Page 84 - The Jazzsipper Novel

83

THE JAZZ SIPPER

All the defense has is a possible scenario that they have to prepare to defend
against. Uncle Frank said it was the precision of execution and the speed of
it that really matters, during the rest of the game and even afterwards, Vance
always looked at offense and defense differently, it kind of brought to the light
what Ben had told him years ago. Speed always won in the matter of
defending yourself.

Once the plane landed they were in the Wendy City, Chicago Illinois. The
Recruit Training Command was located at Naval Station Great Lakes in North
Chicago, Illinois in Lake County. Vance noticed that processing to boot camp
had strong similarities as processing into jail; everybody was sizing up the
situation as they were being processed. It was around 2:00 am in the morning
when Vance finally was able to get into his assigned bed to go to sleep. And
two and a half hours later they were being instructed to wake up and get ready
for breakfast.

A lot of guys were in shock, but not Vance, he knew that levels of
aggression and intimidation were part of boot camp. Vance understood that
the process of making them into military personal required a conditioning in
which they were encouraged to lose their individuality for the good of the unit.
Uncle Frank and Mr. Ramous had broken it all down to him. This conditioning
was essential for military function, because combat required people to endure
stress and perform actions, which are not present in normal life unless you
were an urban youth. Uniforms were issued and recruits typically got their hair
cut or shaved, in order to meet grooming standards and make their
appearance as uniform as possible. The haircut was one method intended to
increase cohesion. Recruits were generally given a service number. A