The Navy’s new slogan. I like it!

Sorry for not updating much, but this school is keeping me beyond busy! I have tons of pictures to put up, and I should have some time soon to get them here!

The new tradition of Wingsday has started! Most of Class 935MT showed up for wings and good times at your friendly, neighborhood Hooters! Shipmates from left to right are: Vargas, Carey, Mann, White, Wood, Shafer, Baker, Hill, Me, Barker, Echaverria, and Steinbring.

Until next time…

Wow, I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to keep up on putting stuff up for you guys!! A typical school day is in the 12 hour range, so it doesn’t leave time for much else. Hopefully I’ll be able to make updates more often, but for now I’ll put up some pictures I’ve taken so far!

Welcome to the Naval Weapons Station, Charleston!

Here is looking out from my room at night. As you can see, I live in a swamp!

Here is my division photo from bootcamp! Each one of those flags was earned by our division for certain accomplishments, which include Academics, Marching, Athletics, Captain’s Cup, Battle “E”, and CNO. Our RDC’s are pictured in the middle. From left to right: EM2 Tyson, MM1 Keeney, and MMC Battle.

Class 935MT:

Here are some of the people from my A School class! This was our first night of being Phase 2, which means it was the first time we are allowed to wear civilian clothes, so we went out to celebrate!

South Carolina rain:

Almost every day we’ll get something like this, and it will just dump on you without warning! This one caught us on the way back to our room, we were soaked!

That’s all I have for today. I’ll try to keep this updated as often as I can, but the Navy definitely makes sure I always have something to do!

I don’t have my computer yet, but I wanted to stop by and say that I’m alive! I made it through boot camp (if you can even call it that), graduated on May 8th, then flew to Charleston on the same day! Right now I’m waiting to class up and get started on all of the super boring briefs that I need to go through before we actually start school.

Once I get my computer (I’m using these awful base laptops that like to quit randomly, hence this being short), I’ll make some cool posts and put up graduation pictures as well as some pictures of the surround area. The base here is really nice, it’s hard to believe that it’s a Naval Weapons Station.

So! Look forward to seeing a lot of cool new stuff in the coming weeks!

SN Jones, USN

I’m packing my computer up, so this may be my last post here before I leave. If so, I’ll see you all when I get out of basic and down to my school in South Carolina!

See you all in 8-10 weeks!

I snapped a few pictures of my last DEP meeting before I ship. The lighting sucked so they are a bit blurry, but it’s a small taste of what we do while in training.

7 days and counting!!

I also took my PT test today and passed with flying colors! The physical requirements to ship for my age bracket (20-24) are:

• 37 push ups in 2 minutes – I did 50
• 46 sit ups in 2 minutes – I did 60
• 13:30 or less 1.5 mile time – My time was 12:42

This was also done after I had already done a PT session in the morning, in which we did several hundred push ups as well as many other strength and cardio exercises. I was happy that I was able to pull off the PT test after doing an extremely strenuous workout only hours before!

For everyone who doesn’t know, my itinerary for shipping is as follows:

Tuesday, March 10th:

I’ll be picked up around 1600 (4pm) and taken to the Raddison hotel. I’ll either head to MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) that day or in the morning on the 11th. There I will swear in (again), and do a final review and medical physical.

Wednesday, March 11th:

I’ll head to Sacramento International Airport at which point my flight to Chicago will leave around noon, taking 4-5 hours depending on connecting flights, layovers, or a non-stop flight. I’m not quite sure about travel to Great Lakes (about 40 minutes North of Chicago), but I believe there is a bus that takes all of the recruits that are arriving. Chief will fill me in on these details closer to the ship day.

Mama rolled over and this is what she said
Uh-Give me some
PT
Good for you
Good for me
Umm good
Tastes good
Smells good
Is good

I’m doing PT with the other recruits every day now, and twice on Tuesdays and Thursdays!  With 2 weeks left, it’s crunch time to make sure I’m as ready as possible before I ship!

I’ve also begun packing up everything to put into storage. About now is when the realization that I’m actually leaving is setting in. I can’t wait!

For those of you who haven’t heard of this series, it came out last year as a documentary about life on a US Navy aircraft carrier. It’s a little bit of a soap opera at times, but it gives you a real look at life in the Navy from the eyes of real people in it. Since a carrier is very well what I could be serving on, you can see what I might be doing. Of course, due to the sensitivity of the job I’ll be doing, you barely see any of it in this show, but it still gives you a look into Navy and carrier culture.

CARRIER is a character-driven immersion in the high-stakes world of a nuclear aircraft carrier, shot on the USS Nimitz during a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf. The program follows a core group of participants from the elite fighter pilots to the youngest sailors as they navigate challenges around their jobs, families, faith, patriotism and the war on terror.

You can view the full episodes here:

Carrier episodes at PBS

Note: Although this is done by PBS, the language is uncensored.

Here’s a short video about my nuclear school in Charleston, SC. I’ll be here for 18 months learning all about nuclear power! NNPTC.

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