Navy Boot Camp(Billy Sample) Everyone has that one person who came in to their life that they can never forget. The one person who, no matter how many years or even decades may pass, you remember everything about them, not just their name but how they looked, what they sounded like, what impact they had on you.

I, like you, have had several of those individuals in my mind but one stands above the others. Petty Officer 1st Class Wiley, my Navy Boot Camp Commander. Not because he inspired me or motivated me but because he was a genuine Son of a Bitch!

Petty Officer Wiley was about 5' 9", flaming red hair he kept in a flat top. He smoked non filter camel cigarettes and had forearms the size of tree trunks!

The first time our company of about 60 guys met him he walked into the barracks and introduced himself and told us that we would be his last company before he retired. He then informed us that to start out this journey we would all join him in a prayer. I remember thinking, awe this was nice! He then had us all drop to our knees and place our hands in the prayer position with our eyes facing toward the heavens. He then said "Repeat after me"

Dear God, we all repeated "Dear God"
Please forgive, "Please forgive"
Petty Officer Wiley, "Petty Officer Wiley"
For what he is about to do to our bodies, "For what he......" 'Say what?'

We then were put through a regiment of push ups, set ups, leg lifts, running in place until several guys collapsed and several others began to throw up!

Oh yes this was the beginning of a journey in to hell! Once a guy in the company raised his hand to request a meeting with the chaplain. Wiley had him drop to the ground and then yelled at him from above telling him that Holy Joe wasn't going to get him through this eight weeks and that he now has one God and that God is the Chief of Naval Operations and his new bible would be the Blue Jackets Manual!

Unfortunately for me Petty Officer Wiley learned my name early on when he was assigning positions in the company. He stepped out of his office and yelled "Sample" across the room. I remember the sinking feeling in my chest when he shouted my name. When I raised my hand identifying myself he ordered me into the office.

He told me he noticed I had a year of ROTC in college so he was assigning me to be a section leader. Good Lord, all I wanted to do was get through boot camp and get myself to a ship so I could see the world, now I had to worry about 6 other guys.

Turned out I didn't need to be concerned with that at all. During the first barracks inspection he fired me right in front of everyone telling me I couldn't even keep my own S**t together let alone a whole section. I felt like jumping the first bus back to Arkansas and calling this an experiment that was totally a mistake. By the time the inspection was over he fired every section leader! I learned later that this was a common thing just to show and scare the hell out of the company! It worked!

At the end of the eight weeks our company was awarded the Captains trophy for "Best Overall" performance. A trophy we certainly did not deserve, we were far from the best but the consensus was that it was because we were the last company Petty Officer 1st class Wiley would ever command.

I did get my S**t together and went on to serve 20 years in the Navy on 6 different ships. Over those years I was in charge of many divisions and in most cases they kept their S**t together also!

I would imagine that those non filter camels have by now caused Petty Officer Wiley to have no doubt left this world. And if by some chance he has made it to the pearly gates. I would like to give him one last salute after all these years. Yes that one finger is for you, Sir!

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