A tie was still a tie, and a belt a belt...

(NOTE: I edited the post date of this post to reflect when it was written rather than when I managed to get online.)


Well, it's been a fairly quiet week. I'm picking up the whole Navy lingo thing—my room is a cabin, the bathroom is the head, back is aft—and I'm just loving where I am right now. Honestly, I haven't been this happy, this confident and this “where I belong” since I got at the killbot factory (BOTC—basic training) almost two years ago.

The week has been quiet, as I said. We've mostly been death-by-powerpointed all week with various Navy stuff. We learned the important flags (still working on that... I know the flags but I'm having trouble learning their meanings), some wardroom etiquette, some vessel recognition (although apparently a SeaWolf-class SSN is a Russian ship...), Navy slang, some history of the RCN/RN/MARCOM, MARCOM organization, various MARPAC things, and some briefings specific to NOTC Venture (Naval Officer Training Center). We've also visited the HMCS Regina, a Halifax-class frigate, though it was short and I've already been on a frigate—the HMCS Fredericton, last September.

Next week should be pretty much more of the same, lots of classroom boredom, but somehow even the death-by-powerpoint doesn't seem so bad. I manage not to fall asleep! I guess that's what happens when you do something you like.

Our division, Loch Achanalt, is pretty good. Mostly good people, though we have a few soup sandwiches. A lot of them aren't that much into the Navy, though, which bothers me. I don't expect everyone on the course to be as crazy about MARCOM as I am, but I'd at least expect them to have the descency to not say, one week into the first Navy course of their career, “I really don't want to be in the Navy.” It doesn't seem very smart to me to sign a paper that commits you to nine years of service into an element you don't like. I can get that someone would go through the course and realize it's not for them, but one week in? I don't know.

I already can't wait for our sea phase. We'll basically go through all the positions in a ship's company—from helmsman to lookout—and go around the islands nearby. I guess we won't have that much training to do the real stuff we'll learn to do next summer on MARS III, like navigation, but just being on a ship “at sea” will be pretty sweet.

Actually, I can't wait until I'm on an operational ship. Although I want to go into the elite service (subs) as soon as I can, being on any operational ship doing the job I'll be trained to do will be pretty sweet. The job is hard, but like the old slogan said, there's no life like it.

Speaking of submarines... I caught a glimpse of the Victoria when we went to the dockyards to visit Regina, and I have to say it was sad. Victoria's in drydock and she's covered in scaffolding and tarp and she doesn't look like a proud sub; she's all cut up and looking like a shadow of her former self. I can't wait until her and the other Victorias are up and running again, though. At least two of them should be up by the time I make Lieutenant and get to pick my D-level (director) specialisation—that's the earliest I can apply to sub school—and a third should go back into service by the time I finish all the shore training.

Anyway, I'm having a blast here. The Navy is really where I want to be and each day just makes me happier to be here. Victoria's (the town) beautiful, though I haven't had much of a chance to visit downtown. I want to visit Halifax, and I'll probably get a chance to, before I pick which coast I want, but so far it's looking pretty good for the West coast. Heck, just the fact that I keep hearing about being able to visit Pearl, San Diego, SF and all the other cool Pacific places is enough to make me want to come here when I graduate. I'm not much into getting thrown around in the North Atlantic, and as much as Europe sounds like fun... I like the sun more than I like Europe.

I'll try and update during the week, as we now have accounts to get on the network at NOTC, but I can't promise anything.

I'm off for now... although “now” is purely relative.