The next morning, on January 7, 1996 I was picked up by my recruiter, and for the first time I was crying about leaving. It was a realization that I would not see my family for quite some time. Also my nephew had just been born in the previous November. So I was very sad that I was not going to be able to spend any quality time with my nephew, and he would forget me. This was a fear of mine at this time. My mother did not help the situation either, she started to cry (and had actually cried the night before though she did not want me to know this) so this started a chain reaction and I started to cry too. But I did not want to cry in front of my recruiter, so I tried to hold it back.

My recruiter then took me to the hotel where I was to stay the night until they could take me to the MEAPs center the next morning to sign my contract. That night was the same as the night before. I could not sleep, so this was 2 nights in a row that I did not sleep. I did have a room mate though, who I ended up playing cards with the whole night. She was going into the Army, so I was never to see her again.

The next day we did the typical military check in. We weighed in, we got a physical and we sat, and we sat....oh sorry, that is a typical thing for the military. "Hurry up and wait" is our motto. Then it came my fateful time. I had to sign my contract that would bind me for 4 years. At that time it did not seem so long to me but during bootcamp I thought that it was forever. I did not think that I could make it through 4 years.

After we signed our contracts we were off to the airport to fly to Great lakes, in Illinois. We ended up arriving in Illinois late at night, and did not get to Great Lakes until about 10 or 11pm. At that time we were loaded off the bus, and hoarded into a room where our journey began. Here we got our first taste of what it was to be like in boot camp. We were suppose to fill out some forms, get rid of all our civilian items and receive our first military clothes which was to be a pair of Navy Sweats know as the "Smurf" outfits. If you were wearing these outfits, it was known that you were a new recruit, and subject to anything!! At this point and time I got to experience my first tongue lashing. Because I did not write all of my items on my form in Capital letters, the RDC (Recruit Division Commander) reamed me up and down and told me that I was stupid. I was shaking because I had never been talked to like that before.

After we were to take or first drug test. Well me being nervous already, I could not go, so I ended up having to drink water for hours on end until I had to go so bad that I could not stand it. Well to make a long story short, I ended up having to hold it for about 2-3 hours before they would let me go, and I was in a lot of pain. I was accompanied by three other girls who were in the same situation, while the rest of the girls were able to go to the barracks and go to sleep. I was not able to go to sleep until about 3 o'clock, and well needless to say, I did not get to sleep because we had to be up at 4:30am. This was 3 days in a row that I had not had any sleep. I was so tired.

Well I suppose that I could go into details about my whole bootcamp experience, but that would be too long. But what I will do is give you a simple description of what our normal schedule was during bootcamp. Normally we would wake up around 4 or 4:30 am every day where we were to promptly get ready in about 15 minutes. We would then march to breakfast, where we had about 15 minutes to eat. Everything was organized. Sometimes we would do our PT early in the morning before we went to Breakfast. After Breakfast we would then usually go to a Navy Class where we would learn about the History or military life of being in the Navy. We learned how to tie Knots, we learned about engines, we learned about normal Navy life. There were so many classes that we had to go to,and well sometimes it was very hard because you did not have a lot of sleep.

Usually after class we would then March to Lunch, we usually marched every where, and then after lunch we would go and practice our marching. Now remember during the course of things you are being "dropped" which means that you have to do push ups or whatever else they wanted us to do. We did a lot of Marching and a lot of studying, and certainly a lot of cleaning. Boot camp really was not that hard. I can not say to this day that it was hard at all. I did get into shape and I did learn organization, and responsibility.

I remember during my time in bootcamp that I would look at the other divisions who were about to graduate, and I never thought that I would ever reach that point. The three months that I was there seemed to be a year. I never thought that I would ever leave there. I Just could not wait to graduate. Finally bootcamp was nearing an end. And we were all feeling the pride. We had our uniforms ready, and we were marching with pride. I can never forget the night that we were to actually see our family for the first time. I was not going to be seeing my family however. My parents could not come to my graduation. I was very disappointed Everyone else had their parents there, but I was not alone. My friend had driven down to see me graduate. He was a former sailor, and he was there to support me.

The day of graduation was very exciting. We were all ready to get out of there, but we still had one more thing to do. We had to go through Pass and Review which is the Navy graduation. Basically what we had to do was stand there while they had speakers, and while they choose the awards for recruits. It was a long service, and very hard to stand there, because you could not move. After all this was done each division had to march past the audience. This was something that we had practiced for hours on end. I was "division front" so I was in the very first row, and I carried a flag. We were suppose to position our flags to a solute as we passed the audience and the American Flag. This was the end of our Bootcamp experience.

After Bootcamp I was to attend ATD School or Fireman school. This was the rate that I had signed up for in MEAPS. What I did not know was that I was not going to like this job at all. I was lied to during my experience in MEAPS, so I did not know what I was getting in to. Originally they wanted to make me an MM (Machinist Mate), and I did not want to do it. So they told me that if I did well in Bootcamp then I could chose and A school which I could go to. However they pushed MM on me again. I was not happy about this. They also told me that I could be and IC, but would have to enlist for 6 years, which at this point I did not want to do. So my choices were to stay an FN, and go to Puerto Rico, or go to these other two schools. Well these were not choices that I really wanted, so I hastily decided to go to Puerto Rico. I don't know if this was the wrong decision or not, but I can only say that I did what I thought was best at the time.

During my time at ATD, I learned about my rate, which was basically engineering. This was not what I wanted to do but I did not have a choice in the matter. I chose my rate. We had a little bit more freedom, but things were still as if we were in bootcamp. We were able to go into town, however we could not wear civilian clothes. I did not even have any civilian clothes.

After attending ATD school I was able to go home for 30 days to see my family. It was great to see my family again, and I was actually able to spend some quality time with my nephew who was now about 6 months old. It was nice to be home again but I had not been in civilian life for a bit so it was a little weird. It took a bit of adjusting.

After I completed my time at home I made the adventure to Puerto Rico. Once again I was nervous. I had never flown before, except for my trip to Illinois. I had also never left the Continental US except for going to Canada. Also I did not know any Spanish. So I was very nervous. I also had not heard from my sponsor, so I did not know what I was going to do when I got there since I had never been there before.

When I arrived at the airport I was getting scared because my sponsor still had not arrive, so I waited. Finally my sponsor did arrive, and he took me to the Base. As I looked around I was not sure if I was going to like it there because most of the areas look very worn down, and I thought to myself what did I get myself into. My sponsor took me to the barracks where I checked in. I had to share a room with two other people.

The next day I found out that I was going to be working in Surface Operations on the YTB 803. I was to work in the engine room doing the PMS (preventive maintenance system), and I would be running the engine when we were to get underway. Among other things I was also going to be doing the seaman jobs such as painting and handling lines. This was not a job that I really wanted to do, and certainly not for 3 years. I was not happy when I learned of this however I did not have a choice. I chose to go here, and I had to do my job.

During this time I learned what it is to be a woman in the military. When I first arrived I was mentally and physically weak. A female petty officer that worked with me, taught me that that was not going to work while being in the military. She taught me that I would have to be stronger not only physically but mentally as well. Through her guidance she taught me how to deal with the sexism that I would encounter, and she taught me to prove to myself and to the others that I could do my job. I was not to act as if I could not do anything just because I was a female. No matter what I was to do my job, and do it well. For this I thank her very much. Because if it were not for her I do not know how I would have made it through as far as I have. She is a strong female petty officer, and she was my mentor. I am hoping that as a petty officer I will be able to do the same for others as well.

While working on the YTB 803, I had to deal work with many things. I worked during the UNITAS operations which is a very busy time of the year. This usually occurs during the summer months, and numerous ships came into port. Ships from all over the world such as England, France, Germany, Ecuador, and many more. I was able to meet some wonderful people through this experience. We also dealt with numerous submarines that came into port. And the worst time of the year was dealing with the hurricane season. During this time there was very long working hours. Since we had to take all the fuel barges, and crafts out to mooring, we had to prepare all the crafts to make sure they were secure. This meant a lot of hours.

Also during my time in Puerto Rico I was able to live out in town, and I meet a lot of the Puertoricans. Most of my friends were Puertoricans, and so I was able to learn about the culture, the food, the music and the people. I really enjoyed this. I just wish that I would have been able to travel around the island a little bit more. I did get to travel a little bit while my parents came down to visit. I will soon be adding pictures to my page so that you can see some of what I saw while in Puerto Rico. It is beautiful.

After a long process of trying to get an A school to be a CTI, I finally made it. I was tired of being a FN, and I did not want to do the job any more. If I would not have gotten this rate I would have gotten out of the military. As it was I gave up getting Petty officer so that I could get this school. Though later I learned that I did not have to miss out on taking the advancement test, but my career counselor did not know what he was talking about. I would be a second class right now, going on first class if It was not for that, but I can only look forward, and not backwards. I am a petty officer today so that is okay.

I arrived in Monterey California on Oct 16, 1998. I was considered a "fleet returnee" so I lived with all the others who had been in for a while. I was happy for that because the boot campers really had some restrictions while they were there.

I was able to learn my language in 6 months thanks to this school. It was hard, and it was fast, but I ended up doing it even though at times I really had some doubts as to whether I could do it or not. I have always had a hard time listening and to this day I still do. I achieved a 2, 2+ on my DLPT, and received numerous credits that I can use towards college. I should be done soon since I already had some college credits. After my completion here I then moved on to my other school at Goodfellow.

I would have to say that the school at Goodfellow is the hardest school that I have ever attended. I really had a very difficult time with all the academics and the listening. I had to put in some major overtime with studying which basically meant that I spent a lot of time at the school house since all of the material was classified. In order for me to do my job I had to complete this school.

While at Goodfellow I had to deal with the change of environment. Most of the people in my community were different then what I was used to dealing with. I am used to dealing with really laid back people, and so this was quite a change for me because most of the people in this community were more uptight, more intellectual. So I had to adjust to this as well. I also had to adjust to Texas living. This was the first time that I had been in Texas, and I had to adjust to the temperature for PT purposes. It is very humid in Texas, much different from Puerto Rico.

On the day of our graduation ( I was very happy to be graduating) I also reenlisted for another 4 years, and I received a bonus. With my bonus I purchased a new car!!! Whoo Hooo!! I am just hoping that I will not regret reenlisting, but I am sure that I wont.

I am now stationed in an exchange program between the Canadian and US forces.

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