Watch TV and leave the base on weekends? Are you kidding? Look, here's how it'll go.
First, you arrive in the middle of the night. You haven't slept decently for at least 24 to 48 hours so you're pretty much a zombie. Since it's the middle of the night, the CC's (Company Commanders) don't do much yelling until they get you inside what is called the "RIF" (Recruit Inprocessing Facility) building. There you will begin your Navy experience (imagine a very evil laugh here).
You will be advised in no uncertain terms that you are the lowest form of life on the Earth, ...lower even than snail shit. This will be re-iterated to you countless times over the next 8 to 13 weeks until such time as you pass in review and become a sailor. The only way for you to redeem yourself in these people's eyes is to do exactly what you are told when you are told to do it. You will be administered a urinalysis test which is life or death at this point of your career. pass and you go on to the next exciting round. Fail and you go home. For those who pass, you will be herded into what looks like a classroom and instructed on how to fill out paperwork you have already filled out three times before. CAUTION - do not complain to these people that you have filled out these papers three times before, ...they are already aware of that. They are simply testing you. Do it quietly and correctly and they will be impressed. Bitch about it and you will do push ups until your arms fall off. Once your paperwork is completed, you will be taken to an open bay barracks and directed to "hit your rack" for the rest of the night. This you will gladly do and, if you are like me, will sleep so soundly and dream so vividly you will absolutely forget where you are; until 5am when you meet your Company Commanders for the first time.
They will announce themselves usually by banging a very hard stick against a metal garbage can. In the absence of a very hard stick, they have been known to simply beat the lid of the metal trash can against the trash can until you are thoroughly convinced a little man lives inside your head and is hitting you with a sledgehammer. You will be directed to get into a line in front of your rack (bunk). Then you will be paraded out the door of the barracks and to your first "chow" experience.
At chow (breakfast), you will be given food, ...eat it. Even if it doesn't LOOK like food, ...you will need it, trust me. You will have 30 minutes from the time you sit down at the table to consume the food you have been given; not 31. From chow, you will be marched (and you will march EVERYWHERE) to the Navy Exchange barber. Don't be cute and tell him a little off the top, ...he may take the very top of your head off. All of your hair is going to come off, ...all of it. It happens to everyone so be prepared for it. You will have nothing but razor stubble left. Once you have sacrificed your hair on the altar of freedom, you will be marched to the RIF building again where you will receive your initial outfit of uniforms (the uniforms you will wear while in training in boot camp). You will then be instructed on how to properly stencil your name onto the ass of your skivvies (the reason for this will become apparent when you return to the barracks and bed down for the night and place your soiled skivvies into the company laundry bag. the only way to get them back is to stencil your name onto them). You will then be taken to what looks like a huge paved parking lot. This is called a "grinder" and is where you will practice marching and military drill for 6 to 8 hours each and every day, rain or shine, snow or fog, for the next 8 to 13 weeks.
Your daily routine will consist of the following:
0500 Reveille (wake the fuck up!)
0530 Physical Training under arms (imagine running 4 miles while holding a Springfield rifle over your head. lol, ...get used to the idea)
0700 Morning Chow
0800 Morning Colors
0830 basic Military instruction (classroom stuff. DO NOT fall asleep in class)
1030 Military drill on the grinder (marching!)
1200 lunch
1230 Military drill on the grinder (more marching)
1600 Return to barracks (evening colors at sundown as prescribed in the Plan of the Day)
1700 Evening chow
2155 Tattoo (5 minutes to lights out)
2200 Taps (lights out, go to sleep.)
you will repeat this cycle every day for 8 to 13 weeks until such time as you are able to do it in your sleep. there are other events thrown in there but for the most part this is the routine. It's easy, ...navy boot camp is the easiest of all five branches. Do what you're told, learn from what they are trying to tell you (believe it or not, most of what you learn in boot camp you will use every day in the fleet), work as a team with your shipmates and your company and you'll breeze right through. Try to make it as an individual and you will fail miserably, because that is what the Company Commanders are trying to instill into each and every one of you; TEAMWORK. Like I said, you'll have other pretty cool stuff thrown in from time to time (like firefighting and damage control training, mass casualty and first aid, yada, yada, yada).
You will also have what is known as a recruit staff. These are individuals picked by your Company Commanders for extra responsibilities. They are the RCPO (Recruit Chief Petty Officer) who is generally incharge of the company while marching or doing anything outside, the RMAA (Recruit Master-at-Arms) who is in charge of the company whenever it is "under cover" (in the barracks, in the mess hall, in the gym, in the classroom) and is in charge of the cleanliness of the barracks. There will be others like the Port and Starboard Leading Petty Officers, the Yeoman, yada, yada, yada.
If you have the correct mindset, you'll have a blast in Navy bootcamp. I did. And my company was the first from 2nd Division in 1981 to go "Hall of Fame" and carry the RTC Orlando CO's flag at pass in review.
