cr4sh! good choice man... the Navy was good to me for the 10 yrs that I was in.. the only things I will say are:
- get a rate/rating guaranteeed, you don't wanna be a boatswain hangin over the side of a carrier painting it! (yeah, they don't take them to Earl Schieb for paint jobs)
- boot camp is a mind game, take it as such, you'll use this crap later in life.. it'll make you a man, end of discussion!
- if you get the opportunity, volunteer for submarine duty, when I got out my sub duty pay was damned near my base pay... goood duty, good grub, insane shipmates, all fun! and remember, the only good marine is a submarine! Seriously, top 10% of the Navy, you get the top of the line everythign (food, liberty, etc) and besides that you get to wear Dolphins.. ask about it... besides that, surface sailors (skimmer pukes, target sailors) don't have nearly as good of stories as the submariners have! How many carriers do you know that have run 2 months under the North Pole and had it cut short because they ran into an ice keel?
- do as your told man, someone will think for you for the most part, just do it.. if you have an open mind, it will all make sense later.. there's a reason for the bullshit!
- take any courses they will give you.. I went to so many freakin' schools when I was in, and most were not related to my Yeoman rating, but I took them, it's education man!
- JUST SAY NO TO GROTON, CT! the place sucks!
anyhow man, you'll have fun.. I saw most of the world by the time I was 18, in fact I spent my 18th birthday on the North Pole.. very cool stuff...
(oh yeah, avoid the airdale community, all those guys were egotistical dicks! so freakin' what, you fly an airplane, blah... anyone can do that... Top Gun inflated these guys' heads entirely too much!)
edited to add: when that "dude" gets in your face, and he's talking about how good your mother was last night, don't let it bother you man... it's part of the game, if it helps, think how funny it would be to tell him how his wife loved you last night! that's what I did when that sob got in my face and screamed! oh yeah, don't smile while doing it, I did that one once, and it costed me 20 pushups for smiling during the ass chewing and another 20 for not having the balls to tell him what I was thinking. (I did tell him after boot).. in boot camp if you are there, do what you are supposed to do, nothing more, nothing less, you'll be alright. Remember, there's a reason for this.. unity.. you are no longer an individual, you are part of a unit totally different to the civilian world here.. they are going to break you down nothing and build you back up to be part of the TEAM (and not this army of one bullshit, it's a freakin' team) you go out and pick up the same women, fight together, drink together, sleep together, slay commie bastards together and possibly die together! kinda get it?
oh yeah, worried about dodging bullets? hmmm, I'm not sure of the stats on the surface navy, but a lot of people die compared to the submarine force.. let's see, one guy in 1989 in a shipboard fire, and then the prior two casualties before that was in the 60's with the Thresher and Scorpion - which these two casualties, although all hands were lost at sea, this was good for the submarine guys, it caused them to invent the "subsafe systems", basically, whatever is on that boat, there will be an operating backup at all times to save your ass! (i.e. main ballast tanks - if it won't open hydraulically when you grab the chicken switch, you run down below, grab the knocker valve, knock your ass off and it'll open letting water leave the tank, air come in and you popping up to the surface) GOOD DEAL!
- get a rate/rating guaranteeed, you don't wanna be a boatswain hangin over the side of a carrier painting it! (yeah, they don't take them to Earl Schieb for paint jobs)
- boot camp is a mind game, take it as such, you'll use this crap later in life.. it'll make you a man, end of discussion!
- if you get the opportunity, volunteer for submarine duty, when I got out my sub duty pay was damned near my base pay... goood duty, good grub, insane shipmates, all fun! and remember, the only good marine is a submarine! Seriously, top 10% of the Navy, you get the top of the line everythign (food, liberty, etc) and besides that you get to wear Dolphins.. ask about it... besides that, surface sailors (skimmer pukes, target sailors) don't have nearly as good of stories as the submariners have! How many carriers do you know that have run 2 months under the North Pole and had it cut short because they ran into an ice keel?
- do as your told man, someone will think for you for the most part, just do it.. if you have an open mind, it will all make sense later.. there's a reason for the bullshit!
- take any courses they will give you.. I went to so many freakin' schools when I was in, and most were not related to my Yeoman rating, but I took them, it's education man!
- JUST SAY NO TO GROTON, CT! the place sucks!
anyhow man, you'll have fun.. I saw most of the world by the time I was 18, in fact I spent my 18th birthday on the North Pole.. very cool stuff...
(oh yeah, avoid the airdale community, all those guys were egotistical dicks! so freakin' what, you fly an airplane, blah... anyone can do that... Top Gun inflated these guys' heads entirely too much!)
edited to add: when that "dude" gets in your face, and he's talking about how good your mother was last night, don't let it bother you man... it's part of the game, if it helps, think how funny it would be to tell him how his wife loved you last night! that's what I did when that sob got in my face and screamed! oh yeah, don't smile while doing it, I did that one once, and it costed me 20 pushups for smiling during the ass chewing and another 20 for not having the balls to tell him what I was thinking. (I did tell him after boot).. in boot camp if you are there, do what you are supposed to do, nothing more, nothing less, you'll be alright. Remember, there's a reason for this.. unity.. you are no longer an individual, you are part of a unit totally different to the civilian world here.. they are going to break you down nothing and build you back up to be part of the TEAM (and not this army of one bullshit, it's a freakin' team) you go out and pick up the same women, fight together, drink together, sleep together, slay commie bastards together and possibly die together! kinda get it?
oh yeah, worried about dodging bullets? hmmm, I'm not sure of the stats on the surface navy, but a lot of people die compared to the submarine force.. let's see, one guy in 1989 in a shipboard fire, and then the prior two casualties before that was in the 60's with the Thresher and Scorpion - which these two casualties, although all hands were lost at sea, this was good for the submarine guys, it caused them to invent the "subsafe systems", basically, whatever is on that boat, there will be an operating backup at all times to save your ass! (i.e. main ballast tanks - if it won't open hydraulically when you grab the chicken switch, you run down below, grab the knocker valve, knock your ass off and it'll open letting water leave the tank, air come in and you popping up to the surface) GOOD DEAL!
"if guns cause crime, all of mine are defective" - Ted Nugent