Monday, April 14, 2008

Graduation!

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.

3 comments:

Paul O. Davis, Ph.D. said...

Norlan

We are all very proud of your accomplishments and your contribution to your nation.

I’m sorry that I am unable to attend your graduation.

Paul Davis

Unknown said...

Sir, I am going to OCS this FEB and I got branched for EN like you.
I have some questions sir, I really worry about land navigation and how is the exams are look like. I mean, are they all multiple choices? How early should I report to the school? Is that possible for you to give me some more detailed information? k60625@gmail.com Well, thank you sir.

ESSAYON!!!

Peter V Nguyen said...

Thanks for your blog. I'm also prior enlisted Navy trying to go Army OCS. Your blog will help me prepare for the physical requirements. I'm not so worried about the pushups and situps but the run does. By the way, how hard is land navigation for someone who never had any experience with it. Thanks.