July 6, 1984
My first day in the Navy.
I was 17 years old, and had to actually get a special note from my parents to be able to show up for Induction Day, (this is an even larger story in itself, which I’ll probably post about later).
The grounds of the Naval Academy were like nowhere else, in my experience. I grew up in Arizona and Colorado, so the East Coast was a mystery to me. Some of the buildings were very old, (including parts of Bancroft Hall, the dorm building that houses all ~4,500 midshipmen at once), and all the red brick paths were covered in a greenish mold/moss. I’d never been to a place so humid in my life.
It was strange, exciting, and terrifying all at once.
It also marked my entry into the beautiful world of “Sentence Enhancers,” what some would call “Cussin’.“
May 31, 2000
My last day in the Navy.
I resigned my active commission in 1996, but I decided to “dabble” in staying in the Navy by being a drilling reservist for a few years. When I lived in Fremont, CA, going down to Port Hueneme, CA to drill was not a huge hardship. I now, however, lived in Chandler, AZ, which was a problem.
Seebeas don’t have many places to train, (Gulfport, MS & Port Hueneme, CA are almost the only choices), so I decided to resign my reserve commission. This turned out to be a very good decision, which I’ll write about later.
In this 16 year span, I served my country, and in the process learned a lot of new words. Most were technical, but some where special. Actually, they weren’t special to us, we used them everyday…with almost no consideration for the company that we might be in.
Saying “Fuck,” or “Shit” was almost the equivalent of someone in the civilian world saying “Yep,” or “Darn.” It was an integral part of our normal, daily sentence structure. We knew that we were home from deployment, when we couldn’t use those words, 24/7, anymore. This may sound crazy, but I actually had to mentally adjust my speech.
Those words served us in peacetime and conflict. They expressed our sorrow, and our joy. They were our friends, and everybody always understood the context of their use.
I gave parts of my soul away, during those 16 years, and sometimes “Fuck” is the only thing that you can say. My time in the Navy gave me those words, and I’m not ashamed of them…they’re old friends and many emotions can be expressed with a simple expletive.
So, the next time my salty language offends some of you, please remember that the US Government issued those words to me, and I don’t plan on giving them back.
Good night, and good luck.
-Stipes!
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