Ship Validation

Remember that final ship validation I said I was going to and said I would tell you all about it? Well here is me telling you all about it…

I wasn’t sure what was going to be happening except we would be performing an IST and we would be there for a night and for the following morning. It was kind of boring at first on Thursday night because we were waiting on late arrivals and so after we had put up cots we sat around. Once everybody was there, roll was taken and the real deal started. It was kinda crazy at first because the leader dude (I don’t remember his name or if he had an official title for the validation besides his rank) was yelling and broke out the rules for us. He was making it feel kind of like bootcamp I guess.

From now until you leave this place you will only say three things unless a specific answer is asked of you. You will only say “yes sir” “no sir” and “aye sir” do you understand me?

Then we all said “yes sir” and yada yada yada… We went row by row (our cots were in rows) to do hygiene time (brush our teeth and wash our faces) and we were instructed to get back and sit at the end of our cots while listening to instructions. We then practiced our stance of parade rest and attention and the guy told us to lay in our racks at attention until we fell asleep. We were not allowed up unless we were getting water or using the head (bathroom). They had marines on duty to make sure order was kept and that we were not breaking rules. I slept alright for it being a cot but not knowing what time it was or what time we were getting up was killing me. I wasn’t sure if I should go back to sleep when I would wake up during the night. We woke up at 5:30am the following morning.

We immediately got to attention and began all the morning stuff (instructions, hygiene time, breakfast) and we then tore down cots and packed up and lined up. We did a lot of lining up and these guys did not tolerate stupid (my kind of people). We were split into two team (battalions, units, whatever) and performed our IST. Pullups were first then crunches and the 1.5mi run. I passed everything but messed up on my pullups and had to jump off the bar at 12. Boooo. Cruches went well and the run could have done better but hey, I passed. I think if I knew the running course I would have done better on the run. But whatever…

We ate “lunch” at like 9:30am… Our lunch was MREs (Meal Ready to Eat) but we were only allowed to eat them cold. I used to eat MREs all the time at home since I grew up in a Marine Corps family and I loved them and I knew everything about them. So I knew where to hit first and how to figure out what I was eating and how to open the packages and stuff so that helped me eat fast. I ended up eating two pieces of bread because the mexican mac & cheese was disgusting not heated up. We got done with lunch, cleaned up, had briefings, and then had two screenings to make sure we were still eligible. I am happy to announce I am still eligible and I am leaving Greenville on October 23, 2011 and I will ship to Parris Island, SC October 24, 2011 where the ride gets wilder.

Please continue to pray for my preparation and my time at recruit training. It’s coming up fast! My graduation is Friday January 20, 2012 (unless I break my legs, pluck my eye out, or drown and have to wait until all that is fixed) and everybody is invited! I would love to see you there. This is the spot where the updates will be and where you should be checking for updates and even my address to write me letters. Thank you for your support.

rejoice.always