Navy Life
I spent 5 glorious years in the United States Navy: 2 in training and the other 3 with a special boat unit. Many of those years with SBU 11 were spent on a ship and overseas.
I joined the Navy in March of 1988 went to boot camp at Great Lakes RTC. Then I was off to dive school. Once I finished there, I went off to Eglin AFB and Navy EOD School.
Navy Training
I must say my time in the Navy the training was both fun and enjoyable. The Navy specializes in their mentally and physically tough training schools.
While boot camp was by far easier than I expected, the 42 weeks of EOD school was something I will always remember. The many days of Ranger school were about the same with the yelling and screaming. However, Navy EOD school was above and beyond both mentally and physically demanding the entire time.
Navy EOD School
For me, coming from an athletic background, I actually enjoyed the physical part of EOD school. The mental part of hours writing in a classroom and such a very fast pace was where I struggled. It was write about a specific subject, study your notes, then take a test.
Most of the Navy schools are tremendously fast paced. What would take months or even years to learn in the civilian world is condensed down into just weeks of classroom work.
While you’re in school and assigned to the Naval training center, there is time to leave base or enjoy things on base; however, I suggest to anybody to focus on the work in the classroom. The Navy has no problem with dropping you and sending you off to the fleet with no actual job classification or specified training.
I saw this happen daily in EOD school, dive school, and other places. You were allowed to fail a test twice before being dropped from school and sent elsewhere.
Personally, when I began EOD school, I started with almost 300 people, but only 82 of us graduated. Then, once I graduated, it was off to special operations school and more.
My first two years in the Navy were primarily spent in various schools. In January of 1990, I was assigned to an SBU.
Living the Navy Life
This was what I had waited for. For almost two years I had trained and prepared to be a crewman with a boat unit. I had finished EOD and SWCC training and was prepared to serve my country and the United States Navy with SBU 11 in Concord, CA.
For many people, they may have been excited to be stationed in California, but for me, because I was coming from the mountains of Virginia, California wasn’t too exciting. However, I did like the fact that all my training was over and I was officially a crewman and off to real Navy life.
Navy life was enjoyable for me. Unless we were deployed, we worked 9-10 hours a day, and we spent our hours in the gym, pool, and on the boats.
I was deployed in March of 1990 to support Desert Shield and Desert Storm. While on my deployments for the Navy, I was able to visit many different countries.
For me, Navy life became a way of life that I liked and enjoyed, and I would have stayed in the Navy and remained there until they forced me to leave, if not for a mess cook detailer that kept giving me orders to do ridiculous things once I had completed SEAL training. Because of this situation, I ended up leaving the Navy in 1994.
The Navy Creates Great People
The fact is, I never wanted to leave the Navy because Navy life was great. Life on the many ships before, during, and after Desert Shield and Desert Storm was enjoyable. The days other than while I was deployed weren’t bad and most of the time we had fun on and off base.
The people I had the opportunity to work with were amazing. I learned a lot in the Navy, not only about combat but also about being a great person and giving my best—and more—every day. That’s what the Navy is all about.
Being in the Navy is a different way of life, where the demands that are put on you, along with the expectations and responsibilities, are tremendous.
What It Means to Be a True Sailor
The Navy presents their sailors as professionals to the public and doesn’t tolerate lack of discipline or embarrassing the Navy or our country in any way. That is why the terms “cuss like a sailor” and “drink like a sailor” don’t belong in the Navy. Any sailor will tell you those phrases, along with others like them, are offensive. True sailors are disciplined, dedicated, loyal people who live their lives with a high level of integrity and trustworthiness.
The true sailor expects more from themselves than others do. Navy life isn’t easy, and it isn’t for everybody. It takes a very special person to be a sailor.
It takes a very special person to walk aboard a ship for duty and leave their families for deployments every 24 months or less.
It takes a very special person to perform on a deck of an aircraft carrier or to be an engineer and work in the engine room under the extreme conditions of 100-degree heat.
It takes a very special person to walk aboard a submarine and leave their family for months and have no communication with them or their friends.
An Important Part of Our Military
The United States Navy protects our country in many different ways across the world. And the sailors that make up the Navy in turn serve as representatives of our country in each of these locations. Even though Navy life will never be easy, nor will it always be fun, the sailors who live it are an important part of the United States military.
- What’s Missing in Today’s Military: Integrity - March 20, 2018
- What’s Missing in Today’s Military: Honor - March 19, 2018
- Veterans without Care: What’s Wrong with the VA? - December 18, 2017
