Life Experiment #11: Practice Waking Up For Bootcamp

For many people, going to a military boot camp can be one of the first times in their life where their forced to wake-up early everyday.

If your body’s not used to waking up at this time, that adjustment period is going to be pretty rough.  Luckily, I have a little experience waking up early, so the transition should be easy.  I’m taking it one step further and conditioning myself to wake-up before my alarm goes off and immediately take action on my day.

From what I’ve read and seen on movies, most boot camps start with a playing of Reveille and the instructor yelling at recruits to get up immediately, get dressed and begin PT (Physical Training).  So, for the next month, I’ll attempt to wake-up on my own, practice what it’s like moving around half asleep and implement a morning exercise program…

Hypothesis

I predict that I’ll be more prepared in the morning when my Boot Camp training finally does come around, because I’ll have the benefit of being more alert and able to anticipate problems with this type of routine prior to actually having to do it for real.  One of the things I can already see with this type of schedule is investing more time in preparing the night before (i.e. setting out your clothes, organizing everything you need for the next day) is going to give me a better start in the morning.

I also think that if I’m more prepared, I’ll be able to help other recruits who may be struggling and might need an extra hand making their bed or finding their stuff.  Because ultimately, this training is about teamwork and despite how well I perform, I’m only as good as the weakness link in my division.  So here’s how I plan on building this routine.

Procedure

Waking Up Before The Alarm (Reveille) Goes Off

1. Drink plenty of water before bed. Drinking water is always helpful in waking the body to urinate, so I’ll be sure to have a nice glass of water right before bed.
2. Avoiding alcohol before bed. I enjoy my glass of red wine a couple of times a week right before sleeping, but as I’ve found out, alcohol can dramatically effect sleep quality so I’m giving up my nightly wine habit.  Plus, there’s no drinking during boot camp, so I might as well get used to it.
3. Sleep affirmations. – Setting the mental alarm clock is one of the keys to waking-up without an alarm.  I’ve noticed that when I’ve had something really important to wake-up for the next day and I was worried I’d over-sleep, that I would often wake-up before my alarm clock.  I think what I was doing was setting my internal clock several time.  So when I lay down to go to sleep, I’ll be repeating, “It’s 10PM now and I will wake-up at 5AM,” at least 10 times.
4. No snoozing. Sleeping past my alarm clock is no longer an option.  I’m going to think of my alarm clock as my drill instructor.  If I were to tell that person that I’d like to sleep an extra half hour, then surely I be in for some serious punishment.  The same goes for the alarm clock.  If it’s telling me it’s time to get up, then I have no other choice.

Boot Camp Training

In order to prepare myself for the hardship and disciplined natural of being in Boot Camp, I’ve attempted to condition myself to similar situations that I might encounter while there.

1. Immediately make my bed. This week I begin my learning all about how to make a bed in Navy Boot Camp.  This will be the first thing I do as soon as I wake-up.
2. Ensure everything in my apartment is in order. Dishes put away? Clothes off the floor?  I highly doubt that recruits would be allowed to start the day with their stuff all over the floor and disorganized, so I’ll be practicing organizing my stuff prior to starting my day.  I think this will teach me to ensure my things are stowed away the night before and ready to go the next day.
3. Begin exercising right away as quickly as possible. Just like an actual boot camp, I’ll be implementing my exercise routine first thing in the morning after my “rack” (name for a bunk bed in the Navy) is made.  This routine will train me physically for boot camp training.
4. Shower right away. I’m going to implementing “Navy Showers” in the morning using cold water.  I’m doing this because I’m trying to get used to not having all the comforts of home.  I think take a cold shower will also limit how long my shower is.
5. Give up my morning cup of coffee. No longer am I going to get to enjoy my leisurely coffee sipping while I read my morning email. I might as well remove this routine out of my schedule

What Boot Camp Is Like

Here’s some insightful videos of a sailor who went through Navy Boot Camp last year.  He mentions in the that you do in fact what to wake-up immediately and make your bed or even change the sheets.  Few things I wanted to point out.  In “Mentality In Bootcamp”, he mentions that you should be scared or try to avoid being yelled out which is a good point.  Learning to accept that the instructors are really out to get a reaction from you goes a long way in mentality preparing yourself for the experience.

Also, he mentions in “What to do before Bootcamp” how important the letter writing aspect of Boot Camp is.  Since there is no entertain or communications allowed (i.e. TV, internet, cable, phones, text messaging), recruits rely on letter from home to keep their spirits up.  I’m going bring as many addresses of people I know with me to ensure that I can write as many letters as possible while I’m there.  If you’ve just joined the Navy, I’d definitely check these videos out.

What can you do this morning to get yourself going?
How fast do you get ready in the mourning? Can it be be faster?

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Navy Bootcamp – Part 1


Navy Bootcamp – Part 2
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Navy Bootcamp – Part 3

Mentality in Bootcamp

What to do before leaving for Bootcamp

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