Within the first 24 hours of the recruits' arrival to Recruit Training Command (RTC), Great Lakes, they already begin transforming from civilians into Sailors as they endure a long night, homesickness, frustration and confusion while striving to follow basic orders from the moment they board the bus enroute to the base.

Each year, approximately 39,000 recruits arrive for eight weeks of training at the Navy's only boot camp. Many do not realize the amount of in-processing work they will complete during their first night and day.

What exactly do the recruits endure during their first night and day of boot camp?

The first group of new recruits is met by RTC staff in the USO Center at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. After baggage claim, they are led to an area where they board buses for their 45-minute trip to RTC's Golden Thirteen building to begin in-processing procedures.

Recruits will travel from all parts of the United States throughout the evening to begin a long night of checking in to boot camp.

Among the 50 people on the first trip to RTC were two new recruits eager to begin the process: Seaman Recruit (SR) Jasmine Murphy, 29, from Hawaii, already exhausted from her long trip, and SR Brandon Clark, 30, from Detroit.

Murphy first thought of joining the Navy five years ago but only began looking seriously into it about a year and half ago when employment was difficult to find.

"Since my kids are a bit older, and in school, I decided that this would be an ideal time if I decided to join," said Murphy. "I made up my mind on the 4th of July. Less than a week later I went to the recruiter's office."

Murphy talked long about the process with her husband and decided to make it work. She feels that the next two months of boot camp will be hard.

"At this point, starting boot camp, it does feel like the end of the world," said Murphy. "My husband and I have not been apart in the 14 years we have been together, and I have never been away from my kids for long periods of time."

For Clark, the decision to join the U.S. Navy was a lot easier.

"I was sitting at home just after being laid off from work," said Clark. "I thought to myself that I can work for another factory or I can go and do something exciting. I thought to myself 'What can I do that is different than what I'm doing now.' That is when I decided that I was going to join the Navy."

Within a few hours after Clark decided to join the Navy, he said he went to the recruiting office to enlist.

"I had a cool recruiter. What impressed me the most was that he was very straightforward and told me what was going to happen once I entered the Navy," said Clark. "I like honesty as a characteristic and that played a major factor when I joined. From what he told me, there is nothing I'm worried about in boot camp."

Clark also joined the Navy for the benefit of his 2-year-old son.

"He's still so young and I'm not missing anything major in his life as he hasn't started school, but his college education will be paid for from what I'm doing," said Clark. "My number one priority is to be able to leave something for my child. He'll be taken care of."

During the bus ride to RTC, two videos were played to an attentive audience. One was of RTC's commanding officer, Capt. Doug Pfeifle, conveying the intolerance for racism, sexual harassment, substance abuse, fraternization, hazing and recruit-to-recruit contact along with explaining the Navy core values of honor, courage and commitment. The second video demonstrated the different hairstyles the women may have that are within Navy standards.

Arriving at the front gate, stopping at the guard shack, the bus became silent, signifying that the recruiting process, time spent in the Delayed Entry Program, and initial processing at their Military Entrance Processing Stations has culminated to a point of finality and the critical stage in their journey.

Finally arriving at the Golden Thirteen, the doors open and the new recruits exit and enter the building in a single-file line. Once the bus is empty, the bus's doors close and it exits the base for another trip to fetch more recruits at the airport.

Recruits entering the in-processing building pass their records to one of 12 staff members who guides them through the events that will last all night. As records are handed over, they are formed in two equal lines on opposite sides of a hallway, facing each other.

Recruits are instructed to place any carried item beside them and are given instructions on how to stand at attention. Staff members then review the different types of uniforms and collar devices and how to properly address those service members.

"We do not know how long their delayed entry program was and what they did during that time. So, when we tell them that the bathroom is now the head, we understand that comprehension may take a second or two, so we try and stay patient," said Chief Gunner's Mate Michelle Hilton-Gore, a staff member for the night of arrival. "We do realize that we are communicating with different people from all over the world coming here. When we try and tell them to do something and they do not understand, we have to take a step back and reword it so they can understand what you are asking them to do."

After the initial brief, staff members asks for the recruits with cell phones to pull them out to make a phone call home. They are told they can make a two-minute phone call and are asked to share their phone with those who did not bring one.

Recruits are instructed there are four pieces of information they are to relay during the phone call: they arrived safely; they will be able to make another phone call in approximately three weeks; they will be sending out a box with personal belongings; and a letter will arrive shortly containing their address and graduation information.

"The phone call was hard; I got emotional," said Murphy. "I'll be okay. My husband and the kids had me on speaker phone. It was hard because I can only tell them four things and then I had to hang up. But, I did bring my own stamps so I'll be writing a lot."

Following the phone call, the group of recruits line up to receive their size of shoes. Each recruit is fitted for their physical fitness shoes by stepping on a pad that scans their feet and finds the shoe that best matches the shape of their feet. Once that is complete, they are led into a different room where they take a urinalysis test.

Next up, the recruits are brought into ditty bag issue where they will receive the essentials for the beginning of boot camp: undergarments, shorts, t-shirts, sweat suit, socks and toiletries.

Recruits line up (males and females in separate rooms) in front of boxes on tables stretching from one end of the room to the other. They place all their civilian clothes in their box along with items not authorized for recruits to keep while in boot camp. The boxes are sealed, addressed by the recruit and shipped.

The Navy Exchange staff is present during this process to assist in getting the right-sized items to each recruit.

"My main priority is to help the recruits any way I can," said Vicente Moreno, a sales clerk for the Naval Exchange. "I know that sometimes the recruits will not speak up, so I ask them how their clothes and shoes fit. They come in here with a lot of information being thrown at them so they are sort of freaking out. I just tell them to relax; everything is going to be okay."

Now all dressed in the same clothing and looking more like service members, the first part of the first full day of boot camp is almost complete.

"After ditty, we'll get their height and weight taken," said Chief Boatswain's Mate May Kempis, a staff member for the night of arrival. "If they are overweight, we have to take measurements to get the body fat percentage. Following that, we form them up in the passageway until there are enough recruits to be assigned a division."

The time it takes to process recruits from arrival to when they form up in a division could last into early morning, nearly 12 hours depending on the number of recruits checking in to boot camp in an evening. Staff members are there every step of the way to guide them through the process.

"We play a very important role; we are their first impression. It helps a lot if they have a positive experience during in-processing and take that attitude with them as they start their training. We try our best to give them a positive experience," said Kempis. "We also have to understand that they are tired. We do not know how long they have been up already when they get here. At this hour they are not really alert so we try our best to get the information and instruction across."

Murphy was chosen to be in a performing division for her ability to play an instrument.

"I didn't know what to expect before I got here. I had no idea I was not going to sleep until tomorrow night. I got to keep telling myself to keep going; I'm going to make it through this," said Murphy. "All in all though, it is not as bad as I thought it would be. I am happy; at times I was getting frustrated, mad and I had doubts that I can do this. But, I keep telling myself that there is a reason I'm doing this - I'm doing it for my kids."

As part of one of the final divisions that formed up, Clark was still in good spirits.

"I am tired; I'm tired from anticipation. I'm ready to get into what we are going to do. I figured I was going to be up for more than 24 hours. I guess you have to make sure all your "i's" are dotted and "t's" are crossed," said Clark. "I'm not going to get mad over the process because once it is over, it is over. I think at the beginning the staff is not trying to be so harsh, but, I think that might change over time."

Once they're assigned a division, recruits are brought to their temporary compartments in the USS Pearl Harbor where they will be housed for their five in-processing days before moving into their permanent barracks, or "ships," as they are referred to at RTC.

While they may already appear to be tired, hungry and somewhat confused, they continue following the never-ending orders from their RDCs while aware they will still be kept awake for at least another 10 hours.

"The reasons we keep them up all night is it comes down to efficiency and getting them processed as quickly as possible. Based on the length of the entire process, if we gave them eight-hour increments, that would be an extra three or so days they would be here," said Lt. j.g. James Kilpatrick, in-processing division officer, RTC.

It's 7 a.m. and chowtime for the recruits as they dine in the galley for their first hot meal in training. They have 12 minutes to finish their meal from the time the last recruit sits down, and there is no talking as they eat in a nervous silence.

"I'll definitely stay healthy with fruits and vegetables because I don't know what they're going to throw at me during training and eating anything heavy will slow me down," said Clark.

Next up for the recruits comes the defining moment the majority of them have dreaded: haircuts. All males must have their heads shaved to 1/8th inch.

As of January, female recruits no longer are required to have their hair cut. Previously, RTC required all females with long hair to cut it to the lower edge of the uniform collar. Now, female Sailors will have the ability to choose any hairstyle that meets uniform regulations and are taught how to properly wear their hair in a bun. Females requesting a haircut may still receive one.

The recruits stand in line, heal-to-toe, shoulder-to-shoulder and wait to be ushered into a small room where six barbers work swiftly to shave all their heads.

As Clark emerges from the barber, rubbing his practically bare scalp, he still appears alert and focused.

"It's not that hard and I understand the tactic of them trying to see how strong we really can be when we function with 48 hours of no sleep. You see how good you can be under pressure because you're really getting tested to the limit," said Clark. "They're making us learn how to eat, rush, move and still try to comprehend and be 100 percent. This is real. During war time there's no such thing as rest or breaks -you got to get down to business. So if you have to be somewhere, you have to be up and focused, and you have to be there for your fellow brother and the man standing next to you. You have to be just as strong or stronger to hold them up."

Following haircuts, the recruits are then marched to a large classroom where they will now face the "Moment of Truth" which is the last quality control check for Navy Recruiting Command (NRC).

"We make sure that everything the recruits have said was true throughout their recruiting process, so we check to make sure they are morally, physically and mentally qualified," said Master Chief Walter Evans, inspector general staff, NRC. "We go through a series of questions of medical, police, drugs, sexual harassment and sexual assault to make sure that everything in their record is true."

During the hour-long briefing, recruits are given the opportunity to stand up if they believe there is something they need to address. For many, they want to be sure something they have stated previously has been annotated in their records - which can be anything from minor traffic violations to medical issues.

For this group of 347 recruits, 24 stood to speak up and were brought back to the offices for further investigation or documentation. In some of the more serious cases, they wait for the determination if they are going to be discharged or not.

Once the briefing is complete, the recruits return to their barracks where the remainder of the day gets much less stressful as it will consist of stenciling and stamping their belongings, dinner, hygiene and then finally, sleep.

Back to the barracks, the RDCs begin sizing up the recruits and discuss which recruits will do well in leadership roles in their divisions. Some recruits will emerge as instant leaders while others remain in the background.

"Since they haven't slept in such a long time, there's a lot of confusion but some of them are already trying to impress us and some of them are just lost," said Senior Chief Aviation Structural Mechanic Kennith Snider, a recruit division commander (RDC) for Clark's division. Each division has three RDCs that will lead them through the duration of their training.

Two of the first leadership positions to be filled are recruit chief petty officer (RCPO) and yeoman. The RCPO is the primary recruit assistant to the RDCs, while the yeoman assists the RDCs with daily administration paperwork.

How the RDCs determine who their potential leaders may be at this early stage of training varies from one to the next.

"I'm observing them right away to see who's following instructions, who's paying attention, who can do the simple tasks. I'll spot the recruits that are going to be a difficulty throughout training because they cannot follow even the simplest of instructions," said Gas Turbine System Technician (Mechanical) 1st Class Ian Wedderburn, an RDC. "I'll also spot, within first 48-72 hours, who my RCPO will be - someone who's going to try to step up and take the leadership role and trying to help others."

While some may choose the tallest recruits for their more demanding presence, Snider does just the opposite.
He finds the least intimidating, most unassuming individual because people don't expect them to be a leader.

"It works out every time for me because I motivate them, train them, and instill in them that regardless of your size, you can still be a leader," said Snider. "For some of them, it's giving them the opportunity because they might have always been the smallest person in school and were never chosen."

For his yeoman, Snider will look at the records for their educational backgrounds.

"If they can manage an education in real life experiences, then they'll be able to multitask here. They'll be able to focus on the administration aspect and what the recruit has to learn in order to graduate," said Snider.

Meanwhile, the recruits are scrambling to quickly get their racks in order. For Murphy, the effects of little sleep since she left Hawaii on Saturday are beginning to take their toll on her emotionally.

"No one told me I wouldn't get any sleep for two days. I understand why they are doing it, but it's difficult to focus from being so tired - I've been up 36 hours now," said Murphy.

Fortunately, the recruits are able to relax for a while as they are taught proper recruit handwriting which is vital to learning as a division will receive a negative mark or "hit" during inspections.

Next up, the recruits must stencil and stamp all their belongings. Though the tasks seem simple, the process takes longer as many are finding it more and more difficult to be alert.

"The worse thing to do is to not pay attention and make us repeat ourselves." said Allen, as recruits try to follow the instructions.

At 3 p.m. the divisions have completed the stenciling and stamping. For Murphy, she found the stenciling process therapeutic as it helped to calm her nerves and keep her focused and her mind off sleep.

"This lack of sleep really caught me off guard but it's not as bad as I thought it would be," said Murphy. "I also know that there's a purpose as to why they're doing it. I've been through such a roller coaster of emotions, 'I don't want to be here, I don't want to do this, I'm tired of this, I want to go home,' but then I remember that it's worth it. I constantly have to remind myself that it's only two months."

For the remainder of the day the recruits continue making more acquaintances, and many already have been working together as a team as they assist one another in organizing their gear and racks.

By 5 p.m. they're heading back to the galley for dinner followed by a little bit of down time and hygiene routine before finally get much-needed sleep when it's lights out at 8 p.m. They'll get nine hours of sleep before arising at 5 a.m.

"They will get more accustomed to training as time goes on. We keep them up to add pressure right away. A lack of sleep is probably the least stressful thing these recruits will have to go through," said Master Chief Navy Counselor Walter Evans, inspector general staff.

As her day begins to wind down, Murphy reflects on the past few days that found her struggling at times to stay focused. She reminds herself of why she is here.

"I keep telling myself, 'I won't have this if I don't do this,'" said Murphy, referring to financial security and greater opportunities for her family. "I'm going to be playing flute in the recruit band so basically, I'm also getting paid to do what I love!"

The drill hall staff already screened the recruits to find those who had been in a marching band, sung in a choir, played an instrument or perhaps had been on a drill team. In addition to their regular training, the special performance divisions also practice and rehearse for performing at graduation ceremonies.

Whereas only a day earlier they were still in their civilian clothing, sharing final conversations and laughter with loved ones, heads full of hair, alert, anxious and excited, they are now United States Navy recruits, asleep in their barracks, wearing the same uniforms, and practically bald.

For many, excitement has grown exponentially as anxiousness is replaced with relief after having made it through the day they envisioned since first enlisting. Fears are conquered and new confidence is born for some while others continue to struggle with the trying process and their decision.

For Clark, his first 24 hours of boot camp met his expectations and he appeared undaunted by the entire process thus far. After observing many recruits struggling to complete each task at hand, Clark offers some first-day wisdom, including learning how to stay up 48 hours with no sleep, to incoming recruits.

"You have to come in expecting the unexpected but understand you must listen more than talk. The RDCs are not here to hurt you, they're here to help you and a lot of younger guys seem to take it personally. It's not personal, it's business," said Clark. "When you're young, you have to learn how to follow before you can learn how to lead because running your mouth isn't leading, it's being a kid. At the end of the day, when you graduate, they won't be your petty officer anymore; they'll be your brother."

For more news from Recruit Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/.