Recent Changes

Well my ship date got moved back to the original date, so now I'm leaving Sept. 6. Fortunately I won't have to go to MEPS again like some of the others who are going to be bussed to their basic sites- I'll go straight to the airport.

I have also been made aware of another option for getting my commission. I can join ROTC as a graduate student and get my master's degree (at no cost to me) and my commission at the same time. It's a fairly tempting option even for one who wasn't looking to go back to school any time soon. ROTC would replace OCS and BOLC and gives you first pick of the available jobs rather than having to compete on an OML like the OCS students do. I plan on speaking to a ROTC recruiter about this soon so I can make a decision when I get back from basic. Now to figure out what I want a master's degree in...

(Sorry for the alphabet soup. Use the links to go to the definitions page)

RSP- Blue Phase

First was Red Phase, then White Phase, now- you guessed it: Blue Phase. Clever. It's the last phase of RSP before you ship to BCT. Essentially I was paid to do paperwork for the weekend. The cadre make sure you've got all your paperwork in order and scare you one more time about fraudulent enlistment and all the ways you can get kicked out for withholding information. For example- if you leave for basic with unpaid parking tickets- you're on the first flight home with a dishonorable discharge. They even said if you've got a ticket from a red light camera that hasn't been mailed to you yet you could still get discharged. So I'll be calling the city tomorrow to make sure I'm squared away on that... it's enough to make anyone paranoid. There was also a lengthy time of Q&A for anyone with lingering questions about anything really. Surprisingly, people asked good questions so it was a constructive use of time.

The unit commander came in to talk to a few of us about OCS. I didn't really learn anything new but he told me when I got back from basic he'd look into sending me to Federal OCS at Fort Benning. That sounds like the ideal pace for me- not too fast, but quick enough to get my commission before the war is over.

PT at drill was the same as last month, I ran the 2 mile about 40 seconds faster this time, so felt good about that. It also rained here Saturday morning for the first time in months, so it was "cool" (below 90 degrees) and running in the rain felt tremendous. Sunday morning we did a 3-ish mile obstacle run that included bounding over seven foot chain link fences, running up stairs, weaving between poles, etc. One soldier puked twice, and about 5 out of the 30 fell out of the run.

I pulled my packet-o-information and noticed my ship date is a week later than what I thought it was. So I've got another few days at home and I'll get to enjoy Labor Day weekend.

Basic Combat Training Schedule

In just a few short weeks I'll be headed off to South Carolina to make the transition from citizen to soldier. I found this handy outline on the Fort Jackson website (www.jackson.army.mil/sites/bct/) that gives a 30,000 ft. view of what goes on at BCT. This should be a good reference to see what I'm probably in the middle of:

Week 0: ReceptionSoldiers complete administrative actions required to become part of the Army. Simple things such as medical examinations, setting up pay, and initial issue of equipment is completed. This process typically takes between two and three days but can take over a week in some cases.

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Weeks 1-3: Red PhaseWelcome to BCT! Soldiers meet their Drill Sergeants and begin training. While often considered a difficult week for Soldiers due to the adjustments, it is actually pretty easy compared to later weeks. Most classroom-type training occurs in this period where Soldiers learn about:

• Ballistics and Rifle Marksmanship Fundamentals

• Personal financial management

• Law of Land Warfare

• Uniform Code of Military Justice (Military Law)

• Dismounted Land Navigation (using a map and compass)

• Fundamentals of Physical Readiness

• Nutrition

• Rappelling and navigating rope bridges

• Drill and Ceremonies (marching)

• Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) Defense (often referred to as the Gas Chamber)

• Fieldcraft

• Patrolling

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Weeks 4-5: White PhaseThis phase is sometimes referred to the rifleman phase, qualification phase, shoot phase, and some other names. Whatever the term, the training focus is the same...how to identify, track, target, and effectively engage targets with a rifle. In a word, Soldiers learn "Marksmanship". The training is progressive and becomes more difficult as the training progresses:

• Fundamentals of Rifle Marksmanship are reinforced

• Zero a rifle (align the rifle sites to hit targets at different distances)

• Engage targets at various distances

• Engage targets at various distances using three different positions

• Prone supported (laying down with a brace to hold the weapon steady)

• Prone unsupported (laying down using only your hands to hold the weapon steady)

• Kneeling unsupported (one knee on the ground, resting the weapon on the other knee)

• Engage targets at various distances with limited time

• Prioritize and engage multiple simultaneous targets at various distances with limited time

• Engage targets at various distances, with limited and variable amounts of time, with a changing number of simultaneous targets available at any particular time...passing this requirement is also known as Rifle Qualification.

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Weeks 6-9: Blue PhaseThe culminating phase of BCT, Soldiers combine the skills they learned in earlier phases of training to complete advanced combat tasks.

• Advanced Rifle Marksmanship (close combat and use of aiming tools such as lasers)

• Patrol and attack as a squad

• Maneuver and engage targets as part of a team

• Employ "crew-served" and more powerful weapons

• M240B Machine Gun

• AT4 Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher

• M203 40mm Grenade Launcher

• Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT - Fighting in a city)

• Convoy Defense

• Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Defeat

• Long-distance Road Marching with combat load

• Foward Operating Base (FOB) operations

• Control Point operations

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Week 10: GraduationThe final week of BCT is all about you and your Family. After completing the final training events to include a week of field training and a 15km march under load back into the main part of the post, Soldiers are given a day with their Families to catch up and share their experiences. On the following day, Soldiers graduate and are sent to the next phase of their training that in almost all cases is Advanced Individual Training (AIT).

In other news:
-I've ditched the training plan I was on and started P90X for the remaining weeks I've got before basic, supplementing it with running a few times a week. I was starting to plateau and needed a new challenge.

-I've memorized the 3 General Orders, Army Values, and the Soldier's Creed. Thanks to YouTube for the soldier's creed videos- that definitely helped speed up the memorization process.

-My last RSP drill is this weekend. Blue Phase- sounds like mostly paperwork. Look for an update shortly.

Contacting Me

A coworker recently asked me what the response time would be on work emails while I was gone. After I laughed, I told him about 10 weeks or they'll just need to figure it out without me. I won't have email, texting, facebook, or really any form of communication devised post-1930.

There are two ways you'll be able to contact me while I'm gone:
1. Comment on the journal entries. My wife will print them out and send them to me.

2. Good ol'-fashioned snail mail. Once I'm settled in (about 7-10 days after Week 0 starts) you can get my address from my wife. I'd love to hear updates from the outside world from you personally, current events, pictures, sermon notes, etc.. Feel free to be mildly creative.

IMPORTANT: While soldiers in the sandbox love getting care packages, they're a bit of a nightmare for those of us in training. Please don't send me anything that isn't a paper product. [Edit: no books or magazines, we're not allowed to have those either] The DS's love care packages because they get to take all the goodies and the recipient soldier gets smoked.

Expectations. I've heard it rumored we get about 2.5 hours of free time between our afternoon sailing lesson and the evening campfire. Oh wait- no, that was something else. Our work schedules mean long, exhausting days of training are the norm. My first priority is contact with my wife, if I have more time I'll do everything I can to respond to your correspondence. If I feel I've insufficiently been able to respond to you I promise I'll make it up when I get back by taking you out to eat or sending you a Christmas present. Everything I've read says that letters are a really huge encouragement to soldiers- have no doubt that I will greatly appreciate even the smallest act of thoughtfulness.

Emergencies. In the event of a family emergency where I am either needed at home or need to be notified contact the American Red Cross (1-877-272-7337) and they will help work things out.

That about covers this topic. I'm getting excited, four more weeks and I'll be at Fort Jackson. Bring it.