Onward!

So I graduated RTC this past month. Boot is an incredible experience that, as the RDCs said, you will never forget. Never before have I been in anything even remotely similar to Recruit Training Command. The lessons I learned there I am not apt to forget for the rest of my life. Currently I'm at "A" School now. It's been determined and I am currently an E-3 IS "A" School Student. I classed up just yesterday and am looking foward to learning what I joined to do. As in RTC, hard work and focus will serve me well here. But there we were forced into focusing, here it will be a much greater trial. Well I'll write more on this later, for now I bid you all farewell as I embark on this new chapter of my Navy career.

Experiences...

It's funny that when author Herman Melville met Ralph Waldo Emerson he described him as a man with a "defect in the region of the heart". Odd that we assign emotion, an entirely brain chemical response, to an area that only serves to pump blood, and has no bearing on how we feel, or does it? We assign it that, not just due to years of semantic norms which have assigned the heart the duty of bearing emotion as well as keeping us alive (Jeez how much can one organ do? Hope he gets one hell of a 401k), in that those wonderful chemical reactions in the brain almost always trigger that poor ticker to speed up, tighten, etc. The other night I experienced that.
I'm not going into detail. It's none of your darn business to be honest, I just wish to comment on how we... experience our feelings. Granted we can be as cold as we want, not show any emotion but when you honestly do care, well it's like a piece of butter trying to stand up to a flamethrower. I was worried, relieved, tired, a whole range of things. Hearing someone be entirely honest with themselves is a somewhat wrenching experience. At the same time however you find a new respect and understanding of that person. For me... an even greater attraction maybe. Granted it's been a single day and I'm definitely a bit raw at the moment. One thing the brain is good for is exacerbating exhaustion. Hmm, in looking back at this what I've penned (typed you moron!) makes little sense. Perhaps it's the lack of sleep, I don't know. I guess I'm trying to relate something that cannot be described. Am I making any sense? No, I would imagine not. Well, I still care. What happened doesn't affect how I see this person, not in the least. Well that's wrong; doesn't affect my perception insofar as a negative image of them. Navy is bearing down and I find myself balking a little. It's something I've wanted to do... but lacked the means or rather the courage to do it. Drifting from job to job, just trying to enjoy the time in front of me instead of thinking ahead. Squandering loads of cash that could have been better spent. But hindsight is always as they say 20/20. The only thing anyone can do is look to what matters to them and charge forward. In my case I see a few things I want; being hesitant only postpones the result... it does little to change it, whatever it may be. So we should just let go a bit, let our brain's chemicals screw with our cardio-pulmonary system and just go with what our...heart tells us.

GO NAVY!!

Just saw this and got pretty jazzed for some reason. As my dad commented, "You probably won't care that you're in 90 foot seas on a figlet... you're haze gray and underway." It struck me that maybe I am a bit too enthusiastic about the Navy. But I guess a positive enthusiasm will serve me well come January when life becomes a living hell.



Damn...the Nimitz is looking real good there.

IN THE NAVY

So I went to MEPS yesterday and was sworn into the Navy. I am now govt. property. I scored pretty well on my ASVABs; a 97. The day was long and made so by unnecessary delays, mainly those caused by some of the more undisciplined of the recruit hopefuls. I have to hand it to the staff at MEPS, they must have the patience of saints in order to work there and deal with some of the characters who go through. The medical briefing for example probably should have taken only 20 minutes but dragged on for nearly an hour due to interruptions. We even had one genius pop positive on the breathalyzer test immediately following, though we had been strictly ordered not to drink at all the night before. In any case I spent my time there attempting to be as quick and efficent as possible. If I was told to do A then I damn well did it right then and there. Once medical was done I got on over to the Navy office and handed in my paperwork, from there I went to lunch and had that delicacy of delicacies, government fish! It was edible which was fine by me. Once I was finally called back into the Navy office the Petty Officer pretty much said one thing "What do you want to do" I said either the CTI or IS rating. What suprised me was that I received no resistance on either. I went in imagining that I'd have to go into and hour long horse trading to get into a job I could live with. Apparently I did well enough to take pretty much any rating I wanted. Once that was done I was sworn in and driven back home. So thats it, I'm now an IS (Intelligence Specialist) E-1 recruit. I ship out to training in January so it'll be some time before I go. I can't wait to get started. RTC will be hell, Great Lakes in the Winter does NOT appeal, but thats life. I am really eager to get to A-school in Dam Neck. Learning my specialty will be thrilling to me and right where my interests lie. So thats it for this, maybe I'll have something new later.

Looking into the Mirror

So far this E3 ain't blowing my skirt up. There's nothing coming that screams to me "I WANT"....except perhaps for one title...Mirrors Edge. Granted I might be one of many who are swept up in the trailers that have been released, the mellow soundtrack, austere art design, and downright original gameplay (to my knowledge anyways) makes me eagerly await this title. If nothing else the soundtrack is downright kick-ass. Though I wonder with it being so mellow if I'll space out and accidentally walk off a roof.... in game of course....yeah. In any case check it out if you haven't already, it's coming to plenty of platforms including my beloved PC so it looks like it'll be fun for everyone.




~Tom

So it begins....

Hi, Tom Christie here. I'm carrying over my blogs from Gamespot in the off chance that blogspot will be easier to access while on deployment. So I've filled out my paperwork, I go to MEPS on Monday and sign my life away for four years.

This blog will be a continuation of my thoughts on various happenings in gaming, technology, and geek culture. But it also be a log of my experience in the Navy, rules regarding information release being followed of course. I hope through my experience to inspire others to follow and join the armed forces.

The military has done a lot for me and my family. I will be the third generation in my family to serve in the Navy, my father and mother before me, and my grandfathers before them. My grandfather retired a Vice Admiral as a matter of fact... quite a feat considering he came from a poor family in Boston. Even my mother, daughter of said VADM, earned the rank of Captain, serving over 20 years in the Navy as a nurse. Then there's dad, who retired a Lieutenant Commander, served aboard many ships including the Enterprise (Beam me up Scotty!), and now holds a management position in Northrop Grumman Newport News. All of them entered and came out better people for it. They have a pride, a sense of purpose and a drive to succeed that I wish to have as well. I believe my time here will be well spent and give me these things. It appears I will be entering as an E-2 (Seaman Apprentice), with a CTI (Cryptological Technician, Intrepretive) rating. However my final rank and rating will be determined by MEPS and RTC (Recruit Training Command). During my time at RTC I will not be able to post any blogs, but I will endevour to post as soon as I can once that is complete.

So that's that, I need to get back to gettinng myself physically prepared for Great Lakes. It will definetely be tough, but if I stick my head down, do as I'm told, and not be a smart ass... I think I'll do just fine.