Physical Isolation at Naval Officer Candidate School

[Hellishfish]

Hello reader. I'm writing this post on a crappy computer inside Nimitz Hall of OCS. It is the location where indoctrination candidates like myself reside for the first nine odd weeks of the officer commissioning process for the US navy. My company mates and I are constantly bombarded by drill instructors, RDC's, and our own psyche. This program morphs us into military officers by taking away every basic freedom and replacing any discrepancy from the plan with "remedial physical training". Even down to how we eat our meals is a closely followed procedure. I'm writing this post because I am struggling with the physical isolation. You see, there is a girl I like in my company. I am aromantic, but I'm also allosexual, so I enjoy being physically close to people. It's the only part of the relationship I really have left to enjoy considering the emotional side is less than present. But holding her hand, hugging her, anything beyond adjusting her uniform is strictly forbidden of course. 

 

This program isn't terribly long, it'll take about 16 weeks or so for me, so I know I can cope with this physical void until then. But do ya'll have any suggestions that might help? Should I try cuddling my pillow? Losing myself in independent exercise? Breathing techniques? I'm curious to hear other peoples stories regarding physical isolation.

[roboticanary]

My main experience of physical isolation was living single during a large part of the pandemic lockdown.

Unfortunately my experience was made a lot easier by the fact that I was so completely isolated that I didn't really have people nearby I wanted to get close to. That situation of being able to be near someone but not enough sounds a lot tougher to deal with.