The Next Three Years

Six months have come and gone in the very slow and rather protracted blink of an eye.

The two months prior to these last six went by even quicker.

The few months leading up to those two months seemed to take forever...

Funny how time flows, no?  Or, I suppose, funny how it's perceived.

A year ago I was in the early stages of trying to enlist in the Navy.

I was living in Columbus, Ohio, working for a natural gas company - the people for whom I worked were very gracious and supportive of my decision (especially A and T!) and made allowances for when I'd need to go off for an interview or screening with either my recruiter or at MEPS.

Shucks, a year ago I hadn't even relaunched this blog, yet.

Now, in a little over a week, I'll be wrapping up my time at Fort Meade, have a couple weeks to see my friends and family, then head out to my first duty station which is....Pearl Harbor.

Well, Pearl Harbor will be my homeport - I'll actually be working for the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command - or JPAC.  I definitely recommend checking out the website, but the short description is they're responsible for searching out and recovering the remains of fallen American servicemembers from past wars. My main duty will be as a photographer.

So that's where I'll be based for the next three years!  It's going to be quite a time of growth, excitement, and travel.

As far as the blog goes, it's taken me some time to rediscover my voice after going through boot camp and then "A" School, but I think it's coming back...  Saying all that to say, I'm not sure what I'm going to do - either keep it going here or start a new one (again).  We'll see...

Off we go!

In case you didn't know, an MC (Mass Communication specialist) is the eyes and ears of the Navy.

MCs are documentarians, historians.

MCs are trained in photography, public affairs, journalism, videography, print and design, graphic design, and that's all just part of the basic training we receive to earn the title of MC.  So I'm not just busting out my best Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson impression by referring to MCs in the third-person; I do so because I am not one yet - I have three more months to go.

Training for the MC rate happens at the Defense Information School (DINFOS on Fort George G. Meade in Maryland.  It's located between Baltimore and D.C.

The first half of training is a joint-operation kind of deal.  My class of sailors from the detachment was split into four groups and we were all put into sections with 3-4 members of the other branches excepting the Coast Guard (some of the instructors are in the Coast Guard, though).

The school is staffed by senior enlisted from all of the military branches as well as civilians.  My journalism instructor is a civilian and she was great.  My public affairs instructor was a tech sergeant from the Air Force and he was pretty cool, too.

What's really great about the training at DINFOS is all of the instructors love what they do and enjoy spreading that love via training up the next wave of public affairs and mass comm specialists.  When an educator is actually excited about his or her subject area the students can't do anything but benefit.

Well, a couple of Fridays ago we finished the first half of our training and we've moved downstairs into the Navy-specific training.

First up is photography and it's been great.  The assignments are challenging and the instructors demanding, but it's worth it.  Just today (Monday) we went to Annapolis with the assignment of taking several pictures with different shooting techniques in mind.  It really pushes a person out of his comfort zone, but once you get going it gets easier.

I chatted with the owner of a tobacco shop for the better part of two hours and got some decent photos and then moved over to a coffee shop where I got to know a couple of baristas.  It was cool.

So, in a nutshell that's what's going on - just wanted to catch you all up to speed.

In the coming posts I'll begin sharing some more stuff on the faith/spiritual side of things again and talk more about the MC rate.  Right now, though, I have a lot of plates spinning and I'm working on my time-management skills.

More to come!

Halfway There

Well, it's nigh the end of March. 

I've been at A-School since January 7th and it's scheduled to wrap up June 29th. 

These first three months have had us sailors working in conjunction with members of the other armed forces and it's been pretty neat.  For one thing, I had no idea what to expect.  I've never lived on an Army base, I've never been in the military before, I've never interacted with service members so thoroughly before - mainly just in passing.  But you know what I've learned?

Service members are people!

I mean, duh, of course they are, but up until this point I've always thought they were something more; something like super people, or super human, even (and in regard to toleration of punishment I think maybe the Marines are) but the fact is they all - we all - are just people.  There's not a one of us who is here under the compulsion of another; any degree of compulsion is wholly originated in the self.

How a person goes from being a civilian to a member of the armed forces has always been a mystery to me, but now I've been through the process and the simplicity of it all is simply stunning.

It's a matter of making a decision and following through with it.

Yes, boot camp is involved and along with that no small amount of grief and abuse but that's just there to test your resolve - "Do you really want to be a sailor/soldier/Marine/airman?  Are you sure??" 

And that practice grief and abuse coming from trusted instructors in a learning environment (albeit admittedly harsh, especially from what I hear the leathernecks go through) is merely a taste of what we can expect when we deliberately place ourselves in harm's way.

After talking to some soldiers who've been out in the field for a few years I'm glad I joined the branch that I did.  God bless the infantrymen who see the faces of those they kill, who witness the deaths of their brothers and sisters-in-arms from not a foot away, who deal with death's most gruesome expressions more days than they don't.

I'm reminded that though I'll be on a ship and the likelihood of such experiences is smaller, it's not out of the question.  In October 2000 the USS Cole was attacked and 17 sailors lost their lives.

But that's at least three to four months out for me. In the meantime, I'll get this blog going again.  Among other things, there's a dearth of information out there about the MC rate in the Navy so I'll share some of my own experiences.

If you're an aspiring sailor and are exploring the MC option I'd also recommend checking out this blog: I Am Your Eyes.  And if you're just interested in seeing what boot camp is like, I'll talk about that a bit, too.

Happy Monday!