The Young Canadian Sailor

As if my heading out for Basic didn't involve enough work, now I find out that they are replacing the windows in my apartment, so we have to move everything around...

Ugh.

In the meantime, here is a scan of my latest accomplishment!

I did it. I took the Oath, signed the papers. I am now, officially, an Ordinary Seaman in Her Majesty's Canadian Navy.

And I'm on leave...

I start my Basic course (BMQ 0178) on November 14th, which, not incidentally, means I'll be here for Ellen's birthday.

I can't believe they are going to give me a firearm...

A very short post. I have a new suit of clothes (for to wear when they takes me picture), and a new button that people can use to give me money. Try it out! It's FUN.

A better post tomorrow...

Well, the next big day for me is October 27th. That's the day I get to go all the way out to Oshawa, by bus, for 08:30, for my final orientation package before I leave. It's also the day I offically join the Canadian Forces.

And the day I learn (hopefully) all the niggling little details of my next few months, such as:

Will I have any vacation time on Christmas?
Hope much will my pay be, after various deductions?
What plane am I leaving on?

And MANY MORE!

So I'll update this after then.

I realized that, in the blog, I seemed to be focusing more on my fears for the future, rather than my hopes, so I wanted to correct that.

After all, I did decide to do this myself. Nothing forced this decision on me, so here's why I want this:

1) Training.

This is the biggie, I guess. I've talked about this one before, but it is the single most important reason for joining up at all. In the States, quite a large number of people find that the only way for them to go to university is to join the military. Thus, they end up as riflemen, or truck drivers, or cooks, all so that they can finally get a degree in management, or psychology, or English. What they really want to do would begin after their military career ends. The U.S. government is quite happy with the arrangement, since it gives them a large pool of ex-soldiers to draw from in wartime.

But that's not what I'm referring to by "training." I don't really want to go back to university. I was there. I took psychology, and never finished the degree. Why? Because I couldn't make myself care. What they were teaching was, for the most part, pointless. Psychology is a particularly truculent defender of the old ways. See, most psychologist don't want to admit that 90% of what people "knew" about the human brain and mind before the 80's was simply made-up out of whole cloth. Id-ego-superego, subconscious repression, psychotherapy, all this was half advice column-level platitudes, and half mumbo-jumbo. But, because the people saying it were DOCTORS, well, it had to be true, right? What did it matter that the efficacy rates for physiotherapy were a little LOWER than for no treatment at all?

No. Modern psychology is all about cognitive therapy (essentially, mental discipline), and drugs for the more serious stuff. Scared of heights? Twenty minutes with a qualified therapist. Depressed? Therapy and drugs. Schizophrenic? Drugs. Think this is too pharmaceutically biased? What does a medical doctor do? Well, she treats illness with drugs, and gives people advice on how to stay healthy. The same thing with MODERN psychology. Psychiatry is complete bunk.

...

Where was I?

Oh. Right. Ahem...

Anyway, I don't want to get a university degree, only to end up in middle-management in some completely unrelated field, nor do I feel particularly attracted to any of the "professional" fields, like doctors or lawyers or architects. What I want to learn is a real skill. Something that I can do, but someone off the street can't. At all. And this, really, seems to be the best way of acquiring that training.

2) Travel.

This seems cliche, I know, but I really want to see the world. I was born in Toronto. I was raised in Toronto. I don't want to spend my entire life in Toronto like a medieval peasant, never traveling more than a day's journey in any direction.

I've seen New York, Disneyland, and Washington D.C. That's it. I've never even been to a province other that Ontario.

Hopefully, I'll get to see many new places. I'm certainly going to Quebec, and either Nova Scotia or B.C. I'll probably see both, and almost certainly my ship (whichever one it turns out to be), will be up in the Arctic at some point. But, probably, I'll see a lot more than that. I only wish Ellen could see it with me, but that takes me to my next point.

3) Money.

How else am I going to make money? Entry-level jobs STAY at entry-level. Working poor isn't just a figure of speech, it's a trap. I want to take vacations. Real, go someplace vacations. I want to not have to choose between rent or food. And to be able to buy stuff. That would be great. This job doesn't pay too much, but it is comfortably middle-class. And, so would be the civilian equivalent, if I decide to leave.

4) The Sea.

I've always loved the sea in literature. I took a few sailing lessons when I was 12 or so, and loved every minute. But I've never seen salt-water. Oh, I've flown over it, and I've seen the Hudson river (if you can call that water), but I've never been around an ocean or sea. Silly, I know, but I'm really looking forward to just being near and on the water.

5) Adventure.

'Nuff said, right? I blame the Hornblower and Ramage novels, myself.

Really, what kind of an idiot would choose the Navy life, anyway?

Well, I passed my last physical test. The only thing left to do now is sign the papers and take the oath, which I do on 27 Oct. I'll be shipping out for Basic around 09 Nov. For those of you keeping track, my course will be 0178...

You know, I feel that I've already accomplished something. There was a time, not long ago, when I couldn't even conceive of being able to pass the Armed Forces' physical test.

I know that my road isn't over, and in many ways it's just going to get harder, but...

From this point out, I'm part of something larger. I mean, my wife, my family, my friends, they have been more than supportive, and I know I couldn't have done this without them. But at the same time, I was the one driving myself. I was the one exercising by myself. I was the one keeping my dream alive. Now, I'll be part of a team.

I'm scared, of course. I don't know how I'm going to deal with being apart from Ellen. I don't think we've been away from each other for more than a week in... 5 years? And having been out of work recently, we've been in each other's company for most of each day. I know I married the right person because we haven't killed each other because of it.

It's a new story now. The prologue is over; chapter one starts November 9th...

Fire is the greatest fear of sailors. To all the crew of the HMCS
Chicoutimi, and their families, I offer my prayers.

To the family and friends of Lieut. Chris Saunders, who died as a result of
the fire, I offer my condolences. He died a servant of his country.

Well, they say if it weren't easy, it wouldn't be worth doing. If that's true, then joining the navy has been the most worthwhile thing I've ever done.

I need to pass a new Physical Test (because my last one was more than 6 months ago). There's only one catch.

See, this time, the civilian who administers the test has decided that I'm holding my elbows too far away from my sides when I do push-ups...

Huh? Not going down far enough, not keeping your back straight, these things I can see. But elbows?!? It's slightly more complicated than that, even. MY elbows are "double-jointed," meaning that I have a much larger range of movement with them then most people. Because of this, holding them at my sides during pushups mean I take most of my body weight on my wrists (really, you're just going to have to trust me on this one). I can barely do six that way. If I can place them where I'd like, I can do twenty, easy (the requirement is 19).

So, I've been spending the last week doing push-ups. Pretty much JUST doing push-ups. And I'll spend the NEXT week doing push-ups. My Physical is on the 14th, and while I figure I'm just going to have to try and negotiate which the PT guy, I also want to be in as good shape as I can, both for him, and for the instructors at Basic.

So that's why I'm too busy to post until the 14th.

Jake (hopefully O.S.) signing off.