Megann Horstead
Content Producer
Men and women enlisted in the Navy are pushed mentally, physically and socially with the start of every boot camp.
All it takes is eight weeks. For some men and women, this feat can mean the difference between life and death, and choosing to rise above adversity.
Marching drills are run and drug tests are administered. For those entering BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training) “Hell Week,” an even greater challenge is posed where mental strength is tested over the course of seven sleepless nights.
Blood boils, sweat trickles and, at times, tears fall among these men and women.
For NCC student Bill Moers, 31, this was his reality.
In March 2004, Moers was one of about 80 men and women entering boot camp without knowing what to expect.
“Nobody really told us what it was going to be like,” Moers said. “You just assume because you’re not going into the Army that it’s going to be easy. As soon as you walk in, I had this four-and-a-half-foot tall woman screaming at me.”
There are a number of individuals who ultimately never complete the experience.
There is little room for outside communication at boot camp. Moers said there were only a few opportunities for phone calls. Others would write letters in hopes of receiving mail in return.
Moers recalls hearing stories about people failing drug tests during boot camp.
“People lose their minds when they first get there. A couple people I think purposefully smoke pot right before going so they’ll get sent home right away.”
“Initially I was so excited to leave because Spiro is a small town,” Moers said. “My attitude is that I’m not like a lot of other people, which I think is how probably most military people are, they’re not like a lot of people in that respect.”
He continued to explain why military professionals generally have a positive attitude toward leaving for the service.
“They [military professionals]don’t mind to leave, partly because, I don’t know… wanderlust. [Spiro was] so small that I recognized there was nothing for me there.”
Moers grew up in the small town of Spiro, Okla., an Indian burial ground.
After graduating from high school in 2001, he went to college in pursuit of a degree in business administration. Moers said he started a band around this time.
But of course, their music career took a turn when a member of the band went through a crisis and enlisted in the Navy. The group disbanded from there.
“Bands rely on multiple people not just your own will,” said Moers. “The singer went off to do something else. The guitar player had a mid-life crisis at that point at the age of 18.”
Moers attempted a search to replace the band’s members, but his desire to continue his music career was short-lived, too. Hearing about his friend’s intention to join the Navy, Moers says he needed a new challenge.
“I decided that if I’m going to give up on my dream and go be in the Navy, I want to do something hard, something I can at least say I’m proud of,” Moers said.
After surviving boot camp, Moers went to South Carolina for the Navy’s ‘A’ and power schools, as well as prototype training in March 2004.
A week before graduation from prototype training, he was told he would be sent to the Enterprise CVN-65, a cruise ship.
On his first cruise in 2006, he traveled to several places including Croatia, Crete, South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Dubai and Portugal.
On his second cruise a year later, he traveled back and forth between Dubai and Iraq as he worked to launch planes.
His initial attitude toward the service did not waver upon entry into power school.
Moers describes his attitude during the service as “wanderlust.” He was eager to start his new life’s path and have his own place.
He shared how learning new things was a struggle for him during his time in service.
“Getting to the ship and having to qualify for all my watch stations down inside the plant again,” Moers. “Because all the stuff you learn in power school and prototype [training], that’s just for that system. The basic concepts are kind of the same, but you have to kind of re-learn everything when you get to your ship.”
None of the ships currently running are carbon copies of each other. Each time one is built, it’s been ten years since the last one was built. They’ve come across and made improvements in design.
The ships during Moers’ time in service used hi-temp silver piping with a coating of paint warm enough to remove skin if touched. It was everywhere.
He said, at that time, he had to learn quickly about piping, valves and situational awareness.
“It’s so hot [that]it doesn’t necessarily feel like heat right away,” Moers said. “It’s just the sensation. You pull your hand away and there’s skin missing. It’s instantaneous. It’s that hot.”
In another instance, Moers said he was working in close proximities to a piece of red piping and it wasn’t flagged.
It was down beneath some deck plates. Something had fallen down in the bilge and Moers needed to climb down to get it. He removed the deck plates while another guy stood above Moers grabbed his belt just to make he sure he didn’t fall in. Moers reached down and grabbed this pipe and after pulling his arm up, his skin was burned.
“It wasn’t the hi-temp silver kind, so it didn’t take skin,” Moers said. “But imagine the sparklers for the fourth of July. Imagine grabbing one of those and…”
Along the way, he learned another lesson about thick skin.
Moers traveled for seven months at a time during each cruise. He recognized how tension would rise between the various divisions of the ship. Those on the ship could often be found arguing.
He attributed much of the tension to misinformation. Moers said there is a belief that those working in the reactor division are paid more, an idea he refuted.
The amount of free time also served as an area of contention aboard the ship. “Nukes,” those of the nuclear reactor division, like Bill Moers were required to be on 3-section duty so he would explain how it works.
Moers said those who are not part of the nuclear reactor division are not expected to be on 3-section duty, but will instead have what are considered normal work days.
But there were a number of times where camaraderie was evident during Moers’ time in the navy.
Approximately every 45-60 days, those working on-board were permitted to have Beer Days, which are mini-celebrations for all their time spent at sea.
There’s a cookout held on the flight deck and a band playing music.
Golf balls are sent flying off the ship. Meanwhile, tickets are distributed to ship members in exchange for opportunities to win prizes. Some used their tickets as way to make extra money.
Today, Moers is considered a Navy veteran. Since being honorably discharged in March 2010, Moers noted a few times where civilian life has surprised him.
“When you work from home, you start to kind of just observe other people and notice when people have their circles, it’s not that they’re unfriendly, but they’re not going out of their way to find new friends. They’re good,” Moers said.
“It made me wonder about myself back when I was in Spiro. It’s almost like a comfort zone you get into when you’re in a place you’ve pretty much grown up your whole life, and you’ve got the people that you normally talk to. And then everyone starts to fade into the background for a bit and I just found that interesting.”
For Moers, returning to college wasn’t as uncomfortable as he expected.
“I’m around people that, to an extent, we have a lot of the same interests. In the career that I was in before, everyone was 20-30 years older than me…for the most part none of the same interests I’ve got. It’s [attending North Central]actually been really pleasant. I haven’t felt totally out of place in the classroom.”
As Moer’s academic adviser, Associate Professor of Computer Science Judy Walters commented on Moer’s lack of worry in feeling out of place.
“He has a wonderful work ethic, good student,” Walters said. “He understands how to get help when necessary and is able to accomplish many things without much direction or guidance.”
Telecommunications and Computer Support Operations Manager David McCallough commented on how Moer’s work ethic has translate in the work setting at Internet Technology Services (ITS).
Although he misses his friends and parts of being in the military, Moers has a number of tattoos that signify that chapter of his life. He explained the meaning behind a number of his tattoos.
Moers has grown to enjoy his life at North Central as much as his life with the Navy, but he said he still feels “wanderlust.”
“If I didn’t have aspirations to go to Austin, I might be comfortable to stay here [in Naperville]. But I went to Austin, the first place I’ve been to that I felt like ‘I’d like to set-down roots here.’ Everywhere else you’ve ever lived, maybe because of the wanderlust thing, but it’s just felt like a place that I’m in for the night before I move onto somewhere else.”
He last visited Austin in January of 2013 when he attended a friend of his girlfriend’s wedding.
“It’s like the next Silicon Valley, so my people are there.”
