SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 2004. 2212 (10:12PM)

MOST DEAREST OF DEAR BLOGGEES:

This has been a much better week overall. Tonight, we got our collar designs (or pins that show our recruit rate) pinned on for those of us in divisional petty officer titles right now. Out of all of them, I'm the only that's been in the office more than a week, and the least likely to get fired simply because of how hard it is to train someone for the division yoeman position. In my usual, suave way, I managed to say, "Thank you, chief," when my SENIOR Chief was pinning it on! It's because our brother division (that is, the 44 females that share the compartment with our 44 females, and likewise for the males, but then we're split up into the integrated divisions for anything related to training, meals, etc.)... our brother division's head RDC (Recruit Division Commander) is a chief, and I had to break the habit of saying senior chief when their chief is talking to us, but it's a bad thing to call a senior chief a chief. That's like taking away between 3 and 10 years of his career. Ours is eligible for a master chief promotion next year, which is the highest enlisted rank in the Navy, and I'm really excited for him -- I honestly think he does a fabulous job with this, and I'm sure he's equally great at his rate of QMCS (or Quarter Master, senior chief) and I feel honored to be part of his division, and especially a seemingly appreciated part. They don't really say good job in so many words, but sometimes Petty Officer Brooks will say something like "You've been here before" or Senior Chief will say "stay on top of the game" which is good since you have to BE on top of the game to stay on top.

So both Senior Chief and Petty Officer Dahlinghaus asked me what I came in as, and the answer is an E-2, which is a seaman apprentice. POD-haus then told me (as opposed to SC just nodding and looking thoughtful) that being yoeman, if I stay yoeman, means getting advanced to E-3, seaman, which is an increase in pay and status, and one step closer to E-4, Petty Officer third class. So that's exciting, too. I'm already looking forward to graduation: Last week while we were singing Anchors Away, I got a little sniffley thinking about getting to the farewell verse (Anchors away, my boys, anchors away... farewell to foreign shores; we sail at the break of day day day day... Through our last night on shore, drink to the foam. Until we meet once more, here's wishing you a happy voyage home...). I kinda felt like when you're in high school and it's the last day of the school year.

A lot of these girls have become pretty close friends to me already, which is significant considering we really don't get much time to talk to each other just yet. We can't talk during meals, for example, which is really hard. But I was told you make dear friends, whether for the duration or for life, because of going through all of this together, and that's certainly proven to be true already.

I am learning more than ever about helping others to become better leaders, as my seniority in my position and the way that I can get along with, respect, and be respected by such a wide diversity of people has put me in a situation of the other leaders coming to me for advice, all our shipmates coming to me to resolve and/or mediate conflicts, and myself actually giving some kind but unsolicited advice to our divisional petty officers. It's helped the division to get along at least a little better, and ended at least some of the drama. Not all, mind you, as is understandable when 88 girls sleep, shower, and mostly live in the same rooms as each other. But, they're arguing less and I haven't gotten punched out in the process, so I figgur that's a good thing.

This week also found me at medical again with severe and unbelievably painful shin splints. We spend a lot of time marching here, of course, and mostly outside on the concrete in boots that just don't cut it, and most of the other surfaces we walk on are hard as well. So I got some insoles for my boots and my sneakers, I ice my shins after every meal, and I'm on a really high dosage of ibuprofen for the next couple of days. They seem to be getting better, though that's mostly because I'm on "light, limited duty" for a couple of days and thus haven't been marching. The good news is that on LLD, I don't have to do all the 8-count body builders, pushups, situps, etc. when they're BEATing (Better-Educate-and-Train-ing) the division. The bad news is that because of that, it's really looked down on. So, hopefully these will heal before Monday when I go back to "fit for full duty" and hopefully they'll stay away forever.

OK, it's now 2300 (or 11pm) and we're getting up at 0600, which is sleeping in for us even though that's Navy boot camp's normal reville time these days. So, I'm gonna go to sleep now and write more in the morning.