I've embarked on a new journey and a new chapter in my
life. Last night I spent the night in a hotel and had Denny's for dinner. This
morning I had breakfast at Denny's then we were off to the RDU airport. So, I
caught a plane to Illinois, where we were picked up by some RTC people,
instructors I guess. They started the harsh treatment on the bus ride over to
the Recruit Training Center, a subdivision of the Naval Training Center at Great
Lakes, IL. From the time we got off the bus, they amplified the barking and
"breaking us in" to the military community. I guess we needed to learn the
pecking order. They had us go through an assembly line style in processing all
around the initial building. I filled out lots of paperwork, took a pee test and
we were constantly asked to admit anything that we omitted on our initial
enlistment. They asked us if our recruiter made us any promises or gave us
incentives and all sorts of other questions. So, I'm sure we all lied about a
multitude of things from having smoked pot to wetting the bed or whatever other
silly questions they forced recruits to lie about. In one room we placed all of
our personal possessions in a box and mailed them home. In another they shaved
our heads. Like I say, it was asembly line fashion. They had us lined up nicely
throughout the whole ordeal, and they even let us sit down at some points, in a
3 wide line, we would sit lined up down the side of the hallway on the floor.
Later we would use our hands and arms as brooms to sweep our barracks, so this
was far from abnormal. On this first night, I slept in a bunk-bed among dozens
of other recruits.

    This was the first day of my journey, a whole
new way of living and learning in the company of the US
NAVY.