INDOC

Looking back over my blog from two weeks ago I am amazed at how long ago that seems. The week at INDOC felt like a month. So I was trying to figure how I would write about it and after reading my mom’s letters I will take a page from her book and break it down by day. So here it goes another long entry… I promise they won’t all be this long!

Sunday 17 August, 2008

Last night I stayed up to watch Phelps win his 8th gold and other Olympic events; looking back on it probably not the best move on my part. Sunday morning I arrived at the Unit Office at 0800, after checking in and dropping off my bags we went over to the SMG (School of Management Building) and were given an opening introduction and time to say goodbye to our parents. At this point I was still excited and a little nervous so saying goodbye wasn’t too bad. From the SMG we went over to MIT where our supply office is located. They divided us into groups and we had to wait to get all of our gear issued. While we were waiting we were given a book called The Gouge and told to read it and memorize it. In terms of gear we were issued; PT gear (3 sets) and told to change in to one of them, khaki uniform (2), a sea bag, glow belt, khaki belt with buckle, oxfords (shoes). Once everyone had their gear (I was one of the last ones because it was alphabetical), we were fingerprinted and set on the bus. Thankfully it was a nice coach bus, and were told to know the general guard orders (if only I had remembered them from CAP I wouldn’t have had to relearn them). The bus ride down there was fairly enjoyable, laughing and joking about how most of us didn’t have our trousers (pants) because they were being hemmed. Little did we know how much that would change when we got on base.
The entire bus goes silent as we pull up to King Hall. There is a row of khaki staff (we learn are the officers) and a row of cami staff (the “sergeants”). The next thing we know a Gunnery Sergeant is on the bus yelling that we are going to get off the bus, grab a sea bag and form up. Then everything speeds up… the cami staff is yelling at everyone to get off the bus and run. From there we ran into the building and had to find out hutch (room) and stand on line (stand by our door at the position of attention). The period of time was going to the head (bathroom) in 2minutes or less, learning how to make hospital corners, grabbing all of our contraband. Then back outside for dinner on the PT field during a safety class (it was like 10 min maybe). Back inside for a uniform class, more remaking our racks (beds) because we weren’t fast enough. Finally it was time for the shower (about 1 min), followed by singing the Navy Song and the Marine Corp Hymn. Then it was time for lights out… the time about 20:30 (8:30pm).

Monday 18 August, 2008

Our wakeup call came at about 0430, however this wasn’t by a nice alarm clock, no this was accomplished by the cami staff yelling and banging on dorms. Everyone was given point two seconds to be out on the line. From there we went and did PT. That morning was light, consisting of a mobility lap, Marine Corp push-ups (every 2 = 1), flutter kicks, hello-dollies, side straddle hops (jumping jacks) and stretching. After PT we had a PT shower, in other words we didn’t wash our hair and changed into a different set of PT gear. From there we had chow (breakfast). The goal was to eat but to eat fast. I ended up having scramble eggs, sausage, and blue Gatorade. From chow we had uniform prep time and then we changed into our uniforms and went to classes. After classes we did drill, had chow, more drill, more uniform prep time, more classes, chow, uniform time, platoon time, meet with the medos, took another shower, sang the services songs and got ready to get in our racks by 2030 (8:30).

Tuesday 19 August, 2008

Tuesday was much like Monday in that we were up at 0430. For PT we went on a run (joy), took PT showers, and then went to chow. Now a clarification on chow; we weren’t allowed watches so our day was broken down by meals but they weren’t all the enjoyable. The idea was to get in and out has fast as possible. Meanwhile you are getting your food, have your cami staff asking you memorization questions, trying to drink two glasses of Gatorade, and you weren’t allowed: to talk, look at your food or look around. Sounds like a party. Tuesday continued to follow the pattern of Monday with drill, classes and instruction time.

Wednesday 20 August, 2008 (Hump day)

My birthday started off in no different of a fashion then the other two. Only this morning instead of PT we had uniform prep. After uniform prep, there was breakfast. After breakfast we went to the pool to be test for our third class swim qualification. The qualification consisted of jumping off of a platform, floating for five minutes, swimming a 50 and then demonstrating that you could make a floating device out of your uniform. Last just say that was one of the best mornings there. After that was over we had more drill, chow and then we had PT. We did the run again but this time we broke off into ability groups (I was in the slowest because as we all know I would rather swim the mile then run it). The running was probably the worst part for me.
From there we had more uniform prep time because we had a platoon sergeant inspection. In other words the platoon sergeants from another platoon would inspect our uniforms. No one passed, nor were we supposed to. It was a long hour or so of standing at either attention or parade rest. After that we had MOI (Marine Officer Instructor) time. We had MRE’s while he talked (great B-day dinner). I got lucky and had Sloppy Joes which weren’t too bad. This was kind of a turning point, we talked about how we all could gain some break by doing things on our own. Things got easier after this but it was still no walk in the park.

Thursday 21 August, 2008

Nothing changed much about wake-up calls or the entire structure of the day. Nothing major happened except that night we had a platoon commanders inspection which went better than the platoon sergeants inspection and it was cool to see the sun setting over the water. The only other thing that was out of the ordinary of INDOC was that I got a piece of cake with lunch because of my birthday being the day before.

Friday 22 August, 2008

Friday was probably the best day ever. We had to get up still at 0430 but this time instead of doing things like always we loaded into vans and went to one of the Navy’s damage control centers for firefighting. We spent most of the morning in classes but they were relaxed and we could talk which was amazing. Then we all put on the entire fire suit and went to the warehouse and put out fires. We used fire extinguishers, the hoses to put out an electrical fire, a regular fire, and a weapons fire. After that was done and it took all morning we went back for uniform prep time. We had an inspection by the Company Commander and his staff that took probably about an hour and a half (we didn’t have watches so I can’t say for sure).
That night our platoon had an ironing party because the CO was going to have an inspection of his own on Saturday, so after lights out we all went into an empty hutch and ironed and talked.

Saturday 23 August, 2008

Saturday morning we woke up and got our uniforms ready for the CO’s inspection. After breakfast we went and had a drill competition of everything we learned that week. Following the drill comp we had the CO’s inspection in which we were than proclaimed midshipman 4th class. After that the entire staff reintroduced themselves as who they really were… upper class midshipman, the entire atmosphere changed. At lunch we could sit normally, talk and ask questions.
After lunch we completed a PFA to determine where we were at. The best thing about that was the shower we got to take after. We were given about two hours in which to shower, change into khakis, and plan for the Gong show we had that night. Dinner was even better than lunch because we could get dessert (we couldn’t at lunch because we had to run after words) and ask more questions.
That night we preformed the Gong show which poked fun at everything that happened that week; candidates and staff alike. After that we had a mass clean up over our area in King hall. Lights went out about 9 or 10 that night.

Sunday 24 August, 2008

Our PT this morning consisted of “combat soccer,” staff versus the 4th class. It was a blast, there was two soccer balls going, and a Frisbee, every time someone scored the opposing team had to do 5 pushups. Unfortunately we lost but it was an amazing time. From there we were given time to clean up and the opportunity to go to church. I did go, however, I felt really bad when I fell asleep during some of it.

The ride back to Boston was enjoyable and very relaxed. Even though it was a hard week, I am so glad I did it. It not only made our class come together as a team but also showed me that I can do it, I am where I belong.

Overview

There are a few things I skipped over:

The hardest part was probably the fact that we could no longer use the word “I” or any other terms implying an individual. From the moment we got off the bus until we were given the title of midshipman 4th class we had to refer to ourselves as “candidate.”

Fire watch- we were required to stand fire watch for an hour at some point during the night. I received it three times. The first time kind of sucked because it was in the middle of the night. My second and third one was the last watch of the night so I wasn’t interrupted in my sleep. The purpose of fire watch is to ensure everyone is safe and nothing happens.

Honor Platoon- Honor platoon was a competition between the three platoons in four events; relay races (we did that Thursday morning as out PT), company commander’s inspection, a knowledge base exam, and the drill competition. My platoon (third platoon) won it. The interesting thing is that my platoon sergeant has had the honor platoon every time at INDOC.
So this one is really long... at least I didn’t add in all the enrichment stuff too, you could be reading all day!