After Action Report - Starting Basic Training

Date: September 23, 2009

Subject: Basic Training

From: ET1 Cole
To: shipmates, friends, and anyone else who'll listen

Purpose: Summarize the actions involved in Basic Training June 1984-August 1984

I don't recall the processing at MEPS the day I left for Basic Training. I do remember it was the first time I was going to fly on an airplane. I was 20 years old and weighed approximately 130 lbs dripping wet. I remember there were 3 of us leaving from Phoenix that day. Elijah Rahman was one of them. He was a fellow I would meet up with periodically in my career. I still have a copy of the orders with his and my name on it. He was off to be a Hospital Corpsman (HM) and I was going to be an ET.

We landed in San Diego and I remember there was a sailor at a booth who told us where to wait for the bus to basic training. It was already dark and there were very few of us there initially. About 9 p.m. a bus arrived and all hell broke loose. Somebody yelled at us to form a height line. None of us even knew what that was. Basically we were to line up tallest to shortest and get on the bus in that order. We finally managed to figure it out and off we went. Not a block later we were pulling into RTC/NTC San Diego. (Recruit Training Command/Naval Training Center San Diego).

The bus doors opened and someone speaking a foreign language started to yell at us. When I say foreign it was actually a Filipino First Class Petty Officer (E-6). He was hard to understand. Process of elimination eventually took over (I wasn't the first one off the bus). Turns out he wanted us to follow the foot prints painted on the deck (ground) and we had better be in a hurry. You could tell who was a drill instuctor because they wore a red augillette. Eventually we learned to call them red ropers.

We lined up and filled out a post card to our families letting them know we arrived safely. The Filipino First Class was screaming something about 'iv you don't peeeesss you cunnut go to reck'....(if you don't piss, that is pee in the bottle for the drug test, then you can't go to bed) They then asked us if anyone had ever played a musical instrument. Having played saxophone in school I raised my hand. They separated us and then marched us off to get our initial outfitting.

The initial outfitting included hygeine items etc that we put in a ditty bag. (I keep 25 years of love letters from my wife in this same ditty bag) This took most of the night, till about 3 am or so. Included in our ditty bag was a stencil with our names and last 4 of our social security number. We used the stencil to mark every last stitch of clothing we were issued. It became obvious later why when we learned that our clothes were turned in to laundry community style.

At about 5 am they woke us up to eat and go back and get our seabags with other uniform items etc. This part of basic training was called R and O, Receiving and Outfitting.

As with everything the Navy does, going to eat also involved a ceremony. We had to march to a podium, request permission to eat and wait our turn. Sometimes behind several other companies. This often involved standing at parade rest with short bursts of marching to our next place in line.

Eating at the galley (chow hall, cafeteria) was an occasion in and of itself. The taller guys got more time to eat. As soon as one guy got up to leave we all had to leave. Us little guys always ate in a hurry, something I still do to this day.

The seabag included our initial set of uniforms (minus the cracker jacks AKA dress blues). We also got our working uniforms called dungarees, known for the bell bottom pants and our dixie cups or white hats. The dixie cup is the traditional white hat that you see a sailor wearing. The dungarees were marked for hemming, and tailored when we turned our uniforms in. All of this was paid for out of our first few paychecks. We got other things......like our first haircuts.

They were looking for musicians because at the time they had two different sets of companies. The BMR (Basic Military Requirements) and the drill companies. Because I had played an instrument, I was selected for a drill company. We had to wait an extra week or so in R and O while enough fellas arrived to form a drill company. They had us audition by playing a trumpet. I should say trying to play a trumpet. Now anyone who knows the difference between a woodwind and a brass instrument knows it's apples and oranges. They had us sight read. Well I couldn't play a trumpet so I was assigned to the 50 state flag team. Those fellas who couldn't play an instrument and met the height requirement were put on the crack rifle team. All the others became part of the drum and bugle corps.

The funny part about hanging out in R and O is I was still a green belt. A green web belt designated the fact that you were still in the first 4 weeks of basic training. After 5 weeks you got the coveted white web belt. While in R and O we were tasked with handing out the second issue of uniforms to the companies entering their 5th week. Here we were in our first week and we were telling these guys to move it and to not dawdle. Our dungarees weren't even hemmed up yet and we were already acting like a drill instructor.

After there were enough men to form the company we were officially commissioned as Company 84-926. EN1 Parker was our drill instructor. (He made Chief while we were in Basic Training). We called ourselves Parker's Pride.

Prior to the commissioning ceremony we learned rudimentary marching techniques. This ceremony meant standing out on the grinder (marching field) in San Diego when it was hot. Eventually we all got a 'grinder reminder'. A grinder reminder was sunburn line that showed when you took the dixie cups off your head.

One thing for sure the Navy stands or falls by some of it's traditions. Early on in my career I loathed the tradtional ceremonies. As the years wore on in my career I learned to appreciate them much more. Like the playing of Anchors Aweigh when the ship pulls in and out of port, or the unique song each ship plays when UNREP (Underway Replenishment) is completed.

Lessons Learned: Naval heritage and tradition should be treasured. Leaving home for the first time was exciting. Standing for 45 minutes without moving - priceless.

Comments: The first week or so of boot camp was a bit of a culture shock but not something I didn't expect.

Action Items: more Basic Training After Actions to follow, letters and my soon to be wife

Appendix: Personnel Involved: Co. 84-926, EN1 Parker, me, Elijah Rahman, drill instructors