NICK'S PAGE SHIPPING OUT! Class of '98 · United States Navy · Great Lakes, here I come

Hey, it's Nick. I'm 18, I'm from northern Indiana, and I just graduated in June. Back in January I signed up for the Navy's Delayed Entry Program, and on Tuesday I report to go to boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois. After boot camp I'm going to A-school to train as an Aviation Machinist's Mate, which means working on aircraft engines, jets and props and all the systems that go with them. I've been taking apart engines in my dad's garage since I was twelve, so I figure the Navy might as well pay me to do it on something bigger.

I made this page so everybody can keep up with me after I leave. Read on.

Senior Year | The DEP | Getting in Shape | What to Bring | Truck For Sale | See Ya

• Wrestling. Four years, varsity the last two. Senior year I made it out of sectionals and lost in regionals to a kid who went all the way to state, so I don't feel too bad. Coach Robertson told me the Navy was lucky to have me, which is the most words he ever said to me in a row.
• The senior trip. Cedar Point! We rode the Magnum six times, the Raptor four times, and the Mantis twice, and Tim threw up after the second Mantis. The bus ride home was the best part, honestly. Everybody was singing and nobody wanted it to end.
• Prom. I went with Jacqueline. I rented the tux, she picked the color of the vest. We were there until they turned the lights on.
• Shop class. I rebuilt a lawnmower engine for my final project and it started on the first pull. Mr. McLoud still has it on a shelf in the shop.
• Graduation. My mom cried, my dad pretended not to, my sister Karla took pictures of the wrong people.

If you're thinking about joining, here's how it worked for me. You sign up while you're still in school, and you ship after you graduate. In the meantime you're in the DEP.

• My recruiter is Petty Officer Considine. He's an aviation guy himself, which is how I ended up looking at aviation ratings. He never once tried to talk me into anything. He just answered every question I had, even the dumb ones.
• MEPS. In January I rode down to the processing station in Indianapolis with three other guys and spent all day getting poked, measured and tested. Then I picked my job and they swore me into the DEP. On Tuesday I go back there, swear in for real, and then they send us on to Great Lakes.
• DEP meetings. Once a month at the recruiting station. We learned Navy ranks and the insignia, the chain of command, the phonetic alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie...), and the General Orders, which you have to know cold before you get to boot camp. Somebody always gets quizzed in front of everybody. Usually me.
• Saturday PT. A bunch of us DEPers meet at the high school track on Saturday mornings to run together. There's six of us shipping this summer.
• Why the Navy? I want to see more than Indiana. I want a trade. And there's money for college through the GI Bill if I want it later. My grandpa was a Navy man in Korea, and he's the proudest person in this whole house right now.

The Navy's fitness test is push-ups, curl-ups and a mile-and-a-half run. Here's where I started in January and where I am now:

The run was the hard one. Wrestlers are built for six minutes, not ten. Every night since March I've run the same loop out past the grain elevator and back, and my sister times me from the porch with the kitchen timer. Thanks, Karla.

Short answer: practically nothing. The Navy gives you everything, from your uniforms down to your toothbrush and your haircut. Here's my whole list, from my recruiter:

• Driver's license and Social Security card
• The papers they give me at MEPS
• A few dollars
• The clothes I'm wearing (plain ones)
• A list of addresses, so I can write home

That's it. Mom wanted to pack me a bag. Mom, I am not allowed a bag. She's going to pack the cookies in a box for when I get leave instead.

You get to call home when you get there to say you made it, and after that it's letters. Real ones. With stamps.

To everybody I'm leaving behind for a while:

• Tim, best friend since second grade. Don't wreck anything while I'm gone. Including yourself.
• Jacqueline, thanks for prom and for putting up with me. Good luck at school. Write me back.
• Brandy and Carissa, my lab partners for life. Sorry about the frog.
• Janelle, you were right about the Navy and I was wrong about the Army. Happy?
• Desiree, keep the mixtape. You earned it.
• Karla, you can have my room while I'm gone but I counted my CDs.
• The DEP guys, see you at Great Lakes.
• Coach, thanks for everything.
• Mom and Dad. You know.

I'll write from boot camp. Mom will type my letters in! Check back for updates from Great Lakes.

Shipmates and civilians since May 1998:

E-mail: [email protected]
(Mom will check it while I'm gone.)

Last updated Sunday, August 16, 1998