It was a cold day in the 60’s that I started a 4 year
journey that would change my life forever. I started out a boy and when I was
done, I had become a man.
I boarded a bus for Great Lakes, Michigan. There I
would spend months learning to march, and how to handle a rifle. Yes, I was at
Boot Camp.
This was the longest period of time I had ever spent away
from my friends and family and it prepared me for even longer stretches I would
have to spend away from them. I was
selected as the leader of my group which meant I was responsible for the actions
of all the people in our company. This was the first thing I learned in the
service. Don’t volunteer for anything. I got this job because they asked if
anyone had a driver’s license. I raised my hand anticipating a plum job driving
around dignitaries and officers. Psyche, they were just looking for someone
foolish enough to raise their hand.
We started out with a physical examination (turn your head
and cough). They checked our eyesight where I failed the color perception test
(it didn’t matter). After they checked our hearing, we went to the clothing
issue area where we were measured and given a sea bag full of clothing
including underwear, socks and shoes. We also received personal care items like
a toothbrush, toothpaste and a bar of soap.
Then we took a general classification test to determine the
area of our aptitude. After physical training and a visit to the obstacle course,
we participated in a swim test, water survival class where we learned how to
remove our jeans and make a float device. We took damage control training where
we had to repair simulated damage to our “ship” before it sank. We then visited
a burn building to learn how to put out a burning ship, a smoke house, and a
trip thru the tear gas building, After many hours of classroom instruction to complete
our training, we graduated and got our stripes.
We then received our “Marching orders”. I was lucky to be
selected to go to Machinery Repairman “A” school. I took a brief leave to visit
back home and boarded a flight to San Diego California where they offered this
school. California was interesting. I had never been somewhere where all the
trees were palm trees, no maples or pine trees. On the weekends, some of my
“mates” and I would get sleeping bags from “special services” on the base and
go to the sandstone cliffs of La Jollia for the weekend. Armed with my “boom
box”, we would swim and enjoy our time away from the base.
We would build a
small fire to cook our meals and there was a public drinking fountain nearby
that we would fill gallon bottles of water for our use. Water wasn’t all we
drank. We used to get a gallon jug of Red Mountain wine at the local package
store. We would take food from the mess to take with us but we would also buy
food from a supermarket that was near our campsite.
When I graduated from “A” school I took another short leave to
go home and then went to my ship in Newport Rode Island. My wife and I got
married after a long 6 month cruise and we started living in Massachusetts.
That was one of the roughest times of my life up until then. We were living
without the benefit of family living nearby and I now had someone else relying
on me for food and shelter.
We had no safety net so we had to do it on our own.
All through the first few years of our marriage and the birth of two of my
children, I was at sea as much as I was in port. It was during this time I
learned a lot about myself. I learned more about personal responsibility,
family values and self-reliance than I ever had before. Now some fifty plus years
later, I am amazed that my younger self was able to pull it off.
I developed the skills during my time in the service to
survive, raise children and live a good life. Like I said in the beginning, I
started out a boy and when I was done, I had become a man.
