emmy002
07-19-2009, 09:15 AM
know that I'm not technically a sailor but I thought I would just let ya'll know how it feels from the other side.
The day before PIR was probably one of the longest days of my life. It felt like it was never going to end. The night before we had lots of color guard practice (I was one of the lucky ones chosen to be in the color guard) and then we had a color guard inspection, we basically put on our whites and were told what we needed to do to them to fix them. So thats what we did. I went to iron a part of my pants and the iron leaked oil all over the front of them. I truly thought my divo and color guard teacher were going to have heart attacks. Luckily one of the Petty Officers had a bleach pen that worked its magic on my pants and all was well. I got my uniform completly ironed and then it was time to pack. I really didnt care about where everything went and whether or not it was folded correctly so I just stuffed everything in my seabag. Then we hygened and got ready for bed. We braded eachothers hair, talked and got everyones number and e-mail address. Then it was taps. I don't think that anyone actually went to bed when the lights went out, (you can still see everything around you because there are red lights on so its never truly dark) I know I didn't some other females and I sat on top of two bunks and talked, I think it was about 8 of us on top of the two bunks. Finally I got tired and went back to my bunk to try and go to sleep, this was around 1 am.
Reville was around 5:30 the morning of PIR we all got dressed, touched up our hair, and put on make-up for the first time since arriving at RTC. We all did last minute packing. Then we were handed our service jackets to put in our sea bags and loaded the heavy sea bags on a truck to take to the drill hall. My best friend there and I were both in color guard so we did not leave with our division for chow. We got to ride in a van with the rest of the color guard so we didn't get drity. We ate chow and were then driven to the dril hall. We could see all the anxious parents waiting to see their cadets. We walked from the front of the drill hall to the back and we could feel all the eyes in the drill hall on us, it was a great feeling . We were then in the small room that all the color guard gear was stored in. We got dressed but we didn't wear the leggings because they could not find a pair small enough for the other female and I. We were feeling pretty good about our selves. We waited around in the little room until it was time to walk back to the back behind the bleachers with our flags and rifles. It was about to start and you could feel the parents getting antsy to see their cadets. When we were hidden from view our pictures were taken. You then heard the XO say that it was time to begin. The big doors rolled open and we watched our divisions walk by. It was such a different feeling then when I watched my brothers division walk by. We heard the magic words and stepped out onto the drill hall floor. It was such an amazing feeling to feel all those people watching you. It truly was a rush of all sorts of emotions, but mostly good ones. We dipped our flags for the National Anthem and slowly marched out of the view of the families. We then set down our flags and rifles and took our seats and watched our graduation. You would think that we would of been high on life but I cought myself falling asleep. We waited and waited and were finally released to get our sea bags. Here it was different then the normal PIR because they did not get to say "Liberty, Liberty" for all the parents to run out to their cadets. Because I was traveling by plane and my parents did not get to attend I went with the rest of the people from my home unit and the rest of the cadets that were traveling by plane then we marched out and as we walked out we heard the liberty call and all the parents go get their cadets. We then left the rest of the people that were not part of our unit and went to the NEX, we ate and bought t-shirts for our families and ourselves. We waited for the van to get us to take us to the air port and then flew home.
It was an experience in my life that I know I will never forget.
PS: I carried the Sea Cadet flag which is the flag farthest on the right when looking at the photos. The female on my left with the rifle was my best friend there.
The day before PIR was probably one of the longest days of my life. It felt like it was never going to end. The night before we had lots of color guard practice (I was one of the lucky ones chosen to be in the color guard) and then we had a color guard inspection, we basically put on our whites and were told what we needed to do to them to fix them. So thats what we did. I went to iron a part of my pants and the iron leaked oil all over the front of them. I truly thought my divo and color guard teacher were going to have heart attacks. Luckily one of the Petty Officers had a bleach pen that worked its magic on my pants and all was well. I got my uniform completly ironed and then it was time to pack. I really didnt care about where everything went and whether or not it was folded correctly so I just stuffed everything in my seabag. Then we hygened and got ready for bed. We braded eachothers hair, talked and got everyones number and e-mail address. Then it was taps. I don't think that anyone actually went to bed when the lights went out, (you can still see everything around you because there are red lights on so its never truly dark) I know I didn't some other females and I sat on top of two bunks and talked, I think it was about 8 of us on top of the two bunks. Finally I got tired and went back to my bunk to try and go to sleep, this was around 1 am.
Reville was around 5:30 the morning of PIR we all got dressed, touched up our hair, and put on make-up for the first time since arriving at RTC. We all did last minute packing. Then we were handed our service jackets to put in our sea bags and loaded the heavy sea bags on a truck to take to the drill hall. My best friend there and I were both in color guard so we did not leave with our division for chow. We got to ride in a van with the rest of the color guard so we didn't get drity. We ate chow and were then driven to the dril hall. We could see all the anxious parents waiting to see their cadets. We walked from the front of the drill hall to the back and we could feel all the eyes in the drill hall on us, it was a great feeling . We were then in the small room that all the color guard gear was stored in. We got dressed but we didn't wear the leggings because they could not find a pair small enough for the other female and I. We were feeling pretty good about our selves. We waited around in the little room until it was time to walk back to the back behind the bleachers with our flags and rifles. It was about to start and you could feel the parents getting antsy to see their cadets. When we were hidden from view our pictures were taken. You then heard the XO say that it was time to begin. The big doors rolled open and we watched our divisions walk by. It was such a different feeling then when I watched my brothers division walk by. We heard the magic words and stepped out onto the drill hall floor. It was such an amazing feeling to feel all those people watching you. It truly was a rush of all sorts of emotions, but mostly good ones. We dipped our flags for the National Anthem and slowly marched out of the view of the families. We then set down our flags and rifles and took our seats and watched our graduation. You would think that we would of been high on life but I cought myself falling asleep. We waited and waited and were finally released to get our sea bags. Here it was different then the normal PIR because they did not get to say "Liberty, Liberty" for all the parents to run out to their cadets. Because I was traveling by plane and my parents did not get to attend I went with the rest of the people from my home unit and the rest of the cadets that were traveling by plane then we marched out and as we walked out we heard the liberty call and all the parents go get their cadets. We then left the rest of the people that were not part of our unit and went to the NEX, we ate and bought t-shirts for our families and ourselves. We waited for the van to get us to take us to the air port and then flew home.
It was an experience in my life that I know I will never forget.
PS: I carried the Sea Cadet flag which is the flag farthest on the right when looking at the photos. The female on my left with the rifle was my best friend there.