Matt has survived for 6 weeks now. For the first 4 weeks the focus was on pushing them to the breaking point. At week 4 Matt had what's called RLP inspection. That stands for Room-Locker-Personal inspection. The Drill Instructors came into their rooms like whirling-dervishes yelling, screaming, measuring, all while tearing up their rooms - In the end all that was left were clothes and personal belongings everywhere. Matt was lucky enough to pass. Those who didn't were -rolled back- into the next class. In other words they flunked and have to repeat.
So far Matt has come through with flying colors. He leads the group every morning in PT (workouts). As far as he is concerned they don't work out enough. He mentioned that he is getting kind of weak when it comes to push ups.
Right now all the SWO's (Surface Warfare Officers) are deciding what port they want to be assigned to. Matt has narrowed his choices to three: San Diego, Norfolk, Hawaii. I just got an email from him that he is fairly confident that he will be in San Diego-he's happy about that.
If this holds true he will be on a MCM class ship. It's purpose: mine sweeper. It is a smaller ship with a crew of about 80. There are no women allowed on this vessel. if this comes to fruition, Matt will spend his training in San Diego and then he will be flown to Bahrain for his first deployment.
If the San Diego placement does not happen, Matt will be on a carrier either out of Virginia or Hawaii.
Dan, Nate and I are leaving Tuesday after work. Our destination Newport Rhode Island. The base is closed for the Thanksgiving holiday so Matt has until the Saturday after Thanksgiving off. Then he has until the 16th of December before coming home for about 10 days. Then just a few short weeks until his graduation on January 20th.
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