Hey i was wondering if anyone here has had any experience being able to train while in the service. I am going into the navy in about 2 months and was wondering if I will be able to any kind of training while im enlisted. Im only 19 but am signed up for 6 yrs and it will be a bummer if I have to wait till I get out to start up. Thank you for any input.
Sigh You poor, poor man. First off, good on you for enlisting in a time of war. I'm currently Active Duty Air Force, an Iraqi War vet, and an extremely frustrated grappler. While you're in basic training, boot camp, whatever (not sure what the Navy calls it) you can forget about any training. You're just way too busy and every little ounce of your time is controlled by a drill sergeant. After boot camp when you're training for your specific job chances are you won't have any time to train either. You may be able to leave base to just go out, relax, and chill, but then again all services are different. When I was in tech school with the Air Force we could leave base to go out and do whatever (I GUESS you could train during that time) but we had curfews of course. The sailors who were stationed at the base for training couldn't leave in their civvies, they had to be in uniform. But regardless of how much liberty you're given, you've got to think, you're in training on the Navy's dime and they want to get you spun up so you can do the job you enlisted for. Your time should be devoted to that. Once you get to your first duty station, from there it all depends dude. It could be tricky in the Navy (especially if you end up on a ship or definitely on a sub) but it you get stationed at a Naval Station, it all depends on where you're at. For instance my first base was in Germany, and in like bum fuck no where Germany at that. There was no place to do any kind of training whatsoever-no place close at least. I was hours away from the bigger cities like Cologne, Munich, and Berlin, plus the language barrier didn't help much either. Now I'm stationed in Montana and its pretty much the exact same situation here. I drive 45 min one way through deer infested county roads to train with a purple belt that I just happened to meet. Our club only has about 5 regular people, counting me. It all depends on where you get stationed at man. It really does. Brazilian jiu-jitsu was an enormous part of my life before I enlisted (typically I trained six days a week) and in the 4 1/2 years I've been in guys that were the same rank as me before I enlisted are now brown belts. It sucks. It really, really sucks lol. I'm actually separating to go into the Reserves soon so I can go back to school, but a big, big reason I'm separating too is because I'll have a 4th degree black belt to train with once I get back home. Grappling is just such a big part of my life that I can't not to it. You may as well ask me to stop breathing. I'm not sure where all the Naval Stations are at, but if I were you I'd lean towards getting stationed in Japan (or Hawaii) for the Pacific Command, or if you go state side lean towards California, Texas, or Florida. That's the best advice I can give you buddy. With moving around to different bases (some literally in the middle of nowhere) deploying, doing TDYs on ships or subs, or going through all the constant training, it really is very, very difficult making any kind of progress as a grappler while being in the Service.
My dad was career Navy and I was in the Marines, I can tell you as long as you're not on a ship, you can train. Most jobs work in shifts(8-12 hours, depending on number of people in that same job at your duty station). And you get weekends off. Pray you're stationed in southern Cali. However, if you have a background in fighting, there's MMA within the military. My CO was Brian Stann(LHW Champ in WEC). He trained AND trained for combat. It can happen if you're good enough. The only crap is that he was an officer, so of course he'll do whatever he pleases. I had buddies that boxed, buddies that played football, and buddies that played basketball. MMA is a growing sport, and is gaining support from Armed Forces' leadership because it builds confidence, conditioning, and gives guys an outlet for their frustrations. Like I said, if your job is land-based, you can count on getting all kinds of time to train. Just explain to your command that you desire to train, I can't see them not letting you.
Thank you very much for your response. I feared as much. My job will most likely have me stationed on an Carrier. Im going in as Aircrewman and I will almost deffinetly be on a carrier. Oh well, I'll just see how it goes and hope for the best. Be bad ass if I could get stationed in Brazil and get some pure BJJ training, one can dream lol.
You enlisted for 6 years? What is your rate going to be? Tell me you didn't join on an open contract...
Haha, no kidding! My buddy signed an open contract with the Navy, wound up as a green-side Corpsman, did two tours to Iraq(II-III and III-IV) and one float(which I guess wasn't so bad, but still). Not to mention I'm out and he's still probably going to have to do one more pump. That would be 3 tours to the Shit and one float in 6 years. You think he's re-enlisting? Haha.
If you're on a carrier it will definitely have some form of gym (you're going to have to do PT, plus having a gym for people to work out is as much a part of morale as it is physical fitness) and maybe-if you're lucky-they will have some mats laying around. Then your problem becomes one of finding people to roll with/having quality instruction. You'd be surprised, but the way I made connections with other people in the military who did some form of grappling was through seeing some guy wearing some Tapout or Sprawl clothing in the gym and just saying "what's up". Maybe if the carrier has some mats you can get some kind of a club going on, who knows. I'm not saying to abandon all hope, but what I am saying is that it can be very, very difficult trying to learn any kind of grappling while in the service. Best of luck to you.
Well my pay grade right now is E-1, but if i bring in a couple buddies I could get it bumped up to E-3. Im not sure what you mean by an open contract but I don't think so seeing as I have a set amount of enlisted time and I already have a set job. Oh and the reason im enlisted for 6 is that my job requires at least 4 years of enlisted and 2 years of special training. And thank you again for the advice colonel, hopefully I meat some other like minded grappler's on my ship.
It all depends. I just got out of the Marine Corps. I was stationed in San Diego, which is prime location for BJJ, so I got to train a lot. I just got my blue belt.
A lot of it depends on where you're stationed. If you get stuck in Alaska or someplace, your opportunities are obviously going to be limited.
If you're stationed on a carrier it'll either be in SD, Washington or Virginia (maybe Japan if you're really unlucky). If you can see if you can go SD. You're schedule will be rough but you can train while you're in port. There's tons of active duty military training. Good luck in the Navy.
