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.....absolutely.....!! of course, I went to boot camp
many, many years ago, too... our recruit company lived in mortal fear of our Company Commander, a First Class Machinist's Mate....he made no bones about who was in charge, too.... in retrospect, it was a very valuable experience...hell, I'd do it all over again, except I'd probably stay on Active Duty.... in the Air Force, though....!!!

our recruit company lived in mortal fear of our Company Commander

My company commander had a real human skull sitting on his desk. He used it as a hat rack for his Ranger beret. I got a good look at it after my senior drill instructor brought me to his office so he could explain that my mom had just called to read him the riot act about us not having phone priveldges while we were in basic.

LOL, I felt about 3 inches tall as I followed my commanders orders to use the phone on his desk to call my mom and tell her she shouldn't call their anymore.

My Company Commander in Boot Camp was TM1 Mackelprang (Torpedoman's Mate First Class). He was a salty guy, to be sure. He had LOVE tatooed on the knuckles of one hand, and HATE tattooed on the knuckles of the other. One time, when he was tying his shoe, we saw a naked woman tatooed on his calf...old stuff now, but back then, a tattoo actually MEANT something. EVERYONE didn't look like the Starbucks guy (or girl) back then.

I also remember he was scrupulously fair, didn't want to be our buddy but wanted us to be good sailors, and was completely unapproachable on a personal level.

I remember him with nothing but respect, even though he DID kick me in the ass with the toe of his foot hard enough to hurt for several days, and at the same time hit my weapon while I had it at shoulder arms to make it whack the side of my head hard enough to see stars, just because the tip of my piece was moving a bit and must have stood out from all the rest. Ouch.