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Matt McClellan
Professor David R. DiSarro
ENG101
5 July 2014
The Start of My Life in the Military
I joined the military in July of 1995. It was a decision I made without any pressure from my
family or peers. It was a decision I knew I wanted, and I was ready for the opportunity to take the next
step in my life. First, I had to take a two and a half hour bus ride from my small hometown of only 4,000
people in rural Pennsylvania to the processing center in Buffalo, NY. It was early February when I went
to the processing center, and it was the first time I really truly did anything on my own away from home.
I had left home right after high school to work road construction in North Carolina, but I went with my
good friend and one of my cousins. We all went to work for my uncle Dave, on a pipe crew at the job
site of a highway development company. The military was the first adventure I took all on my own. I
had the chance to meet many new people at the processing center. The entire process took only four
hours from start to finish. The physical took approximately an hour. I barely remember it. They put us
in a locker room and had us remove everything accept for our underwear. The room was very cold and
smelled like a locker room, but without the sweat. We had to get a normal physical, like one would in a
doctor’s office, and then we had to show we had full range of our joints. We had to rotate our arms in
circles, squat all the way down and stand back up. We had to do the duck walk, where you squat down
like you would sit on the floor, but stay on your feet, and then waddle across the floor using just your
feet like a duck. I am not sure what this showed the doctor that watched us. Maybe they just made us
do it, to see if we would do it. I’m not really sure. I passed my physical and signed what seemed like
1,000 forms. Then I entered a room and raised my hand with 15 other men, took the oath to serve my

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country and headed back home with my papers and a start date. On the walk back to the bus station I
came to the realization that Buffalo, NY. had to be the coldest city I have ever been in. The wind was
blowing so hard, I had to lean into it. I had no gloves, because I was from northern Pennsylvania, and
use to the cold. All I had was a jacket, blue jeans and boots on and I thought I would have frost bite
before I got to the bus station.
In July I was off to boot camp and had my first of many trips on an airplane. Instead of being
frightened, I was intrigued with how the machine worked. It was an awesome feeling the first time I
took off. It was in a small two engine, prop plane, and it accelerated much faster than I had expected. I
was pushed back into my seat as the engine revved, and then we lifted into the air. For just a split
second I felt weightless. During my stay in Buffalo at the processing center, I had to choose a rate. This
means I had to decide what I wanted to do when I made it to my final duty station. I was informed I
could choose any type of mechanical position I desired. I did not want to work on heavy equipment, so I
chose to be an aviation structural mechanic, thus the intrigue with my first flying encounter.
Once I made it to boot camp, I expected to experience the seen from Full Metal Jacket with R.
Lee Ermey, screaming in my face trying to break me down. In fact it was the complete opposite,
probably because I was not going into the Marines. The drill instructors did yell, but not directly in your
face and they were only yelling instructions on what we needed to do next. There were three tour
buses full of new recruits that evening. We were all confused and had no idea what was expected of us.
The first thing we did was get our hair cut off, then over to get all our new clothes. Any personal effects
we brought, with the exception of eyeglasses, were taken and disposed. The first few days of the first
week was a bit slow, because we had to wait for a enough people to make our division. There were
three or four tour buses of people getting dropped off every few days, it seemed. Once the division was
set, ninety-four men in total, training started. The basis of basic training was as simple as playing a

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game of “Simon Says”. If the drill instructor told you to perform a task, then you did exactly as he said.
This is where you learned attention to detail. If the task was not completed as specified, you would do it
all over again or do pushups and then restart the task. If you were not tasked with anything, all you had
to do was hang out and wait until you were asked again. The entire experience taught me to pay
attention to the details and how to follow instructions. These are two fundamental characteristics of all
military personnel. My bunk was in the middle of the barracks, and a man named Delroy Williams was
my rack mate. Delroy was a thin, Jamaican man, with a great sense of humor. I could not have asked
for a better guy to be paired up with. We did well enough, that we were always asked to help other out
once we were complete with our tasks. The beds were bunk beds, and the lockers were stack two high,
so your rack mate was just that. He was the other half of the locker and bunk bed. The two of us were
responsible for our bunk and our lockers. This was the first lesson in camaraderie. If you or your bunk
mate failed something you would both get punished together. This way you looked out for each other,
and double checked one another’s beds and lockers for any mistakes. If to many people failed an
inspection the entire division would get extra duty. This was the other lesson in camaraderie, where we
looked out for everyone else once our area was squared away.
In boot camp we took many different classes like firefighting and chemical warfare training. The
gas chamber was an interesting experience. They used pepper gas, and we had to stand in the room for
five minutes with the gas. You could feel it in your skin, as it started to get to you. It did not burn until
you itched your hands or arm, then it started to burn the irritated spot. When the instructor would get
to us, we had to remove the mask, count to twenty while taking deep breaths, then state our name and
rank. This was not as easy as it sounds. The first breath you take makes you start coughing. Once the
coughing starts, it is very difficult to speak. Plus, the longer you stand there trying to speak the more
pepper gas you inhale. Then your asked to step outside where all the snot, saliva and tears in your head
would start running out of every orifice on your face. Apparently if anyone drank milk for breakfast, that

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would come back up also. Our drill instructors warned us of this, but some folks did not listen, because
a few guys vomited shortly after exiting the chamber.
After basic training was complete, it was off to “A school.” This is where everyone learns the
essentials for the rate they chose during the initial entry processing. This school was very intensive,
mainly due to the length of time given to the instructor to teach years of training in just a few months.
We were in class from sun up to sun down. We would get three to four hours of homework every night
and be tested every few days. A lot of the same rules from boot camp applied in “A school,” accept
there was a bit more freedom as far as sleep, muster, showers, and meals. The schedules were given
and one was expected to be diligent about punctuality. It was best to show up on time or five minutes
early, unless you really wanted to have a bad day. Please do not take this for being late means you get
beaten down, more like you get extra duty. Meaning, after class and PT of course, you would get to stay
that night or maybe come in on Saturday morning and from 6 A.M. to 12 P.M. and strip and wax the
entire main hall of the training building. Sometimes you would get the opportunity of having and option
with the extra duty. You could clean floors for an entire morning, or spend an extra hour every day for
the rest of the week do PT with Staff Sargent Gary. Staff Sargent Gary was a very large, very strict
individual that did not take staying and extra hour after class with someone lightly. Unless you were in
great physical condition, or wanted to get in great physical condition, you would likely choose floor duty.
Every day after class we would go outside, rain or shine, and perform our physical training (PT).
Some days were harder than others depending on which drill instructor we had as a trainer that day in
class. If it was a Marine instructor we would run five miles after our normal PT, for a “cool down” from
the exercise.
My “A school” only lasted two months, while some others were two years. It went by relatively
fast, and upon completion, the graduating classes were given two weeks leave to visit family.

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It was Christmas when I was granted my two weeks leave, and when I had to return to duty, I
needed to go to San Diego, CA. for more training. It was an experience I will not forget, as I went from
northern Pennsylvania to southern California, and was not prepared for the temperature change. The
military seemed to take the cheap way out, so instead of having a direct flight to San Diego, I had five
connecting flights. What should have taken me six hours, took me twelve. I arrived in blue jeans and a
Carhartt jacket. People did not look at me like I was out of place, because it was winter there also at a
blistering 60 F, and everyone else had on parkas and heavy coats. For me just leaving -5 F, I felt like I
was melting.
My schooling there took two months, and then I was to report to my permanent duty station in
Norfolk, Va. This is where I would spend the rest of my career working on the Navy’s version of the
blackhawk helicopter known as the seahawk.
NOTES:

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-Joining the military
-Getting married
-The birth of my daughter
-The birth of my son.
Joining the military was a life changing experience. It was something I wanted to do, since I
volunteered, but It was scary at first while at the same time exciting.
When I volunteered to join the military it was obviously a choice I made on my own. The experience
was scary at first, but at the same time quite exciting. I remember missing my home a lot the first day as
the realism hit me that I could not go back until I completed my obligation to my country.