Bootcamp, Part 1: Reveille

(Nothing like a bit of PT to get the morning, afternoon, or evening started off on the left...left...left, right, left foot)

A little bit of trivia before we begin. “Reveille” is what we call the signal for morning wakeup every day, beit on the first day of Bootcamp or underway at sea. It comes in many forms and differs across nations, but the most common in the U.S. is the familiar bugle call. Its roots are in the French language and means “to awaken.” Technically, reveille occurs at 0600 (yep, we’re going with the 25hr clock in this series) but that’s only a guideline. Variations in watch rotations, ongoing operations and evolutions, unplanned events, and, in basic and officer training, the whim of one’s Recruit Division Commander or Drill Instructor often shift that time to the left. I sincerely hope no one is reading this prior to technical reveille, but if you are, then recharge that coffee cup with a fresh brew (or reheated sludge, there’s no judgment here) and crank up that wakeup song, because here we go.

1. “What exactly does the US Navy do?”

That is a very broad question because the answer is just as broad. The official mission of the US Navy, straight from their webpage, is to “maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression and maintaining freedom of the seas.”

Did everybody get that? It makes perfect sense, right? If that definition is too vague for you then congratulations, you’ve just been introduced to how government agencies and services describe themselves: in as vague of terms as possible while still sounding like they’re being succinct. It allows us to cover the widest range of possibilities in order to avoid having to write every possible mission or task that might fall under a certain department’s responsibility. How about some more text from the website to clear this up? Examples of missions include:

• Training missions at sea with foreign navies
• Regional security
• Reconnaissance/intelligence missions to gather enemy data
• At-sea rescues
• Medical care programs for Navy, Marines, or perhaps people in or near a war theater
• Oil spill or other marine cleanups

It sounds like a lot, right? That’s only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, but I’m willing to bet that many of you reading this probably would have guessed that already. So what else do we do? Here’s my own list of things I’ve done over the past 14 years to add to the above items:

• National/international VIP escort and protection (in conjunction with other services)
• Civilian vessel escort (usually refueling ships or oceanographic vessels associated with the USN, but we also escort oil tankers and other vessels on an as-needed basis if we’re in the area)
• Anti-piracy patrols
• Anti-smuggler patrols (in conjunction with the US Coast Guard and foreign officers)
• Fisheries protection (in conjunction with the US Coast Guard and foreign officers)
• Freedom of Navigation operations
• Theater Security Cooperation (doing volunteer work with a host nation who we are visiting)
• Maritime technology platform testing
• Public outreach and festivals
• Whatever else we’re directed to do

And this list is just my own experience under the blanket of Surface Warfare. This doesn’t include the experiences and missions of Aviation, Maintenance, Supply, Submarine, Information, and many other warfare and support communities. And then there are the civilian employees and contractors, the Reserve components, and so on.

Very little of our time is spent doing anything worthy of even being tangentially related to a decent story or a newsworthy article. Like most any profession, the gritty little details of day-to-day life and operations is what keeps the fires stoked for that moment when it all hits the fan. There is a ton of preventative and corrective maintenance daily that goes into keeping 9000 tons of fighting steel in shipshape condition, let alone the large vessels. Drills and training are a daily occurrence, and then there’s the general administration and paperwork. Given the sheer amount that we produce, I’m beginning to wonder if the possibility of awarding a medal for the ability to create a comprehensive brief in PowerPoint in under an hour is not so far-fetched of an idea after all.

No explanation of what the U.S. Navy does would not be complete without mentioning something every recruit gets burned into their brains early on during their training: the Core Values. Here they are, straight from the Secretary of the Navy’s webpage on ethics:

“HONOR”

I am accountable for my professional and personal behavior. I will be mindful of the privilege I have to serve my fellow Americans. I will:

• • Abide by an uncompromising code of integrity, taking full responsibility for my actions and keeping my word.
  • Conduct myself in the highest ethical manner in relationships with seniors, peers, and subordinates.
  • Be honest and truthful in my dealings within and outside the Department of the Navy.
  • Make honest recommendations to my seniors and peers and seek honest recommendations from junior personnel.
  • Encourage new ideas and deliver bad news forthrightly.
  • Fulfill my legal and ethical responsibilities in my public and personal life.

 

“COURAGE”

Courage is the value that gives me the moral and mental strength to do what is right, with confidence and resolution, even in the face of temptation or adversity. I will:

• • Have the courage to meet the demands of my profession.
  • Make decisions and act in the best interest of the Department of the Navy and the nation, without regard to personal consequences.
  • Overcome all challenges while adhering to the highest standards of personal conduct and decency.
  • Be loyal to my nation by ensuring the resources entrusted to me are used in an honest, careful and efficient way.

 

“COMMITMENT”

The day-to-day duty of every man and woman in the Department of the Navy is to join together as a team to improve the quality of our work, our people and ourselves. I will:

• • Foster respect up and down the chain of command.
  • Care for the personal and spiritual well-being of my people.
  • Show respect toward all people without regard to race, religion or gender.
  • Always strive for positive change and personal improvement.
  • Exhibit the highest degree of moral character, professional excellence, quality, and competence in all that I do.

Not exactly a set of values to be undertaken lightly or hastily. And finally, all rise for the Sailor’s Creed.

I am a United States Sailor. 
I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and I will obey the orders of those appointed over me. 
I represent the fighting spirit of the Navy and those who have gone before me to defend freedom and democracy around the world. 
I proudly serve my country's Navy combat team with Honor, Courage, and Commitment. 
I am committed to excellence and the fair treatment of all.

2. “How do you manage to do everything you need to do?”

A constant influx of caffeine in high doses and persistently simmering anger, which is why I watch My Little Pony. *eye twitch*

That’s my personal formula, but that’s not how the Navy handles its commitments both domestically and abroad. Here’s the breakdown, again from their public website:

• Number of Commissioned Vessels: 290
• Number of Active Duty Enlisted: 275,348
• Number of Active Duty Officers: 55,386
• Reserve Personnel: 101,865
• Civilian Employees: 274,854
• Department of Defense 2019 Budget: $716 billion

It looks like a lot, doesn’t it? It is a lot, but it’s still not always enough. Training, practicing, and maintaining takes a large amount of time, people, effort, and money. And then we have what we refer to as our civilian masters. Those would be our Commander-in-Chief (aka The President of the United States), the US Congress, and all the various committees, sub-committees, and boards that tell us what these democratically elected officials want us to do and govern what we are/are not allowed to do, how much we’re given to do it all with, and what they consider victory to be. 

What we’re asked to do, most of the time, are not unreachable goals but it is often a bit more than what the average American would imagine. What do I mean by that? The typical civilian workweek is 40 hours long. That’s 8 hours a day for 5 days a week. And yes, I do know that this doesn’t always apply to everyone’s personal situation. It’s just a standard that I’m using as a measuring stick. Now, a typical work week while underway onboard a ship? That’ll run you about 120 hours a week. An in-port work week can be close to 70-80 hours. And yes, if you do the math that does come out to an average of 4 hours of sleep a day while underway. This isn’t a universal phenomenon, but it’s indicative of my experience.

Here’s something else interesting. How do all those ships keep topped off with guns, gas, and grits? Easy. With a little trick we call an underway replenishment. Observe:

Here you have one or more ships traveling at a stately 13 knots about 180 feet from one another for anywhere from 2-6 hours. You can make out the fuel lines for refueling and wire ropes used to pull across pallets of cargo. It’s a very neat thing to see up close and is what makes global operations possible. We can use helicopters to bring pallets of material onboard, too. Here’s one of those fancy moving pictures for a better visualization:

Neat, huh? I think it is. It’s a difficult skill to learn and definitely something that you lose quite rapidly if you don’t practice as often as you’re able. The math involved isn’t tough, but for someone like me who has difficulties visualizing numbers in my head the whole experience can be nerve-wracking until you’ve found that sweet spot alongside. Can you believe that techniques which eventually led to our modern versions started all the way back in 1903? History! This leads me into our underway periods and deployments in general. 

“A ship in port is safe. But that is not what ships are built for.” (Grace M. Hopper, 1981) A ship tied to a pier might as well be an expensive barge. Most of that capability and training go to waste when it’s tied up alongside a pier instead out in the world where it can project power and influence. There is something to be said about the potential a warship represents, no matter where it’s located, but physical presence is something that can not be substituted. Neither can synthetic means completely replace at-sea training. And that means...yep, you guessed it. Going to sea!

(Full bridge simulator. They’re pretty fun to train in.)

Sometimes it a short couple of days necessary to test out some equipment or accomplish a necessary training evolution or inspection point. Full training exercises can last from one week up to two months. Deployments vary based on too many factors to list, but their durations often lengthen depending on need and requirements. Those full deployments can last a mere four months, but often are closer to seven or eight. In some rare cases, I’ve even known a few people whose deployment lasted up to a year. Those times are a pittance when compared to the overseas deployment endured by many Soldiers and Marines, but that’s still months and months away from friends and family and the familiarities of home. And when you finally come home, you may not be home for long. On a recent ship, I come home after a seven month deployment only to turn around three months later and deploy again for another four months. What it’s like aboard a ship during those times is the subject worthy of its own entire segment.

3. “So what do you do, or what have you done?

Quite a large variety, when I look back on the years. After I graduated from high school in 2001, I thought I had my life planned out quite well. I was accepted to the same college like most of my friends, an easy drive north of my hometown in West Texas. I was all set to start down the path of computer programming and, hopefully, game design. Little did I know that in 2005, during my senior year of college, events would turn me done the path which led to me signing my enlistment papers, completely changing the trajectory of my life.

My enlisted days lasted less than four years. In that time I spent about a year in various training sites on both the east and west coasts before finally ending up at an aircraft maintenance facility in Florida. I had trained to be an aircraft Electronics Technician, which means I diagnosed and repaired broken radios, radars, audio converters, flight computers, and data recorders for the SH-60 Seahawk helicopters using a test bench that was already old in the decade prior to my birth. I remember how those ancient, hulking test benches required almost three days of tweaking and calibrating to get back into working order if they were ever shut down. But I loved every minute I spent there. The life of an enlisted Sailor, however, was not my ultimate goal.

It took three tries and widening the search horizon of what I wanted to do with my military career, but after those three attempts, I was accepted into the Officer Candidate School. My journey into the officer's side had begun. I will say that Navy Bootcamp was a greater culture shock, but being trained by Marine Drill Instructors at OCS was the greater challenge. At the end of 2009, I was commissioned as an Ensign and was off to the first of many training pipelines as a Surface Warfare Officer.

US Navy officer career paths are confusing, even to those of us on the path. Most of it has to do with career milestones and qualifications, but more often than not it all comes to timing. Every billet and posting is timed for a certain number of months in order to get you where the Navy says you need to be within a given timeframe. So what have I done in that timeframe, so far?

Well, as I mentioned, my first few years were spent fixing helicopter electronics at a shoreside repair facility. Ever heard of something called a Tailored Mini VAST? No? Don’t worry, not even Google could find something on the thing that I worked on for three years. Additionally, I never went to sea as an enlisted Sailor so my ability to relate with them is limited. 

My time as an officer, however, has been the exact opposite. Of the last 9+ years, I’ve spent a little over six of those at a seagoing command. In fact, of the last two years that I’ve lived in the Pacifc Northwest, I’ve only been home for about four consecutive months. 

My first tour at sea as a Division Officer was as the 1st Lieutenant aboard an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer (the namesake of the class is pictured below), the workhorse ship of the Fleets. I spent about 18 months onboard her and did deployments to the Carribean, around South America, a short stint in the Mediterranean, and a full deployment to the Arabian Gulf. I was responsible for all deck evolutions to include underway replenishments, aviation facilities, mooring and anchoring, towing, and small boat operations. It was a stark contrast to the work I had previously done and I have to say that Bosuns are a unique and interesting bunch. 

Following my introduction to Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) life on a destroyer, I departed the States and took over as the Operations Officer for an Avenger-class minesweeper (seen below) over in Japan as a Lieutenant (JG), or Lieutenant Junior Grade. Typically, this would have been my second Division Officer tour, but at that time I was put into a Department Head position because a minesweeper is a far smaller ship. I will say now that I pity all Operations Officers. Managing the schedule, day-to-day functions, general planning, and several key divisions is not an experience I care to have again. Not to mention that moving from a destroyer that was 509ft in length with a crew complement of hundreds to a ship that was 224ft and carried about 80 Sailors was a shocking shift. Still, I loved it. The small crew dynamic is wonderful and I have more stories from those months than any other time at sea. Overall, the tour was the best time I’ve had on ship and it introduced me to the love of my career. Mine Warfare, the ugly duckling of the Navy because it’s slow, boring, and few people understand its intricacies. That made it perfect for me! While overseas, I participated in several exercises with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and did a four-month deployment that included a trip all the way to Singapore and Bangladesh. This was also the time in which I discovered ponies, but more on that later on.

After 18 months in Japan, I returned to the States to begin my first shore tour as a newly minted Lieutenant. I had thrown my hat into the ring to be an instructor for a ROTC program but my non-technical degree did not impress anyone on the selection board. Instead, I was sent to be an instructor in the Antisubmarine Warfare cell at the Surface Warfare Officer School (SWOS); the same place where my officer career began. Now, I’m typically an asocial character. I don’t generally like large gatherings, with the exception of conventions. I prefer quiet days with copious amounts of alone time, and I cherish those early mornings or late evenings in the office when there’s almost no one around so I can get work done without being disturbed. That being said, I absolutely loved teaching. Surprising, huh? Not only that, but because I had just come from a minesweeping platform, they gave me free reign of that course of instruction and allowed me to rewrite the entire syllabus for Division Officers, Department Heads, and prospective Commanding Officers. This was also the time in which I achieved my three highest (at the time) short-term goals: I got married, bought a truck, and bought 25 acres of retirement land back home in Texas.

What would come three years later, this being my first tour as a full Department Head onboard another destroyer, would be my most difficult trial since my career started. For that year and a half, I was the Weapons Officer for my deployment and the Plans & Tactics Officer for the follow-on surge deployment. It would take an entire blog segment to fully describe what is expected of a Department Head while underway (in this case, two deployments to the Arabian Gulf, Western Pacific, and Micronesian islands) and what it takes to fulfill those expectations. I won’t be going into that, but what I will say is that coming out of those months, I now know what going three days without sleep feels like, can no longer run without my knees making squeaking noises, have trouble sleeping without help from melatonin or herbal extracts, and I take pain medication for my back every day. What do I think about the toll? I quote most every person in uniform, it simply “is what it is.” I have complaints like any normal person, but I don’t regret what it took to do the job. The aftereffects suck, but that’s life sometimes.

Currently, I work as a staff officer for a Destroyer Squadron. This means that instead of managing one department onboard a single ship, I oversee and provide assistance to several departments on seven destroyers at three different naval stations. With any luck, when I move on to my next shore tour I’ll get to finish my Master’s and then back to being an instructor again. Did I mention that teaching was a surprising amount of fun?

4. What do people think we do, but we don't?

I’ll let the pictures below do the talking for me on this topic because a comprehensive list of misconceptions is a moving target.

(“Battleship” - The uniforms were mostly correct. The rest is pure fantasy.)

(“McHale’s Navy” - Some of the interactions aren’t too far off some of the more extreme examples of personal relationships that I’ve seen, but it misses the mark overall.)

(“Top Gun” - I’m not a pilot, but no. Just...no.)

(“Down Periscope” - Same comments as “McHale's Navy.” The exception to the above photo is what is known as the Crossing the Line ceremony. All hail King Neptune.)

One admission I will make here is to say that I’m “that guy” in the theater or on the couch that has to correct every military inconsistency that Hollywood bungles or just outright twists for storytelling purposes. The expectations created by the movie and TV industry are probably the biggest disconnects between the average civilian and the average military person. “The Last Ship” is entertaining, but that’s all it is: entertainment. The same goes for “The Hunt For Red October” and “Top Gun” and pretty much every military-themed production you’ll see on the big or small screen.

In the Navy, we don’t charge into combat zones on a regular basis. Some of us used to augment forces on the ground in the Middle East, but those days have, for the most part, passed on by. We don’t get threatened on a regular basis (except by the ships and aircraft of a few foregin militaries that like to play chicken). In fact, I’ve had only one experience in over a decade in which a weapon was pointed at me and my shipmates. And really, the pirates on that little boat with their AKs and RPGs knew exactly what was going to happen to them if they did more than just point their weapons at us. I’ll give you the breakdown in visual format:

Their guns...

One of my guns....I also have more

Another thing. Not all of us guzzle alcohol, use tobacco products, or have a different significant other in every port of call. For every person that might fit the old stereotype of a swearing, staggering Sailor, there are many more of us keeping our noses clean and simply trying to enjoy life in between the moments that require mission accomplishment to supersede all other priorities. There’s also what I believe to be a significant gap between the approximately 1% of Americans that serve, and a growing majority who have no connection to friends or family which are or have served. If you want to know more about what I mean, stay tuned for when I address the topic of the growing American “warrior caste” a bit later. 

There you have it, folks. Segment one completed. I hope you still have a pot of coffee ready on the hot plate because what comes after Reveille? Morning Colors!

Comments

[Heartshine]

I now want to sit down with you and watch several episodes of "The Last Ship" with you because I was picking up on a lot of issues, but it'd be fascinating to see your take on it. I'll bring the popcorn and can offer some psychological backup to show how you can tell that the captain's actor was being effected by his ongoing struggle with depression through the filming! :P That said, this is fascinating!

[Kaipony]

5088926
Deal! I have been meaning to watch that for some time. The premise is interesting, but I can guarantee that by the end of the first episode I would likely be throwing a piece of popcorn at the screen for each of their mistakes. I'm estimating a small mountain of kernels on the floor.

Are the signs really so obvious that you can see that in a show?

[Heartshine]

5089135
By season 3 you can really tell the actor had something going on, and the 4th season they try to cover it up by the Captain being broody AF. But it's... yeah. I'd just be interested since you served on an Arleigh Burke to note the uh... probably myriad inconsistencies between how things actually work and what is mostly there because AUDIENCES LIKE SPLOSIONS DO MORE SPLODY.

[Kaipony]

5089320
Hmm. That'll add a new angle when I finally get around to watching it.

Most any film or show that makes an attempt at partial realization should have a liaison officer from the appropriate service to provide insight into how things should look and work. They're also there to make sure things don't align too closely with the truth when it comes to anything that's considered classified.