September in Great Lakes

Well fall is coming in fast here, a nip is in the air and the wind is a-blowin.  Here in Great Lakes the trees are starting to change color and it rains more days than not.  But they always say here "if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it'll change" so it's not much different from home haha.  It's almost my birthday and it's weird to think that this time last year I was a college student, with a German roommate (whom I miss terribly, I love you Anna), worrying about my research papers and midterms. Now I'm worrying about being late to muster and my room not being quite clean enough for inspection. 

On the Navy front, I am doing pretty well.  I try to just keep my head down and  not get in trouble here haha.  I feel like I'm pretty successful at that, since a lot of people in my "ship" (barracks) keep asking me if I even live there.  I've lived there since June, thank you for not noticing.

 I finished my first part of schooling, my Apprentice Technical Training (ATT), which is essentially basic electrical training.  At ATT I was the student leader for my class, which meant I assisted our petty officer in anything he needed and made sure the class behaved, I helped perform uniform inspections, and as long as I kept the class quiet and reasonably well behaved the petty officer would pretty much leave us alone.  It also meant if the class got in trouble, I got in trouble haha.  I often felt like I ran a kindergarden class.

Now I'm on hold waiting to start my next school, which is Electronics Technician A-school (ETA).  It's where I learn the basics for my actual job in the navy.  It's about 5 months long, so assuming I start on Friday (which is likely) I'll be in school until the end of February.  After that I have to wait for orders and to find out what C-school I get, so I'll probably be in Great Lakes until about the end of March, maybe a little later.  Just long enough to enjoy the full season of winter :/  haha

On the non-Navy front, I'm really enjoying my time down here.  As much as I am NOT looking forward to winter, I'm glad I get to stay here for a while.  I've met some really amazing people and a lot of them will be here for a while with me.  I'm having a blast down here and although I joined the Navy to see the world and get out of the midwest the closer it comes to me actually leaving the more I want to stay lol.  I met an amazing guy, have made a ton of friends, and now I don't want to leave haha.  Welcome to the Navy I guess. Just as you get comfortable somewhere it's time to leave.

Mitch Marema, me and Mitch's best friend Greg Horsting, at Mitch's parents' house, in WI.

The whole group of us in WI.  Ian Salas and Johnny Rausis (Mitch's roommate's), Kerkman, a friend of Mitch's from home, Mitch, me, his sister Megan, his best friend Greg, and two of his friends, Keri and Bethany from home.

ATT...please just shoot me.

Hey guys!  Sorry long time no words... I finally have a stable internet source so here I am again, letting you all know what is going on in my little world.

I graduated boot camp May 21 (yay!) and was sent to the other side of base for schooling.  I am still in Great Lakes, IL, right by Chicago (HI KELLY!) I'm currently attending ATT (Apprentice Technical Training) learning basic electronic knowledge before I go to my "A" school for my job. ATT is self-paced and computer based, so essentially I sit in front of a computer screen for 8 hours trying to teach myself how electronics work.  Please just shoot me now.  No one really likes ATT, so I don't feel too bad about hating it.  Apparently I'm doing something right though, since my instructor made me the class leader, which means I'm like the student in charge of my class. 

 My A school is also on this base, and is kind of long, so I won't be going anywhere anytime soon.  I'm going to be an Electronics Technician (ET).  My A school here is a few months long, and all totalled with the other stuff I have to do I will be on this base until at LEAST February, but it could be as long as June, depending on how quickly I class up and how well I do, etc. 

After A school I will have C school (no, I don't know what happened to B school).  In A school you learn the basics of the entire job of being an ET, but in C school you learn more of a specialty within that job, such as communications equipment or radar.  C school will probably be in either Norfolk, VA or San Diego, CA, but I won't know for a few months where and when I'll be going.

We're getting to the point where a lot of my friends who I went to boot camp with or knew early after I got out of boot camp are starting to leave base to go to their schools.  While I will always be happy for them because they get to move on and go exciting places and start their schooling, it is always sad to see them go.  My friend Dani leaves on Friday for San Diego and a bunch of my friends are now in Pensacola, Florida.  I'll miss them a lot, but I guess that's part of being in the Navy.   :(   Maybe I'll be in San Diego in the spring and get to see Dani again.  Maybe I'll end up in Virginia with no one I know, or maybe I'll end up in Guam.  In the Navy..... you never know haha.

I made it through boot camp!

so it's official... i am a us navy sailor!  i made it through boot camp and now i'm at "a-school" in great lakes illinois.  i'm going to be on this base for a minimim of one year probably closer to two... happy memorial day everyone.  thanks grandpa.

The Last Supper

It's my last night in Mankato!  It feels like I've been waiting forever to leave but also that the time has passed so quickly.  It's hard to believe that I leave tomorrow.  It feels almost like I'm living someone else's life.  I'm not the same person that came to Mankato a little over a year ago, but I feel like I haven't become a new person yet either.  I'm stuck in limbo for now, but that will be changing soon, I feel. haha.


Tonight Lisa and I are planning on ordering some pizza and have a girls' night before I leave.  I'm going to miss that girl.  

I did my pre-boot camp physical fitness assessment yesterday, and I was surprised how well I actually did, considering I've only been getting ready for it for a couple weeks.  
1.5 mile run: 13:58
Sit ups: 46
Push ups: 16


It should be interesting (and hopefully satisfying) to see my results from my assessments while I'm there.


A word to the wise: No, I will not have a phone there.  Also, my phone is being shut off while I'm gone and I'll have a new phone number when I get out.  I'll let y'all know what it is when I do.  So if you try to call/text, it won't work, and I will never receive those messages. Your best bet is to send me letters or to wait until I get out and call me on my new number  :)


I'll graduate boot camp in early June.  Check back here in a few weeks for my address.  When I can write letters I'll have someone put my address up on here.  Letters are welcomed and encouraged from everyone!  Send me letters!  :D


Wish me luck, here I go!

Getting Ready to GO!

So I leave Mankato in 4 days.  


My parents, my sister Becky, my sister Jenny and her husband Josh, my niece and two nephews all came to visit me this last weekend.  It was really great to see everyone and say good-bye, plus I got to send some stuff home with them to store, which is very helpful.  My to-do list is shrinking and growing, and I feel like I both have nothing to do and not enough time to get everything done.  


I went out to dinner last night with two of the girls, Lisa and Sara, and it was fabulous.  The food was good and I am going to miss both of those girls a lot when I leave Mankato.  There aren't many people that I'm "leaving behind" in Minnesota, but the ones that I am, it's hard to say good-bye.  


My room looks kind of creepily empty, but there's still stuff scattered everywhere.  Later today I'm going to do another round of getting rid of the things that I own.  lol.  I set up a box in the living room for my roommates to claim stuff I'm getting rid of, since it's not stuff I can take with me and it's stuff that's not worth storing for any length of time.  It's kind of nice to purge my life of material stuff, but also very difficult.  As Jenna would say, I'm very sentimental, and I attach many memories to physical possessions.  


Lisa and I went to kickboxing yesterday.  It felt great.  Now it kind of hurts.  Maybe today I'll go for a  bike ride.  I miss biking.  Or maybe a long walk.  We went on an 8 mile trek around the city last week and that was fabulous.  Yes Lisa, walking IS a form of exercise. 


4 more days .... the closer we get the faster time seems to move!

I Leave Mankato in 8 Days!

Time seems like it's speeding up!  I leave Mankato in 8 days, and I can't believe how much stuff I have to do before I leave.  It's the silly things that add up like forwarding my mail and packing up my room.  It doesn't feel real yet that I leave in a week, but I'm sure it will when I get there (or shortly thereafter lol).  


My dad, stepmom, two sisters, brother in law, two nephews and my niece are coming to visit me this weekend.  What a motley crew.  :)   It'll be nice to see people before I leave and this way I can send some of my stuff home with them to store for now.  I'm not keeping much stuff, just the irreplaceable stuff (pictures, yearbooks, etc etc).  I'm really excited to see the kids most of all.  I'm going to miss them while I'm gone.  Jenny, you better send me pictures while I'm in boot camp!  


Right, well......... here I go back to packing/cleaning/dancing/napping.  :D  

DEP Meeting

Thursday:


I went to our once-a-month DEP meeting last night, and it was very interesting.  It's funny because I'm the person to join them the most recently and I leave before anyone else, which means this was my first and only meeting haha.  


We had to wear a navy t-shirt and hat as our "uniform" and we went over stuff about ranks, rates, and general knowledge stuff about the Navy.  Essentially I realized how much stuff I'm supposed to learn before I leave in two and half weeks.  We took an unofficial test, and I actually did pretty well, but it was clear that I have a lot to learn.  I'm going to make flashcards later.  :)


There were 6 others there, 5 boys and a girl.  It was a fun surprise to see the other girl there.  Once again we were weighed in, and essentially they just made sure we are working out and that no one had gotten into any trouble.  The other girl and I were reminded, more than once, not to get pregnant before boot camp.  No problemo!  


17 days until I leave Mankato/18 days until I ship to Boot Camp from Sioux Falls!

DEP

I met with my recruiter today.  I gave him all my paperwork from MEPS and started on my paperwork for the Delayed Entry Program (DEP).  That is just a fancy way of talking about the time between when I enlisted (last Thursday) and the time I leave for basic (March 29).  During that time I just have to stay out of trouble.  No piercings, tattoos, parking tickets, pregnancy, etc.  

I also have to go to any DEP meetings, where all the peeps who are getting ready to ship out get together at the recruiters' office and go over all of our stuff, check in, reassure our recruiter that we aren't getting in any trouble.  We have a meeting on Wednesday night, 5pm.  :)   Other than that, I pretty much just have to work on getting into the best shape possible before boot camp.  Yay for going to the gym!  I need to work on my running, and especially my push-ups.  


I ship out in exactly 3 weeks.  

MEPS

As of March 4, 2010 Jill is officially in the NAVY!

The process all started about 2 weeks ago, when I met my recruiter for the first time. After going through all the fun questions like "Have you ever wet the bed after the age of 12?" and "Do you have any tattoos and/or brandings?" and getting all my paperwork in order they arranged for me to go to MEPS this Wednesday and Thursday (March 3 and 4, 2010).

MEPS is the Military Entrance Processing Station. It's operated by the US Department of Defense, not any specific military branch. It's where you go to process, no matter what branch of the military you are joining. I was taken there in a shuttle van with two guys from Rochester Minnesota who were joining the Navy as well. We were sent to MEPS at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. There was a closer one in Minneapolis, but from what we heard it's a lot harder to pass the medical inspections at the Minneapolis MEPS so the recruiters like to send us to Sioux Falls instead. All totaled there were 11 people going to MEPS that day, for a variety of the armed forces branches. I was the only girl.

On the drive to Sioux Falls my recruiter sent me a text that said "Kill the Exam!" and I was so nervous for all the testing and medical stuff coming up that I read it the wrong way. I thought he meant "don't take the exam, something is wrong with your paperwork, you can't take it yet." I started tweaking out. I tried to call Aaron, but I had really bad cell reception in eastern Minnesota and I couldn't get through to him. Finally one of the guys I was with looked at my phone and said, "what's your problem, he just wants you to do well." I felt like an idiot.

The first day, Wednesday, I took my ASVAB test. That's the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. It's a multi-part test, the scores can determine if you can join the services and what jobs you're qualified to do. The scores range from 1-99 for your overall score, and I got a 99! The Navy Qualifier, the person who helps you choose your job, said in 8 years he's seen 4 perfect scores, and mine was one of them! Holy Cow! My recruiter kept telling me to get a perfect score, but I think he was kidding.

That night we were put up in a hotel in town. The hotel, the drive, our meals, everything was paid for by the Department of Defense. The hotel was pretty nice and since I was the only girl I got my own room. The food was fantastic, although I had to be careful not to eat too much since I had to weigh in the next day. We had a 10pm curfew, which was fine with me. The next day we had to be down for breakfast by 5:20 am and the shuttle left the hotel for MEPS at 5:45 am. Right when we got there we had to have our bags searched and go through a metal detector. Then we were fingerprinted so that in future they can scan our fingerprints to make sure that we really are who we say we are.

Then we went to medical processing. We took brethalyzer tests and filled out medical questionnaires. Then we got to pee in a cup while someone watched! Fun times. They tested us for a bunch of stuff. We also got blood drawn, had our hearing tested, and had eye exams. The only part that didn't go well was during my eye exam I miserably failed the depth perception part. Maybe that explains some things...

Since I was the only girl they pulled me in to do my physical first, before the guys. I got weighed and my height was measured. Then for the doctor, in my underwear I had to do some range of motion tests. Then I had a normal physical with the doctor who is seriously like 80 years old. He passed me, no problem.

After the physical I got to meet with someone from the Navy. The Navy Qualifier is someone who looks at everything in your file, including your test scores, and helps you find a job that is open and that you'll find interesting. He found me one right away, which amazed me, and it even leaves for basic training really soon! Jobs are incredibly hard to come by right now in any branch of the military. With the economy the way it is, more people are enlisting than ever and people aren't getting out like they normally would.

They offered me a couple jobs, but the one that I was interested in and that I took is in the Advanced Electronics Computer Field. During my schooling I'll be able to pick one of two jobs, depending on what the Navy has open and what I'm interested in. One is a Fire Controlman (FC) and the other is an Electronics Technician (ET). I'm hoping for FC. If I'm an FC my job is to "operate, maintain and repair the Fire Control Radars, mainframe computers, large screen displays, LANS, weapon control consoles, automatic gun systems, and associated electro-mechanical systems utilized in weapons systems." Essentially, I'll be operating a computerized weapons system. If I'm an ET I'll essentially be fixing the system when the FC's break it.

I leave for basic training (boot camp) on MARCH 29, 2010! I leave Mankato on the 28, to go back to MEPS in Sioux Falls. I'll stay over night and then ship out at 06:30. They'll fly me into Chicago O'Hare and then be brought to basic training. Basic Training is at Great Lakes, Illinois, which is north of Chicago. After basic I have to do some schooling for my job, and that will be at Great Lakes as well. After all of my job training, which will likely go to mid-November, I'll be stationed somewhere. My job averages about 60% of my time on a ship and about 40% of my time on land. I'm not sure where I'll be stationed, but I'm excited to find out!

24 Days until boot camp and counting!