At the enlistment center in Boston, MA there's a whole bunch of us there. Somewhere around 80 or so young men. Here we will get a physical, answer a bunch of questions, and sign a bunch of paperwork. A stack of forms that looks like it's a half inch high. They gave a short explanation of each form, encourage us to read it, which no one does, and then sign each one. Our minds are made up and so sign we do.I'm a little under the minimum weight for a 5 foot 9 inch man. The medical person said they would feed us lunch and for me to drink a LOT of water and they would re-weigh me before we are sworn in. At the re-weigh, my weight is a few tenths over the minimum.
Now we all stand up, raise our right hand, and repeat after me. "I do solemnly swear to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America etc." After being sworn in they aren't nice to us anymore. No surprise. Didn't think that they would be! "YOU GUYS WILL CLEAN THIS ROOM FROM TOP TO BOTTOM! That includes waxing and buffing the deck. It's a deck, not a floor. Those are bulkheads, not walls. GET BUSY!" For two hours we have 80 guys scurrying around trying to think of everything we can clean. After we are done, one of the uniformed Navy personnel comes out and pulls on a pair of white gloves and you realize he's going to find something. He goes straight to a window, wipes a finger along the top of it and the finger is dirty. We have to clean the whole room all over again two more times before we get it right. Actually they probably just ran out of time to hassle us because we were loaded on bus, driven to Logan International Airport and flown to Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago, IL for recruit training. They aren't nice to us when we get there either.
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