Navy Tribe

You are standing at the position of attention. Your heels are locked, your eyes are caged forward, and your heart is hammering against your ribs. A Navy Recruit Division Commander (RDC) wearing a red rope steps mere inches from your face.

“Recruit, what is the 9th General Order of a Sentry?!”

In that exact moment, your brain will try to freeze. The adrenaline spiking through your bloodstream will attempt to wipe your short-term memory completely clean. If you hesitate, if you stutter, or if you guess incorrectly, you will immediately find yourself doing eight-count bodybuilders until the compartment windows fog up from your sweat.

The 11 General Orders of a Sentry form the foundational bedrock of United States Navy and Marine Corps watchstanding. You are required to know them with absolute, flawless precision before you graduate Boot Camp. Later, in the Fleet, you must recite them during your Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist (ESWS) boards and to the Officer of the Deck (OOD) when standing quarterdeck watches.

Reading the list fifty times in a row will not help you. Rote memorization fails under pressure. To survive the RDC’s interrogation, you must hardwire these orders into your brain using cognitive association, chunking, and kinesthetic recall.

If you are shipping out soon, stop panicking. Give yourself 48 hours. Here is the ultimate, step-by-step weekend protocol to memorize the 11 General Orders permanently so you can recall them flawlessly under extreme stress.

Why the 11 General Orders Matter (More Than Just Boot Camp)

Before you begin the memorization protocol, you must understand why the Navy forces you to learn these rules.

A military vessel is a multi-billion-dollar floating city filled with high explosives, nuclear reactors, and hundreds of sleeping Sailors. When you are assigned as a sentry, a rover, or a watchstander, you are the absolute first line of defense against fire, flooding, sabotage, and attack.

The General Orders are not just a hazing ritual; they are a universal operational checklist. They dictate exactly what you are authorized to do, who you report to, and how to react when chaos erupts. If you do not know your General Orders, you cannot be trusted to protect the ship or your shipmates. The RDCs scream at you because they are trying to simulate the stress of a real-world emergency. If you forget your orders because a Chief is yelling, you will definitely forget them when a compartment catches fire.

The Raw Text: The 11 General Orders of a Sentry

First, you must ensure you are studying the correct, verbatim text. The Navy grades on exact phrasing. Do not paraphrase.

1. Take charge of this post and all government property in view.
2. Walk my post in a military manner, keeping always on the alert, and observing everything that takes place within sight or hearing.
3. Report all violations of orders I am instructed to enforce.
4. Repeat all calls from posts more distant from the guard house than my own.
5. Quit my post only when properly relieved.
6. Receive, obey, and pass on to the sentry who relieves me all orders from the Commanding Officer, Command Duty Officer, Officer of the Deck, and Officers and Petty Officers of the Watch only.
7. Talk to no one except in the line of duty.
8. Give the alarm in case of fire or disorder.
9. Call the Officer of the Deck in any case not covered by instructions.
10. Salute all officers and all colors and standards not cased.
11. Be especially watchful at night, and during the time for challenging, to challenge all persons on or near my post, and to allow no one to pass without proper authority.

The “Weekend Warrior” Memorization Protocol

You cannot memorize eleven complex sentences simultaneously. The human brain can only hold about 4 to 7 pieces of new information in its working memory at one time. To bypass this limitation, we use a psychological technique called “chunking” paired with mnemonic associations.

Clear your schedule for Saturday and Sunday. Turn off your phone. Let’s get to work.

Step 1: Friday Night (The Association Hack)

The fastest way to memorize a numbered list is to create a visual or conceptual “hook” linking the specific number to the core action of the order. You are not going to memorize sentences tonight; you are only going to memorize the hooks.

Spend one hour on Friday night burning these 11 hooks into your brain:

• Order 1 (Take Charge): Think of being “#1.” The number one person in charge takes control. Hook: 1 = Take Charge.
• Order 2 (Walk my post): You have two legs, and you use two feet to walk. Hook: 2 = Two feet to Walk.
• Order 3 (Report violations): In baseball, “three strikes, you’re out!” You report the umpire’s violation. Hook: 3 = Three strikes/Report.
• Order 4 (Repeat all calls): Think of the four corners of the earth, echoing and repeating across vast distances. Hook: 4 = Four corners / Repeat distant calls.
• Order 5 (Quit my post): The standard civilian workday ends at 5:00 PM (quitting time). Hook: 5 = 5 O’clock Quitting time.
• Order 6 (Receive, obey, pass on): Picture a 6-man relay race where runners pass the baton to the next person. Hook: 6 = 6-man relay / Pass on.
• Order 7 (Talk to no one): Think of James Bond, Agent 007. He is a silent, secretive spy who talks to no one. Hook: 007 = Talk to no one.
• Order 8 (Give the alarm): Think of a Magic 8-Ball catching on fire, or the military term “Section 8” for disorder. Hook: 8 = Section 8 / Fire and Disorder.
• Order 9 (Call the OOD): What number do you dial in an emergency? 9-1-1. You call the boss. Hook: 9-1-1 = Call the OOD.
• Order 10 (Salute all officers): You have ten fingers. You use your right hand (five fingers kept rigidly together) to salute. Perfect 10. Hook: 10 = Ten fingers / Salute.
• Order 11 (Watchful at night): 11:00 PM is late at night. You must be watchful in the dark. Hook: 11 PM = Nighttime/Challenge.

Friday Night Goal: By the time you go to sleep on Friday, if someone says “Seven,” you should instantly reply “Talk to no one.” If they say “Five,” you reply “Quit my post.”

Step 2: Saturday Morning (Fleshing out the Chunks)

Now that you have the hooks, you will group the orders into three chunks and memorize the verbatim text.

Chunk 1: The Basics (Orders 1 – 4)

• Focus purely on the first four orders. Write them down on a blank piece of paper by hand. Kinesthetic learning (the physical act of writing) forces your brain to process the words slower than reading.
• Write Orders 1 through 4 five times in a row. Speak them out loud while you write them. Engaging your eyes, hands, and ears simultaneously creates deep neural pathways.

Chunk 2: The Relief and The Rules (Orders 5 – 8)

• Order 6 is usually the hardest for recruits to memorize because it is the longest and contains a specific chain of command: Commanding Officer, Command Duty Officer, Officer of the Deck, and Officers and Petty Officers of the Watch only.
• Create a sub-acronym for Order 6: CC-OO-P (CO, CDO, OOD, Officers, Petty Officers).
• Write Orders 5 through 8 five times in a row.

Chunk 3: Emergencies and Nighttime (Orders 9 – 11)

• Focus heavily on the cadence of Order 11. It has three distinct parts: Watchful at night -> Challenge all persons -> Allow no one to pass.
• Write Orders 9 through 11 five times in a row.

Step 3: Saturday Afternoon (The “Wipeout” Method)

You are now going to transition from passive review to active recall.

1. Write out all 11 General Orders perfectly on a whiteboard or a piece of paper.
2. Read the entire list aloud twice.
3. Now, erase or cross out one key word from every single sentence (e.g., cross out “government” in Order 1, “alert” in Order 2).
4. Read the list aloud again, forcing your brain to fill in the missing blanks from memory.
5. Cross out another word in every sentence. Read it again.
6. Continue this “wipeout” process until the board is completely blank, but you are still reading the entire list flawlessly from memory.

Step 4: Sunday (The Stress Test)

Memorizing the orders sitting comfortably on your couch with a cup of coffee is completely useless. You will not be comfortable in Boot Camp. You must introduce the element of stress to ensure the data is hardwired into your brain.

You need a partner for Sunday. Give the list to a family member, a friend, or your recruiter. Give them the following instructions:

• Randomization: They must not ask you for the orders in chronological sequence. They should jump from 9, to 3, to 7, to 1.
• The Boot Camp Delivery: In the Navy, you cannot just blurt out the answer. You must use the proper military reporting format. When your partner yells, “What is the 5th General Order?”, you must stand at attention and reply loudly: “Sir/Ma’am, the Fifth General Order of a Sentry is to quit my post only when properly relieved!”
• The Distraction Protocol: Have your partner try to distract you. Have them stand close to you, speak loudly, or interrupt you halfway through your sentence. If you lose your place or drop your military bearing (e.g., you smile, laugh, or use a filler word like “um” or “uh”), you fail. Do five push-ups to reset your brain and start again.

By Sunday evening, you will be able to rattle off the 6th General Order of a Sentry while someone is screaming in your ear. You have successfully vaccinated yourself against the panic of the RDC.

Common Traps to Avoid During Delivery

When recruits fail their general orders inspections at RTC Great Lakes, it is rarely because they completely forgot the words. They usually fail because they commit one of these three unforced errors:

1. The “Um” and “Uh” Trap

Filler words are the ultimate sign of a lack of confidence. In a high-stress military environment, confidence is everything. If you don’t know the answer immediately, do not look up at the ceiling and say, “Uhhhh, the third general order is…” Stand silently, lock your eyes forward, and pull the answer from your mental hooks. Silence is vastly superior to filler words.

2. Paraphrasing

Close enough is not good enough. If you say, “Take charge of this post and all Navy property in view,” you are wrong. The word is government property. Evaluators are listening for exact, verbatim repetition. If you miss a conjunction or substitute a synonym, you will be marked as a failure.

3. Forgetting the Sandwich Format

Military communication is heavily structured. You must “sandwich” your response with proper courtesies. Start with “Sir/Ma’am/Chief,” state the order clearly, and end your interaction precisely. If you trail off at the end of the sentence or shift your weight from foot to foot, you will lose points for military bearing, regardless of whether the words were correct.

Conclusion: Discipline Over Motivation

Motivation is what makes you want to join the Navy. Discipline is what gets you through Boot Camp.

Memorizing the 11 General Orders of a Sentry is not fun. It is tedious, frustrating, and exhausting. But it is your very first test of military discipline. It proves to your future chain of command that you can take a complex, rigid standard and force yourself to master it through sheer repetition and willpower.

Do not wait until you are sitting on the bus to Chicago to look at these rules. Execute this weekend memorization protocol, leverage the numerical hooks, and burn the text into your working memory. When that RDC steps into your face on training day one, you will look straight through them, take a deep breath, and deliver your orders flawlessly.

Take charge of your post. The Fleet is waiting.

Quick Answers to Common General Orders Questions

What happens if I forget a General Order in Navy Boot Camp? Forgetting a general order during an official RDC inspection (such as a Zone Inspection or an RDC Assessment) will result in a point deduction for your entire division, which can cost you the chance to win divisional flags. On an individual level, forgetting an order usually results in immediate IT (Instructional Training—i.e., push-ups, mountain climbers, or eight-count bodybuilders) until you remember it.

Are the Marine Corps 11 General Orders the same as the Navy’s? Yes. The United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps share the exact same 11 General Orders of a Sentry. If you learn them for the Navy, you are learning the identical text utilized by Marine recruits at Parris Island and San Diego.

How do I keep the orders memorized while waiting in the Delayed Entry Program (DEP)? Do not cram them once and never look at them again. Use the concept of “Spaced Repetition.” Once you have memorized them using the weekend protocol, recite the entire list out loud while you are driving your car or taking a shower every Tuesday and Thursday. Active recall twice a week will keep the neurological pathways fresh for months.