Classy...

One positively marvelous aspect of being an ET is how long everything takes.

Basic Training is going to be the same length of time for just about everybody. There are ways to make it longer, if you prefer, but the majority of recruits come through in about two months, and head off to either their respective A Schools, or the Fleet.

There are two programs that are actually longer than ET. Nuke's the biggie - they'll be in school for two years before they ever see the Fleet. Hospital Corpsmen are another world - they're on the same base with all the students learning different systems maintenance, but they're on the other side of the base, with different regulations about class, liberty, and just about anything else. Of course, these guys are also going through Boot Camp again in a short while. Yes, they have the cool job, but we're happy to let them have it - when they go through again, it's going to be the Marines version they're doing. Scary stuff.

My cousin and her husband met as Marine MPs. I fully look up to her for her career, and never had any intention of following her on it.

But, not only is the class time (both Apprentice Technical Training and A School) longer for ETs than for any of the other students on this side of the base - we also take longer to class up at all. Students arrive at their A School base, go through a week of classes on Indoctrination (in short, Hey, you have a new lifestyle - here's how to not wreck your career while you're adjusting to it), and then they're on hold for awhile. "On hold" means that you're not in class at all - not nights or days - but rather working for the ship. The average ET will be on their Indoc ship for three weeks, have a two or three month wait to class up to ATT, take about three months to get through ATT, be on hold for several more months until there are enough ETs to make up a full class, be in A School for about eight months or more, and then be on hold until a ship calls that they want another ET onboard.

That wait to get a ship is reputedly a lot longer if you're female, by the way. Not any kind of "women are bad" thing - more about the business of a 50:1 male-female ratio on a ship. There's far less space designated for what you'd call "female housing," because there are far fewer women, but it means that you have to wait until another girl gets out before you can get in.

So, I was rather astonished this morning. By a twist in events, I was the one taking muster for our floor. I noticed (I should be commended for this - I don't notice anything before 0600) that my name and several of my friends had been highlighted, and asked about this when I brought it down to the office. By the time I got there, it was about 0630. "Oh yeah," the yeoman responds. "You're classing up today."

"Say what now?"

This means that not only do we have a complete change of plans on an hour's notice (we need to be halfway across the base and in our classrooms by 0730), but a change of uniform is also in order. Nonetheless, we are all excited - we hadn't expected to class up for another six weeks at least.

New challenges! Progress! Excitement!!