Some Words to Our Son Before He Enlisted

Excerpted, below, are some ideas I included in a letter to our son before he left for USN basic.  Perhaps some other Navy Dad, or Navy Mom, will find some of this useful for your son or daughter.

There are three answers to any possible question in basic training and those three answers are:  1. Yes sir.  2. No sir.  3. No excuse, sir.  If they want you to answer in some other way, they’ll tell you how to answer. 

Have a sense of humor, but try not to show your sense of humor—in other words, laugh in your head, not out loud.

Keep your eyes and ears open, keep your mouth shut, except when asked a direct question, then refer to the three answers above.  Hone your observational skills—listen, watch carefully, pay attention to your surroundings, be alert.

Do EXACTLY what you are told to do; lose the urge to interpret what orders you are given—chances are training orders will be quite explicit so do exactly what you are told to do.  You will have to LISTEN CAREFULLY.  In training, follow orders exactly as they are given because it is extremely unlikely that you will be told to do something that is illegal, immoral, or wrong—follow orders while in training.  Later, the Navy will have many discussions with you about what constitutes a lawful, or legal, order and at those times you can ruminate on the nuances and complexities of orders.

Do not lie about ANYTHING; if you did something wrong, own up to it, take the punishment, and learn from the mistake—if you try to cover up for yourself or lie about what happened, you will get hammered by your training instructors.  Furthermore, you will get pegged as an untrustworthy person and in the war-fighting business, trust is paramount.  Think about it:  Do you want to be in a combat situation with someone YOU don’t trust?  Always tell the truth.  Much of the training is designed to reveal your character (and to weed out s**tbirds)—demonstrate the fundamental goodness of your character. 

Give all that you can give in everything that you do; even if you fail while trying your damndest, you will gain respect and you will be given another opportunity to succeed.  If you do not give all that you are able to give and still manage to succeed, you will still get hammered by your instructors. 

If you get seriously hurt, get medical help.  Will you get “recycled” to another training rotation?  Maybe, but at least you’ll be healthy enough to succeed in that rotation.  Trying to complete training while seriously hurt, without medical help, is a no-win situation.

Lead when it is appropriate to do so; follow when it is appropriate to do so.  Learn when to lead and when to follow.

Do not associate with the s**tbirds, the slackers, the complainers, the whiners, or those who don’t put out; stay away from them. . . .This is serious stuff—take it seriously.

Conduct yourself at all times as if you are being evaluated and judged, especially when you are NOT being evaluated and judged.

Treat every “test” as an opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned and to improve those things that need improvement.

Do not leave a comrade behind.

Work to ensure the success of the mission and the success of the team.

Don’t spread rumors and don’t believe rumors—rumors are almost always B.S.

Finally, use your brain before you go to basic—do some reading on warfare (naval, ground campaigns, insurgency/special operations, etc.).  If this is to be your chosen profession for a while, or for a career, study, read, know some history, learn from other people’s mistakes and successes.  Think about this, too:  Can you list three reasons why you want to serve in this capacity?  Can you list five reasons why you want to serve in this capacity?  It’s not likely that you’ll be asked about this, but you had better know the why and the wherefore for your decisions and choices.

Hooyah to all Navy Dads.