Summer of Brotherhood

Last summer was filled with with brotherhood and camaraderie. Between football, the Naval Academy, and UCOIN, I created many new relationships and strengthened old ones. 

My class has always been into football. Since seventh grade, we have had a core group of players. We have always been close, but last summer we realized this was our last season. I think that knowing this has brought us even closer together. It shows this season. We are currently four and one and have created some great team chemistry. While I don't always totally like all of my teammates, when we step onto the field it doesn't matter. That's one of the reasons I love football.

The next experience I had with camaraderie was at the Naval Academy. As I said in my last blog, I was there for six days for their Summer Seminar Program. I became very close to my squad mates because we were all similarly minded and driven to succeed. I sincerely hope that we can all see each other again next June at the Academy's Induction Day. 

The last and most extreme brotherhood experience I had was at UCOIN. As I touched on before, I would do anything for my fellow cadets. The strongest bonds are made through hardship, and hardship was the one thing we had plenty of at UCOIN. This is one of the major reasons I want to join the military. The relationships forged through shared suffering are very hard to break, and I want to experience that.

Throughout my summer, brotherhood has been a recurring theme. I experienced deeper and more meaningful relationships than I ever had before. It makes me excited about what my future can hold.

Give In To Get By, or Hold Out And Pay The Price

In Stephen King's Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, his characters are almost daily faced with the choice between giving in to get by or holding out and paying the price. I faced a similar situation this summer at a Sea Cadet training.

After an operation that resulted in the better part of the day spent hiding in thorny bushes, the last thing we wanted to do was pull night watch. To make things even better, half of our platoon was captured or injured, and thus unable to stand watch. This meant that the remaining half-dozen plus of us had to stand watch all night, which was not improving our already stressful situation. 

Although I knew we needed rest for tomorrow, we couldn't risk more of our team getting captured, so I argued that we just suck it up and stand watch. Some of my other teammates argued that the OPFOR, our cadre, would pull back to their trailers because of the rain. They said we should all sleep and get rested for whatever tomorrow might bring. Collectively we decided to pull watch in groups of two or three, so one of us could sleep for fifteen minutes while the other one was awake. 

After an hour of sitting out in the rain and not seeing any movement on our perimeter, we talked about pulling back into the huts surrounding our village. I knew going inside would fatally limit our lines of sight, but I compromised with my teammates and spent the rest of the night indoors.

The night passed uneventfully. As we had thought, the OPFOR withdrew to their base as soon as the rain really started coming down. Looking back on our decision, I think it was the right one considering the circumstances. We were undermanned, tired, stressed, and facing a night of little sleep in addition to the pouring rain. 

Snapshots of My Summer

The main entrance to the Academy

Last summer two major things happened, both military related. The first was my week long visit to the US Naval Academy in June. From June 15 until June 20 I was lucky enough to be a part of the Academy's Summer Seminar program. Summer Seminar is a summer camp put on by the Academy to let prospective candidates spend an extended period of time on the Yard (The Academy's campus) to see what life as a midshipman is like. We stayed in the same dorms, ate the same food, went to some of the same classes, and did many of the same things actual midshipmen do. 

Before attending Summer Seminar, I was considering the academy, but afterwards, it became my number one choice. I loved everything about it: the military structure, the campus, the people, and the food. I was Bravo Company, First Platoon, First Squad. I developed great relationships with my squad mates, and we still keep in touch.

McDonald, Lindsey, and me after graduation

The second military-related thing I did last summer was attend an advanced Sea Cadet training: UCOIN. UCOIN, or Urban Counter-Insurgency training, was a seventeen day long training held at Camp Atterbury Joint-Maneuver Training Center in Indiana. It was modeled after the seventeen week long Seal platoon pre-deployment build-up. We survived off two hours of sleep a night and 1000 calories a day. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. This being said, it was also one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. The sixteen cadets at the training became closer than brothers. I would do anything for those guys, and they would all say the same. 

Last summer I learned a lot about myself, the military, and what I want to do with my future. I learned that I can push myself farther than I think I can.I learned how much brotherhood and camaraderie are a part of the military, and how I feel surprisingly at home in the military culture. I hope I can return to the Academy next June to fully join the culture.