By Grace Leonardi & Abby Williams
Arrow
Utica HS<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Standing with his head held high and his right hand raised, senior Raymond Altmann watches as his lifelong dream unfolds in front of him. Joining the Navy has been his passion his entire life, and he\u2019s finally been sworn in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Waking up at 4a.m., Altmann started the journey that would shape what is to become the next chapter of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn the car ride there, I felt excitement to walk into a new, bigger doorway of my life.\u201d Altmann said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though the process of getting to this point seems like it could be a challenging and tedious one, Altmann was shocked at how easy it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs long as I can do sixty push-ups, sixty sit-ups, ten pull-ups and a 500 yard swim in ten minutes,\u201d Altmann said, \u201cI get a guaranteed spot at boot camp.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Altmann first contacted a recruiter two months ago, who asked him to come to the
recruiting station without hesitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI called the Navy recruiter to kick some butt,\u201d Altmann said, \u201cand they said, \u2018Okay, do you want to come down to the recruiting station?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A week after contacting the recruiter, Altmann was taken to MEPS, or the Military Entrance Processing Station in Troy, MI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnce I rang the bell at the station, they did a COVID screening and took me to fill out paperwork.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The paperwork took so long that Altmann felt cramps in his hand from signing so many papers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He shared that he had to mail in his birth certificate, social security card and drivers license to become official. \u201cI don\u2019t trust the mailman with that important of information,\u201d Altmann said, so he hand-delivered it.
After finishing with the paperwork, he was taken to a medical professional for a physical exam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnce I was at MEPS, I was taken to a doctor and they had to exam me,\u201d Altmann said. \u201cThey gave me this five- star hotel room, and I spent the night there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doctors at MEPS examine multiple things including hearing and vision, conduct blood draws and urine tests. After the examination, Altmann was taken to an office designated for the Navy branch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was talking to the guy there, and he just kept saying that if I lie I could go to jail,\u201d Altmann said. \u201cThen I had to get my fingerprints taken so that they could run back- ground checks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The process wouldn\u2019t have gone nearly as smooth if it weren\u2019t for the help of his recruiter. Recruiters put hard work and thought into choosing the best candidates for the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recruiters work to find recruits based on the needs of the Navy. There are many positions that need to be filled each year based on the people who leave or retire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Depending on the job, recruiters look for candidates who have those specific strengths to be successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, nuclear technicians need to have strong skills in math and science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are aptitude tests that are taken in conjunction with high school grades, from which recommendations are made for those jobs,\u201d Chief Petty Officer Darrel Brown said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Navy, each job is called a rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recruiters are looking for aptitude, not knowledge. The Navy, as well as all services, train recruits to do things their way.
\u201cA recruit goes to Navy Recruit Training Command Great Lakes in Chicago,\u201d Brown said, \u201cwhere they are taught the basic skills required to be a sailor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Navy has its own language and is filled with history and tradition. Sailors learn a base of the previously mentioned history and traditions as well as damage control, fire fighting, how to stand watches, maintain their uni- forms and most importantly how to be a member of a team. A critical skill in potentially life-or-death scenarios.
As Altmann prepares for his journey, he shared some information about some of the programs offered, for in- stance the nursing program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He explained how just eight weeks of Navy nursing training is equivalent to earning a two-year nursing degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ready to serve our country, Altmann shared how the Navy\u2019s learning process works and its intensity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou learn from the moment you wake up,\u201d Altmann said, \u201cto the moment you go to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Altmann completes his senior year, his teachers said they are excited for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRaymond is an amazing student,\u201d teacher Stacy Smale said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t be prouder of him for figuring out his career path, and what will make him happy. I\u2019ve known him for three years, and I\u2019ve seen first-hand how dedicated he is to the things he is passionate about. The Navy, and our country, is lucky to have him serving.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1st Place
Division 2, News Writing<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The personality profile captures the life, interests, accomplishments of well-known or interesting people, based on interviews from multiple sources. The subject(s) should have experiences, thoughts and accomplishments worth reporting. Anecdotes add to the personality profile. Submit a PDF of the print page(s) on which the story was published or the URL to the story on an online news site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Grace Leonardi & Abby Williams ArrowUtica HS Standing with his head held high and his right hand raised, senior Raymond Altmann watches as his lifelong dream unfolds in front of him. Joining the Navy has been his passion his entire life, and he\u2019s finally been sworn in. Waking up at 4a.m., Altmann started the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,63],"tags":[176,21],"class_list":["post-5078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-nw","category-personalityprofile-nw","tag-2020-21","tag-division2","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason Laplow","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=11"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-1jU","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5078\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}