This sounds silly, but when I was in high school, I had a debilitating fear of going somewhere by myself that I’d never been before.
I realized I had this fear when I had to go to the next town over to take the SAT.
What if I couldn’t find the right building? What if there was no where nearby to park? What if I was late?! All these things, plus the fear of the test itself shattered my nerves.
This continued on when I joined the Navy. I had to leave my home, go to the next town over, catch a train to the next closest major metropolitan city, get off the train, walk to the federal building, and find the Military Entry Processing Station (MEPS) all by myself. Then, they took me to an Air Force Reserve base where they put me in a barracks room for the night. I had to get up on time by myself, find where the food was, eat, then get on a plane and a bus all the way to Recruit Training Command (RTC), in Great lakes, Illinois. I’d never left Pennsylvania by myself before all this.
After I got to boot camp, the fear all went away. Well, it was still there, but for a different reason. Recruit Division Commanders (RDCs) screaming at you for standing in the wrong spot, or looking anywhere other than straight forward was scary enough that I didn’t worry about having to to travel somewhere I’d never been before.
I continued to have the fear of going new places after boot camp as well. Getting on a bus, going to the airport, flying to Norfolk, VA for OS “A” school, waiting at the USO in the airport until enough people arrived to get a mini-van to take us to Virginia Beach, checking in with the duty officer, getting yelled at because I was punch-drunk after leaving boot camp and traveling all day will forever be burned into my memory. So will the feeling of taking my boots off and letting my feet touch carpeting for the first time in two months.
When I got to my first ship, things got a bit easier. I had to go to a school or the gun range or something like that and I asked where it was. The Gunner’s Mate gave me great directions on how to get there, and the day before I was supposed to be there, I drove over, found the place and found parking nearby just so I wouldn’t stress out about it. That seemed to cure me. Figuring out where I was supposed to be before I had to be there was key in relieving me from the stress of going somewhere new.
When we went on deployment, I was always with a buddy when we pulled into port. That was also a great reliever of stress. We were never allowed to be off on our own. We had to check out and check back in with a buddy. After that, I was cured. I never worried too much about getting back on time, it always just seemed to happen
Now, I go lots of places without the stress of what’s going to happen when I get there. It seems that my time in the military and repeatedly being subjected to my fear has cured me.
Eric’s Blog 
Leave a comment