 6-day weeks are 81 hours minimum. I’ll likely have to work most Sundays off to get every signature I need on my qualifications.

That sounds...brutal. How long do you have to keep that up? I've put in 80s before, but not sustained like that, and it wasn't fun. I definitely know what it's like to fall asleep every time you sit down. Sometimes you've just gotta do what you've gotta do to get through, but keeping up a schedule like that long term doesn't seem sustainable.

Sounds like there's been a few changes since I was in Boot Camp at Great Lakes. I was in Company 017, 11th Division first day was 10 January 1984.

I enjoy your updates, the process sets the tone of the recruits for the rest of their time in the Navy whether its 4 years or 40.

Bravo Zulu.

92, yeah it’s tough. But also very rewarding.

Updated OP.

quote:

Originally posted by OttoSig:
92, yeah it’s tough. But also very rewarding.

Updated OP.

I'ver never been in the military...closest I've come is the police academy, and while they were allowed to pressure us pretty hard, it stopped in the evenings and we got to go home on the weekends, because they had to abide by the 40-hour work week for us civilians. It wasn't fun, but having a break in the evening and wekeends had to make it exponentially easier.

I sucked at close order drill. I'm 6'5" and basically an uncoordinated scarecrow. I worked my butt off...going to the voluntary extra sessions in the evening, practicing on days off, etc. About halfway through the first week, we were going through the lunch line and our lead DI was standing there as I tried to march up, square my corners, and get my food. He came up to me and growled under his breath "92FSTech, you need to work on this. A Lot." He was a terrifying hardass...Marine Veteran, 25+ years on the road as a cop, very strict and severe when he was in front of the class...but also a really good dude. I think he saw that I was trying and that was his way of pushing me to keep after it without busting my ass in the lunch line. I eventually got to the point where I could at least do it all well enough to avoid drawing unwanted attention to myself .

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About 10% attrition is expected at boot camp and it’s a good thing. Get rid of the fluff as they say.

That's absolutely true. One of those in our class was my roomate.

We were three to a room, and my other roomate like me was an older guy in his 30s with a few years of experience as a reserve cop before we got hired fulltime. The third guy was a young kid maybe 22 or 23 who got sent straight to the academy after getting hired. He had zero experience or even exposure to the job.

Day one after they assigned our rooms they sent us up to them to drop our gear and told us to come right back downstairs. Of course about 30 seconds in they come into the hallway screaming at us to get the %&^&^ back downstairs, why are we taking so *%^%^$ing long? The younger kid hadn't even made it there yet, but me and the other guy dropped our kit, shut the door, and ran downstairs. Well, apparently when new kid finally got up there he didn't shut the door when he left. And of course the DIs were all over it. My goal going in was to keep my nose clean and not draw any unwanted attention to myself, and here I am day 1 standing in front of the class with my roomates getting screamed at and burpeed because dumbass didn't shut the door.

That night when they finally cut us loose, we had to go get our rooms squared away, make our beds in the prescribed manner, do our homework, etc. They showed us a picture of what they wanted the beds to look like, but never showed us how to do it. We had no idea, so we hunted down another basic who had been in the military and got him to show us. The other guy was out talking on his phone or something and didn't participate. When he came back in the room we tried to show him how to do it but he wouldn't even try and just kept saying he didn't know how. We made his bed for him. Then he kept us up all night crying and puking in the bathroom. Dude just couldn't handle it. He quit the next day, which was beter for everyone.

Otto,
Is there still a generic nickname for recruits?
When I started, they were called Rick, as in Ricky recruit. It was "come here Rick" or (more commonality) "what the hell are you doing Rick?". The ambulance was called the rickmobile. The shower was called the ricky car wash when I'd pump the entire division thru it in 10 minutes.

It was deemed that this was degrading and, (keep in mind your observations about the quality of the command) we RDCs were collectively ordered to cease and desist.

As I'm sure you’ve noticed, RDCs are an arrogant and cocky bunch, with good reason. So RDCs being RDCs said aye aye, and promptly started calling them Chuck. "What the fuck Chuck?.", chuckleheads, the ambulance became the chuckwagon, and use your imagination …. If senior leadership was around it was Charles.

It was still Chuck when I left but I'm curious if it has evolved.

Interesting updates. Thanks for your insight. I was in company 247, 11th Division which was situated on the southern most point of RTC Great Lakes in 78. From the sat images, it appears to be an open field today

SpinZone,

I remember “Ricky recruit” from my days 11-12 years ago. And I’ve heard it here a couple times. Though usually just for nostalgia.

There isn’t a generic name anymore and they stressed in C school that only 3 names can be used. “Recruit”, “their name”, or “their job”.

But like you said, RDCs are a proud bunch so we have a, “Mclovin”, “Saxophone”, “happy feet”, “forky”, etc in our division.

One thing that may have changed since you were here is that we now have a footwear schedule. Every 3rd day or so they wear go fasters instead of boots. Apparently it’s the COs way to cut down on shin splints and other injuries. There aren’t many thing I hate worse than sneakers in NWUs, but who am I to complain.

Warrior toughness is also a daily item on the MTS. Some good points to it but overall I feel it’s a pacifier for some of them. I guess overall it’s good but it just doesn’t strike me as tough or warrior related at all.

I’m not sure if you had it, we didn’t when I was in boot camp, but they have center compartments in the tri-ships set up for line handling and damage control reps and sets. Which I can get behind, they aren’t seeing it for the first time at Marlinspike or USS Chief.

I could get behind putting the in sneakers 1 out of 3 days for the first few weeks to help them adjust, but not for all of boot camp. Lord I can imagine the trouble that gives you, there is always going to be that one recruit that shows up in the wrong footwear.

They were just starting to clear land for the new tri-ship when I left so I never saw them. It seemed like a good idea, how do you like them?

Update in OP

Update in OP.