Navy Bootcamp: "Ricky, the NYC Vice Cop"

In my Navy bootcamp, they had a little game of calling jury-rigged solutions, "the ricky" method. A sock on your hand to clean underneath your bunk bed/"rack" was called a "Ricky Sweeper."

Now, before heading to bootcamp, remember to always question yourself every single day, as you lay down in your rack. Put a "Ricky, NYC Vice Cop" sock onto your right hand, which is controlled by your left, logical, linear side of your brain.

1. Did anything strange occur to me today, that was possibly on purpose? Did most of my head scalp skin peel off in huge patches, following that bootcamp vaccination that seemed suspicious? Could it be that my Prell shampoo bottle, left in the open bay should be locked up from these vicious people? Can I fit anything else into my tiny lockbox that they call a locker here?

2. Is it true, without a shadow of a doubt, that in the next-rack over from me, Jessica A. was actually  "sleep-walking," after she acted callously insensitive to you, pumped you for personal information as you tried to sleep, after knowing you were going to be a radioman, then got into her uniform four times in a row, in a one hour span, to pretend to sleep-walk while you were on front watch/duty? And for the last three nights in a row that you had consecutive night watches, she actually did that?

What does the Ricky, the NYC Vice Cop (right hand sock puppet) think? He thinks these things. Repeat this silently to yourself, in your head:

-It's time to get up and study for that chemical fire-fighting test tomorrow. If I have the time to think about Jessica's drama, then I have the time to study. Remember, sleep can happen after bootcamp.

-I need to focus on nutrition that will hopefully not be called "shit on a shingle," or chipped beef tomorrow. This time, if they serve it, I better pretend it's pate. And so protein-rich, that Ricky, the NYC Vice Cop, sock hand puppet would loudly say, "Yum, I'm looking forward to this wonderful, Appalachian dish!"

-Remember that female "shipmate" that said, "I don't do toilets!" You're going to be the opposite here, and also try harder not to "walk like a girl any longer, because that's the second time they've said that to you."

***Later on, I remembered that Jessica A., was somehow approved by her recruiters, RDC's at bootcamp, and was going to become an aviation technician, just as my plane finally landed in Dulles/Washington D.C. from bootcamp.

Those fake "sleepwalking" incidences by Jessica A. occurred on, and around 9/11/95. Then, a layover commercial (civilian) airplane from bootcamp that I was on, going towards D.C. had to taxi the runway for three hours. The pilot said it turned out to be faulty brakes, which were getting fixed, not replaced.

Unfortunately, transferring all passengers to another, inspected, different airplane wasn't feasible. I arrived four hours later than originally planned at Dulles, Washington D.C., after turning 18 years-old, in bootcamp. I still think that the aviation trade bootcamp recruits need to be checked for any suspicious, gang-signaling, hazing, harassing behaviors on any 9/11 date, including ten years before 9/11/2001.***