Preparing for the US Navy

My Experience Before Joining the Navy Part 1

Some of you remember nearly 2 years ago that I enlisted into the Navy. This post will be about my experience going through the process of joining. Be warned, there will be strong language in this post, mainly from my remembering that whole experience. It was a time that I will never forget, but ends not the way you nor I would think. 

So years back, shortly after graduating college, I was interested in joining the military as an officer. I was interested in becoming a Chaplain, a religious counselor, at the time. To make a fairly long story short, I didn’t pursue that career path due to not having a high enough GPA to be an officer. So fast forward to early 2022. I was living at home working part-time as a busser for a local BBQ restaurant called Phil’s BBQ. I was recently laid off from a remote job I had for nearly a year and was struggling to find a job that wasn’t retail or food-related. One day after work, I checked out the Navy recruiting office a few minutes from my work. I walked in with no idea what to expect. At first, I felt a bit pressured into joining but I decided to sleep on the idea for a couple of days. Upon coming back, I let them know I was a college graduate and an Eagle Scout which helped me bump up a few paygrades. I was also promised $60000 a year with a $18000 sign-on bonus that I would get after completing basic training. I was frothing and felt like I was on cloud nine! I was so stoked to be able to start a career and not constantly getting rejected from job applications. It was a surreal time to join the footsteps of my grandfathers who both served in the Navy during WW2 and the Korean War.

I was then sent to MEPs (Military Entrance and Processing) to see if I was mentally, physically, and emotionally able to join. This process is intense. You can’t join for a plethora of reasons and most people who go through this process are unable to join the military due to having too many health or mental issues. So upon arrival at the MEPs building, I walked up to the entrance of the building with my recruiter, and two DOD (Department of Defense) men met me outside and asked, “This is a Department of Defense building. Why are you here?” I then looked at my recruiter who then looked at me as to think I knew what was going on and what the hell to say to these guys. I responded, “I’m here to serve my country?” I didn’t know what to say and wasn’t told this was going to happen. The two men looked at each other a bit bewildered and then back at me. They said somewhat condescendingly, “No dumbass, why are you here! Like, are you want to join the military? Or are you here for something else?” I’m not gonna lie, I felt a bit retarded after that brief conversation haha.

So while I was in the facility, I had to take the ASVAB test to determine based on how I scored what jobs I would be able to do at a competent level. After that, I then was sent to a hotel where I spent the night. At 3:30 in the morning, we were all picked up and sent back to MEPs. Upon arrival, a tiny Filipino marine vet comes into the bus and starts yelling at all of us to get out of the bus and form two lines. He said for the people at the front of the bus to come out first, but I was in the back and didn’t hear him very well so I stood up. He screamed, “What the FUCK are you doing back there?! Sit the FUCK down! I didn’t tell you to get up yet!” It was at this moment, this was for real. So we all get out of the bus, freezing our asses off, and are put into 2 separate lines like I said. One was for those getting ready to be shipped out to their respective branches for basic training and one for those going through the military entrance and processing. All day we sat and waited, did some hearing and colorblind tests, provided urine samples, and then did physicals with a few civilian doctors. 

Most of the processing during the day was sitting around, but the part I vividly remember was when I went to give a urine sample. Before knowing this, I peed recently and was unable to give them the sample size they needed. So, here I am in a room with a few other guys, all peeing in a cup while a different Filipino Navy vet stares at us trying to go pee. He then came up to me and said, “For a white guy, you have a tiny dick.” I completely ignored him even though internally I was fuming. After a quick self-check, I kept my mouth shut and tried to not take it personally because I knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to find something, exploit it, and wait for someone to react so then he could have an excuse to humiliate them. He tried to break me and I’m sure he thought I was going to play his game. I would never mess with a military veteran or active duty service member because I know for a surety that they would kick my ass. 

After this ordeal, I finally went and talked to the Navy office. I talked to the serviceman who told me what jobs were available. He was a major dick about it and said, “Man, that really sucks that you are colorblind because that really limits you what you can and can’t do.” I told him that I wasn’t colorblind and we had a back and forth with him trying to insult my intelligence and I wasn’t putting up with it. I was thinking about leaving right then and there because I was not interested in any of the options. I was only able to do something in office administration, cooking, or logistics, and at that time I wasn’t interested in any of them. I was thinking about doing military police or mass communication specialist, but those weren’t available. I didn’t want to join some random job that I wasn’t at least somewhat interested in. The guy then said, “Hey man, are you gonna join or what? Stop busting my balls. If you leave, you will miss out on an incredible opportunity.” He was trying to pressure me into joining but I wouldn’t budge. I wasn’t being stubborn, at least at the time I didn’t think so. I just wanted to make sure I was confident in knowing what I was getting myself into. At that time, I was literally on my way to the door and told him I wasn’t interested. 

Then, his boss, a Chief walked up to me. He said, “Hey, man. Don’t listen to him, it's ok for you to figure this stuff out. I know you aren’t interested in doing an office admin job, but there is a position available now for you to work in the office admin space as an Aviation Maintenance Administrator. For this job, you would be assigned to a squadron with fighter pilots and aircraft mechanics. You would be the person who would order the parts for the aircraft and you go wherever your squadron goes. It sounds like a pretty solid gig. I’m sorry the positions you are interested in aren’t available, but if you are interested in doing this instead, you have about 10 minutes before we close. It's completely up to you and no pressure.”

I appreciated the Chief for being transparent with me and treating me like a normal human being. During those few minutes, the thought came to my head, “Am I self-sabotaging right now? Could I be throwing away a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity just because things aren’t going exactly as I would like? Sometimes you have to work on jobs you don’t like, so why don’t you accept this job and treat this as a stepping stone to pursue something else later down the road.” After this inner monologue, I decided to accept the job as an Aviation Maintenance Administrator. 

I then signed my soul away to the military. After completing that, I went into a room with several other young men and women to be sworn into the military. This was a surreal experience that I will NEVER forget. As we swore the oath, I was literally quaking. My whole body was shaking as a physical manifestation of my emotions, and believe me, they were all over the place. I was stoked. I felt a sense of immense pride in serving my country in one of the most selfless ways possible for a US citizen. And I was absolutely terrified! My life was about to be completely changed. After a mental and emotional roller coaster of a day, my dad picked me up from the MEPs facility in Mira Mesa, San Diego. I rehashed to both him and my family my experience over the past couple of days and how excited I was to be leaving for basic training the following month. I was hitting the gym super hard, I was watching a bunch of military videos online and I was studying the books I was given in preparation for basic training. This overall experience helped shape my perspective on life. Even though this experience never panned out, I will never regret giving it a shot. At the time of separation in boot camp, I was pissed off and felt pretty broken, but in hindsight, I am happy that I at least tried. This experience was the hardest thing I had done in my adult life. I would say even harder than completing college, or even serving a mission for my church and that’s saying something.

Anyway, here is my post about my preparation to join the Navy. I will write a more detailed post about my actual experience during my short month at basic training, but that will be a story for another day. If you made it this far, I apologize for the strong language. I do swear like a sailor, but I do recognize people don’t like it when I do so I try to keep it at a minimum for those who don’t like it, even though it slips from time to time. Thanks for making it this far. It’s hard to believe I remember this experience like it was yesterday even though it happened nearly two years ago. Man, time truly does fly. Well y’all, thanks for taking the time to read this post and I’ll catch you on the next one shortly Later!