tactical blueberry

done, sir, done

This post is a few days in coming, I know. It took three days just to remember this existed, honestly, and then now another three to find my password and build up the mental capacity to sit and reflect a bit. And even now, I really ought to be studying. So how was OCS, you’re wondering. I can’t tell you everything here, but I will say that the program itself met my expectations entirely, that the people met my expectations to a great degree, and finally that there is no excuse for showing up unprepared. There’s enough gouge out there (I know because I read it) to prepare anyone for the experience. That doesn’t mean that everyone should get through in 12 weeks - the medical stuff happens, the inspections rattle people to their core. You can’t read something that will act as an elixir to a drill instructor’s negative attention. But to show up physically unprepared - which an overwhelming number of people do - is irresponsible on the part of the student and his recruiter alike. That part of the system is absolutely broken. For me, the best part of the program was Week 10 - Indoc Week. That is, the week during which the new class came on deck. I had been appointed the Indoctrination Class Commander, so the initial in-processing and training of this new class fell on my shoulders. My staff and I worked like dogs - it was like the week before election day, only on such a smaller scale that every action or inaction had magnified consequences. We were coordinating logistics, babysitting, teaching, mentoring, commanding, correcting, running around, exuding calm composure, minding the smallest of details…and we did it nonstop. 3 hours of sleep was a luxury. And at the end of the week, and when we stepped off training country as Ensigns three weeks later, the results of our efforts were plain. They’re my class. 15-11, here’s to fair winds and following seas. Now I’m at Surface Warfare Officer School (SWOS) taking a three week intro course with 6 shipmates from OCS. The small class size is such an extraordinary opportunity - I feel very lucky not to be in a class of 50 right now. The speed at which information is being thrown at us is fast - what was covered over 2-3 weeks at OCS is being taught here for 2 hours in just as much detail. The hands-on learning is the most challenging and fun, though. On our first day, the The Commanding Officer (CO) of SWOS actually took us out sailing for 3 hours, so I got to mind the tiller, the main sheet, and the jib, all while answering questions about maritime right of way rules. All in all, an awesome welcome into the SWO community. When I’m done up here, I head down to just outside Norfolk, VA for two more short schools: how to be accountable for ammunition and how to launch Tomahawk missiles. When those are done, I hop on something or other to go out and meet my ship, USS FirstShip (CG —) wherever she might be at the time. It’ll be about two months until I actually get out there, which is pretty extraordinary. It feels like a lifetime from now, though I’m sure that will change fast.

boarders ahoy!

NATO has developed a video game. In this game, you’re doing counter-piracy ops. You’re boarding vessels, searching them, and questioning those on board. But one prominent military blogger notes, theres “not even a parrot” featured in the training scenario, and that makes it less-than-swashbuckling.

Read over the possible things-to-say in the screenshot above…there’s something about them being things you click at CGI pirates from the safety of your computer that makes them hilariously stilted. I mean, “We must search you”?

That said, obviously I’d jump at a chance to play. And one day to do the real thing?

enlistment

Lots of sailors choose creative venues for their re-enlistment ceremonies, but this one’s hard to top: Breaking the sound barrier in the back seat of an F/A-18 Hornet, five miles above the Atlantic Ocean.

The pilot, Cmdr. Mitchell Conover, administered the oath midflight and even gave [Aviation Machinist’s Mate 3rd Class Alfonso] Tulavillanueva a surprise as he recited the final words, pulling back on the stick and putting the aircraft into a climb.

Now that’s the way to swear an oath.

I’ll be taking care of mine at some point in March, it looks like, in a ceremony much less dramatic. Just me and the folks from the recruiting office up in Hyattsville, MD.

Last week, I received my “final select” letter, which indicated my first day at OCS will be SUN 3 APR 2011, 97 days from today. I can officially enlist once my orders are cut, which apparently takes some time, hence the March ceremony. I’ll keep you posted, though.

In the next 97 days, I’ll be ratcheting up my PT routine — adding runs back in (it’s been a few months), as well as some targeted strength and muscle endurance exercises for the things I know are popular with the Drill Instructors at OCS — push-ups, planks, sit-ups, flutter-kicks, etc.

It’s a relief to have that deadline looming. The countdown is extraordinary motivation to crawl out of bed on cold(-ish) mornings, and reminds me to push myself to complete that one last rep. And it makes every moment a little brighter — I guess that might sound trite or contrived, but it’s true. In just a few weeks I’ll become the property of my country, and I’d be damned if I didn’t squeeze every last moment of joy out of the days I’ve got left as a free citizen.

the ‘echo’ version

I suppose there are probably relatively few people whose eyes are called to attention by a headline like “Training changes trickle out to the fleet,” but mine were when the line popped into my Google Reader this afternoon. I eagerly clicked through to the story, which began:

Surface Navy officials are at work on the newest edition of an unglamorous but highly influential document in the lives of sailors — the Surface Warfare Training Manual — that promises more training at sea and more live-fire events for ships gearing up to deploy.

My former colleagues can attest to my absolute love for the institutionalization of training procedures. To me, a corporate body (or similar structure) that is constantly reviewing its own procedures and reinventing itself — while at the same time holding fast to its core principles — is the most dynamic place to work. Because when the workplace itself changes, each day brings new challenges that motivate and inspire everyone involved. The job becomes not just about doing the work, or even about doing the work better; it actually becomes about doing better work smarter. It’s a thrilling prospect.

The new version of the manual is version E — as in ‘Echo’ — and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.