Day 4.

28 MAY 2012
1549

This Memorial Day has a whole new meaning to me as I'm blessed to be a part of the same amazing Navy that my veteran grandfathers and uncles were. I could not be more thankful to God, my parents, and my family and friends for supporting me and believing in me to help me be the person I am today with the opportunities that I have. I think of all the small obstacles (that at the time seemed tremendous) that I've managed to overcome and how they've shaped me into becoming the woman that I desire to be. I then think about all those before me who I've shared the same uniform and love for my country with and strive to be more and more like them. The TRUE heroes of our country. So thank you to all those who have served and fallen before me, I admire your strength and bravery.

On to today's adventures! Due to Memorial Day, the regular scheduled week activities were postponed a day. In celebration, we were all treated to a day at the San Diego Zoo! We got in free with our military ID's. It was awesome. Muster was at 0830 and we left for the zoo shortly after. The zoo is only about a 10 minute (if even) ride away from 32nd street. We were given the entire morning to roam around and do our own thing. I ventured around with my friend Cody and one of his friends Cody, both from Marquette University. My friend Cody is in my platoon and befriended me the first day, so I thought it'd be fun to pal around the zoo with him. The two Cody's often made me laugh and it was a super fun day!

We started at the Monkey's and eventually made our way around the entire zoo. We even took the "Skyfari" cart things that transferred us from the back to front of the zoo through the air. At one point, the boys thought it would be funny to rock the cart to scare me. The whole thing stopped for a while, which we thought was normal, so we took some pictures and continued our conversations. Turned out, they stopped the ride because if we continued rocking it for about 10 more feet there was a chance the cart would have fallen off the cable. Scary!

At 1400, we all mustered in the front to wait for the buses/duty vans. I ended up not getting into the duty van until about 1445 but I enjoyed sitting outside visiting in the mean time.

Now I'm relaxing in my room, putting off packing for Marine Week which starts tomorrow. I've always been really excited, just nervous too. Muster tomorrow is 0630 before we have a seabag inspection and a couple briefs before heading up to Camp Pendleton. I know they have a lot of awesome activities planned for us, I'm just mentally preparing myself for all the being yelled at. I'm glad I've made friends with the other MIDN's in my platoon and especially glad Colleen will be there with me.

I am not allowed to have my phone or my laptop, so unfortunately I won't be able to update nightly throughout the week, but I'll have a lot to say when I return this weekend and will be sure to give you a play by play rundown. 


I won't be here to answer any texts or calls or emails either. Just an FYI.

Also, I know there hasn't been much about what CORTRAMID is SUPPOSED to be about in this blog yet. However, this is literally all we've been doing. It's increasing the camaraderie and definitely showing off San Diego to the kids from out of town. The play will be more worth it when the work is accomplished, but for now I'll take fun and liberty and hanging out with my friends. To anybody unfortunate enough to not have an experience like this, I am so so sorry. Best past 4 days in a LONG while. I am so thankful to be here!

I know it's been all fun and play these past 4 days, but I am ready for my Navy weeks! I want to see ships and I want to see Subs and Jets and... everything! After all, this is why I'm here. I want to get a look at real Navy life and what it's like out in the fleet. I know everyone during Surface, Sub, and Aviation week will be showing off a bit, but still. As of right now, I'm wanting to go SWO Nuc. For all you civilians reading this, that's Surface Warfare Officer, Nuclear. Meaning, I'll be Surface Warfare Officer, specializing in the nuclear field. Click HERE if you'd like to read a job description!  But honestly, I'll be perfectly happy going SWO if the nuclear path doesn't work out. I just want to be on a ship and travel the world while protecting and keeping my country safe. Plus, SWO is definitely a safe path to transferring into what I want to do after my Naval career, but that topic is a discussion for another post. Also, dreams change, so I'm going into this month with an open mind at experiencing each of the communities. Definitely looking forward for it to start... and I don't have to wait long, in less than 24 hours I'll be at Camp Pendleton!

After I finish this post, I'll start packing for Marine Week, double and triple checking I have everything of the packing list, take a short nap, and probably go out to dinner. I'm craving Italian! Going to get a last really good dinner in before 4 days of MRE's. Yuck. I'll probably call it a night pretty early tonight too.


Happy Memorial Day to all.