The time for graduation is almost here. The last two weeks have been nothing but inspections, out processing and paperwork.
Some of the interesting highlights:
We have to get discharged from the Army before we become commissioned officers, so there will be a period of time where we are civilians between our discharge and new swearing in.
The student led inspections are not to bad if they keep their head. The cadre don't make them go crazy but sometimes the students will just to make sure that they get a good grade, even at the expense of their peers (or sometimes just so they are not seen as soft).
I got less sleep during the 'recovery' week where we were prepping for our inspections than I did during any week prior. 3-4 hours a night was normal, going to bed past midnight and since our platoon had CQ I would have duty at some point every night.
Oh and I finally got my branch. It took until week 11 and I was almost afraid I would be graduating without one (there are several who are still without a branch and will likely not have one for a week or so after graduation). It ended up being my first real choice: Engineer. Oddly enough we had quite a few engineers come out of our class. So the truth be told I have been spending much of my time online doing further research into the branch.
I called the branch manager for Lt's and today we all received the list of where we could go and were asked to put in our top 4-5 choices. There was nothing on the list on the east coast at all, in the end I put Hawaii, Germany, Washington (state), and Alaska....some of the ones I skipped on for choices were NM, KS, MO, LA. Now I am just waiting on orders to come down for which one and report dates etc...
I am not sure how many more posts I will get since this is wrapping up quickly. My next stop is BOLC II here at Ft. Benning, then off to Engineer Basic Officer Course at Ft. Leonard Wood MO for 14 weeks.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Recycles!!
Today we found out that there are 7 more people leaving our company. This is the largest batch of people getting recycled since our class formed up. They are all getting recycled for something that happened in the field, one from our platoon is because of land navigation while many others are because of leadership failures from the field. Almost all of them are being sent back to day 1, which means they will have to go through the whole course again....the other option though is to go back to the regular Army as enlisted. Two of those people are leaving all together, one because he does not want to start over, and the other because he was here since May (an injury prevented joining the first class I believe).
We have our big inspection comming up and rumors are (like normal) running rampart. The weapons (rifles and machine guns) must all be spotless, if one is bad everyone gets checked again. The rooms must likewise be spotless and all be uniform. The rumor is that there is no possible way to get everything passed in time for the weekend but we'll see.
Everyone seems worried more about the upcomming history test on Friday. That test can fail you out of the course and make you recycle...not passing an inspection is just a pain in the ass.
Speaking of which, time to buff some floors.
We have our big inspection comming up and rumors are (like normal) running rampart. The weapons (rifles and machine guns) must all be spotless, if one is bad everyone gets checked again. The rooms must likewise be spotless and all be uniform. The rumor is that there is no possible way to get everything passed in time for the weekend but we'll see.
Everyone seems worried more about the upcomming history test on Friday. That test can fail you out of the course and make you recycle...not passing an inspection is just a pain in the ass.
Speaking of which, time to buff some floors.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Downhill ride
We are now done with the field time. The only requirements between us and graduation are a couple of easy runs, a history test and a PT test.
Last week was more of the same stuff like the week before, however this time we did the exercises as a platoon. It was really neat to see a larger size unit manuver on the field and take objectives.
At the end of the field problem we had a 10 mile march back in.... It wasn't that bad, I got a bit of a blister on the ball of one foot but nothing that a day out of boots won't heal. Amazingly we lost no one on the march, unlike many of the others where we had one or more fall out and get picked up by the truck. This just goes to show that it's more a matter of heart, this march was tougher than any of the previous ones and it came after we had been running a lot for the previous three weeks but no one quit.
When we got back in we picked up several people that were recycled from other companies to ours. Tommrow we will likely lose a few that started with us to the next one ourselves.
The weekend was spent cleaning our rifles (hours of fun), and cleaning all the personal equipment we used. In addition we had a book report due that everyone had to get done since we did not have time to type it while we were out in the field. I had finished reading the book the previous weekend so it was a matter of just writing it. I ended up doing mine on Sharpening The Warrior's Edge which is a great book on the psychological aspects of survival training.
Today we started with a nice easy run (well easy for me, not for some others who stayed out drinking all weekend). We are scheduled to do bunches of running this week, so I'm looking forward to it. After the run we had to do peer evals. This is where we rank everyone in our platoon from 1-34 in order of how we think they perform. It's tough to do that but something I will have to get used to, we will get asked to rank our subordinates all the time so just have to get a thick skin and drive on. The afternoon was the start of the final block of American Military History, the last class lost quite a few that got sent to us because they failed the final history so I'm not taking any chances.
Our platoon had the CQ (charge of quarters) duty this week so that means I will be doing one hour shifts in the middle of the night every day this week. It will be good for studying and getting a few cleaning things done, but I will be tired this week.
It's great as not the end seems in sight. As long as people don't lose their minds and get lazy or try to get away with crazy stuff we all should just be able to cruise through till the end.
Last week was more of the same stuff like the week before, however this time we did the exercises as a platoon. It was really neat to see a larger size unit manuver on the field and take objectives.
At the end of the field problem we had a 10 mile march back in.... It wasn't that bad, I got a bit of a blister on the ball of one foot but nothing that a day out of boots won't heal. Amazingly we lost no one on the march, unlike many of the others where we had one or more fall out and get picked up by the truck. This just goes to show that it's more a matter of heart, this march was tougher than any of the previous ones and it came after we had been running a lot for the previous three weeks but no one quit.
When we got back in we picked up several people that were recycled from other companies to ours. Tommrow we will likely lose a few that started with us to the next one ourselves.
The weekend was spent cleaning our rifles (hours of fun), and cleaning all the personal equipment we used. In addition we had a book report due that everyone had to get done since we did not have time to type it while we were out in the field. I had finished reading the book the previous weekend so it was a matter of just writing it. I ended up doing mine on Sharpening The Warrior's Edge which is a great book on the psychological aspects of survival training.
Today we started with a nice easy run (well easy for me, not for some others who stayed out drinking all weekend). We are scheduled to do bunches of running this week, so I'm looking forward to it. After the run we had to do peer evals. This is where we rank everyone in our platoon from 1-34 in order of how we think they perform. It's tough to do that but something I will have to get used to, we will get asked to rank our subordinates all the time so just have to get a thick skin and drive on. The afternoon was the start of the final block of American Military History, the last class lost quite a few that got sent to us because they failed the final history so I'm not taking any chances.
Our platoon had the CQ (charge of quarters) duty this week so that means I will be doing one hour shifts in the middle of the night every day this week. It will be good for studying and getting a few cleaning things done, but I will be tired this week.
It's great as not the end seems in sight. As long as people don't lose their minds and get lazy or try to get away with crazy stuff we all should just be able to cruise through till the end.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Headed Back out.....
Well we got a little break this weekend. It was a 3 day weekend because of the Easter Holiday. So there was a little time to regather my thoughts and waste some time. My wife, son and father flew down for a quick dinner on Sunday, I wasn't expecting all of them so that was a plesent suprise to me. After dinner they had to jump back in the plane and fly back quickly but it was still nice to see all of them.
Last week we were doing "Squad Lanes" where we do squad level exercises. The mostly consisted of setting up and ambush or "react to contact" where we run up on the enemy and manuver around them for the superior position. These were evaulated leadership positions, there was one evaluation for the planning phase and one for the execution phase. There is more to the planning than first comes to mind, and that is in the briefing. The Army has a specific format for how the types of briefs are given, called the Operations Order. Failure to follow this specific format resulted in a quick no-go. I was lucky and got both of my evaluations on the first day and easily passed both with only minor negative comments.
This comming week we are doing more of the same except this time with a platoon, or 3 squads. Since these are much larger operations and we only will do 2-3 a day (as opposed to 6 for the squads) it is unlikely I will have more than one more evaulation since they will need the rest of the time for people who failed the first.
So far this week is not starting off well, no one noticed that the roster for duty ended at midnight so I get to pull an hour of duty an hour before wakeup....
I think I have been woken up every 45 minutes tonight because something has gone wrong and I'm only being a squad leader at this time. If the standard is "all jacked up" we have met that standard.
Last week we were doing "Squad Lanes" where we do squad level exercises. The mostly consisted of setting up and ambush or "react to contact" where we run up on the enemy and manuver around them for the superior position. These were evaulated leadership positions, there was one evaluation for the planning phase and one for the execution phase. There is more to the planning than first comes to mind, and that is in the briefing. The Army has a specific format for how the types of briefs are given, called the Operations Order. Failure to follow this specific format resulted in a quick no-go. I was lucky and got both of my evaluations on the first day and easily passed both with only minor negative comments.
This comming week we are doing more of the same except this time with a platoon, or 3 squads. Since these are much larger operations and we only will do 2-3 a day (as opposed to 6 for the squads) it is unlikely I will have more than one more evaulation since they will need the rest of the time for people who failed the first.
So far this week is not starting off well, no one noticed that the roster for duty ended at midnight so I get to pull an hour of duty an hour before wakeup....
I think I have been woken up every 45 minutes tonight because something has gone wrong and I'm only being a squad leader at this time. If the standard is "all jacked up" we have met that standard.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Back from the Field
Real quick update.
My leadership week went well.
There were no big problems except for one soldier who took someone to sick call and I did not inform the Trainers.
The history test on that Friday got quite a few people, about 25% failed and had to retest the next week. It was a bit difficult but with an hour or so of intense studying no one should have had a problem provided they payed attention in class.
The field week came up quickly.
On the first day we set everything up and had some quick classes on how to occupy the area where we were to bed down for the night....
Oh wait first we had a 7 mile ruck march. This was not as easy as the previous ones. The terrian was much more difficult, this time we were off the main roads all the time. We were on 'tank trails' and other heavily rutted roads. At first the load was quite heave but the Commander weighed some of the people and found out that the load was over 85lbs before carrying the weapon and ammo, so that got reduced by about 25lbs or so. We had a couple of people fall out of the march. I carried the 240b (M60 update for those of us who are a bit older) the last half and it wasn't too bad.
Land navigation was fun for me and that started first thing the next morning. Basically we are given a map, compass and grid cordinates for 8 points and told to find as many as we can. The area is a few square kms and the points are like road signs with numbers in the woods there. For me it wasn't a problem but many people had problems so we repeated the whole thing in the afternoon.
Tuesday we practiced night navigation by going out at 4am and finding several more points. The afternoon was classes on reacting to an ambush and other such infantry tactics.
Thursday was the real test, I was doing great having a nice relaxing time in the woods until I was headed to my last point and realized I no longer had my log sheet that I stamped at each point to prove I had found it. My heart dropped so I ran backtracking until I reached my last point and couldn't find it. I headed in just in case someone picked it up and turned it in for me but no such luck....time to get ready to go out the next morning. The afternoon was more classes like the previous day.
Friday morning I got up with the rest of the retestors (including the one canidate who got tree-ed by wild hogs the day before and had to be recscued) and headed back out for another round. I took my time at this point and stuck to trails and just relaxed and enjoyed it. I finished in plenty of time this go around and had a good morning. That afternoon we broke down camp and headed back to the rear.
Saturday we got a chance to replenish some of our supplies and eat pizza instead of MRE's.
Now it's Sunday and we're headed back out. This time we are doing 'lanes' where we put into practice most things that we have done on paper up until this point. At least now we will stay in tents instead of sleeping in dugin holes under the stars. It will be another week of long days and short nights. We will at least get a 3 day weekend for easter and then head back out for the final week.
My leadership week went well.
There were no big problems except for one soldier who took someone to sick call and I did not inform the Trainers.
The history test on that Friday got quite a few people, about 25% failed and had to retest the next week. It was a bit difficult but with an hour or so of intense studying no one should have had a problem provided they payed attention in class.
The field week came up quickly.
On the first day we set everything up and had some quick classes on how to occupy the area where we were to bed down for the night....
Oh wait first we had a 7 mile ruck march. This was not as easy as the previous ones. The terrian was much more difficult, this time we were off the main roads all the time. We were on 'tank trails' and other heavily rutted roads. At first the load was quite heave but the Commander weighed some of the people and found out that the load was over 85lbs before carrying the weapon and ammo, so that got reduced by about 25lbs or so. We had a couple of people fall out of the march. I carried the 240b (M60 update for those of us who are a bit older) the last half and it wasn't too bad.
Land navigation was fun for me and that started first thing the next morning. Basically we are given a map, compass and grid cordinates for 8 points and told to find as many as we can. The area is a few square kms and the points are like road signs with numbers in the woods there. For me it wasn't a problem but many people had problems so we repeated the whole thing in the afternoon.
Tuesday we practiced night navigation by going out at 4am and finding several more points. The afternoon was classes on reacting to an ambush and other such infantry tactics.
Thursday was the real test, I was doing great having a nice relaxing time in the woods until I was headed to my last point and realized I no longer had my log sheet that I stamped at each point to prove I had found it. My heart dropped so I ran backtracking until I reached my last point and couldn't find it. I headed in just in case someone picked it up and turned it in for me but no such luck....time to get ready to go out the next morning. The afternoon was more classes like the previous day.
Friday morning I got up with the rest of the retestors (including the one canidate who got tree-ed by wild hogs the day before and had to be recscued) and headed back out for another round. I took my time at this point and stuck to trails and just relaxed and enjoyed it. I finished in plenty of time this go around and had a good morning. That afternoon we broke down camp and headed back to the rear.
Saturday we got a chance to replenish some of our supplies and eat pizza instead of MRE's.
Now it's Sunday and we're headed back out. This time we are doing 'lanes' where we put into practice most things that we have done on paper up until this point. At least now we will stay in tents instead of sleeping in dugin holes under the stars. It will be another week of long days and short nights. We will at least get a 3 day weekend for easter and then head back out for the final week.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Short Pause
It's been a bit since I posted last.
This week has hit like a hurricane. Being Platoon Sgt. eats up any free time that existed before hand.
Last week went quite well. It seems we ran a lot though. We ended up doing quite a few miles running last week in addition to the PT test on Thursday. We lost 2 people on the PT test, both failed their sit-ups. It seems odd to me that it would happen that way. You can easily work on that every night, and the minimum standard is not that high. I think they both needed to do about 50 sit-ups in under 2 minutes. My run time improved dramaticaly even though we did about 4 miles and ran stairs the day before. I knocked over a minute off my 2 mile time.
We had more classes throughout the day, and a couple of tests on Friday. I don't think anyone in our Platoon failed either test. In addition to that we had a few things that the cadre wanted us to memorize so we took a short quiz on that. There were 3 people who could not recall at least 70% of the knowledge so they stayed and took the test on Saturday morning.
The Parade went well where we got promoted to Senior Officer Canidates. There are some more privlages that come with that but I have yet to see them.
This week has hit like a hurricane. Being Platoon Sgt. eats up any free time that existed before hand.
Last week went quite well. It seems we ran a lot though. We ended up doing quite a few miles running last week in addition to the PT test on Thursday. We lost 2 people on the PT test, both failed their sit-ups. It seems odd to me that it would happen that way. You can easily work on that every night, and the minimum standard is not that high. I think they both needed to do about 50 sit-ups in under 2 minutes. My run time improved dramaticaly even though we did about 4 miles and ran stairs the day before. I knocked over a minute off my 2 mile time.
We had more classes throughout the day, and a couple of tests on Friday. I don't think anyone in our Platoon failed either test. In addition to that we had a few things that the cadre wanted us to memorize so we took a short quiz on that. There were 3 people who could not recall at least 70% of the knowledge so they stayed and took the test on Saturday morning.
The Parade went well where we got promoted to Senior Officer Canidates. There are some more privlages that come with that but I have yet to see them.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Nothing Much
Not a whole lot today.
For our PT we did just over 4 mile run, but they combined a slower group with ours so it was dreadfully slow which means I will move up next time and that may hurt me for a while. After the run we did lower body and abs for about 1/2 hr then ran into the chow hall.
We had more classes on Operations Orders and Troop Leading Procedures. For part of one exercise our platoon was tasked with obtaining an article of clothing from the commanding General for Ft. Benning. Somehow amazingly a couple people ended up with it.
We are approaching Senior phase and I will be the Platoon Sgt. for next week so we are already preparing for the ceremony and I'm getting some short briefings from the current Plt. Sgt.
For our PT we did just over 4 mile run, but they combined a slower group with ours so it was dreadfully slow which means I will move up next time and that may hurt me for a while. After the run we did lower body and abs for about 1/2 hr then ran into the chow hall.
We had more classes on Operations Orders and Troop Leading Procedures. For part of one exercise our platoon was tasked with obtaining an article of clothing from the commanding General for Ft. Benning. Somehow amazingly a couple people ended up with it.
We are approaching Senior phase and I will be the Platoon Sgt. for next week so we are already preparing for the ceremony and I'm getting some short briefings from the current Plt. Sgt.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Back At It
Well it's time to get back to work and get this done!
Saturday morning was fun, we did the downing mile. A mile long course (through the mud) with a bunch of obstacles on it. Everything from wire to crawl under (through the mud), to walls that we would climb over (and land in the mud on the other side). All this was done with the team while carrying 2x 5 gallon water containers, and 3 boxes of MRE's. I didn't think I would get clean after all that. I smelled the mud untill noon today (I think it got up my nose a bit).
I have heard we have it a bit easier this cycle in this particular company because we are part of a pilot program. They are giving us more freedom and responsiblity right off the bat. I guess they may have found out that some of the new lt's would get out and do crazy things because they were comming out of a strict but sheltered enviroment.
This next week is full of a lot of class work so as long as everyone stays awake we will be doing fine. We also have a diagnostic APFT at the end of the week, I will be curious to see if I have improved or gone down in fitness level.
I have also given up on the wireless I paid $50 a month for here and am back to using my phone to connect, the one here is having so many problems I will be asking for a refund.
Saturday morning was fun, we did the downing mile. A mile long course (through the mud) with a bunch of obstacles on it. Everything from wire to crawl under (through the mud), to walls that we would climb over (and land in the mud on the other side). All this was done with the team while carrying 2x 5 gallon water containers, and 3 boxes of MRE's. I didn't think I would get clean after all that. I smelled the mud untill noon today (I think it got up my nose a bit).
I have heard we have it a bit easier this cycle in this particular company because we are part of a pilot program. They are giving us more freedom and responsiblity right off the bat. I guess they may have found out that some of the new lt's would get out and do crazy things because they were comming out of a strict but sheltered enviroment.
This next week is full of a lot of class work so as long as everyone stays awake we will be doing fine. We also have a diagnostic APFT at the end of the week, I will be curious to see if I have improved or gone down in fitness level.
I have also given up on the wireless I paid $50 a month for here and am back to using my phone to connect, the one here is having so many problems I will be asking for a refund.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Day by Day
It's amazing how quickly time flies when you take it one day at a time. After next week we enter "Senior Phase" where we get many more privileges, such as cell phone usage in the barracks and other nice things like that.
Yesterday we did a 7 mile ruck march. We used more gear this time than previously. It seems like anything past 5-6 miles starts to become work....and anything over 10 is uncomfortable....while 15+ is just miserable. At least this time we had someone in leadership who made a point to check out everyones feet afterward and he sent a few to sick call the next morning for blisters and pulled muscles. Many of those are the same people who had issues with the PT test when they arrived. So there's more to it than just passing the test, it also shows that you are in shape enough to get through the class without greater injury. The rest of the day was more classes....nothing terribly exciting.
This morning we did some Medicine Ball exercises for PT and then we loaded up on buses to move out and do a "Recon" of an area that we are to defend on paper. This is all part of the classes on Operations and troop leading procedures. Unfortunately there was heavy rain all last night and the buses were sliding on the dirt roads getting out there. When we disembarked it really started to pore down. We walked about 2km to the point where we were to do the exercise and they called it off due to lightning and the fact that if we waited much longer the buses would not be able to make it back. We did not quit because it was wet and cold, but merely out of safety concerns. So after wasting the morning we were back in classes the rest of the day.
Tomorrow morning we are doing another obstacle course, this should be fun since it will be filled with mud. In this course we are going through in teams of 8-10 so it is another one where the leaders will be judged on their abilities.
I'm still waiting to see which branch I will get, I'd really like to know so I can concentrate in a certain area and perhaps make some plans past the next 60 days.
Yesterday we did a 7 mile ruck march. We used more gear this time than previously. It seems like anything past 5-6 miles starts to become work....and anything over 10 is uncomfortable....while 15+ is just miserable. At least this time we had someone in leadership who made a point to check out everyones feet afterward and he sent a few to sick call the next morning for blisters and pulled muscles. Many of those are the same people who had issues with the PT test when they arrived. So there's more to it than just passing the test, it also shows that you are in shape enough to get through the class without greater injury. The rest of the day was more classes....nothing terribly exciting.
This morning we did some Medicine Ball exercises for PT and then we loaded up on buses to move out and do a "Recon" of an area that we are to defend on paper. This is all part of the classes on Operations and troop leading procedures. Unfortunately there was heavy rain all last night and the buses were sliding on the dirt roads getting out there. When we disembarked it really started to pore down. We walked about 2km to the point where we were to do the exercise and they called it off due to lightning and the fact that if we waited much longer the buses would not be able to make it back. We did not quit because it was wet and cold, but merely out of safety concerns. So after wasting the morning we were back in classes the rest of the day.
Tomorrow morning we are doing another obstacle course, this should be fun since it will be filled with mud. In this course we are going through in teams of 8-10 so it is another one where the leaders will be judged on their abilities.
I'm still waiting to see which branch I will get, I'd really like to know so I can concentrate in a certain area and perhaps make some plans past the next 60 days.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Moving on
This class is going by quickly.
I think it might help when we have a nice 4 day weekend to help move things along.
This morning we did a 5.5 mile run, it was a moderate/slow pace but some nice hills we went up and down. We had plenty of time at the bottom of the hill to do some push-ups and pull-ups too.
The rest of the day was filled with a short test on Methods of Offense and Defense then classes on map symbolgy (more complicated than one might think when we're talking military symbols), and a class on Operations planning which turned out to be horrible since the speaker didn't seem prepared and I couldn't even hear him over 1/2 the time. It may seem worse than it was since the previous teachers have been quite good and well prepared.
We wasted 1/2 the evening preparing for a ruck march tomorrow. Evidently the cadre was not satisfied with our spacing and how we tactically got off and back onto the road at rest points last time so we rehearsed for about 1 hour. There seems to be many things here that will eat up your free time, what little exists.
Tomorrow morning we have a 7 mile ruck march, this one includes the IBE (bullet proof vest) so it adds about 35lbs to the load. After that on Monday we have a 4 mile release run. This means there are very few major events left to complete. We will have a 10 mile ruck, a PT test, and a 5 mile release run, then pass some classes and that's it. I guess they don't want to waste much time training you if you cannot pass some of the more simple introductory events.
Well time to go and look at the lunar eclipse before bedtime, 3:45am comes awfully early here in Ft. Benning.
I think it might help when we have a nice 4 day weekend to help move things along.
This morning we did a 5.5 mile run, it was a moderate/slow pace but some nice hills we went up and down. We had plenty of time at the bottom of the hill to do some push-ups and pull-ups too.
The rest of the day was filled with a short test on Methods of Offense and Defense then classes on map symbolgy (more complicated than one might think when we're talking military symbols), and a class on Operations planning which turned out to be horrible since the speaker didn't seem prepared and I couldn't even hear him over 1/2 the time. It may seem worse than it was since the previous teachers have been quite good and well prepared.
We wasted 1/2 the evening preparing for a ruck march tomorrow. Evidently the cadre was not satisfied with our spacing and how we tactically got off and back onto the road at rest points last time so we rehearsed for about 1 hour. There seems to be many things here that will eat up your free time, what little exists.
Tomorrow morning we have a 7 mile ruck march, this one includes the IBE (bullet proof vest) so it adds about 35lbs to the load. After that on Monday we have a 4 mile release run. This means there are very few major events left to complete. We will have a 10 mile ruck, a PT test, and a 5 mile release run, then pass some classes and that's it. I guess they don't want to waste much time training you if you cannot pass some of the more simple introductory events.
Well time to go and look at the lunar eclipse before bedtime, 3:45am comes awfully early here in Ft. Benning.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Late Update
This is coming in a bit later than I would like, but for a good reason. We have been on a 4-day weekend. I got to see my wife and son for a few days. We got a hotel in downtown Columbus for a couple of nights. It's not that bad an area, as long as you don't get out of the historic district or the college area.
Friday we had a release run in the morning. What this is.....they march us to an area, then we are released to run 3 miles at our own pace. The only caveat is you cannot stop running. They were nice to us and marched us to the area instead of running there, although we did run on the way back. I was able to complete it at a moderate pace, I still need to drop a minute or so off my run time to really boost my PT score though.
One thing about PT here, it does not seemed really aimed at improving but more at testing. For a company that is known for running we only really run 2-3 times a week at most. I think the main thing that will help me is if I lose about 20lbs all together, running with this much extra weight on my legs is just asking for an injury. I guess I will wait and see if I notice any improvement in a couple weeks when we have our second PT test.
After the release run on Friday morning we had classes all day. They were classes on Tactics (or TicTacs as the dyslexic man would say). Pretty simple stuff, and it's odd but with years of playing computer games I can recognize the same tactics that were used by successful teams in a game. There is a lot of information to imbibe for these classes. I don't imagine it will be too difficult to meet the minimum standard but to be in that top percentage or to score perfectly is going to take some work.
To help me I did pick up a $30 printer from the PX (post exchange, like a Walmart with no tax). All the classes have Powerpoint slides posted ahead of time and we have been printing them in the computer lab, but now that everyone wants to it is causing quite a backlog and they are constantly out of paper. I imagine it is only a matter of time before they they restrict the printing of the slides off on that printer.
If you come to the area I would recommend the Marriott downtown, they have a nice military discount that brings the price down to $84, it's next to the riverwalk, the university, and the other downtown attractions. Plus they have a coffee shop right in the Hotel.
Friday we had a release run in the morning. What this is.....they march us to an area, then we are released to run 3 miles at our own pace. The only caveat is you cannot stop running. They were nice to us and marched us to the area instead of running there, although we did run on the way back. I was able to complete it at a moderate pace, I still need to drop a minute or so off my run time to really boost my PT score though.
One thing about PT here, it does not seemed really aimed at improving but more at testing. For a company that is known for running we only really run 2-3 times a week at most. I think the main thing that will help me is if I lose about 20lbs all together, running with this much extra weight on my legs is just asking for an injury. I guess I will wait and see if I notice any improvement in a couple weeks when we have our second PT test.
After the release run on Friday morning we had classes all day. They were classes on Tactics (or TicTacs as the dyslexic man would say). Pretty simple stuff, and it's odd but with years of playing computer games I can recognize the same tactics that were used by successful teams in a game. There is a lot of information to imbibe for these classes. I don't imagine it will be too difficult to meet the minimum standard but to be in that top percentage or to score perfectly is going to take some work.
To help me I did pick up a $30 printer from the PX (post exchange, like a Walmart with no tax). All the classes have Powerpoint slides posted ahead of time and we have been printing them in the computer lab, but now that everyone wants to it is causing quite a backlog and they are constantly out of paper. I imagine it is only a matter of time before they they restrict the printing of the slides off on that printer.
If you come to the area I would recommend the Marriott downtown, they have a nice military discount that brings the price down to $84, it's next to the riverwalk, the university, and the other downtown attractions. Plus they have a coffee shop right in the Hotel.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Good day
Today was a good day.
For morning PT we did some student led stuff.....not really exciting to me but better than sitting around for sure.
The rest of the morning we had a test on ethics, military justice, and leadership. I ended up missing 3 out of 40 on the test which wasn't the best, but in the upper 50% for sure. I really need to study more for that stuff.
The afternoon we did what is called a Leadership Reaction Course. It is like an obstacle course but most of the obstacles are over water and some can be complicated to negotiate. This is not a test if you can get through the obstacle but a test if you can lead your team correctly. Although we did not get everyone across the obstacle for mine I scored max points for the leadership part so I was happy.
Tonight I put the finishing touches on my paper on Officership and the Constitution. I had my dad look it over and he offered a few suggestions on the wording of some points. I think it turned out pretty good for what it was supposed to be.
For morning PT we did some student led stuff.....not really exciting to me but better than sitting around for sure.
The rest of the morning we had a test on ethics, military justice, and leadership. I ended up missing 3 out of 40 on the test which wasn't the best, but in the upper 50% for sure. I really need to study more for that stuff.
The afternoon we did what is called a Leadership Reaction Course. It is like an obstacle course but most of the obstacles are over water and some can be complicated to negotiate. This is not a test if you can get through the obstacle but a test if you can lead your team correctly. Although we did not get everyone across the obstacle for mine I scored max points for the leadership part so I was happy.
Tonight I put the finishing touches on my paper on Officership and the Constitution. I had my dad look it over and he offered a few suggestions on the wording of some points. I think it turned out pretty good for what it was supposed to be.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Testing
Not much happened today.
We had a ruck march in the morning that was only 5 miles long. The only thing that is difficult on it is the speed, it's quite slow. I always found it easier to step it out than take small steps. Of course the march ends going UP cardiac hill (a nice steep hill here on Ft. Benning).
The rest of the day was filled with more classes, Military Law and Leadership. The test is tomorrow so tonight is going to be about 1 hour of intense studying at least. Talking to some of the classes that are ahead of us this is one of the tougher tests, many of the questions are quite deceptive.
Of course boredom can sometimes sets in during breaks in studying and result in pictures like the one above.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Long Break....
Actually we've been extremely busy. Sorry for the length between posts.
No one got in trouble during Super Bowl weekend, in fact we have only lost one more person all week.
Last week started off rough, the room layouts were so messed up it took them until Thursday to get one out to us. In doing so that did not leave enough time for everyone to test it out and set it up. That delay cost us our weekend, and nearly all of the evenings trying to get everything up to standards each time they released a new iteration of the layout.
Monday last week started out with a nice 2 mile run at a pace that was a bit painful, followed by sprints across a field, muscle failure on sit-ups and push-ups then a slower 2 mile run back. The rest of the day was filled with classes on ethics and call for fire (how to call in and adjust an artillery strike).
Tuesday morning we did Army Combatives for our PT. This is the Army's unarmed fighting style, it closely resembles many of the moves used in UFC (ultimate fighting championship). The rest of the day we were given small group instruction outside on basic warrior tasks, things such as first aid, proper weapon care etc.... This lasted all day and it was my first time in a while to march in a blastic vest and eat the new (to me) style of MRE's. I must say they are much improved from the last time I was in.
Wednesday started off with an early morning ruck march. It was a simple 5 mile with about 40lbs in our backpack. The rest of the day was supposed to be taken up with a continuation of the previous days classes but the lightning from the storms drove us inside to do simplified versions of the class. The policy here is rain, snow, or sun activities go on. Only if it becomes dangerous (high wind, lightning etc..) does the activity stop. We were soaked to the bone and many of us got blisters from marching in the morning followed by walking in soaked boots the rest of the day.
Thursday morning we did light PT. The rest of the morning we completed the classes we had not finished due to the inclement weather. That afternoon we took a test on the call for fire class we had. I was one of the few that scored perfectly on the test.
Friday we did a slow 4 mile run with all 3 companies to celebrate the graduation of a class ahead of us. The only problem with that many people trying to run in formation is the slinky effect it generates. The rest of the day we spent alternating being chewed out for the rooms looking jacked up and trying to fix them, followed by a class on leadership.
Saturday we had a bit of time to finish up our rooms and the commander came through and was pleased with how we had pulled together to accomplish the task.
Sunday we were able to go around post. I tried to catch up on a bit of sleep, and got a slice of pizza at the PX.
This week so far has been the same PT, running, muscle failure, and combatives. While the days are filled with more classes on leadership and ethics.
Tomorrow in about 5 hours is another ruck march, this time my pack weighs about 50lbs...still light by the standards of what I used to carry.
I am very much looking forward to the 4 day weekend we are due coming up.
No one got in trouble during Super Bowl weekend, in fact we have only lost one more person all week.
Last week started off rough, the room layouts were so messed up it took them until Thursday to get one out to us. In doing so that did not leave enough time for everyone to test it out and set it up. That delay cost us our weekend, and nearly all of the evenings trying to get everything up to standards each time they released a new iteration of the layout.
Monday last week started out with a nice 2 mile run at a pace that was a bit painful, followed by sprints across a field, muscle failure on sit-ups and push-ups then a slower 2 mile run back. The rest of the day was filled with classes on ethics and call for fire (how to call in and adjust an artillery strike).
Tuesday morning we did Army Combatives for our PT. This is the Army's unarmed fighting style, it closely resembles many of the moves used in UFC (ultimate fighting championship). The rest of the day we were given small group instruction outside on basic warrior tasks, things such as first aid, proper weapon care etc.... This lasted all day and it was my first time in a while to march in a blastic vest and eat the new (to me) style of MRE's. I must say they are much improved from the last time I was in.
Wednesday started off with an early morning ruck march. It was a simple 5 mile with about 40lbs in our backpack. The rest of the day was supposed to be taken up with a continuation of the previous days classes but the lightning from the storms drove us inside to do simplified versions of the class. The policy here is rain, snow, or sun activities go on. Only if it becomes dangerous (high wind, lightning etc..) does the activity stop. We were soaked to the bone and many of us got blisters from marching in the morning followed by walking in soaked boots the rest of the day.
Thursday morning we did light PT. The rest of the morning we completed the classes we had not finished due to the inclement weather. That afternoon we took a test on the call for fire class we had. I was one of the few that scored perfectly on the test.
Friday we did a slow 4 mile run with all 3 companies to celebrate the graduation of a class ahead of us. The only problem with that many people trying to run in formation is the slinky effect it generates. The rest of the day we spent alternating being chewed out for the rooms looking jacked up and trying to fix them, followed by a class on leadership.
Saturday we had a bit of time to finish up our rooms and the commander came through and was pleased with how we had pulled together to accomplish the task.
Sunday we were able to go around post. I tried to catch up on a bit of sleep, and got a slice of pizza at the PX.
This week so far has been the same PT, running, muscle failure, and combatives. While the days are filled with more classes on leadership and ethics.
Tomorrow in about 5 hours is another ruck march, this time my pack weighs about 50lbs...still light by the standards of what I used to carry.
I am very much looking forward to the 4 day weekend we are due coming up.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Superbowl Night
I didn't watch it.
My wife and son came down during our pass in the afternoon so I went and had a great steak at Outback with them. It was really great to be able to spend time with them. It helps to keep me grounded and remind me why I'm doing this.
Since I went out during the afternoon I spent the evening washing uniforms and trying to get the room layout correctly. The layouts they gave us are really messed up and have a hugely inefficient use of space. There is no place to store personal items yet a majority of the drawers are less than 1/2 full. Oh well, I tried to match it as closely as possible but we'll see if they want to inspect early tomorrow...if they do I'm screwed.
We are taking side bets on how many people are going to get in trouble because of the freedom allowed tonight. I'm thinking only one at the most will do something stupid and miss formation but a bunch will have too much to drink and it will affect their performance tomorrow. We have a long run followed by bunches of potentially boring classroom stuff.
My wife and son came down during our pass in the afternoon so I went and had a great steak at Outback with them. It was really great to be able to spend time with them. It helps to keep me grounded and remind me why I'm doing this.
Since I went out during the afternoon I spent the evening washing uniforms and trying to get the room layout correctly. The layouts they gave us are really messed up and have a hugely inefficient use of space. There is no place to store personal items yet a majority of the drawers are less than 1/2 full. Oh well, I tried to match it as closely as possible but we'll see if they want to inspect early tomorrow...if they do I'm screwed.
We are taking side bets on how many people are going to get in trouble because of the freedom allowed tonight. I'm thinking only one at the most will do something stupid and miss formation but a bunch will have too much to drink and it will affect their performance tomorrow. We have a long run followed by bunches of potentially boring classroom stuff.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Offical Class
We are now officially OCS class 304-08. Today we implemented the student chain of command and uncased our colors. The objective of the classes are different than they were 5 years ago. Now they depend on many of the prior service students (those who were enlisted in the military before) to teach many of the classes and to lead us in many of the exercises. This all makes a lot of sense since we are being assessed on our leadership ability.
The day started off a bit later since we had a good turn out for the blood drive previously, and it started with chow instead of PT.
After chow we got to listen to Col. Nett, a medal of honor winner from WWII. This guy is impressive and full of great advice for new Lt. He is getting on in age and some of conversation tended to wander but he is still an impressive man even in his wheel chair. Some people just have a commanding presence that you can almost see when they walk (or wheel) into a room.
SWIMMING
We took a nice dip in a heated indoor pool today. Of course nothing is that simple though. First we got hosed down with cold water in 40 degree weather outside while in full uniform (including boots) then went inside where we got instruction on what we were expected to do. The first event was a 25m swim with full gear including a rifle, this wasn't too for me, but for those who cannot swim it was impossible. The next event was jumping from the high-dive (10m) with full equipment and rifle while blindfolded. I got a lot of snot out of my nose on that one. On the last one we jumped backwards from the edge of the pool and had to remove all the equipment while underwater, if you break the surface with any part of your body before all the equipment is off you have to go again. This was a bit more difficult since I have a tendency to float.
Finally the Commander did an end of the week assessment. It was interesting, our class is only 20% college op's (straight from college) while the rest of us are prior service. One piece of advice he did give us is that as a Lt. we are not allowed any mistakes. One minor mess up gets you noticed as a screw up, a second will generally get you put into a job where you cannot do any harm (i.e. where you are not really in charge of anyone or anything). At that point you will be stuck in those type of positions for the rest of your career, that is until you dead end. In todays army you can still stay in, but you will not ever get fast tracked to anything.
The day started off a bit later since we had a good turn out for the blood drive previously, and it started with chow instead of PT.
After chow we got to listen to Col. Nett, a medal of honor winner from WWII. This guy is impressive and full of great advice for new Lt. He is getting on in age and some of conversation tended to wander but he is still an impressive man even in his wheel chair. Some people just have a commanding presence that you can almost see when they walk (or wheel) into a room.
SWIMMING
We took a nice dip in a heated indoor pool today. Of course nothing is that simple though. First we got hosed down with cold water in 40 degree weather outside while in full uniform (including boots) then went inside where we got instruction on what we were expected to do. The first event was a 25m swim with full gear including a rifle, this wasn't too for me, but for those who cannot swim it was impossible. The next event was jumping from the high-dive (10m) with full equipment and rifle while blindfolded. I got a lot of snot out of my nose on that one. On the last one we jumped backwards from the edge of the pool and had to remove all the equipment while underwater, if you break the surface with any part of your body before all the equipment is off you have to go again. This was a bit more difficult since I have a tendency to float.
Finally the Commander did an end of the week assessment. It was interesting, our class is only 20% college op's (straight from college) while the rest of us are prior service. One piece of advice he did give us is that as a Lt. we are not allowed any mistakes. One minor mess up gets you noticed as a screw up, a second will generally get you put into a job where you cannot do any harm (i.e. where you are not really in charge of anyone or anything). At that point you will be stuck in those type of positions for the rest of your career, that is until you dead end. In todays army you can still stay in, but you will not ever get fast tracked to anything.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Long Day.
It's been a long day. It started off with instructional physical training, they walked us through a series of exercises that we will do every morning before we start running. Most of our runs will be quite long from the looks of it. All 3-7 miles, but some of the groups will be quite slow.
We finished the first obstacle course without any major injuries, everyone has new bruises and one candidate got a sprained ankle but should recover soon. I was able to complete all the obstacles on the first try except for the last one where you have to jump off a platform and grab a rope about 4 feet out then climb up (there is more but that is the only hard part). I just couldn't manage to pull my legs up and over at the end. I didn't get a second attempt since we were running short on time and there were many other teams that hadn't tried that one yet. Our team did quite well on all the team oriented ones, and everyone had a great attitude throughout the whole thing. There was a Major and a Command Sgt. Major out there that were just running though the stuff, that was quite impressive for a couple of guys in their early 50's.
Since we had so many people give blood to the Red Cross today we are not doing anything until 7:00am tomorrow so it will be nice to sleep in and not have to get up until 6 or so.
There's a lot that goes on during the day, but only the big stuff seems to stand out now.
We finished the first obstacle course without any major injuries, everyone has new bruises and one candidate got a sprained ankle but should recover soon. I was able to complete all the obstacles on the first try except for the last one where you have to jump off a platform and grab a rope about 4 feet out then climb up (there is more but that is the only hard part). I just couldn't manage to pull my legs up and over at the end. I didn't get a second attempt since we were running short on time and there were many other teams that hadn't tried that one yet. Our team did quite well on all the team oriented ones, and everyone had a great attitude throughout the whole thing. There was a Major and a Command Sgt. Major out there that were just running though the stuff, that was quite impressive for a couple of guys in their early 50's.
Since we had so many people give blood to the Red Cross today we are not doing anything until 7:00am tomorrow so it will be nice to sleep in and not have to get up until 6 or so.
There's a lot that goes on during the day, but only the big stuff seems to stand out now.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Finally ready to start!!
We are finally ready to get to the good stuff, the training. We are done with the inprocessing and ready to get on with the real mission. The fun thing is the last week will be spend outprocessing and turning in the equipment we spent a week picking up. So a 12 week course only really has about 10 1/2 weeks of content.
Tomorrow is the obstacle course, check it out here under obstacle course. This is nice map with all the prominent points of Ft. Benning marked on it.
Map of Ft. Benning
First Losses
We lost at least 2 people from the class today. One from our platoon and another candidate. Both were due to security clearance problems. The one from our platoon was a great guy, he will likely come back in the next class and I know he will do well and be a great asset to his platoon there. They (his recruiter) evidently tried to pass off his old expired security clearance instead of applying for a new one.
We likely lost another to a twisted ankle. He was being carried down the stairs and taken to the hospital when I came back from chow today. Another great candidate that will likely have to recycle through no fault of his own.
Speaking of chow, this weekend if I get time I am going to go out to eat and sit down to taste the food. I remember why Army food is so salty and spicy now. You have to eat so quickly there isn't time to taste it. We have 1/2hr in the chow hall, during that time we have to get 144 people through. That means the last people are likely going to have less than 10mins to eat, or they might have even less if we aren't assembled and ready to go at our alloted time. Unlike most occupations in the Army the boss eats last. The student commanders have to make sure everyone is eating before they are even allowed to start.
I'm hoping for good luck tomorrow, it's not going to be the best day to do the obstacle course since there is a high chance of thunderstorms and temps in the upper 30's all day. It could be a miserable experience but the main thing is to not get injured, each cycle it is common to lose one or more candidates on the obstacle course so safety is the key word.
Tomorrow is the obstacle course, check it out here under obstacle course. This is nice map with all the prominent points of Ft. Benning marked on it.
Map of Ft. Benning
First Losses
We lost at least 2 people from the class today. One from our platoon and another candidate. Both were due to security clearance problems. The one from our platoon was a great guy, he will likely come back in the next class and I know he will do well and be a great asset to his platoon there. They (his recruiter) evidently tried to pass off his old expired security clearance instead of applying for a new one.
We likely lost another to a twisted ankle. He was being carried down the stairs and taken to the hospital when I came back from chow today. Another great candidate that will likely have to recycle through no fault of his own.
Speaking of chow, this weekend if I get time I am going to go out to eat and sit down to taste the food. I remember why Army food is so salty and spicy now. You have to eat so quickly there isn't time to taste it. We have 1/2hr in the chow hall, during that time we have to get 144 people through. That means the last people are likely going to have less than 10mins to eat, or they might have even less if we aren't assembled and ready to go at our alloted time. Unlike most occupations in the Army the boss eats last. The student commanders have to make sure everyone is eating before they are even allowed to start.
I'm hoping for good luck tomorrow, it's not going to be the best day to do the obstacle course since there is a high chance of thunderstorms and temps in the upper 30's all day. It could be a miserable experience but the main thing is to not get injured, each cycle it is common to lose one or more candidates on the obstacle course so safety is the key word.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Classed UP!!
Today we took the 'official' APFT. While I scored well enough to get in easily many did not even pass the test to the minimum standards. They were allowed in anyway after a counseling session with the Company Commander.
Now the real work begins. We have a few more briefings then the real training begins.
Now the real work begins. We have a few more briefings then the real training begins.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Short Update
Well we found out a lot more about how the class is going to be handled now. The class is in fact under booked and all that is required to get in is to pass the PT test (there are even rumors of waivers being possible for those who fail, but I doubt this).
As long as everyone keeps their stuff tight we will all be OK. This is not a bunch of yelling Drill Sgts. but there is much more expected of us. We do get to run everywhere we are not marching.
The CO is coming by at 2200hrs for a walk through of the barracks (they had some problems with the last class not respecting the rules like no food etc..). So as soon as he leaves it's time for sleep since the 5am APFT comes early tomorrow.
As long as everyone keeps their stuff tight we will all be OK. This is not a bunch of yelling Drill Sgts. but there is much more expected of us. We do get to run everywhere we are not marching.
The CO is coming by at 2200hrs for a walk through of the barracks (they had some problems with the last class not respecting the rules like no food etc..). So as soon as he leaves it's time for sleep since the 5am APFT comes early tomorrow.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Class Starts!!
Class starts in 1.5hrs. Can't wait, finally the anticipation will soon be over. So far the chow is better than reception, and the rumors are flying thicker about the class. I am anticipating that it will be like basic, but if it's not I'll be happy.
They are saying our class is actually under booked, and from the empty rooms in the barracks it would appear this is true. The other rumor is that they will give waivers for failing APFT scores. This would be bad IMHO because it could easily lead to a lot of broken soldiers. If they are not in the minimal shape needed to even pass the APFT there is a higher chance they will injure themselves with the rugged physical requirements of the course.
They are saying our class is actually under booked, and from the empty rooms in the barracks it would appear this is true. The other rumor is that they will give waivers for failing APFT scores. This would be bad IMHO because it could easily lead to a lot of broken soldiers. If they are not in the minimal shape needed to even pass the APFT there is a higher chance they will injure themselves with the rugged physical requirements of the course.
Friday, January 25, 2008
MADE IT!!
Ok they worked things out so about 5 of us who were not going to be done until Monday are over here ready to start the class. We just have to go across post on Monday and get our PPD shot results at 04:55(am).
The rumors are that the class is 'underbooked' so we only have to pass the weight and pass the APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test). Come Tuesday we will know if we are in the class or not for sure.
I have just a couple more items to pick up for the packing list and then I am going to relax since we now are in 2 man barracks rooms (as opposed to the open bay of 50+ people at the recption area). We signed in and they went over a list of rules with us and let us go for the weekend. Too many of the rules are because of the mixing of males and females in the training. We have a couple of female canidates on the same floor so there a lot of 'nonsense' rules to keep everyone safe so no one will have any excuse.
The rumors are that the class is 'underbooked' so we only have to pass the weight and pass the APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test). Come Tuesday we will know if we are in the class or not for sure.
I have just a couple more items to pick up for the packing list and then I am going to relax since we now are in 2 man barracks rooms (as opposed to the open bay of 50+ people at the recption area). We signed in and they went over a list of rules with us and let us go for the weekend. Too many of the rules are because of the mixing of males and females in the training. We have a couple of female canidates on the same floor so there a lot of 'nonsense' rules to keep everyone safe so no one will have any excuse.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Rushing Through!!
The few of us that did not start in processing until Wednesday are rushing through now trying to get done. In theory as long as they will give us our second round of shots on Saturday we can be done, but no one seems to care but me (not the other canidates, the Drill Sgt. or the processors).
We got the uniforms issues yesterday, and I must say I'm not a big fan of wearing the ACU's. Velcro everywhere and too many patches, I'm afraid I'm going to forget to put some of the velcro patches, name tapes on in the morning. I will need to purchase enough extra sets to keep some on my uniforms at all times so I can avoid that possiblity.
It is getting down to the wire now, and I really want to push it so I can make it into the proper class.
We got the uniforms issues yesterday, and I must say I'm not a big fan of wearing the ACU's. Velcro everywhere and too many patches, I'm afraid I'm going to forget to put some of the velcro patches, name tapes on in the morning. I will need to purchase enough extra sets to keep some on my uniforms at all times so I can avoid that possiblity.
It is getting down to the wire now, and I really want to push it so I can make it into the proper class.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Reception Stories
Well it's been a few days and I'm stuck in reception. At first the other guy I rode down with got directions that took us to the Headquarters at OCS, I kept saying we needed to go to a place that would issue us our uniforms, boots etc....but he insisted. We got there and were told to head over to 30th AG, the reception battalion. We finally got there at nearly 11pm after getting lost several times (no post map, and we had to leave the main post and get back into a small section "Sand Hill"). We waited around 20 mins while someone took our paperwork, then when the Drill Sgt. came back I asked about the long weekend and the length of the processing time. Bad News... They will not restart in processing people until Wednesday and it will take 4 days. I need to report on Sunday to make it into the class I am scheduled for. That gives me 3 days. As you can see the math won't add up to a positive number. If everything goes exceptionally smoothly we may be able to finish in 3 days so I have spent the weekend getting all the items on my packing list so when the time comes I am ready and any holdup will be on them.
The reception area is not that bad for prior service. We are all stuck in an open bay barracks but so far it is very laid back. We have people from every branch of the service here, Marines, Navy (lots of Navy) and a few Air Force. About 1/2 are going to OCS with the rest doing 18x-ray contracts (guaranteed shot at Special Forces), 11B (Infantry!!), and some people coming here to be stationed (including a very annoying female PFC who just doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut).
Cellular reception is spotty here with Sprint and their high-speed network is not available. Others with Nextel(sold in the PX here for some reason), T-Mobile, and AT&T report the same. I have not seen anyone with Verizion but their map says this area has good coverage. You might have to go outside and stand in a particular area to get good reception. But I have found a program that lets me tether my palm to my laptop for an internet connection with using only the data from my phone avoiding the laborious extra fees that most carriers like to tack on for using a computer.
http://www.junefabrics.com/pdanet/
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Back Home
I called my wife from MEPS today and told her I would be home in a couple hours. When she asked why I was awfully tempted to just "I don't want to talk about it on the phone, I'll tell you when I get home" but I decided to tell the truth.
At MEPS I met another Candidate who is prior service Navy who is driving himself down to Ft. Benning. Since I am also prior service he asked me if I wanted to hitch a ride with him down there instead of waiting on the bus. After checking that it was alright with the Army liaison at MEPS I agreed. After the shipping briefing I asked the lady who gave the brief what time we need to report to the in-processing at Ft. Benning, and she told me because of the foul weather she had given us until midnight the following day. After double checking what she said was what I heard we decided to spend the night in our respective homes and leave in the afternoon. So I am now enjoying some family time, hot-wings and a cold beer.
I will know more about what goes on tomorrow when we arrive. I am very glad I didn't have to ride the bus since we would likely not arrive until 2100 tonight at the earliest.
At MEPS I met another Candidate who is prior service Navy who is driving himself down to Ft. Benning. Since I am also prior service he asked me if I wanted to hitch a ride with him down there instead of waiting on the bus. After checking that it was alright with the Army liaison at MEPS I agreed. After the shipping briefing I asked the lady who gave the brief what time we need to report to the in-processing at Ft. Benning, and she told me because of the foul weather she had given us until midnight the following day. After double checking what she said was what I heard we decided to spend the night in our respective homes and leave in the afternoon. So I am now enjoying some family time, hot-wings and a cold beer.
I will know more about what goes on tomorrow when we arrive. I am very glad I didn't have to ride the bus since we would likely not arrive until 2100 tonight at the earliest.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Snow, Special Forces and Lost Medical Records
Well to start off everything backwards, it's snowing in Atlanta tonight. I hope it does not prevent us from going to MEPS and shipping out in the morning. My dad is coming in the morning to watch me swear in (and drop off the shoes I ordered two weeks ago that came in 30mins after I left). It won't be the worst thing if we don't ship tomorrow and spend the long weekend in the hotel, there's lots of good football on this weekend and sitting in reception over a four day weekend isn't going to accomplish much.
I rode up from my recruiter station with a guy who enlisted for the SF option.
He's a really great guy and actually worked for me in one of the labs back at the University. He is a lot like I was in my first enlistment, bored with school and not sure what you want to do with everything. I think he'll do well, he's a smart enough guy and in good shape starting off.
So when I got to MEPS this morning it was a bit of a cluster (understatement). They were not real clear on what to do with all the people who were there a day early. We went in with the people who were shipping that day, but we had nothing to do. They were supposed to do a height/weight check and then release us. Of course my medical records couldn't be found. I helped the lady search through the rows of files and nothing turned up. About 4 hours later I asked another man there and we looked through some Army Reserve folders and sure enough mine had been slipped in with the wrong stack. By then it was too late for me to get my Medical Inspect (height/weight) so I sat around for another few hours until we bribed a shuttle driver to take us back to the hotel.
Tomorrow is a big day, and I hope this nights roommate doesn't snore and keep me up all night.
I rode up from my recruiter station with a guy who enlisted for the SF option.
He's a really great guy and actually worked for me in one of the labs back at the University. He is a lot like I was in my first enlistment, bored with school and not sure what you want to do with everything. I think he'll do well, he's a smart enough guy and in good shape starting off.
So when I got to MEPS this morning it was a bit of a cluster (understatement). They were not real clear on what to do with all the people who were there a day early. We went in with the people who were shipping that day, but we had nothing to do. They were supposed to do a height/weight check and then release us. Of course my medical records couldn't be found. I helped the lady search through the rows of files and nothing turned up. About 4 hours later I asked another man there and we looked through some Army Reserve folders and sure enough mine had been slipped in with the wrong stack. By then it was too late for me to get my Medical Inspect (height/weight) so I sat around for another few hours until we bribed a shuttle driver to take us back to the hotel.
Tomorrow is a big day, and I hope this nights roommate doesn't snore and keep me up all night.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
MEPS Hotel
So someone had the bright idea to start sending recruits up to the hotel a day early. People who are shipping now get sent to the hotel two days early. The first day at MEPS they just do height/weight, drug test and double check the paper work, the second day is swear in and get on the bus. So instead of a full day, you now get two half days.
Now of course I only found out about this yesterday when I CALLED the recruiter to double check that all my paper work was ready. About midway through the conversation he said he needed to check something and that's when he dropped the bomb. It's no big deal though since I was planning on being ready early to double check everything.
It's great though I'm ready and excited to be finally ready to get into the training......
oh wait.....
I will arrive at Ft. Benning just in time for a four day weekend. So now I have an extra day at MEPS and four extra days at reception (30th AG). I hope they have laundry there since none of the other recruits I have been speaking to seem to be aware of this.
SHOES
I ordered two pair of Brooks Trance 6 from http://www.shoebuy.com since my last pair are about worn out and they were the most durable and comfortable running shoe I have used in a while. Unfortunately with ground shipping it took nearly two weeks for them to get to my house, a mere 30mins after I left. Luckily my father is taking someone to the airport near Ft. Gillem so I will have him come in and watch me swear in and drop the shoes off for me. I am still waiting on my glasses to get back from lenses being put in, but I think my wife will just have to mail them to me.
Now of course I only found out about this yesterday when I CALLED the recruiter to double check that all my paper work was ready. About midway through the conversation he said he needed to check something and that's when he dropped the bomb. It's no big deal though since I was planning on being ready early to double check everything.
It's great though I'm ready and excited to be finally ready to get into the training......
oh wait.....
I will arrive at Ft. Benning just in time for a four day weekend. So now I have an extra day at MEPS and four extra days at reception (30th AG). I hope they have laundry there since none of the other recruits I have been speaking to seem to be aware of this.
SHOES
I ordered two pair of Brooks Trance 6 from http://www.shoebuy.com since my last pair are about worn out and they were the most durable and comfortable running shoe I have used in a while. Unfortunately with ground shipping it took nearly two weeks for them to get to my house, a mere 30mins after I left. Luckily my father is taking someone to the airport near Ft. Gillem so I will have him come in and watch me swear in and drop the shoes off for me. I am still waiting on my glasses to get back from lenses being put in, but I think my wife will just have to mail them to me.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Prepatory Physical Training (PT).
For those who don't know the officer classes are chronically overbooked. To earn a seat you have to beat out the other potential candidates in a PT test. For instance they might have 150 seats and 250 people competing for them. To secure your seat you have to be in the top 150. As long as you meet the minimum ARMY standard you will not be sent home, but you get to spend more time in headquarters which is not to be desired as the moral there is often low and it will throw off your graduation date by weeks.
I've been running and hitting the gym pretty hard but last week pulled a calf muscle in the cold weather. So I've been trying a different program, it's all sit-ups and push-ups and I gotta say I can see the results. It has helped my form and speed in both of the events in addition to adding 6 push-ups and 10 sit-ups to my total after one week. This next week is even more intense and I won't be able to finish it before I ship but I can at least get well into the program.
Here is where I got the workout from: http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jsaria/Hit-the-Deck.xls
I will be strapping on my gps and hrm on Monday and giving myself an assessment on the run and see how I stand. The Garmin 305 is the best running training aid I have ever gotten. I use http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/ as it is much better than the included software.
My main objective now is to be ready to go but not aggravate the pulled calf muscle.
I've been running and hitting the gym pretty hard but last week pulled a calf muscle in the cold weather. So I've been trying a different program, it's all sit-ups and push-ups and I gotta say I can see the results. It has helped my form and speed in both of the events in addition to adding 6 push-ups and 10 sit-ups to my total after one week. This next week is even more intense and I won't be able to finish it before I ship but I can at least get well into the program.
Here is where I got the workout from: http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jsaria/Hit-the-Deck.xls
I will be strapping on my gps and hrm on Monday and giving myself an assessment on the run and see how I stand. The Garmin 305 is the best running training aid I have ever gotten. I use http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/ as it is much better than the included software.
My main objective now is to be ready to go but not aggravate the pulled calf muscle.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
A bit of history
I'm starting this blog to chronicle some of my experiences through the Army Officer Candidate School. I was in the army as an enlisted solider back in the early 90's.
I decided some months ago that I needed to go back in, only this time as an Officer, a leader.
I have a wife and young son, and I am also just finishing up my MS in Computer Science so this is not something normally done by people in my situation. But it is something I feel I need to do.
I guess one can only stand by so long and watch the injustices done to the weak in some countries before you feel the need to do something about it yourself.
I am scheduled to report to the MEPS on the 17th of this month, and my class starts 10 days after that.
Right now I'm busy getting everything set up so when I leave for the next few months my wife will be able to take care of everything. Also I'm spending a lot of time trying to finish up my reading list and memorize the required knowledge for the course.
I decided some months ago that I needed to go back in, only this time as an Officer, a leader.
I have a wife and young son, and I am also just finishing up my MS in Computer Science so this is not something normally done by people in my situation. But it is something I feel I need to do.
I guess one can only stand by so long and watch the injustices done to the weak in some countries before you feel the need to do something about it yourself.
I am scheduled to report to the MEPS on the 17th of this month, and my class starts 10 days after that.
Right now I'm busy getting everything set up so when I leave for the next few months my wife will be able to take care of everything. Also I'm spending a lot of time trying to finish up my reading list and memorize the required knowledge for the course.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)