You're in the Navy now

One evening, she had a meeting for “new sailors” and we had previously made plans to hang out that night, so I went along with her. I received a lot of information at the meeting and became interested in joining the Navy, but I told the recruiter, Chief Diaz, I would join only if I could go along with Doris. Chief Diaz told me I had a lot of catching up to do: Doris had been preparing for a month and was leaving in a week, but Chief Diaz assured me I would be ready if I woke up early every morning the following week to undergo the necessary preparations. Chief Diaz told me Doris and I could go under the “buddy system,” a program allowing friends to be in the same company during boot camp and be stationed together at their first duty station. Every day that week, I woke up at 3:00am, and Chief Diaz drove me to the Military Entrance Processing Center (MEPS). MEPS is a facility where newly recruited individuals take their ASVAB test (a test similar to the SAT containing math and english questions), complete a

People often ask me, “Did you really like the Navy?” I tell them, “No. I loved it.”

A week later, we received our orders for our first duty station and were finally able to go home for two weeks. Back home, everyone was so happy to see me! I could not wait to go to McDonald’s and Popeye’s Chicken. Once I finished what was the best meal I had eaten in eight weeks, I went home, took a nice, (warm and private) bath, laid in my own bed and slept for ten hours. The next morning, I put on my uniform and went to see all of my teachers at my old high school. They were so surprised to learn I had enlisted in the Navy: until then only my family knew.

Boot camp was difficult; however, looking back on it now, it was a good experience. The most important concept boot camp taught me was teamwork: one can’t succeed in life without it. Although I had to run five or more miles a day, learn to swim, and do more pushups than I thought I could possibly do, the routines got me into great physical shape. In addition to physical activity, we also took classes on Naval history, learned how to tie and name various knots, how to put out fires on the ship, and had to pass exams in order to graduate.

My first duty station was Key West, Florida. Norfolk, Virginia was my last duty station, where I was stationed aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. On the USS Eisenhower, I went on 2 Mediterranean “Cruises.” Cruises are tours of duty where you go up and down the Mediterranean Sea for 6 months. On port visits, I was able to visit various countries such as Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Dubai. Visiting different countries was interesting because the females had to obey the dress codes for specific countries. For instance, in the Middle Eastern countries, women aren’t allowed to show “flesh” so when we headed to shore to look around, we weren’t allowed to wear shorts, halter tops, anything sheer or any type of bathing suit. The jeans had to be loose fitting, the shirt had to cover our shoulders, and skirts needed to be below the knee.

Afterwards, we were led back into the “terminal” and were instructed to find a rack and go to sleep. “Finally,” I thought. Then I realized I hadn’t seen Doris. I hoped they didn’t separate us since we were on the “buddy system.” There wasn’t a clock in the “terminal,” but it was somewhere between 2:00 am to 4:00am. We were awakened, (which seemed like half an hour later,) by the company commanders who were yelling, beating trashcans, and screaming “Front and center recruits!”

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