Life after 'A' school, and deployment

While boot camp seemed like an eternity, 'A' school and deployment flew by.  My son (OSSE) passed 'A' school and is now deployed very close to our house.  While in high school, he would avoid challenging classes, but in 'A' school, you don't have that choice.  In 'A' school, the sailors sit in a classroom environment, and learn various modules, different subjects, and are tested on that module.  They must receive a 70% or higher to pass.  My son received a 69% and called me and was bummed out.  I said scrape your butt off the ground, and study.  He did, retook the test, and passed.  You're always being tested in life.  The true test of your character isn't when things are going good, it's whether you get up after being knocked down and push through.  You don't have to ace the test, sometimes just passing is ok.  You learn your strengths, you strengthen your weaknesses, but most importantly, you learn that a successful team is a combination of different individuals with different strengths.  Put all that together, there's no goal that's out of reach.  

He's on a carrier, and learning ship life.  He's not doing his radar duties full time, no....they have him in the galley cleaning and doing dishes.  I certainly don't have a problem with that, you gotta earn your stripes.  He asked his CO when he can get some time behind the monitors, and they let him in the flight control while they maneuvered around the port, spotting ships and planes and so forth.  That's a key thing he's learned...you have to volunteer.  They're always watching the newbies. 

I was able to tour the carrier, and it's an enormous ship.  It was very exciting for me.  While I met some of his shipmates in passing, I realized our Navy seems to be run, for the most part, by extremely young men & women who really have their act together.  I wish I had mine that together when I was his age.  I met a Chief Petty Officer, you could sense the immense love for the new recruits.  I told my son if they didn't care, they wouldn't by yelling at you.  This panache radiates from them, and the younger guys and gals respond...gaining the CPO's respect is goal #1 it seems. 

I can't say enough how impressed I am with the U.S. Navy.  I'm proud to be a part of this big family.