Off to Great Lakes soon.

My kiddo leaves for that garden spot called Great Lakes a week from Monday. No doubt she'll soon refer to it as Great Mistakes; a name used by generations of Sailors before her. Floors will become decks, walls become bulkheads, stairways transform into ladders, and with a commitment to what her company commander sets before her, a kid will become a sailor. And with that, my child will join a line of sailors on both sides of her family that has included run of mill skimmers, bubbleheads and brown shoes, retired Master Chiefs, Captains, Bronze star recipients, pilots and residents of national cemeteries.

There are far more brutal rights of passage than the US Navy Boot Camp. Still, it's no cakewalk. The most trying aspect is the surrender of control and individuality. She will eat, pee, and sleep when she's told. She will learn that her personal success is meaningless if the crew fails in it's mission. If she completes the program, the US Navy will have undone much of what our society has sought to create with it's focus on making people feel good about themselves for no apparent reason. Bravo Zulus are earned.

I'm proud of her decision, but more I'm excited for her in ways she is yet to understand. Soon she will be creating meaningful and indelible memories. When our navy days our over, she will continue to have meaningful experiences and will meet many fine people. However, she will never meet finer group of truly diverse people than those she serves with. When she's my age, she'll still consider herself a Sailor.