Bosuns

[LoganScott]

Hi, I'm new and interested in joining up as a Bosun, just waiting to get my transcript to prove I have however many credits I have, while I was waiting I had some questions I thought I'd ask. For one, I'm a little worried about getting in good enough shape for Basic, are there specific exercises or areas I should focus on, mostly I've just been doing benchpresses, squats and chunchs, mostly I'm a little worried about running because thats never been my strong suit in physical stuff, I'm more for lifting and throwing things and moving slowly.
I'm also curious about the Specialties for the Bosun, Forces.ca has afew interesting ones listed, I'm guessing "Command of Tender boats" means looking after the ZODIACs and such, but whats a Navigator's Yeoman, my history learning teaches me that a Yeoman is a trained peasent soldier in a medieval army, commonly associated with the longbow (which despite its value was never much of a knights weapon). I'm also interested in what specific skills are looked for in Demolitions (like most males I have a fascination with things that explode) and others. And I curious how much cross-training you can get, I doubt a Navigator's Yeoman (whatever he does) would find much use in Boarding Party training, on the other hand having the ZODIAC driver who drives the boarding party trained as such seems useful, as does bringing demolitions onto a possibly hostile ship.
Lastly I'm curious about how likely it is that after 40+ weeks of training I get onto an oceangoing ship as opposed to a warehouse or coastal defense ship, part of the reason I'm looking forward to Naval service is stopping off in different places (although not the main reason and I do understand that moast stops are only for a couple of days or less). I'm also curious about how getting a ship works, when a ship goes out for a couple months it goes back to port for a couple months right, can I then volunteer to serve on the next ship going out (I tend to be happiest when I sleep 4 hours a day and have something to do/feel useful).
Some of this stuff has been partially answered elsewhere but I didn't see anything directly, sorry if I missed it.

 

[navymich]

Alot of what you are asking has been answered before.  Try searching "boarding party", "BMQ", and also do a general read of the "Navy" sub-boards.

To answer a couple other questions/concerns that you have:

Lastly I'm curious about how likely it is that after 40+ weeks of training I get onto an oceangoing ship as opposed to a warehouse or coastal defense ship, part of the reason I'm looking forward to Naval service is stopping off in different places (although not the main reason and I do understand that moast stops are only for a couple of days or less). I'm also curious about how getting a ship works, when a ship goes out for a couple months it goes back to port for a couple months right, can I then volunteer to serve on the next ship going out (I tend to be happiest when I sleep 4 hours a day and have something to do/feel useful).

Typically, you are posted to a ship for a time period of 2-4 years.  Therefore, you will do all of your training and employment onboard that ship and not jump back and forth.  However, that being said, there could be times that another ship that is sailing is short bodies and you might join them for a particular trip or deployment.  But this isn't something you should concern yourself with at the moment.  It will all be figured out once you are done your required training.

As well, if you are going regular force, you will not be posted to an MCDV (you can search about these on the board too.  They are what you are referring to when you mentioned 'coastal defense ship').

...but whats a Navigator's Yeoman...

Maybe this definition will help you a bit more.  It is a bit of a combination of #1 and #2.  You are a servant to the Navigator and also doing clerical work.  A NavYeoman is the person who looks after anything regarding the ship's charts: updating them, amending them, ordering them, sorting them etc etc.  It is a separate course that you take after you are on ship.  It is not every bos'n that is given the course, as it is a secondary duty that is rotated throughout the department, and once again it will all be figured out once you have completed your required training and have been posted to a ship.


Welcome to army.ca.  A strong recommendation for you (before you get jumped upon by others on the site).  Read more (lots!) before you post.  Use the 'search' function.  And when you do post again, try to make it a bit clearer.  You will find that more people will read what you have written if you make it easier for them to read it, instead of what appears to be a whole jumble of words with lots of questions interspersed.

Good luck with your career.

 

[LoganScott]

Thanks, sorry for the lack of coherency (never my strong suit, conversations in reallife are even worse, I tend to ramble and jump topics and then go back to the original topic, as an example from Samurai to Romans to Knights to the Mafia back to Samurai). Hopefully that won't get me into too much trouble later on. Anyways, thanks, I'll look those up.

 

[JDnav]

4 things you should be doing a lot of for basic is squats, pushups, running, and hand grip. squats because theres a lot of running around with weight, and toughen the legs for ie. ruck marches. running cause your be doing 3-4 runs every morn at 510 PT, and for express test. pushups because your be doing them everyday and dont wanna be they guy always getting reemed to get his knees up, plus this is what people usually fail on the express test. grip just for express.

having more cardio will help you a lot more than stregth for basic. not very much stregth training at all, other than a few times to the gym.
hope that helped you a bit even tho you probably heard it before.

 

[LoganScott]

Thanks, already doing most of that but its reassuring having someone tell me I'm doing something right. Gotta go find one of those sqauzee grip things. Thanks again.

 

[Klinkaroo]

Also just a little of my two cents. Yes there is a good deal of PT in basic but not like the old days, there is alot of mental in it too. Just tough it out for the 13 weeks then you got yourself a beautiful job with a good pension and loads of benefits.

My trick when I went to bed I reminded myself, I just put another 100 dollars in the bank