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The A School story
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More from Other NewsJust as paper tests and labs involving hydraulic systems are used to gauge classroom progress, inspections and other drills measure the students' capacity to follow orders as if their futures depend on it. Which they could, given that most will likely be deployed in construction units as part of a war with Iraq.
Ventura County Star staff writer Tom Kiskens follows these students through their training to graduation.
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Bill Strickland has the jitters. It's the day before A School
graduation and the beginning of a segue that could land him and nine
other new Seabee mechanics in Spain, Japan and maybe post-war Iraq.
Labs and classrooms dedicated to fixing diesel engines will give way to
armed combat training and ultimately construction missions where bad
decisions could bring a penalty far more perilous than the red-faced
lectures and early curfews of the past 13 weeks.
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A School offers youth offender chance to
learn an occupation
Slide show: Women in A
School
The Few: Women become shipmates during A School
training
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The sailor's fingernails are long, tapered and unpainted.
Though her handshake suits someone who can tear apart a four-cylinder
engine, it can still stir surprise. Like on the first day of A School
at Naval Base Ventura County when one of her fellow students introduced
himself. "He said 'Wow, you shake hands like a man,' " Erika Sherman
remembered. "What was that supposed to mean? ... I shake hands like a
person. I'm not a female, I'm a shipmate."
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Slide show: Women in A
School
Seabees at A School expect next assignment to be war
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He could be in a war in a matter of weeks, but Justin Lachance
has this theory about worrying: "If you worry too much, you're not
going to focus on the job," said the 18-year-old Seabee, who will
complete a construction mechanics' apprenticeship school at Naval Base
Ventura County next week and expects soon after that to join a
battalion already in Kuwait.
Full story
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Papa Roach is rapping on a CD player in the Navy A School
barracks. A belt, clothes hanger and boots have been flung on a bed.
One hop away, a not-quite-yet-a-Seabee teeters on one foot, trying to
shove the other into a sock so thin it's almost translucent. In a very
few minutes, the 18-year-old student will be at an inspection placing
him so close to a commanding officer he'll be able to check for
cavities. If all goes as planned, his uniform will be immaculate, the
crease in his Navy blue jumper as exact as a stopwatch and the knot in
his sailor's neckerchief a work of art.
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Navy uses Captain's Mast to deal with
delinquencies
Slide show: Seabees in
training
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