RDC "C" School

Well, after 13 long weeks, I will graduate of RDC "C" School. And, let me emphasize long. It has been. I started RDC School in the beginning of March. And, at the beginning, it seemed like it would never end. It seemed like we were never going to be the senior class at PT. With Physical Training (PT) every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 0630 but, we had to be there at 0600 for muster. And, I think the hardest part about PT was the fact we had to do a sub-stained run of 30-45 minutes every two weeks or so in side. That is the hardest to do because the scenery never changes. Around and around we went for 30-45 minutes at a 12-15 minutes per mile pace. Tuesday's were Personal Inspections (PI) on a different uniform every Tuesday. The first two were very, very rough, but after that, it got really better and easier. Thursday's were free until we moved out of the instruction phase and into the shadow phase, and then, we had to rev the division we were shadowing. Sometimes, that rev would be 0400 in the morning. It was a little brutal sometimes. But, after 6 weeks of instruction phase, we moved into the shadow 2 phase, were we had to shadow our divisions and watch how the RDC's did things. It was a little easier, although we had to shadow 8 hours Monday through Friday and 8 hours over the weekend. And, we still had PT on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with a PI's on a Tuesday or Thursdays.

The school tested me throughout. Several times I wanted to quit and I often wondered what I got myself into. I kept telling myself the means justify the ends. But, after I think about, I am looking forward to the transformation I will see when 88 civilians become sailors in 8 long weeks. I think that will be the best part of all. It will be long, hard, stressful, and painful at times. But, in the end, it will be worth it.

The Good Sheperd

The lectionary this morning was from John 10: 11-18. As I was listening to the sermon this morning, it dawned on me that I will become a shepherd here in a couple of weeks when I get my first division and this is what God has in store for me in then next 3 years while I am up here. I have been thinking over since January if it was a good idea for me to come up here and train new recruits. It is a stressful, demanding job that requires a lot from you, but I think in the end it will be worth it. This passage and the sermon hit home this morning. I will be a shephered to 88 new recruits. I will watch over them and make sure they get to their destination okay.