BUD/s
Class 133 and 141
I left St. Louis Missouri
heading west, I had gone home on leave for Christmas and I was driving my Chevy
Monte Carlo to Coronado California to start in BUD/s (Basic Underwater
Demolition/SEAL Training). I got into Tuscan and I could see the weather
getting ugly. You could see the snow clouds forming. I got into Flagstaff and
the traffic was at a standstill. I was having a hard time stopping my car
because, even though I had my breaks on the rear tires kept turning. I ended up
having to put it in park when the traffic stopped. My heater was working fine so I just stayed
in my car all night as the traffic creeped down the mountain. In the morning
things started to move and the ice was cleared off of the road. It was wild
driving along the edge of the mountain looking down and seeing a plane flying
below me.
I got to Phoenix
and headed west to San Diego. Driving through the mountains I was amazed at how
the rocks were formed the way they were. I saw what seemed to be miles and
miles of lava and an old volcano. I had been driving a long way and I started
talking to myself just to stay awake and I saw this couple in their car
laughing at me as I was talking to myself. By the time I got into San Diego it
was dark and I got to the 5 freeway and I went south. It was getting really
foggy and I saw a sign saying “I 75” and I took the off ramp and it took me up
and up into the fog and I knew this must be the Coronado Bridge. I went through
the toll booths and I gave them a dollar and asked for directions to the
amphibious base. They lady in the toll booth told me to go left at the light
and follow it and I had to keep left through town and I would see signs for the
amphibious base. She told me to make a right to get on the SEAL side of the
base.
I kept on through
the fog and I saw a gas station and I pulled in and used the restroom to change
into my cracker jacks. I was told that I had to be in uniform when I checked
in. I saw the sign and turned right and went passed SEAL Team Three and then
Five and I pulled up to the quarter deck for BUD/s training. There was a statue
of the creature from the Black Lagoon with a sign around it’s neck that read
“So, you want to be a frogman?” I had heard about the statue but I wasn’t sure
it was going to be there for real but there it was. I went to the window and
the quarter deck watch smiled and checked me in. He was in second phase. Then
the OOD came up and started talking to me. He was a senior chief SEAL. He
introduced himself as Master Chief Tullis. Then the quarter deck watch said “He
is going to be your best friend”. Right that second Senior Chief Tullis snapped
at him “Drop down, keep your mouth shut”. Then he turned to me and said “The
Master at Arms isn’t in, you will have to sleep with the barracks watch in the
first room on the first floor under the stairs. There is no walking across the
grinder so jog while you go through the compound” I got out of their quick.
It was really
foggy and I could see the shapes of people moving, it was eerie like something
out of an old horror movie. I got to the barracks and the door the watches room
was open. There were two bunk beds and four lockers. The watch greeted me
smiling. He said “Did you see Senior Chief Tullis?” I told him that I did. He
looked at me in shock and said “He didn’t make you hit the surf? He always make
new guys hit the surf in their uniforms. Then he asked me “Where are your
bags?” I told him “There in my car”. He told me “Oh, you have to go back and
get your car and park back here and he pointed at the parking lot next to the
barracks. As I went to go back he said “Make sure you run across the grinder and
turn around and drive behind the quarter deck. I ran across the grinder and
scooted through the quarter deck and out the front door as fast as I could and got
into my car and drove around. The quarter deck barracks watch was amazed that
Senior Chief Tullis didn’t make me hit the surf. He told me he was on roll back
status and he had gone through three Hell Weeks already and they were going to
make him go through it again. It was already after midnight and I was tied. I
got my uniform off and jumped into bed.
The next day I got up and checked
in with the Master At Arms and they gave me a check in sheet and a map of the
base. I had to check into supply on the main side of the base and the BUD/s
side. I had to register my car at the gate. I already had a sticker from
Pensacola, I just had to scrape it off and put a new one on for the Amphibious
Base. I went to the chow hall and they issued me a chow pass and I got
something to eat. They had a lot to choose from. I had a ham and cheese omelet.
I went over to the man side BEQ (Bachelors Enlisted Quarters). This fat
Filipino first class checked me in. He was giving me a hard time telling me
“You aren’t going to make it” You will be back over here during Hell Week. BUD/s
side.
My room was on the
second floor and the first room on the top of the stairs. There was a guy
already in the room. He was a roll back. He was a second Class Petty Officer
and he originally went to the Naval Academy but dropped out. He was reading a
book called “Mekong”. He told me he would give it to me when he was finished.
It was about a Navy SEAL in Vietnam. We got two more roommates, Tim Burgus,
Jeff Finch and Jeff Smith. The roll back got switched to another room so I was
the senior enlisted in the room. He gave me the book before he left. Everyone
had checked in and we formed up with the class. I looked down the stairs and I
recognized Robin Harris. He was coming up the stairs and he recognized me right
away too. Robin lived right next to my grandparents in South Boardman Michigan.
He was a year older than I was. We played on the all-conference soccer team
together and we were on the track team together. Robin was all conference mile
and two mile racer and I ran the 440 yard dash, 330 low hurdles and mile relay.
He was a second class diver. Lt. Station was our class officer. He was the
national collegiate light heavyweight boxing champion at the Naval Academy. The
class started off with 120 trainees. We all pretty much just marched to and
from chow for a couple of days, we had to PT (Physical training) on the beach
once a day, led by Lt. Station.
Then we got our
proctor. The proctor is one of the instructor cadre but he was supposed to be
the good guy instructor. We had a second class Corpsman named Dave Chapman and
he had a bad reputation as a hard ass. We all lined up for inspection and
because I was short, I was in the back. Instructor Chapman would gig the guys
in the front for their boot not being shined, their uniforms not being
starched, the buckles not being shined and Tim Moore who was standing next to
me was sweating bullets. He was rubbing his boots on the back of his pants leg,
trying to polish his buckle and he had tried to cut his own hair the night
before and kept getting it uneven and he looked like the Road Warrior Mohawk.
He was saying “Oh shit, I am going to die” I was all squared away and as soon
as instructor Chapman got done with me and looked at Moore he just shook his
head and said “You are a mess, drop down”.
Then he had half
of the class go to their rooms and the rest stay in formation. The officers
followed instructor Chapman around so he could teach them what to expect. My
room was the first room to get inspected and I was senior so I had to stand
outside the door and great instructor Chapman. I saluted him and he came in the
room and we all stood in front of out lockers at parade rest. We had to snap to
attention when instructor Chapman got to us. As soon as I snapped to attention
a nasty green cloud escaped out of my ass, right as instructor Chapman bent
over behind me. He stood to attention and I said “I’m sorry”. He looked at me
and asked “What was that?” Doing everything I could not to bust out laughing I
said “Gas”. He yelled “You farted in my face?” Before I could say anything he
said “Hit the surf!” I could see the officers’ faces. Some trying to hold back
the laughter, other looked mortified. I was laughing all of the way to the
beach and back. When I got back the room it was torn apart, my matrices was on
the floor and everything in my locker was strewn out onto the floor. Instructor
Chapman had all of our combination locks all locked together and he said
“Always keep you locks locked, you have four seconds to unlock them, go!” I
just stood their dripping while Tim, Jeff and Jeff franticly tried to go
through their combinations. When instructor Chapman counted to four he yelled “Hit
the surf”. We ran down the stairs and across the beach. Tim Burgus was pissed
as he ran passed me he cursed at me and I laughed some more. We fell back into
formation dripping wet as we watched everyone else getting yelled at and
running to hit the surf. Tim Moore whispered to me “What happened?” I spirted
out laughing “I farted”. Then Instructor Chapman leaned over the rail yelled
“Everyone Hit the Surf”. Thank God it was Friday.
We all ran to chow
soaking wet and the guys in the class were pretty dishearten. I just took it in
stride. We had to clean our rooms and put everything back together. I started
reading Mekong and it was interesting. The main character in the book also grew
upon a hog farm, the same as I did and his platoon chief was a Golden Glove
boxer. We had a four mile timed run, I passed but I was amazed at how much
faster the rest of the class was compared to me. In Pensacola I was the fastest
in the whole command and I was in the bottom third of the class. That was when
I first realized that these guys were at a different level. Robin was up at the
front of the class.
Then we ran the
obstacle course. The obstacles were big and there was a line for the “Dirty Name”
This was a couple of logs sideways on top of two other logs in the ground like
posts, one was a little above chest high to me and you had to stand on it and
jump tree feet onto the other log about chest high while I was standing on the
first log and you had to pull yourself over it and jump down. I couldn’t do it
but I wasn’t the only one. Those who couldn’t make it had to practice after the
end of the day.
During PT the
instructors took notice of me, at first instructor Kauber got on me for having
the wrong leg out doing hurdler stretches but I was good at push-ups and
pull-ups and I yelled the loudest doing PT and any other time. Also I poured it
on sprinting as a road guard running to chow. My squad leader was LTJG Farly,
he used to be a Marine Drill instructor in Pensacola and he got his degree and
went through AOCS himself and because he didn’t have 20/20 vison he couldn’t be
a pilot but and NFO (Navigational Flight Officer). He decided that he wanted to
be a SEAL and now he was in my class. He wasn’t very good at pull-ups and I
chided him while I was in line behind him to do pull-ups. That night he come to my
room to have a talk with me about insubordination. I apologized and told him “I
was just trying to give you some motivation” He didn’t really feel comfortable having
to get after me because he couldn’t do pull-ups.
We had another
room inspection and instructor Kauber and instructor Vawter saw my Memphis
Golden Gloves jacket and my heavy bag glove in my locker and instructor Vawter
said to me “I want you to put on this jacket and these bag gloves and run from
room to room yelling ‘I’m a super star mother fucker” So I went at it and when
I got through half of the rooms instructor Mayer stopped me and said “I want
you to go down on the grinder and shadowbox and hum the theme to Rocky”. I did
and I showed out. I was going to show them something they never saw from a
white boy.
The instructors
got us all in the classroom on Friday and instructor Vawter sat on the desk in
front of me and painted war paint on me with shoe polish. Then he got up in
front of the class and called me in front of everyone and had me drop down and
do 25 pushups. He told the whole class “This guy wants to be a SEAL more than
any of you in here .Then he had me stand at attention and he made the whole
class do 25 push-ups and say “Whooya Seaman Lowing” Then he asked me “Why do you
want to be a SEAL?” These words came out of my mouth all by themselves “I want
to be the baddist mother fucker who walks the face of the earth” He drew back
and asked me “Why?” I replied without hesitation “I want respect”. That weekend
I had duty with Instructor Kauber and he sat down with me and said “As
instructors we have to play a role, we might seem like assholes but we really
want you to make it but not everyone can do this” I just said to him “You don’t
need to worry about me.
I was in the smurf
boat crew, we were good at log PT, surf passage and rock portage but we got
killed in the races, land portage or long paddles. We had a young kid named
Bronson in our boat crew, two officers, Lt Hildalgo from Ecuador, Sam Thompson
the only black guy in the class, Don Dougherty, Lt. Hanson as the coxswain. Lt.
Hanson was a skinny, blond form seminarian who read an article in Mechanic’s
Illustrated and dropped out of seminar and joined the Navy as an officer and
went to BUD/s and now he was in my boat crew. The instructors hated him.
I was hanging in
there, I was passing the timed runs and swims, I made it through water proofing
and I had just figured out how to get over the Dirty Name on the obstacle
course. Instructor Chapman saw me running across the grinder one afternoon and
he was hitting the heavy bag hanging in the compound. I could tell he wasn’t
very skilled at punching the bag. He called me over to hit it. So I showed him
how to do it.
We had a week to
go before Hell Week and the first phase staff took us down the strand where
nobody could see us for a hammer session PT. push-ups, flutter kicks, chase the
rabbits….etc. Then they had us doing arm circles, I was good at arm circles,
all of the time training with Roy Jones Sr. boxing. It was a break for me. My
arms stayed straight out to the side, doing circles forward, then backwards.
Everyone else was fading. Master Chief Scarborough came up to me putting his
face right in mine and asked me “What planet are you on Lowing”. Instructor
Mayer who was leading the PT said “We are going to keep doing arm circles until
Lowing gets tired” I just smiled. They finally ended the PT and secured the
class for the weekend.
We got ready for
Hell Week and sitting in the tent out behind the barracks, on cots Sunday night
waiting for it to start. I didn’t have much of an idea what was going to
happen. I remember that the officers were mostly concerned about getting an
accurate muster. All of a sudden a grenade simulator goes off in our tent and we
all get up and run out of the tent into the compound. The instructors were
firing automatic weapons and they were all camouflaged and screaming at us. The
smoke was so thick that we couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. I
remember Brian Cooper have a grenade simulator go off right under his feet. He
jumped and started laughing. We get into the compound and they had us in the
push up position and instructor Mayer had the bull horn in Lt Station’s face
saying “Give me a muster Lt Station, earth to Mr. Station" We all got online
and gave a count and we kept coming up short. The instructors went crazy.
Finally along comes Bronson. He had snuck back into the barracks and fell
asleep.
We spent want
seemed like hours with the instructors trying to get Bronson to quit but he
wouldn’t give. Finally we all had to pay. The instructors yelled “Hit the surf”
We all had to stand in a line, arms locked facing the ocean and march in waist
deep, do an about face, lock arms again and sit down in the water with the
waves spilling over us. We were all yelling “Hooya” and then the instructors
would call us back in, we would march to the beach, then turn around and face
the ocean again. Instructor Mayer was yelling in his bull horn “If I get one
quitter, we will secure this evolution, just one quitter and we can end this”
Nobody quit. So back into the water we went. We did this over and over again
for what seemed like all night but nobody quit.
Then they had us
don our kapok life jackets and get out boats and paddle down to the jetty
behind the Hotel Del Coronado for rock potage. This was the scariest thing I
have ever done next to getting shot at but our boat crew did fine. A couple
guys quit the class during this evolution. We ended up doing it three times. I
was the paddle man. I had to grab all of
the paddles and carry them up the rocks and stow them so they wouldn’t get
washed away by the waves. Then I had to get back in the water and help the rest
of the boat crew get the boat up over the rocks while getting pounded by the
waves.
My biggest fear
was breaking my leg, falling in a hole and then getting hit by a wave. I don’t
know how I did it but somehow my feet knew where the rocks were. I hit the top
of them launching the boats and carrying the paddles up the rocks. We did three
runs and the instructors gave us a good critique and we got to sit down. I
guess a couple of guys quit during the evolution so they had to reshuffle the
boat crews. Mr. Gallerain’s boar popped a tube hitting the rocks so they had to
carry a have deflated boat.
We crossed over
the strand I am guessing around 3:00 AM. Nobody was on the road. We made our
way to the steal piers and they instructors had us put some of our boats in the
water as barriers and then we had to get in the water and practice drown
proofing, taking our boots off and tying the laces together and hanging them
around our next, they taking our pants off and tying the legs of the trousers
together and flipping them over our heads to catch air and then use the for
flotation. Then we had to get out of the water. Then we had to get out of the
water and put our cloths in a pile, stand their naked as the instructors sprayed
us with a hose. Then we had to jump back in the water of the bay and tread
water for about 20 minutes and then get back out of the water and lay down on
the deck of the steal piers separate from each other as we were misted with a
hose.
Doc Gibner would
walk around with a blanket wrapped around him and a cup of hot chocolate and
taunt us “All you have to do is quit and you can get in this blanket and have
some hot coco” Even though I was shivering I just looked at him and said “Get
away from me” About 14 guys quit at the steal piers. Then as the sun was coming
up we went to breakfast in the galley. It was nice to be in the warm chow hall
and to get something to eat. The Filipino girls serving us looked at us in
shock. We were soaking wet. As long as we kept eating the instructors would
leave us alone.
After chow we went
down behind the Enlisted Club and the instructors had us file into the bay and
they told us “If you need to relieve yourselves do it now” So we all did,
floating turds passed by and then instructor Vawter had us submerge and hold
our breath for 20 seconds. Then Mr. Gallerain picked up a turd and held it up
and said “Isn’t this a pretty one and instructor Vawter said “Pass it down so
everyone can look at it” so we all passed it down the line and then he had us
pass it back.
Now it was time
for the base tour. Instructor Vawter would lead the way carrying a bull horn
and going all over the Amphibious base pointing out all of the buildings and we
had to keep up with the boats on our heads and touching the bow of the boats to
the stern of the boat in from of us, “Nut to butt”. The Instructors kept
yelling at us “Nut to butt”. Instructor Vawter would run faster and cause an
accordion effect. We were the last boat crew because we were the shortest and
when everyone else took off we had a gap to make up. The instructors were like
dogs nipping at our flanks but I would rather it have been dogs.
Once we finished
with the base tour we complete the base tour back at the Enlisted Club we had
to paddle the boats over to Delta Beach. This was thick muddy clay. We had to
soften it up. The instructors had us form two lines facing each other and stomp
on the on the clay and mush it up. Then we were to have a clay fight, we were
standing three feet away from the guy across from us and we had to throw muddy
clay at each other. Not only was it muddy it smelled bad and it was heavy, it felt
like you were getting punched in the face when it hit you. After about ten minutes we were told to stop and
then make mud angles. Just like snow angles except in the mud. Then we had to
lay on our bellies and do the same thing until we were complete covered in
silty, thick muddy clay, it was in our hair, our eyes, ears, up our nostrils
and in our mouths. Now it was time for whistle drills. When the instructor blew
the whistle we had to drop on our bellies and we had to crawl toward the
instructor blowing the whistle. Then the made us race with our boats on our
backs crawling on our bellies. We could see if we were winning or losing or
even where we were going. This was exhausting.
Then it was lunch
time. We lined up our boats and sat in rows in front of them and they
instructors passed out box lunches. We were freezing and our hands were coated
with silty, nasty stinking mud. The contents of the box lunches were fried
chicken, hard boiled eggs and an apple. They also had packets of salt and
pepper. You couldn’t take a bit of anything, except the apple without getting
gritty, sandy mud in your mouth. You could feel the granules crunching between
your teeth. The hardboiled egg was prefect until you got the shell off and
touched it with your fingers. The groves of our finger prints had granules of
silty dirt all in them. But we were hungry and we just ate the food silty dirt
and all.
After we ate lunch
we launched the boats in the San Diego bay and paddled to the south end of the
bay, crossed under I-75 through a tunnel and then we put the boats in the ocean
and paddled down to the obstacle course. There we had to run the obstacle
course as a boat crew with our boats inflated, taking it over all of the
obstacles, the wall, the Tarzan, the sky scraper, the slide for life, the
weaver, all the way through the obstacle course. Then we did it all over again
with the boats deflated, then again without the boats but as a boat crew.
Then it was time
for log PT. The did all kinds of exercises with a log, jumping jacks, lifting
it over our heads from one shoulder to the other, sit-ups, pushing it up while
we laid on our backs and pressed it up, racing with the log between our leg and
racing to the beach to wash off the log and hit the surf ourselves….etc.
Everything was a race and the losers got punished. We did pretty well except
for the race with carrying the log between our legs. After we won a race the
rest of the class had to hit the surf but instructor Chapman decided that we
were going to play helicopter and spin around with our arms extended. We got so
dizzy we crashed into the sand. The instructors laughed their butts off.
After log PT we
marched to chow and back to the south end of the strand for a stealth problem.
The instructors had a bonfire and we had to crawl about a half a mile without
being detected. My swim buddy and I crawled along the beach and there was a
stump and I made the mistake of leaning up against the stump and I had to hit
the surf. After that we all got surf tortured. After surf torcher we all stood
by the bonfire and told stories. The next thing I know Master Chief Scarborough
grabbed a hold of me and called for the corpsman “Lowing doesn’t have any
pupils” I looked at him in surprise and said “Really”. They put me in the back
of the ambulance and warmed me up. Then they let me out just in time for more
surf torture. They had us make a lean to with our boats and paddles and I was
shaking and shivering so hard that my while boat crew laid on top of me trying
to get me warm. They nearly crushed me. Then the next thing I know the
instructors were digging me out from under the pile and put me back in the
ambulance to warm up.
As the sun was
coming up they let me get back with my boat crew and we marched off to
breakfast. We went on another base tour and across the strand and they had us
doing surf passage and we lost a race and our boat crew had to do surf passage
with our boats upside down. Ensign Hansen was all gung ho and without any preparation
just headed toward the surf. I stopped, I was going to quit. I was pissed that
I had to be subject to Ensign Hansen whom I thought was an idiot. Instructor
Vawter told me “You’re not going to quit”. So my boat crew came back and as we
went through the surf with our boats upside down I told Ensign Hansen “You
better start paying attention, I am sick of losing”. Don Dougherty was telling
me “Come on Red, you don’t want to quit” I was just getting sick of losing and
having to get hammered for stupid things. Threatening to quit was pretty
stupid.
After we came back
from going through the surf zone on our boat turned upside down instructor
Vawter suggested we play football. One of the instructors had a football and
they had us choose up sides. Ensign Gallerain and Elliot played football in
college. They ran a sweep past me and ran me over for a touchdown. We got a
touchdown with a flank pass to Robin Harris. Then instructor Vawter announced
that the next touchdown wins and somebody yelled “If you aint cheating you aint
trying" I had moved to nose guard over the ball, across from Ensign Gallerrain
because I knew I was faster than him but they were still in the huddle and the
ball was just sitting there in the sand right in front of my in a four point
stance. I picked up the ball and ran across the end zone. We won. Then we all
went to chow.
We ended up going
back down the strand up and over the berm with the boats on our heads. It
sucked, instructor Mayer was leading us up and over the berm. The instructors
made the coxswains climb in the boats as we carried them up and over the berms
until we got down by the demo pits. We had to build a chow hall out of sand.
The instructors let us use a couple of shovels and we used the paddles and our
hands. Then instructor Chapman called me “Get over here Lowing. I want you to
kick instructor Mayer’s ass" I looked at instructor Mayer, he was big, 6’2” and
about 230 lbs. I remember thinking “He is big and I am tire, he is probably
going to kick my ass” I looked at instructor Chapman and he said “You have to
do it Lowing, I am your proctor” I looked at instructor Mayer and he said “Get
away from me Lowing” I thought “I have had my ass kicked before and if I don’t
do this I am going to lose face” I turned my hat around backwards and I was
maneuvering closer to instructor Mayer where I could punch him over his left
shoulder so I could hit him but he couldn’t hit me. He said again “Get away
from me Lowing” and I ignored him. Then Instructor Chapman said “Get over here
Lowing” I thought “Whew, thank God” and then he kicked me in the chest with a
side kick and said “Get out of here”.
We finally built
the chow hall and they had us all sit inside the sand walls and they passed out
our box lunches and once we all had our boxes in our hands one of the
instructors said “There is a sand storm” and they started shoveling sand on us.
In our faces, the back of the head, in our ears, on our box lunches. Some of
the guys started gathering together in a scrum and giving up their butts and
back to be hit with sand. I opened my box lunch and as soon as I did it was
full of sand. I crawled over to one of the scrums and waited out the storm.
Finally the instructors stopped and let us eat. Fried chicken covered in sand.
After we finished eating our sand covered dinner it was more surf torcher.
We then went down
to the obstacle course and we got ready for “King of the IBS” We stacked three
of the boats, two on the bottom and one on the top and we were going to play
“King of the IBS, it was like “King on the mountain” were we would all try and
be the last man standing. The rules were that is you got knocked off of the
boat you would have to hit the surf. The instructors said “Go” and a bunch of
guys rushed the boats and right away I saw Ensign Elliot fighting pretty good
and thrashing a bunch of guys so I decided that I was going to target him. I
jump up on the top boat and stuck my left forearm down between his kapok
lifejacket and his chest and I was punching him in the face and head-butting
him. He couldn’t get me off of him because I had a death grip on his life
jacket. He finally got me free and picked me up over his head and as he threw
me down, I dropped straight down and kicked up and leg and catapulted us both
off of the pile. As we were getting up to go hit the surf instructors Kauber
and Chapman said “Oh no, you two don’t have to hit the surf. You had a good
fight” So Ensign Elliot and I smiled at each other and watched the show. Now it
was only Tim Burgus, Robin Harris and Sam Thompson left. They went at each
other and the last name standing was Tim Burgus.
Then it was back
in the ocean for some more surf torcher. Then we went to chow for mid-rats. I
was so cold I just hovered around the coffee machine and the hot chocolate
machine but I was shaking so much and the coffee and hot chocolate was so hot
I wasn’t getting much down. The instructors had to make me sit down and eat.
After chow we went down to the sport field and we had to do a bunch of races.
Low crawl with the boats on our backs, head carrying and low carrying races.
Then they had us all in line standing with the boats at extended arm carry.
Instructor Mayer was yanking us around and Ensign Hansen yelled to instructor
Mayer “Leave him alone”. Oh that was a bad move. Instructor Mayer became
incensed. We got piled on by the
instructors. We got hammered, yanking our boat around, we had to get on our
bellies with the boat on top of us and instructor Mayer was standing on our
boat the rest of the night. It was finally sunrise and we got to go to
breakfast.
They pulled Ensign
Reeves out of the class. He had something wrong with his esophagus. We then
went to the base pool and practiced drown proofing and breath holding, racing
back and forth in the pool. All kinds of races and jumping from the diving
board. We had to perform whatever stunt the instructors asked of us. I was
pretty good at doing gainers and flips off of the diving board. Then we went
back to the chow hall. Then more boat races in the bay and dinner and finally
it was time for the around the world paddle. LtJg Gluff rang the bell. It was
his second time through Hell Week. The first time he broke his femur doing rock
portage.
That night after
getting surf tortured again and standing by the fire Robin Harris quit. He was
standing in front of Master Chief Scarborough shivering he said “It is not
because I am cold, I know what I am doing, I just don’t want to kill anyone”.
Then he rang the bell. He was the last one to quit during Hell Week in Class
133. Right afterwards we headed to breakfast.
After breakfast we
went back behind the enlisted club to relieve ourselves and then we paddled all
of the way down to the south end of the bay. There was a barge made up like a
castle just floating out in the middle of San Diego bay. Someone said it was
where they had parties and gambling. The water was very quiet. We all took our time, away from the
instructors. My hands were all blistered and pealing from paddling, the sun and
saltwater. My body was beaten down and tired. Just floating in the boat away
from the instructors was peaceful. We came around the castle barge and on the
backside was a ramp, like a drawbridge but it was pier and instructor Sanborn
was standing on it with a walkie-talkie and he was calling in “They are here”
He wasn’t happy, I would say disgusted. He said “What took you so long, what
were you doing?” Then he gave us a clue for our next point, it was a boat ramp
over at 32nd Street Naval Station. We got there and they sent us
back across the bay to sports field on the Amphibious base. It was chow time again. After lunch we went
over to the Oceanside of the strand and did more follow the leader with the
boats on our heads, up and over the berm.
Then after evening
chow we launched from the end of the Amphibious base from the sports field and
we had to paddle down to south end of the bay, cross under I-75 at State Beach
and then down to the end of North island at the mouth of the San Diego bay.
When we got through the surf on the Oceanside I kept seeing these UPS boxes
floating by and I was looking to see if I could read my name on them. Then all
of a sudden I saw this big white purse full of money floating by. I was about
to jump in after it when I heard all of the guys in my boat crew yelling for me
to wake up. I had been dreaming. I wasn’t the only one. Ken Strand who as from
Texas hallucinated that his boat crew were paddling through an oil field and
while he was ducking under an I-beam his boat crew had to wake him up.
We all finally got
to the tip of North Island and we had to run back to the BUD/s compound three
miles along the beach. It sucked. We got to the barracks and they had us go
through a health and comfort inspection before we marched off to breakfast. We had
to march up and over the berm to the Coronado Kayes and back to the obstacle
course. Then they put us in the class room and had us write an essay. They
turned the heat up and the lights down and if you fell asleep you had to hit
the surf. I was shaking so bad. I was writing “This sucks” “I am freezing” “I
hate this”…etc. You could hardly read what I was writing, I was shaking so
badly.
Then we marched off to lunch and we went to the
pool doing all kinds of races, playing water polo and I was having difficulty
breathing. I could only take in shallow breaths. I just bobbed in the pool
during water polo. Master Chief Scarborough pulled me out of the pool and had
me swim free style back and forth across the pool a bunch of times. They gave
us a head break and I was sitting in one of the stalls and the next thing I
know, my LPO was kicking in the door and hurrying me out to get dressed and
march off to mid-rates. My class mates had to dress me. After mid-rats we
marched back to the compound for another health and welfare inspection. I
couldn’t keep up and I ended up falling behind my class and straggling by
myself back to the compound. The instructors were cursing me, taunting and
being hateful and fowl but there was nothing I could do about it be put one
foot in front of the other and stagger behind the class.
We got naked and
stood in line. I had crapped my pants and instructor Barron grabbed a handful
of paper towels came up behind me and wiped the crap stuck to my ass. I got
moved up to the front of the line and Doc Gibner put his stethoscope to my
chest and told me “Take a deep breath” you could hear the gurgling in my lungs
and he said “You have pneumonia” and I replied “I know” he responded “Well then
why do you need me?” They pulled me out of the class and put me in one of the
classrooms with a bunch of cots.
I woke up to
instructor Mayer picking me up with one arm and tucking me in like a little
baby. Then I had to get up and go to the head and instructor Holloway was
watching over myself and Ken Strand outside of the class room. He was laughing
at me “You look like a demon possessed Cabbage Patch doll” I got to the head
and I took a piss and when I looked into the mirror as I washed my hands, my
the outside of my eyes were completely bloodshot red. My face was swollen and
my scalp was raw and scabbed up. Then I coughed up blood out of my lungs, is
was foamy and pink. They took Ken and I to breakfast and we rode around in the
back of the ambulance, behind the class as they carried their boats around the
base.
Then we pulled up
by the obstacle course and they let Ken out to be secured with the class but
made me stay in the ambulance. I stayed in the ambulance, I wasn’t part of the
ceremony to graduate from Hell Week. I had to get a work up at the medical
clinic on base and they gave me a subscription for penicillin and we got the
weekend to rest. I had to go to a board to determine whether I would be able to
stay with the class and they let me stay but I had to sign a chit.
We were in
hydro-recon phase, mostly classroom and we got to wear shower shoes and our UDT
shorts. I was chaffed badly between my legs, the skin was worn down to the
muscle. It constantly burned. We did administrative perpendicular and parallel
recons and then we had to prepare for night combat recons. I was paired up with
Lt. Hidalgo as a flank scout. Our job was to swim into the beach, make a sketch
and then swim back out to the boat pool where the rest of the class would get
in the water and perform the perpendicular recon. Getting to the beach wasn’t a
problem but getting back out was. The waves were eight to twelve feet tall and
we just couldn’t get through them. We got separated a couple of times which was
a safety violation. At one point I realized that we were only in waist deep
water and I stood up and watched Lt Hidalgo flaying in the water, he wasn’t
going anywhere. By this time the sun had come up and we got called in by the
instructors and had to run back to the compound. The whole class got hammered.
They must have had us do 400 pushups in our wetsuits. Lt. Hidalgo and I got the
worst of it. Instructor Holloway didn’t like the way I was looking at him and
came up and demanded that I quit looking at him. He was acting like he wanted
to fight and I wanted to oblige him.
As we were getting
secured. I was feeling like shit and went to ring the bell. Lt Fitzgerald and a
couple of other instructors gathered around and tried to talk me out of it. I
was surprised and I figured if they didn’t want me to quit that I shouldn’t and
I joined my class to march off to chow. I was boarded again and then we had to
do a monster mash to end first phase. It started off running the obstacle
course, then a four mile run and a two mile swim, then the obstacle course
again ending in the compound where we had to do our maximum push-ups, pull-ups
and sit-ups. It was the first time I was able to complete the obstacle course.
I had watch the
weekend after that and Instructor Chapman got me alone and told “You take
yourself too seriously. You are harder on yourself than we could ever be with
you”.
We went on to dive
phase. We had a lot of pool work, buddy breathing, ditch and don and treading
water with twin 72s. This was tough, you had to hold your fingers out of the
water, I had to do it three times and I figured out that the higher your tanks
were out of the water the easier it was. So I loosened my shoulder straps
before I got into the pool and then I passed.
Then we had to do
everything with the LAR VI, Dreager. That wasn’t too difficult but then there
was pool competency. You had to wear a double hose regulator and as you swam
back and forth on the bottom of the pool the instructors would come down with a
mask and snorkel and pull off your mask, take away one of your fins or both,
shut your air off, tie your hose in knots and you had to undo the knots without
going to the surface. You could take your tanks off but you couldn’t go to the
surface. I failed the first two times and I had to go to a revue board. Now
ever since Hell Week I hadn’t passed a single Four mile timed run, 11 of them
but back then, if you failed the four mile timed run in the morning you had to
make it up that afternoon or you would be dropped from training. 11 times I
failed the four mile timed runs in the morning and I had to run it again after
the rest of the class was secured for the day and I would pass. So when I went
to the board I had all of these fails in my record too. Then on top of that I
failed the diving physics test.
The board was
rough but they gave me one more chance. It was a Friday so I could practice
over the weekend. Commander Stephens the commanding officer of BUD/s training
had me carry a box out to his car and he told me “My instructors are the best
in the world and you are not qualified to determine whether you should be here
or not. That is their job. You just do the best you can and as long as they
determine that you deserve to be here you do. Now you have pool comp Monday and
all you have to do is pass”. Monday morning we had and room inspection and
Chief Bixler came in our room and inspected my dive knife and said “At least
you can do something right Lowing”
Then we had to run
the obstacle course before the final attempt for those of us who needed to make
it up. I was feeling pretty good because I knew I could finish the obstacle
course now. As I was going across the monkey bars on the Tarzan instructor
Wilson was sitting on top of the Monkey Bars and as I was going across them he
said “Lowing you are a piece of shit, you aren’t going to make it” I was pissed
off. I passed the obstacle course that day but that afternoon I drew him as my
instructor for pool comp. He ripped my mask off, turned off my air and then he
pulled my regulator back and stretched it between my tanks. I tried a couple of
times to get it loose and went to the surface, which was the proper procedure.
When I got to the surface and said “I feel fine” he said “You took too long,
you failed”. I was rolled out of the class.
I was put up on
open bay barracks that night and I bought a 5th of Jack Daniels and
drank it crying that night. The next day Tim Moore came to see me and scolded
me for doing that. He said “You are never going to be able to come back if you
start drinking” I got orders back to Pensacola with Naval Aviation Schools
Command as an instructor teaching boxing and physical fitness. I trained every
night with Roy Jones Sr. and Roy Jones Jr. I ran the obstacle course two of
three times a day and the cross country course twice a day. I reapplied for
BUD/s seven times before they let me back in. Mike McDonald my division chief
and Navy SEAL recommended me to go back to BUD/s after the way I was training
his son in boxing. He guaranteed in writing that I would make it through
training. 20 months later I was on my way back to BUD/s I took 30 days leave
and went to Michigan and worked out the high school cross country team. I
clocked a time of 35 minutes flat for 10K, just before I left for BUD/s class
141. I weighed 128 lbs walking around.
Most of the same
instructors were there. I tried to check in the last day possible so I could
slide in with the rest of the class but they recognized me right off,
instructor Sanborn recognized me right off “Let me see your teeth?” I flipped
up my partial and he said “You’re the boxer right?” and I said “Yes”, he asked
me “Are you going to make it this time?” Instructor Kauber and Vawter wished me
good luck. I had an awesome roommate and swim buddy Syril Galindo. He was
Filipino but he lived in Hawaii his whole life. He was a surfer.
LtJg. Wilson was
the Class officer and the way he ran things reminded me of a union foreman. He
had a deep load voice. He was organizing the class into squads and laying out
the agenda. Then Phil Januzzi our proctor came in addressed the class. He was
big Italian and he meant business. After we were secured I went up to Mr.
Wilson and offered assistance “If you have any question or if you want to know
what to expect let me know and I will tell you what to expect” He looked at me
funny but thanked me.
Syril and I went
to the Safe-way in Coronado to pick up laundry detergent and starch for out
hats and I saw a self-hypnosis cassette tape in the checkout line. I had heard
about self-hypnosis in my Sports literature class in high school and there was
an Aviation Officers Candidate named Steve Clock who went to the All Navy
Wrestling Team while he was waiting for flight training and I used to see him
take the Navy wrestlers into one of the racquetball courts and they would turn
down the lights and he would mentally walk them through their next match. So I
bought the tape. I already had a cassette recorder. We plugged it in and
listened to it was we fell asleep. It had the sound of waves crashing in the
back it had us relax our bodies from our toes, up through our feet, calves,
thighs and before you know it I was asleep.
Then next day we
had to qualify, we all had to do the BUD/s screen test, maximum push-ups in two
minutes, sit-ups, pull-ups and then we had to swim 300 meters using underwater
recovery strokes, side stroke or breast stroke and a mile run with our jungle
boots and slacks. We had to do this three times over the next couple of days.
Some guys couldn’t do it.
Then we got a
demonstration of the obstacle course from instructor Vawter and instructor
Mayer. Half way through the demonstration instructor Vawter dislocated his
shoulder and instructor Mayer had to finish the rest of the demonstration. Then
we got to run the course. I ended up finishing second behind Dan Quigley
another retread. I was a lot faster than I was in class 141, I used to
demonstrate the AOCS obstacle course a couple of times a week when I was an
instructor in Pensacola.
We had to go to
the pool and swim laps so the instructors could get our times and match us up
with our swim buddies. Syril Galindo and I ended up getting matched up
together. We were roommates and swim buddies.
Then we had our
first conditioning run. Because we were short, Syril and I we in the back of
the formation. I knew from previous experience that there would be an accordion
effect which would be an issue for those of us in the back of the pack and we
should move up the ranks as fast as possible and I let Syril know to do this
too. Before you know it things started stretching out and coming back into
through the obstacle course I was up right behind the leaders and instructor
Kauber was standing there in the middle of the obstacle course and I was
sprinting to make the cut off and I was it. He had myself and everyone after me
drop for push-ups until the whole class that didn’t make the cut off showed up.
We were going to
be introduced to the Goon Squad. This was a hammer session made up or races and
it payed to be a winner. If you won and race you would be secured with the rest
of the class. The first thing we all had to do was hit the surf. I was the
first one into the surf but that wasn’t a race. It was just for punishment.
Then the next race was up over the berm and I wasn’t going to lose. I flew up
over the berm and got to the top first. Sure enough I was secured and formed up
with the rest of the class. Then Syril was right behind me. We ran around the
barracks parking lot and then the instructors secured us to get ready for chow.
I got in the shower and the water was hot. I never knew that there was hot
water in the showers during the day because in class 133 it was always cold,
after I got secured from the Goon Squad.
Then that next
Monday we had to run the obstacle course first thing in the morning. There was
a fog and all of the obstacles were wet with dew. I was second in line behind Quigley,
instructor Sanborne yelled “Who has Copenhagen?” I ran out to him standing in
the middle of the obstacle course and he said to me “You seem like you have
matured quite a bit since you were here last” I told him “I worked out a lot
and I worked with a couple of SEALs at my last command” He asked “Who?” and I
told him “Master Chief Mike McDonald and Randy Hurd” then he told to get back
with my class. As I was standing in line waiting my turn to run the obstacle
course behind Dan Quigley I instructor Sanborne yelled “You better beat Quigley
Lowing” Then Quigley took off, he was a faster runner than me and he was really
smooth over the obstacles. I was right behind him but when we got to the sky
scraper he had a better technique because he was taller than me and he could
just reach up to the next level and pull himself up. I had to jump and kick off
the pole. I was to the top and rolling across the top as fast as I could and I
grabbed the wooden slat as I rolled off the top and my legs swung under the top
level so I was parallel to the ground and my hands slipped. It was like I was
in slow motion as I began to fall. The back of my thighs hit the next level and
everyone still standing in line to run the obstacle course were yelling and as
I started to fall, everything went silent. I was head to earth now and my
shoulders behind my neck hit the next level and my body swung around with my
feet down and I landed on my feet. I was trying to decide if I should go back
and touch the bottom level when right in front of me was instructor Sanborne
and he said “What are you waiting for Lowing?” That was my cue.
I took off, now I
was in the lead, I passed Quigley on the way down. I flew through the rest of
the obstacle course and finished in eight minutes flat. That would be the fastest time in the class
until we returned from the island. When we got to the room after chow Syril was
upset saying “I can beat you running, how can you beat me on the obstacle
course?” I just said “You try and manipulate each obstacle, I just throw myself
over it”. After that, every night I would think myself through the obstacle
course as I listened to the self-hypnosis tape every night while I feel asleep.
Hell Week was
coming up, we had knot tying in the tower and I had instructor Sanborne, I tied
a square know, then e becket bend, a clove hitch and then a bowline. He looked
at the knot over a couple of times and signaled me to head to the surface. He
failed me because I tied it backwards.
The biggest guy in
the class was Helssel, he was about 6’4” tall and weighed about 240 lbs. He
used to be the defensive nose guard for the University of Montana. We were
roommates and one day I walked into the room shadowboxing and he put up his
hands like he wanted to slap box and I fired four slaps at him fast and hard
and he got pissed and started singing away at me and I blocked or ducked all
but one and he caught me across the forehead with his wrist watch and scratched
me deep across my forehead. I was trying to keep him from knocking me out the
second story window before he stopped. We weren’t very friendly towards each
other after that. He had instructor Staff in the pool and he wasn’t doing very
well. Instructor Staff was yelling at him, dunking him and splashing water in
his face. He failed too.
We had a class
meeting to talk about our Hell Week T-shirt and Mr. Wilson asked for
suggestions for a class slogan and Greg Ebersole proposed “Big nuts, small
butts and lots of guts” and that got the most votes. A bunch of guys whined and
complained but I didn’t care because I knew most of them weren’t going to make
it through Hell Week anyway. That Friday they opened up the opportunity for
guys to quit if they wanted to. Twelve of them got up and rang the bell. One of
them was Helsel. Then we got to watch two movies “Uncommon Valor” and “Rocky
III” I slept through the first one but I had to watch Rocky III. We were to the
room and Helsel was packing. I asked him “Why are you quitting?” He said “I’m
not like you, I could kill anyone” I laughed out loud and said “You were the
defensive nose guard for the University of Montana, you could maim and cripple
someone but you couldn’t kill them?” Then I asked him “So what are you going to
do now?” and he said “I think I will join the Peace Corps.” I laughed and
wished him good luck.
Syril and I had to
go cash our checks so we went to Horton plaza and Syril had to get somethings
and I made some phones calls and just as I was about to go looking for him this
black guy comes up with a heavy African accent and he asks me for directions to
an address he had written down. Then he says, I am here from Africa to pick up
food for east Africa and I want to have sex with a white woman. I start
laughing and another black guy comes up and so does Syril. I tell Syril what is
going on and he doesn’t know where this address is either. Then the other black
guy says “That is this building. There used to be a whore house here but they
tore it down and build the mall on top of where it used to be” Then the black
guy from Africa bulls out a wad of money and shows everyone and he says I want
a white woman” The other black guys says “I know where there is a whore house
in Logan but I don’t have a car” Then Syril says, we can give you a ride”.
So we go to the
parking garage and get in Syril’s rambler the black guy showing us where the
whore house is asks us “Are you guys going in?” and we tell him “No”. He tells
the African black guy “You don’t want to take that money in there, they will
rip you off” Then the African asks us “Will you hold it for me?” Syril and I
say “Yeah sure” but then the African says “How do I know you won’t steal my
money?” I just laughed and said “You are going to have to trust us” then he
suggests “Why don’t I wrap my money in this handkerchief and you give me your
money and with it and we will lock it in your trunk?” So we said “Okay” I had
about $250.00 and Syril had about $300.00.
The guy wraps the
money in the handkerchief, Syril goes with him and locks it in the trunk. Then
we were supposed to wait at Wendy’s for an hour. As we are waiting Syril says
“I feel funny about this” We waited an hour and they didn’t come back. We go to
Syril’s car and open up the trunk and pull out the handkerchief and it is full
of newspaper clippings. Needless to say we were pissed off.
The next morning,
which was Saturday we had to prep the boats and paddles for Hell Week. We had
pump them all up tight, tie handles on them with white tubular nylon and spray
paint Roman numerals on them, make sure they all had good paddles and put up
the tent we would use for breakout.
After that we were
prepping our personal gear. I was in the cruise lounge watching the USA
National boxing competition and there was Vince Phillips my old sparring
partner fighting for the All Army boxing team. That just added to my anxiety
and frustration of getting ready to go into Hell Week again, getting ripped off
for $250.00 I needed and seeing my sparring partner winning the Nationals.
I went out with a
lady who was the secretary for the base commander, we would go to movies and out to dinner every once
in a while. She was divorced and had an eight year old son. I never meet him.
She had snow white skin and deep black hair. She looked like a short Snow
White. After we ate dinner we went behind a berm with a blanket on Coronado
Beach and made out, no sex just heavy petting and kissing. Then she took me
back to the barracks and gave me some encouragement that I was going to make it
through Hell Week.
When I got
upstairs there was a corpsman named Love who rang the bell on Friday and he was
arguing with one of the other guys and I asked “What are you guys arguing
about?” The guy who was still with the class said “This guy says that they are
watching the beach” I asked “What are they watching” and this guy Love said
“Tonight they were watching you” I asked him “Oh what did they see me doing?”
He told me that they saw me go out on the beach with this girl behind the berm
but they couldn’t see us but they were listening to what we were saying. Then he
told me exactly what was saying to this girl. I was pretty unnerved.
I thought “Mike
McDonald really has people watching me” Mike had told me “I have friends out
there on shore duty, studying for their college degrees and they are going to
be watching you and I better her that you are the most motivated SOB in your
class and that you are smiling all of the time” I was thinking “Bog Brother is
watching me”.
All of this is
going through my mind as we get into the tent waiting for beak out. We had to
get into the tent at around 6:00 PM and just wait for the instructors to come
and get us. I remember thinking “Why am I doing this? What was I thinking?” One
of the other guys going through for the first time asked me “Red, what is going
to happen?” I just said “it is better that you don’t know” and we waited.
Guys were sneaking
a peak through the flaps of the tent reporting on every little movement in the
compound. Then it happened. Automatic weapons were going off, a concussion
grenade went off inside of the tent and a couple of instructors all camouflaged
up lifted the tent flaps and fired blanks on full auto yelling at us. We all
ran out of the tent, trying to stay together as a boat crew through the smoke,
grey, red, yellow and green smoke all blending together, thick enough that we
were breathing the sulfur in, tasting it. A concussion grenade when off right
under Brian Cooper and he jumped and laughed without missing a stride. We got
into the compound and the instructors asked for a headcount. Was started off
counting the instructors tried to grab a couple of guys but we grabbed them and
pulled them back. It was like wild animals trying not to get separated from
their herd but lions of wolves. We finally got our count and the instructors
told us “You have two minutes to go back inside of the tent and turn your
uniforms inside out and put you left boot on your right foot and your right
boot on your left foot” We all ran inside of the tent and I turn my fatigue
shirt inside out and put it back on. Everyone else was trying to get their
pants and boots off. Spenser was yelling
at me “Come on Red” he was wanting me to do the same and I just said “Go ahead,
knock yourself out”. Then we all ran out of the tent for muster. Then the
instructors put us in the pushup position while we were getting out muster. It
took longer than they liked so they said “You guys are so screwed up, you are
the wort class I have ever seen. We are going to start all over. Go back in your tent and wait”
So that is what we
did. I actually feel asleep waiting this time and it all stated again, smoke,
grenades and automatic weapons. We get in the compound and tried to get count
and we kept coming up short. They counted a couple of times and finally Joe
Phillips comes running out of the barracks. They were on him like stink on
shit. He was standing there and they were yelling at him trying to get him to
ring the bell, threatening to throw him out and trying to get him to quit but
he just kept resisting saying “No instructor”, “I am not quitting”
This took a while
and the whole time I am watching instructor Chapman. He was walking around
shining his mag-light flash light in everyone’s face. Finally they instructors
told us “Go back into your tent and grab you sea bags and get back out here,
you have 30 seconds” Of course we didn’t make it. They had us in the pushup
position, holding our sea bags and spraying us with a hose. The whole time I am
watching instructor Chapman. He is walking over everyone in pushup position,
shining his flashlight on them as he is stepping over them and finally he gets
to me, sees it’s me, grabs my sea bag and throws it out of the compound. I am
thinking “I am the one he was looking for, I’m dead”. Then the instructors get
us up and tell us “You are pathetic, you are the worst class we have ever seen,
we are going to punish you, line up for surf torcher”
We all head out
over the berm and Wheeler, another retread, in my boat crew comes alongside of
me and says “Red, I want to be next to you, I know you are going to make it” I didn’t
put much stake in that, I was told the same thing in class 131. We line up on
the beach, facing the ocean and lock arms. The instructors give us the command
over the bull horn “Forward march” We all start walking into the ocean up to my
chest and then the command us “About face” we turn around and lock arms again
and they then command us “Take seats” and as soon as we did I am thinking “This
isn’t very cold” Then Boone gets up, one of the only black guys in the class
and slaps the water behind the line. This was his second time in Hell Week, he
was rolled back from the previous class.
Then Wheeler tells
me “Red, let me go. I am going to ring the bell” I replied “Your kidding
right?” and he said “No, I am not like you, I can’t take this” I just said “We
are just getting started” He said “I know, I just can’t take this” I told him
“Tell Mr. Mitchel” So he yells at Ensign Mitchel “Mr. Mitchell, I am going to
ring the bell” Mr. Mitchel yells at me “Lowing, don’t let him go” I yell back
“It is better if you let him go” So I let him go and as soon as he gets up 14
other guys get up head toward the bell.
We were only in
and out of the water a couple of times before they pulled us out and had us get
ready for rock portage. I was a bowline man this time, I knew I wanted to get
out of the boat first and out of the surf. We did really well, we had to do it
three times and nobody quit. Then we crossed over the stand for the steal
piers. I had worn silk boxer shorts the first time I went through Hell Week in
class 133 and I was chaffed terribly. This time I wore triathlon short turned
inside out. One of the instructors noticed and just commented “That was a good
idea” We had to get in and out of the water a couple of times and do drown
proofing and then they had us lay on the steal piers naked as they sprayed us
down with a hose. 14 more guys got up and rang the bell.
There was a
research team videotaping our Hell Week this one brunet was uncomfortable
watching this evolution. Doc Gibner came around with his blanket and hot
chocolate, just like he did in class 133. He got the same response, a glare and
I told him “Get away from me”.
After we finished with steal piers we went to
the sports field and they had us doing whistle drills and races. A couple more guys quit. Then the sun was
coming up and we had to put the boats on our heads and head off to breakfast
and the sole of my Korean jungle boots started coming off. It was just hanging
on as we carried our boat off to the chow hall. I was thinking “This isn’t good”.
I had my defective
boot on going through the chow line and I was smiling just in case someone was
watching me and the pretty research lady was counting us as we went into the
chow hall and she was looking distressed until she saw me smiling and that made
me smile bigger. The Filipino servers were also looking distressed until they
saw me smiling and they smiled and giggled. Instructor Shelton saw me and said
“Low Life, I can’t believe you are still here” He didn’t know me so I didn’t
care what he thought. After we finished eating they gave us a quick once over
and noticed my boot sol was flapping out behind my boot and they issued me
another pair of boots and I was good to go.
This class they
let us use the restroom in the galley instead of in the bay behind the enlisted
club. Also they had us rig for land by tying our leg straps from our kapok
lifejackets around our waist when we weren’t rigged for sea. Everything went
pretty much the same as it did in class 133. We were standing with our boats on
our heads in the compound and instructor Willard one of the black instructors
gets right in my face acts like he wants to fight me saying “What are you
looking at Lowing? Do you want some of me?” I was just looking at him thinking
“If you only knew” Mr. Mitchel and Spenser were saying “Don’t do it Red” I
figured he was just trying to bait me.
I knew that once I
made it past Wednesday they weren’t going to get me out of there with a gun. So
I am asked by Mr. Wilson to guard the boats after I finish eating mid-rats on
Wednesday night. So I am standing guard over the boats, out in the parking lot
in the middle of the night, in parade rest with a paddle in my hand and a
couple of times I wake up, falling over and I catch myself right before I do a
face plant on the concrete. Then the class all falls in by their boats waiting
for the instructors and Mr. Wilson asks me a question.
“Red, why are you
doing this?” I ask him “Why are you doing this?” He says back to me “That
doesn’t mean anything, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. There is
no way I would have done this had I known what to expect”. Now I was pretty
euphoric. I knew I was going to make it at this point so I was pretty positive
but I wanted to answer him and I said “I didn’t make it last time. I lived this
every day in my mind for 20 months and reapplied seen times before they let me
back into training. There was no way I wasn’t going to do this, if I didn’t
there would been way I could live with myself. I have to get this monkey off of
my back” He seemed to understand.
When the
instructors came out they took us to the sports field and it started raining.
They had us race around the buoy market in the bay a couple of times and they
stripped us down to only whatever we were wearing under our trousers. Greg
Ebersole was shaking like a leaf. I remember thinking “This isn’t cold” He was
shaking so bad that the instructors had us get dressed and paddle around the
buoy again as if that as going to warm us up. I remember instructor Shelnut
wearing a Goretex parka and howling up into the sky like a werewolf.
Then the rain died
down and we launched our boats in the bay and we hadn’t gone very far and the
rain started coming down hard again. It was like paddling into a waterfall. We
got passed the base and we could see the other boat crews land portaging in Delta
Beach and we tried to get Ensign Mitchell to do the same but he wasn’t going to
have it “We are not going to cheat” I had to agree with him. We finally got to
the south end of the bay and we saw someone with a flashlight and it was
instructor Yowell. He wasn’t happy saying “What took you so long, you are a
half hour behind the next boat crew. Go to the tunnel under the strand and go
through the surf, you don’t have to dump boat unless you take on water. Then
paddle down to the North Island fence.
So we did and we
got down to the obstacle course and the rest of the class was in a boat pool
waiting for us. When we got there we all paddled to the tip of North Island
together. The instructors were pissed. They didn’t award any points for the
winning boat crew and they wouldn’t let Schoolmaster quit until we got back to
the BUD/s compound. We had a health and comfort inspection, went to breakfast
and they made us do another base tour. We were just creeping along. We looked
like a bunch of zombies. They had us go to the Schism field and do a bunch of
races and then Master Chief Rogers had us go to the officer’s club and sing
“Anchor’s away to a retiring SEAL officer” Then it was back over to the
Oceanside of the strand.
They had us sit in
the classroom and write our essays. They did the same thing they did in class
133, turn the lights down and the heat up and made us wrote an essay. This time
I wrote a patriotic essay. I kept dozing off and my pencil would run off at the
end of the sentence but I would catch myself and wake up and start another line
“I love my country…..” Instructor Staff came by and tried a couple of times to
get me to get up and go outside but I was bent on finishing my essay. I told “I
am trying to finish” and he said “You are finished, go outside” They had me go
outside with a couple of other guys who told me that the rest of the class had
fallen asleep. Then the instructors go into the class yelling and banging a
trashcan and everyone runs out of the classroom and hit the surf.
Then they had us go to the obstacle course and do some more log PT. I didn’t remember dong log PT
this many times in 133. We were all dragging. Then we went back on the other
side for chow and then to the poo to play water polo. I had payed water polo
three days a week with Jim Liddy the son of G. Gordan Liddy who played on the
US water polo team. We had some good players in the class. It was a much more
enjoyable time that it was the last time.
Then once it got
dark it was time for the treasure hunt. The instructors would give us clues and
we had to go to where we thought they meant. Mr. Mitchell was pretty much out
of it and he had lost his voice so I took charge. We were doing very well and
it was around 4:00 AM and we were heading to the sports field and with Ensign Hickey’s
boat crew behind us about 100 yards. Spenser was having issues because his neck
was sore and I was pushing him with a stiff arm from behind and he didn’t like
it and threatened me “If you don’t stop pushing me, we are going to stop right
here and we are going to fight” I said “Let’s go” Mr. Mitchell got us to come
to our senses and as we were heading past the galley Todd Fleming pulled the
boat to a stop and said “Stop we are going to run over instructor Shelnut’s
baby” I looked around and there was nobody there. I realized that Todd was
Hallucinating and I said “Todd wake up” and just said “Okay” and we were the
first ones to get to the sports field. We waited for the rest of the class to
show up. We got to rest a little bit.
We went to
breakfast and then we were back on the Oceanside and the instructors really
stepped things up, surf passage, up and over the berm, all kinds of races and
then we were following inductor Mayer and he went into a pit dug in the middle
of the beach, just south of SEAL Beach and we were having a hard time with our
boat getting it out of the pit and the instructors started throwing shovels of
sand on us and in our boat until it was buried. Then the whole class came over
and helped us pull the boat out of the pit. Then instructor Chapman came up and
said “What is the matter with you guys? Lowing likes this shit some much he came
back to do it again”. I couldn’t believe it, I was getting praise from
instructor Chapman. My heart started pounding, I got a surge of energy. I felt
like the Grinch whole stole Christmas when he got the Christmas Spirit and his
heart grew ten times.
We were doing a
bunch of races and I was just going hard and then the instructors were telling
us “You better start putting out or we are not going to secure Hell Week until
Monday” I was hustling as hard as I could and then they had us hit the surf and
then doing whistle drills through the surf, all of the way to the beach and
along the beach in the shallows until the back of the BUD/s barracks. Then finally
they called us to attention and there was Captain Bailey. Then he gave us a
congratulations speech and secured us from Hell Week. We all got in line to
shake his hand. I was excited! 28 of us made it through Hell Week.
I was so excited,
I called everyone to tell them that I made it, I was too excited to fall
asleep. I was in a lot better physical shape after Hell Week than I was in
class 133. I maintained 140 lbs all of the way through. Training wasn’t over
but I was healthy and I got that monkey off of my back.
At camp Elliot we
did land navigation and immediate action drills (IADs) the last day Avon a tall
skinny guy who had been in burn accident with scares over 50% of his body had
lost a canteen and Mr. Wilson lost a canteen and the instructors found a
canteen but it was nether one of theirs. They had them compete in push-ups to
decide who they were going to give it to. I said “That isn’t fair, there is no
way Avon is going to beat Mr. Wilson in pushups. Can I got do pushups for
Avon?” Mr. Mitchel said “Go ahead”. So I run over there and they already
started. I asked “Can I do pushups for Avon?” The instructors said “Go ahead” I
beat them both to 100 and Avon could only do 98. Mr. Wilson was saying to me
“Why are you doing this? It isn’t even your canteen?” I just kept pushing them
out and said “It’s not fair, there is no way Avon can bet you in pushups and I
kept pushing them out. The instructors were taunting Mr. Wilson saying “Look
how effortlessly Lowing is pushing them out? Why don’t you just give up?” That
just fueled me on and I cranked out more but Mr. Wilson didn’t quit. Finally
Lt. Shibler said “Lowing, he’s not going to quit so you are going to have to be
declared the winner via technical decision. I did 300 pushups.
There were other
eventful situations like getting boarded for failing the weapons practical test
and instead of the being told I was worthless and shouldn’t be there the
instructors told me I had been a good trainee and they were routing for me. I
passed the retake. The instructors got to know me for being able to do a lot of
pushups. I did 500 during a weapons inspection. Instructor Carlock put me down
telling me “Lowing push’em out until I get tired” He told me “Recover” and I
asked him “Can I do 40 more?” and he let me and when I finished he asked “Why
do you want to do 40 more?” I told him “That made it an even 500 During
Christmas vacation attempted to max out in pushups and I did 1,700, I was so
smoked that I had to use both hands to pick up the soap when I took a shower.
I got the highest
scores in my class for diving physics. We were cleaning up after a night dive
at the pool and Chief Bixler called me in front of the class and had me stand
at parade rest on the dive set up tables. Then he had me turn around and put my
nose against the wall. I thought I was in trouble and then he called the whole
class in formation and then he told me “Lowing turn around, at ease” He then
awarded me a certificate designating me a “Master Training Specialist”. I had
no idea I was even put in for it.
Then it was time
for Pool Comp. This is where I failed in class 133. I had practiced in
Pensacola when I took my PADI dive class. My plan was to get on the bus last so
I could get off first and get it over with. So Syril and I took our time and we
had to do pushups with the twin 72s on but we had a plan. We go to the main side
of the base and off of the cattle car first, lined up along the pool and they
started taking the guys from the other end first. We were last. Syril gave me
shit the whole time. When we finally got to us I got instructor Almon. He hit
me really fast, ripping my face mask off, turning my air off, then he tied my
hose in some knots but I got them untangled. Then he ripped my fin off and took
off my weight belt and then he got on top on me with his knees in the middle of
my tanks and I was face down on the bottom of the pool. I reached back and felt
nothing except a solid ball of rubber. I ditched my tanks and I tried to untie
the hoses but they wouldn’t budge. I turned the air off and tried to take off
the manifold and let the air free flow. I couldn’t turn the wingnut but it
still wouldn’t budge. Then everything started getting darker like turning the
intensity down on a television set. I decided that I needed to go to the surface.
I went down to blow and go. I let my air out but all of a sudden I sucked in
and my lungs filed up with water and the next thing I know I was on the
surface.
I said “I feel
fine” Instructor Shelton had a hold of me and I said “I feel fine” and he said
”Ya sure you do, get over here” and he drug me over to the edge of the pool. I
took off my tanks and got out of the pool and Doc Gibner sat next to me on the
bleachers and I asked “What happened?” He said “You don’t know, you had a
shallow water black out. You face was purple as a grape” Then he put the
stethoscope to my chest and said “Take a deep breather” I breathed in and all
of a sudden water came out of my mouth and nose like it was coming out of the
bathtub faucet. I had to get debriefed by instructor Almon and he said “You
were really calm, you just held your breath to long, go do it again”.
I got all jocked
up and while I was waiting to do it again Chief Bixler came up to me and said
“What happened Master Training Specialist?” I told him “I held my breath to
long” He said “I saw, you had a shallow water blackout” He stood me up by the
edge of the pool and instructor Gnesda was waiting for me and he asked “Is he a
panicker?” and the instructor holding onto me said “No he went for the
blackout” Instructor Gnesda said “Hooya, let’s get this done?” I jumped in the
pool and he hit me fast, ripping my regulator out of my mouth, tangling up my
hose a couple of times but I cleared it and then he ripped the hose part and I
grabbed the end which was free flowing and drinking half of the pool while
trying to get some air. Then he pulled it away from me and tied it in an
overhand knot and I knew I couldn’t get that undone so I ditched my tanks and
went to the surface. Instructor Gnesda said “Okay you passed” I said “Thank
you” he replied “Get the fuck out of here”.
That was the last
difficult revolution next to the 14 mile run but I knew I wasn’t going to have
a problem with that. It was a Saturday and we ran to I.B. pier. Then afterwards
Syril and I ate at a Chinese buffet. I started getting the chills. They called
the OOD instructor Willard. He was really concerned about me and had the watch
Al Clark give me a ride to North Island medical and they took forever. Then my
chills went away I got a really high fever. Then they finally gave me some
medicine and Al took me back to BUD/s and the next morning I was good to go.
Syril and I
finished up dive phase and graduation day after all of the speeches Mr. Wilson
got up on the podium and said “Gents, in the infamous words of instructor
Franko ‘It’s not over until the fat lady sings” and this very large woman got
up and sand Amazing Grace. We almost all fell out of our chairs. We were
secured and had to parade past the instructors and salute them. Instructor
Estes said “You finally made it Lowing” Then I went to the ceremonial bell and
rang it so hard, I was trying to break it.
Looking back on
these experiences the differences boil down to being prepared. I got myself
both mentally and physically prepared but I also had a solid power base with
Mike McDonald, Syril Galindo and the attitude of the instructors toward me
after seeing my performance in the class. The outward positive appearance even
though a façade until Wednesday of Hell Week when I actually convinced myself.
All though I didn’t know the Lord at that time, this is a testimony that we can
change once we put in the effort and with the right influences.
