My triumphant return! (a few weeks ago lol) - Navy

Well...I'm back from Navy boot camp at RTC Great Lakes...

Maybe back isn't the right word...I'm not home, but I'm out of that hell hole...

The weeks at RTC (recruit training command) are scheduled as follows
P-days (indoc, medical, dental, etc)
1-(1-5), 1-Sat, 1-Sun
2- etc
3
4
5
6
7
8

P-days was the worst week of my life. Ever. Bar none. I had all my beloved hair chopped off, my clothes sent home and replaced with standard issue Navy gear (which I had to pay for, ofc), the shock of getting little to no sleep (we spent at least 30 hours getting through paperwork, physicals, shots, etc before we could spend our first night in our compartment), and having to adjust to a complete and utter lack of privacy and simple joys. The only good thing about P-days was that our RDCs (recruit division commanders, 2nd class petty officers (E-5s) and above) could not "beat" (IT, intensive training, make us do insane amounts of exercises) us yet...yet...our first Sunday (holiday routine normally, meaning we get 6 hours to relax, talk, and write letters home) we were forced to go to church and hear about our church options, taking up our entire free time, so we were unable to write home.

Week 1 was our first week as official recruits. We had a ceremony with a Lieutenant to make our division official, and were IT'd as a division to "celebrate." We took our swim test (I failed, and was assigned remedial swim lessons until I could pass (which I did, 1 week later)). I was assigned as my division's Yeoman, in charge of all paperwork and "hard cards," which are essentially service records for boot camp. Any major error I made had the potential to hold someone back in training, which was both a joy and a burden to know - nobody would screw around with me for that reason, but I had a lot of pressure to do well.

More later