It Begins ... at the NOSC

The mob orders gave me over a month to prepare myself, my wife, and our year-and-a-half old son, not to mention stew over, my impending deployment. I got a Navy lawyer to prepare an appropriate Last Will and Testament and suitable Powers of Attorney for my wife.

I also had to complete no less than nine online instructional courses on various Navy educational websites. These included weapons familiarization (M9 pistol, M16 rifle) hot and cold weather injuries, Army values, code of conduct, antiterrorism force protection, etc., etc.

I flew my parents up from Los Angeles to visit with us a week before my report date. I took that same week off from my civilian job and hung around enjoying family life.

On 5 OCT I got in uniform and reported to NOSC Alameda, California -- about a twenty minute drive from my house -- for in-processing. Thus would begin a series of checks to ensure my personal, family, and fiduciary information was correct in the eyes of the Navy. I say a series because the same information is checked at each stop along the way, often requiring similar forms to be filled out. Although we have a unified mission, the paperwork remains proprietary it would seem.

I was given a large check list to present at various offices at the NOSC (admin, operations, medical, etc.) where lots of information was verified. Filled out some forms and was done by lunch time. I headed back home to enjoy my last weekend with my family.