The Journey - Part One

A short introduction of myself before I start off on my retelling of tales. I am originally from a small town in northern Illinois, Lindenwood. Lindenwood was your typical small Illinois town. It is located about 10 miles south of Rockford. I will begin a retelling of my time in Orlando 32 years ago. When I first did this, I lacked some vital information that I could recover of time. Getting letters I wrote home helped out greatly. Also, finding one of my CC’s here helped out a little. I had initially planned to talk about the events on the days they happened back in 1990. So, the next three days will be rapid-fire. Today is the day company C077 formed in 1990 Orlando and started on our journey.

And we begin…..

Thirty-two years ago, I set out to adventure at US Navy boot camp in RTC Orlando. Let me rewind a little and set up how I wound up going to boot camp at twenty-two. I had recently lost my job as a draftsman/detailer at a small company in Rockford, Illinois. The owner was slowly running the company toward bankruptcy, but people were unaware of that yet. The company was cutting payroll, so the new people were the first to go.

I had actually soured on that sort of work, and I saw this as a great chance to do something I had felt like doing for a few years, I was going to join the military. I seriously was going to talk to both the Army and the Navy. But, when I entered the hallway with all of the recruiting offices, the Navy was the first door I came to. I guess you could say they hooked me.

My initial contact was on a Monday afternoon. I was given a list of documents I needed by Tuesday afternoon. A birth certificate and a high school trans script were necessary. I had to drive from Rockford to Rochelle and get my transcript. I asked if the transcript from my two-year college was needed and was told no since I had the high school one. This miss would play out later on once I made it to boot camp.

Tuesday afternoon, I returned to the recruiter, and we started filling out paperwork. I did not know it yet, but I would be heading into MEPS to take the ASVAB Wednesday evening and follow up with the physical on Thursday.

I was engaged at the time, and we had a daughter together. So, that even created a minor issue. Of course,  the recruiter worked around that as well. During the whole process, he was pretty straight with me. As I saw it, the only drawback was he was so focused on me enlisting as a Nuke. Of course, I would have liked to hear more about other jobs available from the Navy in hindsight. Nonetheless, I did get the issues settled later on regarding Nuke school.

We didn’t finish all the paperwork Tuesday, and I was told to come back the next day. I still had not been told I was heading into Des Plains to MEPS. When I returned the next day, we wrapped up the paperwork, and as my recruiter grabbed his coat, he asked me to get my bag and meet him at his car.

Since I was clueless about going to MEPS, I did not have a bag. Lucky for me, I lived just a couple blocks away. So, he followed me there, and I got what I needed. We then drove the 90 minutes toward Chicago to the old MEPS station in Des Plains. I was dropped off in a state of confusion. I was given a ticket for a bus ride from Ohare to Rockford.

This happened on January 22, 23, 24, 1990.

Some people have also asked me, “Why the Navy?” Well, that is a rather complex answer. As a midwesterner, I did not have much contact with the ocean. When I was a senior in high school, I went out on a fishing boat, but that was my only real experience with the ocean. I am a history nut, and World War II was a big era I concentrated on. I guess the many naval battles I read about had stirred an interest. I am also an aviation nut, and the yearly air show in Rockford would bring in numerous Navy planes.

In the spring of 1989, I was in Daytona and spoke to several Navy aircrew members at an airshow there. I even went to what I thought was the recruiter’s office in the summer of 1988, but it had moved. I wasn’t sure where it had moved to, so I dropped it. So, although I did entertain ideas of joining the Army, I think the Navy had me firmly in its grasp.

Next, MEPS, and how I came to enter boot camp as a Nuke.