Gates of Fire

The last few months of OCS have been "enjoyable." No classroom or barracks- plenty of sunshine in the day and the Texas stars at night. Field training is without a doubt the best part of OCS and everyone from the candidates to the cadre agree.

Here's what a typical training weekend looks like during this portion of Phase II:

Friday
1600- Candidates arrive, we check each other's gear, finalize leadership plans, collect supplies from the supply sergeant.
1800- First formation
1820- collect weapons and ammo (each squad is assigned one M240B, two M249's, two M203's and the rest of the squad has M4's (carbine variant of the M16)).

1900- Movement to training area and STX (pronounced "sticks") Lanes or Situational Training Exercise Lanes. These are set up to be a two hour combat mission. In this phase of OCS they are conducted in squads where the squad leader is rotated throughout the weekend to give each candidate a chance to pass or fail the field leadership evaluation. Passing the evaluation is based on your ability to conduct the eight troop leadership procedures in the time allowed. [Texas requires candidates receive a "go" or a passing evaluation prior to continuing to Phase III, but some states have more lax requirements.]

2100-2359- Movement to patrol base, patrol base operations (hygiene, sleep, and guard duty)

Saturday
0000-0800- Patrol base operations, hygiene, morning meal
0800-1800- STX Lanes
1800-1900- Evening meal
1900-2100- STX Lanes
2100-2359- Patrol Base operations

Sunday
0000-0800- Patrol base operations, hygiene, morning meal
0800-1700- Recovery ops (cleaning weapons, supply turn in, expended brass pick up, etc...)

The black hats take off their cadre covers and replace them with a regular ACU cover and take on more of a mentoring role out in the field. One cadre member travels around with each squad and is responsible for evaluating the squad leader's performance.

Each two hour STX lane involves movement from one lane to another (with your ruck sack) receiving the operations order (OPORD). Creating and briefing a squad OPORD within 15 minutes of receiving it, 30 minutes of prep time for the mission to run rehearsals, and about 80 minutes to run the mission. Typically we do one or two on Friday night, and seven on Saturday.

Moving around with a full ruck- especially for the non-prior service types is a real struggle at first, which is compounded by the Texas summer heat. There is a lot of movement from prone to standing, movement through thick brush, taking the pack off and putting it back on- it takes a while to get used to. Hydration can't be stressed enough. Hydrate with water and whenever you get a chance drink Gatorade and eat all your food. The first month out in the field we had temps that spiked over the weekend. We weren't conditioned to that kind of heat yet even though all of us were in good shape and about 5 of us ended up as heat casualties that weekend- including me. There's no worse feeling than sitting in the medical tent while your buddies are on the mission still. Learn from my mistakes: acclimate to your region's climate and get electrolytes through food and sports drinks as often as possible.

Practicing this stuff  between drills has made a huge difference. We got together with members of Class 55 at first to have them teach us what we need to know about STX lanes and after that we've been meeting in small groups to rehearse pitching an OPORD, brushing up on land nav, reviewing the Ranger Handbook- it has all made a difference out on the lanes. On that note, if you have any specific questions about STX Lanes, post your comments here and I'll do my best to answer them.

One last drill in Texas and then we go to Fort Lewis in Washington for two weeks to complete the course. I've already passed my garrison and field leadership evaluations and APFT so this month I'll be focused on helping my classmates that don't have a go in the field yet. Feels good to not be under the pressure of still needing a passing evaluation though.

We had one fail the APFT last month so we're down to 32. Seems like a big waste to do all this work only to lose it all on a PT test.

Intermediate Stage

Two things happened at the end of September drill- We got moved up to "Intermediate Stage" and I got promoted to Platoon Leader for my first leadership evaluation.

October drill: We were in our first formation waiting on the cadre when they came up and immediately started yelling at us for being in the wrong uniform (despite what was published in the schedule). The weekend went downhill from there... It was frustrating to have spent as many hours as I did between drills to prepare myself and the rest of the platoon just to watch it all fall apart right in front of me. Needless to say we didn't really get to experience the carrot on the stick known as Intermediate Stage for very long. It was supposesd to include such benefits as not having to sit on the front 6" of our chairs in the dining facility, not having to eat "square meals" (the OCS tradition of making each motion with your fork at 90 degree angles- yeah, its about as dumb as it sounds) and we could have worn just our Camelbacks and soft caps rather than our kevlar helmets and load carrying vests. Supposedly they treat you with a little more dignity. Like I said- carrot on a stick stuff. The repeal of Intermediate Stage meant we'd get it back in a different way- it would now be awarded to individuals rather than the group as a whole. The individuals who demonstrate leadership (with a passing leadership evaluation) and visibly pull their own weight will be moved to a different platoon and get to enjoy the benefits of while the rest are made to look like incompotent fools. This is apparently the same way Oklahoma OCS uses the stage system. (Note: Intermedate Stage and Phase II are different. They are independent of one another. Stages dictate how miserable you are (beginner, intermediate and senior) and phases indicate what part of the training you're in (0, I, II, and III).)

The good news is we're halfway done with OCS.

The classroom material has gotten more interesting, this month we were focusing on military tactics- the art and science of how battles are won. Love that stuff.

As far as what I learned from my leadership evaluation- I got an over all "no-go" on my assesment, which means I'll have another chance later on to try again. I'm on track for the course and display good leadership traits- I just have the additional hurdle of being an 09S without the military experience. My peers thought I did well- it's just a matter of convincing the cadre of the same.

The Side Plank!