Master at Arms

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Comment by Tracey McCoy on June 6, 2017 at 5:52pm

Congrats to your Sailors David and Rich! How is your son liking it there after being there for awhile now Rich?

Comment by Rich on June 6, 2017 at 5:03pm

Another ditto for what Tracey said, spot on.  My son kept his head down, stayed out of the drama, studied hard, also got first pick of where he was going.  He chose the same place Tracey's daughter did.  He graduated A School, distinguished, early last November, and will be ranking up to E4 tomorrow.

Comment by David McNeill on June 6, 2017 at 4:43pm

Ditto ditto. My son, Colin, said he just kept his head down and listened, did what he was told. Not that hard, he said, but he was amazed how many didn't do that. He also aced the PT and got first pick for assignments. PT is a big part of the ranking.

By the way, update on Colin. He just finished Raven school and will be part of the Air Security Team on the next deployment. He said it was the hardest two weeks of his life and one of his proudest moments to get the Raven patch.

Comment by Dale Wiles on June 6, 2017 at 4:30pm

I would ditto what Tracey said. The being disciplined I mentioned was what Tracey mentioned in that the ones who treat it like college are going to have some beat downs because it will get them all in hot water. He is right on the phasing up. They hate waiting to class up but phasing up gives them some freedom. 

Comment by Tracey McCoy on June 6, 2017 at 4:03pm

Welcome Bill! My daughter, in the pic with the police car a few comments down, completed MA A school a year ago this month. I am not sure what your other sailors rate is, but it is likely that their A school was longer. MA A School lasts a short 8 weeks once they get started. My daughter was there for about 10 days waiting to class up. That seemed to be her most un favorite time actually because they have to be in uniform and cant leave the base until they are in the later phases of school. They have a lot of freedom on the base though with busses that will take them around to all the shopping and entertainment on the base itself...which is a lot of stuff. Lackland is a huge base! Once school starts though, it goes very quickly for them. My daughters class picked orders based on class rank in week 3, just a day of two after he OC Obstacle course that Dale was talking about. They do a decent amount of P.T. and have to march to and from class. The last couple weeks they spend a lot of time at the firing range and eat MRE's for lunch and dinner those days. It's an experience. Tell you son to not get wrapped up in all the teenage drama and such, which seems a lot like a freshman dorm in college, and to put his energy into doing well in class... to study hard and get the best possible scores on the tests that are given at least once a week, sometimes more. My daughter finished in the top 3 of her class for which the reward is a meritorious promotion to E4. It takes several months after they arrive at their first permanent duty station until they get the promotion, but she was an E1 when she entered the Navy. She was promoted to E4 within 9 months of her enlistment. They backdated her promotion to her A school graduation date for time in grade and she was then eligible to take the E5 exam in the next cycle. So we have a sailor that entered as an E1 in February 2016 and was testing for E5 in March of 2017, all because she was in the top 3 of her A school class. She did not get the E5 Advancement, but it was really cool that she had the opportunity!  

Comment by Dale Wiles on June 6, 2017 at 9:22am

Baby Shampoo! Yes you heard that right. Your son has a ways to go until he gets to MA school in San Antonio but the gas treatment they get in Boot Camp is a walk in the park compared to the OC Spray in MA school. They get sprayed in the face with OC Spray and then have to complete the course that includes the fighting and other tasks. They use baby shampoo to get the spray off afterwards. Otherwise it's on all day. If they go in alphabetical order, like our sailor who was at the end, then he gets to watch all the crying and quiting of those who go before him. He will be more in the middle if they do it that way. He will have to get angry, determined and if nothing else not want to do it again and get sprayed again. Other than that it should be fine as long as he is disciplined. I could give you more detail but that's the summary. Let me know if you have other questions.

Comment by Bill Fort on June 6, 2017 at 6:33am

My son, Seth, just got to GL as an MA recruit. He is our second sailor, but first MA.
Any words of advise or experience about the MA "A" school would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Bill
South Carolina

Comment by David McNeill on March 16, 2017 at 3:14pm

Welcome Josh. Great pic Tracey!

Comment by Rich on March 16, 2017 at 1:37pm

Great photo Tracey, that is where my son is also.

Comment by Tracey McCoy on March 16, 2017 at 1:30pm

Pic of my daughter a few weeks ago. Mount Vesuvius in the back round.

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