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Groovy. I was SECF, headed into ET. Would've been 9 months A-school for me. If I can get my eyes to check out (which was the cause for my medical separation) and I go back in, I'm fighting to get that job back, and this time, will take my college credit in so that I can get E3 as well.

I assume at the end of your A-school, like me, you'd be a third class, yeah?

A couple pieces of advice about your actual ship date...

When you ship, get a good night's sleep at the hotel you're at for MEPS. Then, if you have a wait at your departing airport, sleep at the USO. Then, depending on the length of your flight, sleep on the flight. Upon arrival, you'll be up for upwards of 24-30 hours straight. They have a new way of doing P-Days now, so you won't have the 72 hour grind that you've heard about, but there were numerous recruits that dicked around in the hotel and at the airport prior to shipping that wound up having to be awake for 72 hours or so because they didn't sleep at the hotel or any other time when the opportunity arose. Falling asleep = attention from petty officers, and attention from petty officers on Night of Arrival is something to be avoided. I arrived at about 2330 on 13FEB13, so I only had about 20 hours to fight through before we tapped at 2000 the following evening.

Don't spend your voucher in your departing airport. When you fly into O'Hare, get chow there. EAT BIG. Whatever you're weighing in at is where you're at, and one big meal that night won't make or break you. You won't be taking in any more nutrition until breakfast chow around 0600 the morning after you arrive, so spend every dime of the $23 or whatever they give you BEFORE you report to the USO. Once you get to the USO, you go downstairs to get hollered at until you get on the bus. Personally, I ate a ton at Johnny Rocket's, and had energy all the way through until that night.

HYDRATE! I can't stress this enough. You won't PT until medical checks you out, but hydration equals energy, as well as not looking dumb during Night of Arrival when you can't produce a urine sample. Hydration is simply a good habit to get into. When your petty officer states that you can hydrate at will, suck on that canteen (now actually Nalgene bottles). Once you learn what IT is...heh...you'll be glad you did.

I envy you, man. I'm going to fight like hell to get back in, because I feel like I left something unfinished. You're doing something that a lot of people say they could, but never actually nut up and do. Here's hoping your stay at RTC turns out better than mine did. Nothing but mad admiration for ya, man.

Happy sailing, shipmate. If you haven't done so already, I recommend you spend some time getting familiar with your chain of command, your rank & recognition, and developing an attention to detail. The biggest challenge I had before my medical separation at boot camp was to stop overthinking things and simply do what my petty officer and chief instructed me to do without adding to the instructions.

The operational tempo will be a pretty steady grind, but if you've been training for several months, you'll do fine. Its the goofuses that show up and can't run a quarter mile and do a single pushup (much less pass their PFA at minimum standard) that have to worry. The yelling, the constant yowling from the petty officers and chiefs, the adjustment to a high fiber/low protein diet, the lack of downtime, lack of personal space, etc, is all very temporary and designed to get you off your rocker quickly, but once you adjust (a couple weeks, usually), you almost come to love it.

If you don't mind my asking, what's your rate? If you're spending 4-6 months in A-school, obviously it's not pac-seaman.