question about the navy?

You're pretty sharp. I agree with your assessment. That doesn't "add up."

I was in Navy Boot Camp in San Diego... a long, long, long, long, long time ago, so my information about the conditions there are going to be dated.

You'll get yelled at. If you make a mistake -- no matter how hard you try, you'll mess up somewhere, somehow, sometime -- you may get yelled at. This is the Navy's way of letting you know that there is little room for error in the Navy. Aboard ship, if you make a mistake you might sink the ship and have to swim home. Sometimes the whole group will get yelled at when one person makes a mistake. That's the Navy's way of letting you know that if anybody messes up and sinks the ship... EVERYBODY is going to have to swim home. And sometimes you or the group will get yelled at even if nobody makes a mistake. That's the Navy's way of teaching you to work under pressure so you're less likely to make an error that sinks the ship and forces everybody to swim home. I have my suspicions why the military has been wimped down... but I'll keep them to myself.

When I was in, Boot Camp was 13 weeks. Today it's about two months. To be safe, figure eight or nine weeks. If it's less, you'll be pleasantly surprised. If you're counting on six weeks and it runs seven, you're going to be angry and complain that the "recruiter lied to you."

The Navy is NOT full. The Navy has... and has always had... a crying need for qualified, career-minded recruits. Too many stay in barely long enough to qualify for benefits, and then get out. The backbone of the Navy is, and always has been, its senior enlisted personnel. The few who make the Navy a career are getting older and retiring. There aren't many left to train the new enlisted personnel.

There is also a need for senior officers with superior leadership skills. I think probably too many get degrees... maybe through NROTC... and get their commissions without really knowing what they're getting into. A lot have mediocre leadership skills... or none... or they simply can't stand the pressure... and get out.

And, if the Navy were really "full," why would they be in such a hurry to rush recruits through and get them out in the fleet? Historically, training is abbreviated when there's a dire need for personnel on the line or in the fleet.

The Navy is not full... and won't be full until it has twice the number of ships that China and Russia have... combined... full of trained and competent personnel, the support personnel necessary to facilitate a Navy that size, with a backup force of maybe five million.

I suspect that the reason they're told the Navy is "full" is that, because of budget cuts, they can't afford the personnel necessary to maintain a reasonably-sized Navy. And I suspect that's true for all the branches.

As far as accommodations, in my limited (and somewhat dated) experience, a barracks room is two rows of bunks and about eighty people. The closest I got to a "single sailor room" was BOQ... two officers to a room. When I became an LCDR, I started getting my own BOQ room, and that based on availability and the furnishings were Spartan... but that was a looooong way from Boot Camp... or even OCS.

The not yelling part is actually true. Most basic trainings still yell and make life hell for the recruits, but the navy has changed a lot over the past few years. You won't get yelled at individually, just made to do push-ups if someone in your ship gets in trouble. But everything else...I'm not really sure about.

If you are really interested in the military, I would highly recommend the Navy. My son went in last year and has chosen to make it his career.

Boot camp isn't long, but if it were me, I would plan to go in the spring/summer, because basic training is in Great Lakes, IL. Let's just say BRRR in the winter months.

Just for your info, after boot camp you have to go to "A-school" which could vary from a few months to a year, depending on your job selection.

As far as the barracks go, it will be at least a couple of years before you will have a room to yourself. And I am not sure that I would compare them to a Hilton hotel room.

Bootcamp is where you learn what to do and how to do it. If you are a klutz in bootcamp, you can be yelled at. You are training to work as a team. Nowadays the military in general has softened its approach because there are so many crybabies who can't take military discipline. The last thing, in my opinion, that the US Military should be is too gentle and 'fair' in its training. If one person in your squad screws up in the real world, it could mean death for the whole squad. Military training should not be that easy. You are training to defend the country. Get through bootcamp by working hard and having "tough skin". Bootcamp is TEAMwork. What you got is the sales pitch. Join because you want to serve your country proudly, not because it seems easy. Military service looks great on a resume. Make the decision that is right for you but expect to work hard to earn the title. You will be defending the country, not just your friends and family.

That part about the 6 week boot is true. I know some people that went through that. I don't think they found out it was 6 weeks until they got there.

they still yell but it all depends on who or what was the screw up........boot camp has not been shortened as far as I know........and yes some of the rooms are pretty nice but some of them are pretty cr**ap and IF you are going on a ship any point soon they are not what I would call nice, I saw my husbands and quite frankly it was grim to say the least......but that is one of the down sides............if not getting shouted at and you "need" a nice room is what you require out of life, then suggest you stay at home...............

Remember they are selling a "product" if they did not lie about the main stuff then it is up to you to chose what you really believe and what you really want.............

Black is going with the whole thing. AND flipflops are honestly entering a brand new form- dressed in them with formal clothes and with paintings garments. Its a brand new form thats rather making a success. SO CUTE!! and black is sublime- it rather is going with the whole thing and provides just a little little bit of adulthood to the shoe. Id def cross with black.

yes it is a matter of training people to respond automatically to orders so that in combat they will act fast, and compared to the housing I lived in training, in WW ll it would be.

It sounds nothing like the basic training I went to in 1975. It may have changed. When I went through they had recently stopped using racial slurs.

My recruiter lied to me about some things, but nothing like what you are being told. I was "guaranteed" one advanced training "A" school (MR), but was sent to another (EN), where THEIR need was greater.

Noway, they are all CIA agents, trying to recruit young lades to become scorts .