My Journey To Become Part Of The Naval Sea Cadet Corps

Back in some old condo in 2018, I was a young 11 year old who was sick and tired of his boring lifestyle. So I hop onto the computer, looking for something to do. I end up on the US Navy website. Suddenly, I was struck by an idea:

“For all the love of boats and submarines that I have, it would be a good idea to check this (the Navy) out further.”

I checked the website constantly for information. I went to the careers section or whatever and started to look for the types of jobs to do.

I settled on being a GM (Gunners Mate) on a submarine. I told my parents and they supported my idea. I have mainly two reasons to join the navy:

1) I have had many, many grandparents who served in the armed forces and I wanted to continue the legacy. My grandpa nearly got into the draft, but he won some sort of lottery and didn’t have to go (At least that is what i am told).

2) I love my country and want to defend it, even if it means me dying in sinking sub or trapped in the brig on a sinking ship. Most veterans say that you cannot really say that until you experience the heat yourself, so I guess I cannot say that.

And a few months ago I changed my career idea to going to Annapolis. Very few family members that I know of were officers in the armed forces. It would be amazing to have that unique title in my family.

I didn’t really have a plan besides that the day after I was sure that I could function normally without my pills, I would go to the nearest recruiting station and apply to the Naval Academy.

Then, in late February, I went to my routine doctors appointment in South Bend, Indiana. My 2 younger and annoying brothers were there too.

The doctor asked me what I wanted to do in the future and I responded,”Serve in the Navy”. To which she kicked my brother out of the room and shut the door. Now that is when you know that crap is gonna get real.

She told me about her nephew who serves on a submarine and is the Executive Officer (XO) of the submarine. Basically for you civvies who don’t understand this, he is the second in command of the sub. So if the captain was killed or wounded and couldn’t command the sub, he would take command. She told me that she would do anything to try and accomplish this. She told me that this was my thing and that my brothers wouldn’t be participating in it. My mom was in the room and found this national program called the Naval Sea Cadet Corps.

And then fast forward to the 1st Saturday of March, 2020. I am dressed in an Adidas sweatshirt and shorts, with a water bottle in hand and as nervous as heck, I am standing in Stars And Stripes Divisions HQ in Lowell, Indiana.

The CO of the place, the very respectable Lieutenant (jg) Nicholas “Nick” Serena, gives my dad the paperwork and lets me shadow the group for the day. The first thing he told me was “All right, we’ll be doing PT (Physical Training) today first!” and I felt my gut twist.

Then at 9:00 we head out into the parking lot and start to do PT. It is freezing up here, like in the mid to late 30’s, and I’m wearing shorts. When we were doing PT, I’ve never felt so much physical pain before, ever. It ended at 10:00 and we went inside and the rest of my shipmates changed into their US Navy issued fatigues and I sat in the lounge while the CO explained everything to me.

Then came the very boring 3 hour lesson on the rules and regulations. I was thinking ” No wonder why people don’t read the Agreement To Terms and Polices when you sign up for a new account”. I battled my lack of attention and listened through it all. At 12:00, we ate chow. I didn’t pack any food but my shipmates were very generous and gave me food they didn’t like. One sailor gave me two Chocolate Chip Cookies, I was like, “Who couldn’t love Chocolate Chip Cookies?”. I’m smiling right now thinking about it. He laughed and responded, ” I like MINT Chocolate Chip Cookies”. I said back, ” To me, eating any form of dessert that is mint-flavored is like eating toothpaste.”

After chow, we proceeded to finish the last hour of the lesson before we learned how to do the color guard. Then we learned about basic physics because we’re getting into a unit on airplanes.

Then it was over. I loved every minute of it. And I cannot wait to back again.

God-bless and Godspeed y’all.

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