 Get on the bus! Let's go! Wait, are you going first or am I going first? I'll go, I'll go. You introduce yourself, I'll introduce myself. Alright. Alright, my name is Gabriel Cashid, I'm 18. I'm Simon Cashid and I'm also 18. We're from Australia, but we were born in Bat Rouge, Louisiana. And we ship out Navy Bootcamp. We get asked everywhere we go, yes, we are twins. We're not identical, dude. Paternal. Or is it paternal? Ah, it doesn't matter. I guess you've always got that best friend next to you. I guess we've never really had that. So it's going to be different once we get assigned to a boat or if we're not in the same company in Bootcamp. Serve my name, my country's name. I haven't been practising as much as I should, that's for sure. I'm not going to lie about that. All over the world. Around the world. You're really butchering it here. It was a long waiting period, but then this past month has just gone by. So quickly that it's unbelievable. They turn it back now. All right. Got their doctor hand writing. Rachel Jones. Then what else did you say? You could put like a personal message, like a quick word or something for everyone to read. What would happen? Hi, my name is Rachel. I'm 24 years old. I live in Alexandria, Virginia. And I'm getting ready to ship off to Navy Bootcamp. So I studied French at George Mason. I was there for four and a half years. I took a year to study abroad in France. When we were in college, I would have never expected you to go to like the military. I really appreciate the group of friends that I have made. I made them at Mason as well. I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry. I'm like a mom. Oh my God. Future Sailor Jones requested me to come in. Initially going in there and talking to the Navy, I was a little bit apprehensive. Once I walked into the recruiting station that this is something that I really did want to do. Future Sailor, what is your first general order? Petty Officer. My first general order is to take charge of this post and all government property in view. Petty Officer. No. All right, a 10. I expect it to be challenging. I don't expect it to be difficult because thinking about how many people a year go through Bootcamp, it cannot be that hard. Basic training is designed to actually train you from break you down from who you are as an individual and lift you up as a team. You know, so you'll get that and it'll give you direction for the rest of your career. I remember seeing my dad come pick me up from elementary school in his uniform and I'm just like, yep, that's my dad. Yep, he fights dad guys. So now that I'm getting to put on that uniform and now my youngest brother will be able to see me and think that I'm super cool. I think it's really cool that I get to be one of the select few who does get this honor of being able to defend our country. So I feel very proud about that. It's an adventure. I'm Luis. I'm 19 years old. I was born in Salvador. I live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and I'm a bodily football camp. My favorite part of Baton Rouge, it'll be downtown. Me as a curator person, I love taking pictures of the places of the city, but from whenever I moved to Baton Rouge, I remember I hear laughs and I hear people talking about me and saying that he's the guy who doesn't know any English and stuff like that. And then here I am now about to join the Navy and I'm really excited about it. It was so quick. It feels like it was yesterday that I called you. Two weeks before I got my citizenship, I called my recruiter and then like, two weeks after I got my citizenship, I got sworn in in the office. So it was a perfect timing. Are you going to be sad, happy? Happy. Are you going to be happy when I'm gone? Why? I did a lot of research. Well, not a lot, but I've done some research on what bootcamp is like. I'm not really scared about it. I have a mindset, I think, that if I go in there thinking that I'm the best, is it going to hire my standards of what I can actually do? I'm nervous. It didn't hit me back then, but now it's starting as the time getting closer. It's getting there. They're proud. My parents are really proud about me joining the military. Of course, they're a little bit sad that I'm leaving, but they know it's for the best of me, so that makes up for it. And I'm going to miss you guys. I will miss you a lot. I miss you guys. A lot. But you know, I feel so happy. And you happy? I'm happy. Whenever we left El Salvador, my mom left all her family behind. She came here to absolutely nothing. She did it all for me. And I really consider my parents heroes for me. You know, doing that, the huge sacrifice of leaving the whole family behind used to give me and my brothers a better life. It's something I got to take advantage of. You know, if I'm leaving in this beautiful country, I'm going to take advantage of that. And I'm trying to do that the best way I can by joining the military. Then we get breakfast, and then it's a whole day. Let's go. Get on the bus. Let's go. Let's go. Get on the bus. Go. I want your decision to serve this great nation and welcome you to the beginning of your journey in the United States Navy. Now, you are about to undertake a rigorous and intense training program that has prepared generations of sailors in the world's most powerful Navy. Whether you call it recruit training or boot camp, make no mistake about it. It's hard. It's designed to be hard. It is joining the Navy so much more than just getting another job. When you get off the bus, you will walk with a purpose. Like you mean to accomplish something tonight. Is that understood? I'm like, what did I get myself into? It was like one second we're on the bus, watching the little video, trying not to fall asleep. And then as soon as we get off the bus, it's immediate screaming. Let's go. Move. Move. Move fast for you. I remember getting yelled at. That's pretty much all I can remember is just getting yelled at. Move. Move. Move. Move. Let's go. Move down. Good afternoon. I'm Chief Petty Officer Jamie Calla. I'm a recruit division commander. The minute you get off the bus, there's going to be a lot of stress applied upon you. The yelling, the go, go, go, go, can you do this? Can you get that done? You know, and it's up to you to basically perform under pressure. Look straight. Welcome to the United States Navy. For the next eight weeks, you will not do a single thing on your own. I tell you what to do, how to do it, when to do it. Nothing that I ever tell you is a request, an option or a suggestion. So you make a, you give a direction and you have .5 seconds to pay attention to it, to the letter. So you, you can mess up. If you mess up, then that's on you and it's really going to fall back on you. You will roll up your pant legs three inches up. When you are done, you will be on the toe line, standing straight, looking straight, awaiting further instruction. You have 15 seconds. Go. Go. Here we go. Back to your heels. Behind you. Is that touching your heels? No, it's not. Garbage away. Aye aye, Chief. That's how you sound off. Talk loud. Aye aye, Chief. He said get down to the last shark with sleeves. Maybe I wasn't loud enough. Maybe you couldn't understand me. Fix yourself now. When I say go, you will make your initial phone call home. You will call someone that can confirm your existence. Somebody that knows that you came here to Navy Boot Camp. Let's go. Have your phone borrowed this person. Let's go. Let's go. Don't be mailed. Turn off your phone. Place it in your bag. Let's go. Hang up. Hang up. Hang up. Give this phone back to whoever owns it. I thought it was going to be a little bit more relaxed, but definitely isn't. A lot more intense than I did think it was going to be. Who said to stand like that? You must love getting special attention. Huh? Go, Chief. Get that attention. Now. I'm pretty sure that I said your hands will never be behind you. Your hands will never be in front of you. What is your problem? Medium. Proper military bearing will be maintained 24-7, and it starts tonight. Do you understand me? Yes, Chief. I can't hear you. Do you understand me? Yes, Chief. Yeah, that was the hardest for me, just to not even argue the point. Just take it, yeah. Get over here. Get him back. Get him back. We got our C bag, which was the big green duffel bag that you have to carry. You take all of your personal items off, like all of your clothing, your shoes, everything you arrived in. You put it in a box, including your cell phone, and ship it home. And then you get brand new everything from t-shirts that we're wearing to the PT clothes, the sneakers, nothing that you came with aside from maybe a hairbrush and a few personal items, gets to stay with you. I knew that I would have to carry my own luggage. Like, there was no Belman service here, but I didn't expect all of my things to be that heavy. Like, when I was spilling it up, I was like, okay, great. This is so convenient. Everything fits in this little green bag. Wonderful. And then I had to put it on, and it wasn't so wonderful. Okay, then fix it now! I've been up since three in the morning, since last night. And I don't know how I am awake right now at this moment. And I've been on my feet, and my feet are dying. So, that's it. I'm exhausted. My arms feel like they're going to fall off. And it's not fun yet. I didn't even sleep at night. Yeah, I nearly fell asleep standing. I am naturally standing out of tension right now. Not even trying to, but... It's definitely getting a lot tougher for recruits. Pretty sure I said you will sound off. Yes, Chief. Huh? Yes, Chief! Did I say walk back on the tow line? I didn't. Do you know where you're at? Respond! Say something! Yes, Chief. No, Chief. Maybe, Chief. What is it? Yes, Chief. Because responding is not an option. From what other people would say, and how they said that they've gone a bit softer because of the error that we're in, but no, I think it's still kind of the same. There is a reason for everything that we do here. We do instill that pressure. So what is it doing next to you? Huh? Let me guess. Ah, no! No! Now you want to fix it. Maybe had you just done the right thing the first time, you wouldn't be in this situation. Because, again, when you do get to the fleet, we want to make sure that you fight and you don't fold. It's nothing like boot camp. It's nothing like a Navy boot camp. You are joining the United States Navy. I expected it to be hard. I'm not a star! No, Chief. I'm not a chief! No, Chief! No, Chief! No, Chief! I fight them all the time. This is more your Navy than it is mine. Years from now, I'm going to retire and you're going to take over my spot. And I let them know that I want to make sure I can tell my wife and kid that we're safe at night because there's tough people in the Navy. And I know for sure because I put them in. But we're going to be going down the street where it comes and follows from the left. Means the left friend is going to take off first. Everybody will go down the street and they're going to follow line and so on. Do you understand that? Yes, Chief. You're going to have to get a little louder than that for me. Yes, Chief. Yes, Chief. All right. So come to the follows from the left. That's recruit. Sound off. That's recruit. Follow up. Stay in mind. There, once we receive them, we put them in division. So we assign them to the divisions as we need them and then around 0-3-30 in the morning. Once everybody goes through that entire process, then the in-processing barracks team picks them up and takes them to Chow and from there, you know, later on, that later on a few hours from there, they'll meet the recruiter. Hey! Anything? Get up! Hey! Get in there. Good job. Hey! Get me out of here! Get out of here! Superbunk. Let's go! Every up! Superbunk! Then we find the bunker. Yeah, I just want to get bouquet finished. I like challenges and I feel like this is a challenge and I'm going to beat it. I'm going to graduate without doubt. It's going to happen. I have a very set goal of what I'm here to do. If I have to get yelled at, I'm being yelled at and that's fine, but in eight weeks, I plan on being out of here. So I don't have time to fight with anyone or to get in any type of trouble or get set back because that's not what I'm here for. Just in and out and move on. Just get out of here. Yeah. Just get out of here. I want to graduate. I thought it just comes with going to boot camp that you were going to graduate, but you have to earn this. Yeah, it's definitely harder than I thought it was. Get up straight! Eyes on me! I'm Peddelser Spirit. I will be your lead RDC. Peddelser 10 will be your second RDC. Peddelser Gonzalez will be your third RDC Together, we have eight weeks to transform you and the United States. You are no longer a civilian. Whatever you were before is now over. You are about to begin a journey that's going to make you a part of the greatest naval force the world has ever known. This training will not be easy. It wasn't meant to be. You will not be coddled nor disrespected, but you will be held to a high standard. Our job as your RDCs is to turn you into basically trained sailors. Your job as recruits is to do what you're taught and give us 100% motivation. You'll all be treated the same no matter your sex, cultural background, religion, or sexual orientation. There are no individuals in the military. We are many, but we operate as one unit. Through this team to be successful you have to work together. If you fail, the team fails. Get on your feet. Get up. My name is Pet Officer Sperry. I'm a recruit division commander at Recruit Training Command. All divisions start off basically the same. They're very scared. They don't know what they're supposed to expect during their eight week training. Turn your head. It's easy. Say your number. 51. 52. 53. No. As you were. Stop. Turn your head and say your number. 59. 60. Wait for the person in front of you to turn their freaking head so you can say your number and then you go after them. I'm Chief Pet Officer Stigall. I'm a recruit division commander. Here at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes. Processing days. That's where you're issued all your initial issue, diddy issue. They have their basic medical indoctrination. But they get a series of shots. So during that week you get a lot of shots. You get kind of everything you need to continue the rest of your training. The shots were not fun. We got dental work done, which we just finished today. It was long, a long, long process. Everything that you do is with a purpose and you do it to the best of your ability. We want to give them a shock and we let them know that you haven't even started training yet. You haven't even begun to experience exactly what we're about to subject you to. Then you start teaching on the very basics. How to stand at attention. How to salute. How to do face movements. Left face, right face, about face. Learning how to fold things. Learning how to do things correctly. I gave you 15 minutes to shave and brush your teeth. We are going on 25 minutes. This is unset. Let's go! The first few days of boot camp, that's when recruits don't really know what to expect. So when you start yelling at them... You understand? You're here to get better. Not to stand freaking lazy. You understand? They don't stand like that. I shouldn't be repeating myself. We're already trying... Some people really have a negative effect to that and they don't like me and talk to like that and then some of them understand the process and understand that that's us being on them 100% all the time is what's going to make them a better sailor in the end. You know, I don't... Everything they do, I don't take it personal because I realize they are training me to be a sailor. It's a lot of tough love. And it's like, I know that they... us to succeed again. I know that they want us to do well. You know, they've all been through this themselves. They have gone through a lot of training themselves to beat RDCs. So trying to just remember that and give them that equal amount of respect really helps me get through it. They've been good. They're only really... Again, if you're doing the right thing, they're not going to be yelling at you. We have to yell at them a lot and get them to understand that we need them not just to react to what we're saying but to react fast. We're going to make it uncomfortable for them. We're going to make it so that they are able to, one, have confidence in themselves and their abilities but also be able to deal with the stress. And so that's why we create a stressful environment. That's why we keep the temp up. What did your RDCs tell you about failure? If you fail, who fails? The whole team. Your initial PFA is tomorrow. You need to understand that if you fail, you will get set back. So tomorrow is going to be a reality check for the recruits. It's going to be their baseline PFA where they're going to be required to run a mile and a half, do a number amount of sit-ups and push-ups. Some won't make it, so some are going to go home. I wanted to pass out and just die. Give me a gallon of water and let me drink it. So we were all really stressed about who was going to pass and who wasn't going to pass. Let's go, June. Let's go. Get up there. Come on. Don't think about it. Let's go. Come on, five more. Give me five more. I was happy that I wasn't able to pass it. I'm glad. So hopefully I can pass the next one with a better score. With the PFA, I knew I was ready for it before coming to bootcamp. But the day before, I got really, really sick. Still, I felt sick during the PFA, but I just pushed because I didn't want to get separated. And so that PFA baseline is just that. It's the baseline. It's not even the actual PFA standard. And if they can't meet the baseline, then they probably need to go find something else to do. I don't give a crap if you're tired, if you take the sea bag too heavy, you came here to serve. So own up and do it. Week one of the actual bootcamp, they can expect to be staying up for long hours, working at a fast pace. They're going to be expected to pass their swim qualification and expected to march as a unit. And those are all things that we're training them from the beginning. They're going to have to bring together week one and make sure they're performing all those tasks. So in PDAs, we are allowed and we are aggressive with them, but we are instructors at first. We're teaching them everything. We take our time because come week one, we don't have time to train every little thing over and over again. They need to learn it. So when we're telling them at first, they need to pick stuff up and this is how it has to be done. Come week one, we expect that to happen. So when they start failing during week one, then they're actually held accountable for their actions. Anything that you were before you came here, you ain't goodbye to that. That's gone. Because as long as people in this world want to take your life because of where you live, because of where you breathe, you must be ready. And if you're not ready, we don't need you. Let's go! I wake up every morning and I'm like, I'm really in Navy boot camp. Good morning. Ah, quit stuttering. It doesn't feel like we're here and it's like you go to sleep and you wake up and then you look around and you're like, oh crap. You shaved yet? Yes, pretty officer. When? Last night, pretty officer. Did you shave this morning? No, pretty officer. Or within the last hour? No, pretty officer. Go shave. Now we're in our permanent ship and it's a heightened amount of stress because there are so many more pairs of eyes looking at us. It's stressful at the moment. I'm trying to get used to it, yes. I believe with Division 229 when we first switched from P-Days where we were coaching most of the time to Week 1 where we were holding them accountable, it scared a few of them that they weren't going to be able to meet the standard that we expect them to hold. Anybody on your faces? No! You can't act in one! You ready to quit? Do it and quit! I can get you out of here! One, two, three! All recruits when you first pick them up from basically civilians and then get them into the Week 1 training and you start using intensive training exercises on them, they struggle. It's mostly a mindset. When someone's in your face yelling at you, they'll have a hard time doing 10, 15 push-ups and they kind of start to quit on themselves before they need to. You're quit! You're not sweating! You're not putting any effort into it! You're just quitting! Close! Get over here! What side of the open side of your pillow go to? The open side of the open side of the pillow. So why is your pillow backwards? Fix it! It's the same hits every day! You both had that hit yesterday. Only one of you fixed it. Why didn't you look at it? I didn't see it coming off soon. Once he makes his rack, look at it for him. It's called teamwork. Figure it out. That's been the most challenging part. It's just getting along with everyone and trying to work together and putting all differences aside and understanding that we have one goal to accomplish. So some people have adjusted to that better than others. Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Up, down, up, up, down, up, up, down, up, up, down, up. So that IT session was to show them after taps they're not allowed to argue with each other and they have to just handle things internally as a division. What number? Daniela! 12! 12! No one feels sorry for you, but they can't bring every situation to the RDCs and also they can't argue with each other like they're still in high school and you need to realize that they're grown women and across all men and they need to handle it amongst one another. I don't want to hear one recruit knocking on my door telling me, see me recruit so and so, get this. Handle it amongst yourselves like grown women. You understand? When you come to boot camp, it's not just about me as an individual, it's about us as a team. They're not sure who's going to step up and take leadership positions, who's going to help support those leaders. So it's just a forming stage at the very beginning of boot camp where they learn how to come together and work together. 1400, head on spot, same time entry, forward hold on spot. You understand? I'm kind of learning leadership. There's a channel for men in our division. I am ahead, I'm ahead of PO. I clean the bathrooms. I actually enjoy doing it. I actually like to keep it clean. And what I don't enjoy is people not listening to do what I tell them. So that's where being a team comes into part. It's a swim test to just make sure that they have the basic skills required to survive if they were to find themselves in the ocean. So we walk in and I see the platform and I say, okay, 10 feet is not that bad and then you get up there and you look down. I'm like, whoa, that's 10 feet. And he says, okay, step. And I kind of hesitated and before I knew it, I was over the edge. So once I finally got out of the pool and made my swim, I was like, okay, great. The worst part is over. And then we go to the other side and we have to jump off again. And I was like, man, why didn't they tell us this before we joined? I wouldn't reconsider that. But I passed. But he did inform me that I needed to swim lessons. It doesn't look as high as it is. And it's not the fact that I'm afraid of heights. It's the feeling. Yeah, it's the feeling your stomach gets when you drop. You have to hold on to the favorable boat. And everybody has to get in it one by one. And the water was really cold. But it was quick. It was fast. And I really enjoyed jumping off the power. Yeah, that was not the point. I did not enjoy that. Other people said that they loved it. I hope I don't go overboard. We started off with 79 recruits and going through the first couple of days, you lose a lot of recruits for medical reasons, for testing reasons. And a lot of times those recruits get processed back into training. So they'll continue on with another division. Boot camp is very challenging. We push the recruits to their limit and beyond what they think their limit is. Because when they're here at boot camp, if we can push them and push them and make them feel uncomfortable, but they keep succeeding and keep going through the mission, then those are going to be the sailors that are out there in the fleet ready to serve once they do graduate here. And if they find out that boot camp is not for them, it's better for us to filter out the people that are going to have an issue under pressure while they're here at boot camp before they get out there in the fleet and they need to perform. And that's the point when they decide they break. So boot camp is hard for that reason. Even though I've only been in boot camp for a week and some change, I can see things turning and I see goals that I can set for myself. It makes me a lot more sure of the decision that I made. I knew deep down inside I really, really, really wanted to be in the service. So it made me a lot more sure and a lot more confident that this was the best decision that I could have made for myself. Whenever I was back at home, I used to judge myself a lot. You just think, I'm not doing this right. I'm not doing wrong in my life. And I don't have that feeling anymore. I'm satisfied with what I'm going to. I'm really satisfied. Yesterday was our first day wearing the actual uniform. So when we got them and I see that my name is on my right and it says US Navy on the left. I'm just like, wow, like I get to wear this uniform. This is so cool. It's mind blowing and it's like, wow, my name is on here and it says US Navy. Like I'm doing this. I'm doing it. I'm doing it. It's happening. I'm so excited for graduation. I'm just, I'm ready for it and I'm excited for my family to see me in my uniform and for me to just get out of here. That's my number one inspiration to get through this. It's seeing how my parents are going to react to it. How they're going to feel. How they're going to see what I change. It's making them proud. I can't wait for graduation for one reason and I feel like it's too long. It's so long away but it's just knowing that I will make them proud. So now that we're going into week four with division two to nine and the division as a whole is starting to work together a lot better. The standard is set and they have to do what they can do to reach the standard and that's helping bring them together as a team. They say that basic training doesn't get better. I think that's definitely true. When we first pick the division up we can barely get them to stand still and just left the right face. Now coming to week four training they've been marching everywhere every single day together since the first day we got them. Our progression it's been really cool seeing it and just looking back on our P-day days and the first day that we tried to start marching and how horrible it looked and it's kind of like the progression just happened right before our eyes. The transition is night and day. Every time Cadence comes on I'm always in the back screaming and you can hear my voice all the way in the front. The division has come a long way physically but they still have a long way to go. Here at recruit training command we have physical fitness training six days a week so about three days a week we do some in-house physical fitness activities which are a lot of push-ups jumping jacks running planks different exercises that we can do right here in a small space to get the recruits in better shape and then four days a week we go over to Freedom Hall where they get to run so it's all a building block to get them up to the standard that the Navy wants them to be at prior to leaving recruit training command. Yeah I've seen my waistline go down which is awesome. Fitness is going well you know it also helps that we've been put on our faces every day so I try to think about that when we have to do our little floor kicks and take out core builders so it has certainly improved PZ for sure. From my perspective I do think we are good friends chief. In a professional standpoint yes chief. Professor explain to me what professionalism is when you're going out of your way to talk to each other you're talking to each other in inappropriate places you're talking to each other when you should not be so you tell me about professionalism you've been a fiction military band right now. I'm sorry. Shut up. Alright chief. Here's the point conversations shouldn't be had good friends not in my boot camp everything that you guys are doing is against good order and discipline. I'm going to ensure that whatever relationship you're trying to have here in boot camp whether it's just good friends social buddies whatever you word it I'm going to make sure that it doesn't happen here. Do the work out correctly. Get off your knees! Get off the bed! One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. Marlin Spike is a huge team evolution. Get up here! Go, go, go! So if a division feels that they operate as a team they get to Marlin Spike and they find out exactly what real team work is. Learning how to tie a knot and cast off the line and actually tie down the ship I felt like was more practical. Everybody has to be able to get the ship underway. So when it comes down to line handling when it comes down to that Marlin Spike evolution they got to work together. Life before Marlin Spike and life after Marlin Spike was night and day. Go, we got this, let's go! Slip it, slip it! So that was really hard but I felt like it made us it forced us to work together. Every single cellular is a firefighter. Damage control training is extremely important. Everybody has to know it. If they don't have the proper training then you lose the ship and that's one of the dams control team commands. You do not give up the ship. You don't really think about all the things that can happen while you're in the middle of the ocean. You know, your ship going down or being attacked and then really all you have is each other and the skills that you learn. Yes, I am. I'm really confident that something was wrong. You know, for example, we did a conference chamber. This will be the best work day in boot camp. Who ya? Who ya? I want everybody to repeat after me. Embrace the suck. Let's go. Step it out. Let's go. Step it out. You would think, okay, so is this mask really going to cover me and keep me alive? It's called confidence chamber for a reason and gives you the confidence on the equipment of the Navy. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I think on a scale of one to ten, I would have gave it like a five. It burns? Oh, it still burns. Like right under my nose, it burns. I think we ciced it a little bit more than we needed to. You just cried a lot. My eyes were watered and it's still watered. I really didn't call for it. It wasn't that bad. You know what? Y'all got confidence in that gear? That's what I'm talking about. Y'all see this? That means it's a good day. Good day to be in the Navy. I do believe that they're doing a lot better job. Getting these recruits a basic knowledge of what they're going to be expected to do once they get out to the fleet. I know when I came to bootcamp nine years ago, we had a three or four day course on firefighting and then in two days on line handling. And now the recruits are getting it every single week once they hit week four until the week they graduate. And I think that will help prepare sailors for the fleet a lot better. One of the primary things that we all do as instructors is we give these recruits the experience, the real-life experience of first of all handling this weapon in an environment that's close to reality. It's not quiet. It's not passive. It's going to take a few years to survive in an environment like this. So that's pretty much what we do. Get a good aggressive stand. Point it at the target like you mean it. Prepare for the weapon spirit. I didn't miss my target, which was great. So I think I did all right. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed shooting weapons. Since the P-Days to now they're completely different recruits. Every time we walk past Pearl Harbor, which is where P-Days was we kind of see through the window the people in their PT and their sweat suits and we're like man that was us only a few weeks ago. And that was us looking out the window at some of our senior divs and we were like man I wish I was there and they're marching and they have on their uniforms and their flags and that's so cool and we just got here three days ago. They understand that they have to work together as a team. They understand that no one can make it through boot camp by themselves. That's the biggest thing and the thing that makes you the most proud as an RDC is when you see them work together as a team understand each other's weaknesses and really just come together. Two minutes to complete as many proper push-ups as you can. Are you ready? Always. Ready up? Begin. I feel great. I really do. Like all the hard work paid off. It's a huge weight of my shoulders. So come in for battle stations. That's for sure. It's better to get the best of me right now. Take all of that. Work together as a team. Execute the mission. And the next time I see you you'll be sailors. Who are your neighbors? Battle stations is a crucible event. They go in as recruits and they come out sailors. The most nerve-wracking part about going into battle stations was knowing that we don't pass battle stations. There is no way that you will graduate. The battle stations are around eight o'clock at night. All right. Y'all are motivated. That's great. You need to maintain that motivation all throughout the night. You're tired now. There's going to be nothing at 04, 05, 06. So battle stations is the final test before you can graduate to UCAMP. It is all night long. And it's basically all of the classes that you've had and all the training that you've had since you came to UCAMP just all crammed into one. We try to keep everybody in line, try to keep everybody awake, try to keep everybody as less as possible. We keep everybody happy. And I think we did a good job. Just not much that I can say about battle stations. It's just that it's very tiring. It's very stressful. You got to rely on your shipmates next to you to make sure that you all got through it efficiently. It made me kind of think about my job and my role as far as the Navy goes. It really made me appreciate how important it is for every single member on that ship to know exactly what to do and where to go and how to get things done efficiently. That way you're not just looking for that one firefighter, that one DC man, to come and save the day and so to say. So I really appreciated that part in that aspect of my training because everybody needs to know that. Everybody is just really excited that we get to graduate tomorrow. And to see our family and everything is done pretty much. That's the main thing. We're happy to be dealt with this. And I'm happy for you guys and everybody who finishes together. You'll hear people say boot camp is a filter not a pump. We're supposed to evaluate these people and decide whether they're sailors or not. But I will refuse to lower the standard to help someone achieve the goal that in my opinion is one of the greatest things you can do is not to become a sailor. So all the recruits that do make it through my divisions I'll be proud of and feel like I'm really helping out the fleet. Well for the cabin ceremony I got the chills got the goose pumps and I didn't tell I could kind of cheer up a little bit I'm not even going to lie It's emotional you know it's been a long eight weeks all the things that we've been through It was kind of emotional it was nice finally being able to shake my RDC's hands and shake my fellow shipmates' hands and trade in that recruit ball cap and finally get that ball cap that's been sitting here since the day we got here so it just it feels like a sense of accomplishment just that whole ceremony and switching over feels great I thought coming into the Navy as someone who had already finished college and been on my own and worked on my own job that this experience wouldn't change me as much as it has but I can I can see the difference in it I can see the difference the way I talk to people it gives you so much more respect for yourself and so much more respect for other people I don't even know if it will ever hit me I feel like it was just a change in my life you know when you change you don't really notice it but other people do bootcamp have made me have made a product of myself that I want everybody to see a personality that I never knew that I could have I'm really proud of myself there is 1% of the United States and to be that 1% in the Navy is a sense of pride that you carry with you our day to day job is a tough job you have to be tough that's what bootcamp does we create tough sailors so that ultimately our Navy is what the nation needs the challenge to come up here and do this job and to make civilians into sailors it is the hardest job I've ever had but it's the most rewarding job I've ever had it's a feeling that you can't really explain to someone until they come up here put the rope on and graduate a division I'm really looking forward to not only what the Navy has for me but what I can also give back to the Navy into my country I'm excited about being able to serve and say that I did serve which wasn't necessarily at the top of my list when I walked into the station honestly I was thinking more about oh I want to go to college or go back to college I want the benefits I want this I want that but after being here and after seeing how passionate that my RDCs were about being in the service and how much this means to them it really made me redirect my attention for my reasoning of being here I just I want to be here I want to make my parents proud I want to make my RDCs proud so I just want to go out there at the end of the day whether my time ends at four years or my time ends at 30 years I want to say that my time that I served in the Navy I gave everything I could have given and that was it I finished Navy Boot Camp I really finished Navy Boot Camp Wow I never thought I would have said that Yes I am a United States sailor it's kind of surreal and I'm just I'm so proud of myself I'm proud of the journey that that I had to take to get here and all of the challenges and obstacles it just makes this moment so much greater knowing how far I had to come to be here I am a United States sailor now and I feel completely different I didn't come here as a sailor but I'm leaving as a sailor now and it's an amazing feeling honestly I'm so proud of myself