There will be a shortened week, I will be loading up the family truckster and heading North to Coumbia, South Carolina.
Fort Jackson, that is.
Spousal Unit has a nephew graduating from Army Recruit Training, Friday. So we shall be there to provide encouragement and what ever to the newly minted Soldier. Allegedly, said Private may be traveling back with us to Jacksonville for a week's break.
I tried to get him to consider the Navy, but that side of the family has Army on the brain.
The Navy has airconditioning, says I. Of course, nobody gives any consideration to the years of experience I have in the Service. I can't wait to ask about a hot summer in Fort Jackson.
This nice young man (Who turns eighteen this week) is country born and bred, hunting before he was five, who lives for the free space and peace of wild forests and spends weeks alone out in the wilds of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He will graduate from Calumet High School, most notable graduate being George Gipp. So it is natural that he would want to be a Soldier, especially one who spends time in the field and likes it.
Did I mention that the Upper Peninsula of Michigan has only two seasons? Winter and next winter. This is why I thought about that airconditioning thing. Fort Jackson has got to be like Jacksonville, hot and humid.
See? The Navy makes alot of sense, to me.
Back to our new Soldier;
There is nothing like graduating from any boot camp. It is the first step of Military Service, and anyone who has been there remembers the day of graduation, and the feeling of accomplishment they carry from that day forward. Plus, most of us graduating have the expectation of serving in a military that is going to mirror our experience in Recruit Training. Not.
The reality of Military Life after Boot Camp is what causes most problems for new service members. Military life is never what they said it would be like in Boot Camp, in fact, if we were to keep the discipline as tight as recruit training, everyone would make it through their first enlistment.
It has been over thirty years since I had that experience, and it is still fresh in my mind.
Youth is wasted on young people, right?
Congratulations, to PVT Steve. I hope you have more fun than I ever had.
Me in 1979
4 comments:
See? The Navy makes alot of sense, to me.
Well, sorta. I used to tell SN2 I could never understand why he (or anyone) would want to spend two consecutive months without (a) seeing the sun, (b) anything harder than coffee to drink, and (c) touching ANYTHING soft. That was when he was in Boomers, tho. The surface Navy does get (a)! :D
You were a pretty good looking Jarhead!
Congrats to Pvt. Steve. I've spent some time amongst Da Yoopers, so I know (sorta) where he's coming from.
Thanks for the compliment, Buck. Every Son of every Mother looks grand at graduation. It is the twenty and thirty years afterwards that leaves us looking like ten miles of bad road.
I concur about the submarine comment. I could not stand living in a sewer pipe, but the folks who serve in Subs wouldn't have it any other way.
Da Yoopers! Reminds me of da' tourist trap in Ishpeming. "Clean bathroom" (Singular) is a point of pride dere.
And all this time I thought you were a lowly squid.
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