It was the year 2013, my last year in high school. It was a challenging time for me as I was trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life. A good friend named Harrison who I grew up with was in this Sea Cadet program which had inspired me to join the same program later. Many days he would come to school wearing his Navy Uniform (NWUs)which was a uniform of the Navy. There is something about a uniform that makes one stand out from the rest. People treated him with more respect with his uniform. I got this idea that I too could look good in a uniform and gain that same respect. People in the military had discipline. I knew I could use some of that in my own life. I was not the most organized or the most disciplined, I knew I needed to make a change. It was at that point I joined the Sea Cadets to bring adjustments to my life. After a few months, I got my papers showing I was going to Boot Camp.

I packed my duffle bag, got in my car, and headed off to Camp Williams. This is where my real training would begin. I arrived at the Camp in Bluffdale, Utah. I saw this large military base, looking up I could see mount Timpanogos in the background. Looking in, I could see the barracks, the kitchen, and the training courses. With everything I was viewing, I became quite intimidated. It was at that moment I knew I would be here for a whole month.

I spotted my unit, the people who I would be spending the entire month with. I picked up my heavy bag and began heading towards them. I came face to face with my drill sergeant who I never met before. The first words he began saying were, “Your hair isn’t short enough. I’ll fix that.” He grabbed his bag, pulled out a razor, and told me to sit down on this chair he pulled out. Turning on his razor he pushed onto my head and started shaving my head to the point I was nearly bald. Here I thought my hair was short enough as it was. I was the only one as far as I knew who got that treatment. My introduction to boot camp was already leaving me nervous.

Day one of boot camp was becoming hell. The drill sergeant made us march for 2 hours straight and would yell at us, verbally punishing us individually if we messed up. When we were done marching, we would begin stretching before we started our workout. The exercises went in an order of pushups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, squats, pull-ups, butterfly kicks, and the worst one was squat walking from one point to another. It was awfully hard on your legs. Once done, we marched for another few hours, until lunch time. After lunch we would study many programs and memorize the Sailor’s Creed.

Most nights were anything but rest. After a long day of hard workouts and intense studying, we would head to out to the barracks to go to bed. As my unit all began to relax, getting ready for bed, we finished unpacking our stuff and got right to bed. An hour or two into our sleep, the lights suddenly turned on. Out came our drill sergeant yelling at us all to get out of bed and to be dressed in less then 3 minutes. We quickly got dressed, then got at the front of our bunks. We were standing in the ready position. The drill sergeant came walking down the aisle demanding that we give him 50 pushups. Everyone began the exercise half-awake, and anyone who messed up was told to do it again. Once done, he told us to get back into bed and that we will be up at 05:00 AM. I got back into my bunk completely exhausted. I thought to myself, wondering if I could even do a month of this.

Five days into the boot camp, I was on the brink of wanting to quit. It was the most painful and stressful experience I have ever had. Three other guys already quit, and I was wondering if I was going be the fourth. Deep down I knew I needed to push on despite how stressed I was, because I knew I needed this discipline. I knew I wanted a future with the Navy, and I would go through hell to get there. It was not until the 8th day that I felt fully confident that I could pull through. It takes time to adjust to the routine and to the point you just get used to it.
The next day was a harsh one doing courses out in the rain. With a few courses done, we then marched our way to the next obstacle up this steep hill with our boots deep in the mud. At the top we all stared at the tall structure in front of us. It was a climbing obstacle. I volunteered first because I wanted to get it out of the way. I got my climbing gear on and I began my climb up a slippery surface. Halfway up I had almost slipped, nearly causing me to fall. I dug my boots into the side and used my arm strength to keep pulling myself up. Once on top, I took a deep breath and took a good look at the view. I now started to descend back down. Thankfully, I do not fear heights and made it back to the bottom. Once the rest of the unit had done the same, we lined up and marched down to the gun range, as it was the last obstacle of the day.

As we made it to the gun range, we would now demonstrate our skills on marksmanship. Before we went into the range, we needed to recite the Sailor’s Creed to show that we had memorized it. I have a bad memory, but I surprisingly passed as I would spend a half hour a night before bed memorizing it. Once inside the range we had M16s equipped with technology that was connected to a computer. This was not a live range, meaning we only used virtual reality to demonstrate our accuracy skills and the guns did not have live ammo.

We got the go/ahead and made our shots. For 5 minutes we shot at virtual objects. There was a score board keeping track of all the shots being made. I was at the top of the score board. I surprised myself with how good of a shot I was. I made a bad mistake though every time I shot. I kept forgetting to put the safety on the gun, which is a huge deal. I did it 3 times and my sergeant told me to get off the range and to stand outside. My Drill Sergeant yelled at me for how serious it is to have the safety on after you were done shooting. He made me stand in attention position for a while as a form of punishment. A half hour had passed before I was told to come back in and have another chance to correct my mistake. I picked up the M16 and took aim. I kept telling myself to remember to turn on the safety so I would no longer humiliate myself. I made all my shots for the last round, and this time I did remember to turn the safety on once done. I was one of the few who got an Expert Shooter ribbon for being the top shooter at the range. I felt immensely proud of that.

It was the final day. My unit and I who made it the entire month would now be graduating boot camp. We were dressed up in our dress whites, which were the sailor suits the Navy would wear. We were presented a certificate of passing boot camp and given medals that took us all to the next rank. All our families would be there to watch this special moment. It was an exciting day because we went through hell to get to this point. It was the most insane experience of my life. This adventure made me more organized and I became to be a lot more disciplined from this experience. I personally think everyone should try boot camp just once to see how a tough experience can make you into a stronger person and gain lots of friends along the way.