Lies your recruiter tells you: "One weekend a month, two weeks a year." Hardly. For the last eight weeks I've been working out six days a week at 0500 (okay later on Saturday...), then there's all the time spent coordinating with your home unit for supplies, paperwork, signatures, pay, etc... On top of that add the stress of just anticipating next drill and the challenges ahead of you. And I still need to spend more time studying than I have been, so this isn't a part time job, this is a lifestyle. It's a good thing I'm not doing it for the money because it's not worth the paycheck.
The last drill in Phase 0 is focused on completing your packet, the record APFT, and land nav. Friday night was as usual, we turned in any missing items from our application packet and set up our lockers and bunks to meet our unit standard operating procedures (SOP). It felt good to finally have all the puzzle pieces in my packet- one less thing to worry about. We didn't get smoked as we had the PT test in the morning, so at least we knew we were "safe."
Saturday morning lights came on at 0430 and we took the PT test. I was pretty intimidated going into the test because OCS cadre are much more strict on counting push-ups than anyone else, and it's my worst event (see previous blog entries). I've been working hard and praying hard and the Lord blessed me with the strength to get 47 (counted) push-ups. Nothing to brag about, but it qualifies. I really don't see a strong correlation between troop leadership ability and the ability to push oneself off the ground repeatedly in two minutes. My two mile time was a minute faster than what I'd been running at home and what I got two months ago at the diagnostic PT test- the course I run at home is hilly and a little longer than two miles so that helps. All glory to God for that- he is the one that gives me the strength to make it through the things he has called me to do.
The day continued on the land nav course. We broke into buddy teams and received new coordinates to find that were different than the ones we had last month. All of ours were deep in the woods with no good terrain markers to help us identify where our points were. We had a good plan and were on course to get 4 out of 5 of our points until point 3 wasn't anywhere we thought it would be. We spent too much time looking for it and had to scramble to get out of the woods. Well we made a mistake. Rather than just trudging our way through a few hundred meters of brush to get to the road so we could haul back to the start point, we thought it'd be easier to travel through the clearings in the general direction we needed to go to get back to the start point. Well we got all turned around, had no idea where on the map we were and I started running low on water. I started to get heat cramps and knew I needed to be careful. We finally found the road seven minutes before the time was up, and to our surprise we were just a few hundred meters from the finish point- how that happened, I have no idea. We finished in time but failed to get enough points to receive a "go" for the course. Not a big deal, it's just practice and honestly I learned more by getting disoriented than I did last month when we got all five points. (Side note on gear: the protractor they issue you for plotting points absolutely sucks. Buy this one instead.)
As soon as we got back the TAC sergeants started smoking everybody for some leadership failure. That was rough. The cadre could tell something was wrong with me and sent me to the medic. Turns out it was just heat cramps and they gave me some electrolytes and we ate dinner and I started feeling better.
We did a night land nav course after dinner and we failed that one miserably. As did everyone else I'm pretty sure. I got a go on the night course at Fort Jackson at basic but it was a cake walk compared to the course we had. The biggest problem is trusting your equipment, your pace count, and your training. The darkness freaks a lot of inexperienced people out and you kind of feel like the thick woods are just going to eat you alive. Before we went to bed at 0100 we got smoked again for failure to work like a team. The senior TAC sergeant gave us a lecture on how we needed to spend more time preparing for this during the month and that we needed to look out for each other better. He was right. It just took a little sweat and blood and palms full of splinters to see his point. Long day.
Sunday the cadre had their PT test so we woke up at 0530 to clean the barracks. Since Saturday was such a long hard day we didn't have a ton to do Sunday besides cleaning. We worked on D&C, did a few administrative things to make sure our travel pay was working, got smoked every once and a while and got briefed on Phase I.
It feels good to be done with Phase 0. It's a mental victory. We're officially Texas OCS Class 56 now and while it may get harder in Phase I and it's till a long haul to the end of Phase III, we're in. 250 applicants wanted a spot in the class this year. It's an honor and a privilege to be among the 40-something that will be given a chance and I don't take that lightly.
A few of the candidates from the area near where I live all met up for dinner at Texas Roadhouse before continuing home. I really like the guys and I'm glad to be going through the course with them. I can't explain what it feels like to eat dinner with a bunch of men that would lay down their lives for you and their country. It's humbling and I feel like even though I've only spent a few months with them they know what makes me tick- because they're the same way.
Not sure what the course Kansas is going to be like. I've heard everything from "it's a cake walk compared to Phase 0 and you get to ride in a Blackhawk helicopter to the land nav course" to "it was the hardest two weeks of my life." The internet is surprisingly quiet on the topic- its sad when you Google "OCS Phase I" and your own blog is one of the top results. I guess I'm going blind on this one. Sorry for the long post, if you're reading this to help you better understand what the course will be like hopefully you find this helpful.
