Engineer BOLC- Alpha Module

Unsurprisingly, there isn't much written about BOLC from a student's perspective available on the internet, so I'll do my best to outline the things that are relevant. This first post will cover the first three weeks of the course, known as Alpha Module. Here are a few considerations for my overview of this course:

-I am here to learn a very specific set of skills that contain "trade secrets" vital to the success of the US Army on the battlefield. I will not discuss those things.

-The atmosphere for each class is very different and driven by the cadre mentors assigned to each class. The cadre for my class have been more relaxed and allowed this to be more of a "gentlemen's course." Friends of mine in adjacent classes have not had that experience.

Packing List
My welcome packet had two different packing lists that were similar but not identical. When in doubt, pack to the more rigorous requirement. There is a military clothing store on post (closed Mondays) that should help you close any gaps you have. If you arrive at FLW early I recommend knocking this out. There is no formal equipment layout- it's on you as an officer to ensure you have the equipment that's required of you when you arrive. I can't stress attention to detail enough here, bring what's on the list.

You'll need your federal oath of office (not state if you're Reserve or National Guard) almost as frequently as your orders. Have at least 10 on hand.

Only bring original documents (birth certificates, marriage license, etc...) if the data hasn't been entered into DEERS already. If your DEERS is up to date just bring copies.

You can bring your own TA-50 but you'll get issued everything you need here. For some reason they still rock the woodland LBE from before Desert Storm here at FLW, so none of your high speed MOLLE equipment will work here.

Make sure your boots are in compliance with the new AR 670-1. Since the new revision rolled out recently for our class, a lot of people had to go buy new boots that were in compliance.

The list also says to limit your civilian clothes. That's bad advice. You'll want a good supply of clothes to wear after duty hours every day and on the weekends. PT is light in this module so you'll be working out a lot on your own, bring several sets of civilian workout clothes. You'll have a large wardrobe for all your clothes, so storage shouldn't be an issue. Don't go overboard, but a weeks worth of civies and workout clothes should be sufficient.

Throughout the course you'll have plenty of time on the weekends/evenings for movies and video games so if you have a console I'd recommend bringing it; life as a BOLC student can get pretty boring some weeks.

Arrival
The welcome letter says that showing up at 0600 the Monday morning of the week your class starts is optional. It's not. I recommend arriving Sunday by noon to get moved in and finish up any shopping you may need to do before class starts. Arriving any sooner than that is unnecessary unless you have a lot to get done.

The very first building you'll go to is BLDG 470, STE 1201 (140 Replacement, Fort Leonard Wood, MO 65473 enter on Replacement Rd side). Check in with them to get your room assignment and keys. Make sure to join the rewards program to start earning free nights at hotels in the Holiday Inn, Staybridge, and Candlewood chains.

It wouldn't hurt to call a couple of months ahead once you have orders to request a room in Morelli Heights. It's a convenient location that puts classes and a DFAC within walking distance of your room. Call 573-596-8331.

Find the main PX. You'll need to know where the parking lot is prior to the start of Day 2 and for all your Wal-Mart type needs.

It's advisable to get a PO box while you're here. If not, expect all mail to be delayed by at least a week as it gets an added steps of going to your company and building for sorting. A six month rental costs $33. The post office is across the street from the main PX.

Accommodations
As mentioned above, I'm staying in Morelli Heights. Recently, the Army privatized lodging and from everything I can tell it was a good move. Daily room service includes fresh towels, they make your bed, vacuum, and mop. It doesn't feel like the Army. It's just like a normal hotel. (Don't take the housekeeping for granted. If your room looks like a college dorm when they come in to clean they'll text pictures to the Battalion Commander and you'll end up on the powerpoint slides of how to get dismissed from the course.)

I got lucky and scored a room that has a detached bedroom so it feels more like a one bedroom apartment. Most of the rooms here have a kitchen area, bathroom, and a combined living room and bedroom.

The kitchen has a microwave, toaster, stove top, coffee pot, refrigerator and sink (no oven). It's good for making meals on the weekend when the DFAC is closed or for having a quick breakfast. Silverware, plates, cups and bowls are also provided but bring your own cooking utensils/pots/pans, those are not provided.

There is free wifi and wired internet in the hotel, but both are very slow. I typically clock an unimpressive 0.25 mbps. You might be able to stream Netflix if no one else is online and the picture quality settings are as low as they'll go. I think the internet is faster in Afghanistan. Same goes for cell signal. Verizon seems to work slightly better, but my phone never lasts the whole day on one charge because it's always looking for signal.

The room does come with a 30" flat screen TV with basic cable and HDMI hookups so you can plug your computer in. I use a desktop in my room and take a tablet to class. It works well. You'll be issued a government netbook you can use in class for taking notes and storing Army manuals as well.

In-Processing
If you thought BCT reception was bad, this is a whole new level. Your average day will start with you waking up around 0400 to make it to a 0500 accountability formation. You'll get a break for breakfast and then start that day's tasks around 0700 or 0800. During these two and a half weeks you'll get several SHARP (Anti-sexual harassment/abuse) presentations, introductions from all the bigwigs on post, medical inprocessing, finance briefings, and you'll sign hundreds of documents. Your day will end and you'll be on your own after 1700-1800 typically.

Why it robs two and a half weeks of your life is a question I still don't know the answer to.

To speed things along make sure you have all the documents and certificates on the packing list prior to arrival.

Weekends
Weekend Passes are largely up to cadre. Don't expect any in Alpha Module unless there is a federal holiday. That means you're limited to within 30 miles of FLW (which doesn't get you much). But there is plenty to do around here- especially if you like the outdoors. The "Fort Lost in the Woods" nickname is accurate to some degree, but I find it's a really nice post with plenty of things to do to keep you out of trouble. If you're a city boy it's a perfect time to learn some new hobbies.

Pay
As you'd expect with the Army, the pay comes slowly at first. I got into a bit of a bind because of how long it took for BAH to kick in. Don't worry, they'll back pay all the late payments but just expect kinks in the system. I recommend coming to BOLC with $1000 saved up to cover all the stuff you end up needing to buy plus one month's living expenses for your financial obligations back home. If that's not feasible, just do the best you can to have savings before you get to school (and check out the USAA career starter loan if you haven't already).

APFT
Pretty straight forward, you'll have a diagnostic APFT the second Monday of the course. Failure in any event (or scoring less than a 70 if your cadre choose) means you'll be entered into a remedial PT program and you'll be restricted from taking any passes off post until you pass. Retests for failures will be done with each new incoming class until the test is passed (every 2-3 weeks).

PT
PT in Alpha Module is extremely light. You may do three sessions in the three weeks. And those sessions will be taught by NCO cadre as an introduction to Army PRT.

I highly recommend getting used to running hills prior to arrival. This area of Missouri is not flat and you'll be better of if you're prepared for that.

Right outside Morelli Heights there is a 2.5 mile wooded running trail called the Engineer Trail. It's very nice for running, rucking, and working out (there are different exercise stations around the trail). If you're not conditioned for hills this trail will help.

Class Composition
Each class has a different demographic but will be composed of roughly 60 2LT's.

Here's our class breakdown:
Active Duty: 50%
National Guard: 25%
Reserve: 25%

OCS: 25%
ROTC: 75%*
West Point: 0% (Most West Point grads will attend courses in the summer starting in late June.)

Male: 90%
Female: 10%

Also expect 2-3 foreign national students in each class. These students will come from "friendly" nations and are essentially auditing the course. They won't learn any of our secret squirrel stuff and they're not expected to do much.

*Coming from an OCS background I was highly disappointed by the caliber of the ROTC students. The program I graduated from washed out over 70% of the candidates. If the cadet gets a degree, well then slap a butter bar on him. There are a few quality officers in the bunch but most are fresh out of college with zero relevant life experiences, a penchant for getting wasted on cheap beer, and many completely lack command presence. [End rant.]

When to Go
If you have any choice in the matter, picking the time to go can have a big impact on how miserable your time is at Fort Leonard Wood. I highly recommend getting a slot in the classes starting in May-June. By this time the weather has warmed up so the mornings aren't freezing cold, and by the time you're done with the "outdoors" learning you're in classrooms during the heat of the summer and the weather cools off for the last FTX and Sapper Stakes (more on those later). Best of all you're out of there before snow comes.

FTX 1
The last few days of the module are devoted to a three day field training exercise. Leadership should request a packing list early and do a gear layout to ensure everyone has everything. My class did that. Others before us failed to do that and had some smoke sessions to correct deficiencies.

We rucked out to the training area, which was about 6 miles away. Be ready to carry 60-70 lbs at a 15 minute/mile pace. Boots should be broken in well before the FTX. Once we were in the field we zeroed our M-4's with iron sights and CCO's. Qualification was done the last day on a pop up range. After range ops were completed we would ruck about 2 miles back to the FOB. The first afternoon we did land nav with DAGR's (Army GPS units). After dark we went back out with NVG's and the DAGR's.

The second afternoon we did the first two "Warrior 2020" tasks. These tasks are meant to provide a uniform standard for male and female soldiers as the Army moves to integrate females into the combat roles. Right now the program is still in a trial phase so our class is part of the data collection process. The first two tasks included throwing a grenade 25m so that it lands within a 5m radius of the intended target (if you can throw a baseball from home plate to 1st base you're good to go). The second task was filling 26 sand bags in 52 minutes and then building a fighting position in 20 minutes or something like that. Nobody in the class took more than 15 minutes to do the whole thing. Both of those tasks are done in "full battle rattle" meaning your helmet, body armor, load carrying equipment and gloves. It's definitely tiring, but not difficult. My squad had the fastest average time so we won freshly grilled brats.

We caught trans back to the company area, cleaned weapons, and like that Alpha Module was done. Three weeks down, 17 to go.

OCS Phase III: Washington

Phase II ended in Texas at Camp Swift with 33 candidates. Two were given the opportunity to recycle, one was medically rolled to the next class, and one failed the final APFT test, leaving us with 29 that would progress to the next phase.

I didn’t know much about what was coming in Phase III, but unlike the other phases, that didn’t bother me too much. I knew there was nothing that this phase could throw at me that I wasn’t fully capable of handling. Physically, I knew that I could handle any challenge in Seattle, WA thanks to all the conditioning in the Texas summer I had been doing. Mentally, I knew I was well equipped to execute all that I had learned at or above the level of proficiency that was expected of an officer candidate. Emotionally, I was ready to be done and two weeks in the Pacific Northwest was all that was in the way.

One of the main differences that really seemed to impact the flow of the training was the lack of training schedule. Phase I and II both had published training schedules that each candidate carried, but Washington didn’t post one. This makes writing about my experience a little more challenging since I’m relying totally on memory. It was also frustrating at the time not being able to know what was coming- and it seemed like the cadre were getting their information a few minutes ahead of us.

The first few days were spent on team building exercises. We rehearsed tactics and developed SOP’s. So what we had several months to work on in our home states suddenly we were in a totally new platoon and had to figure the stuff out in a couple of days. We did a team challenge course that had obstacles and physical puzzles to solve- it was the same exact course as the one we did at Fort Jackson during basic training, only this time the leader of each event was graded based on the troop leading procedures we are taught and had to lead the course like it was an actual mission. It felt more like summer camp than the army.

From there we packed up our rucks and headed out to the FOB on busses. The packing list we got was ridiculous (as usual) so you end up taking two weeks’ worth of gear that you’ll only use 20% of and then cram yourself onto a school bus designed for 6 year-olds. We moved into a tent city where we were for about a week and conducted our squad training exercises from there. We shared it with the ROTC kids whom we generally made fun of as often as possible for how “rough” they had it. Although I will say they had great chow that we didn’t mind sharing. (Speaking of chow- be ready to eat a steady diet of MRE’s. Most days it’s your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You haven’t lived until you’re scarfing down chili mac at 0600.) The FOB had tents to fit a squad (12 men) with cots to sleep on. It got down to the 50’s at night which was a shock for my body that hadn’t experienced night time temps below 85 in several months. No showers but they had port-o-johns (Skookum type) and areas for shaving/brushing your teeth.

The squad lanes we did were exactly like the ones we did in Texas. There were three types of missions: ambush, move to contact, and recon. Before we left for the field they had an elaborate briefing on the situation we were entering that set the expectation that each mission would be part of an overarching storyline and the successes and failures would impact other missions. Well… that wasn’t really the case. I was more than underwhelmed at the lack of execution promised by the organizers. We quickly found out that Texas candidates were more than prepared for this phase and easily crushed the requirements to demonstrate proficiency in the eight troop leadership procedures. Other states lacked the field experience to do well and struggled through the first few days to find their footing. All I can say to that is I’m glad for the training we had and I’m glad we put in time outside of OCS to rehearse- it paid off.

From squad lanes we moved to patrol lanes (two squads together). Everything operates the same way- just on a larger scale. By this point everyone had either passed or failed their field leadership evaluations so this was a chance for the people cadre believed were capable to lead a larger scale mission. After a couple days of patrol lanes we got move to our urban ops training in Blackhawk helicopters. (Side note: It is acceptable to reduce the four syllable word to helo or bird, but never chopper. Which is why at every opportune moment it was your duty to say in your best Arnold voice: get to ze choppah.) It was a quick 10 minute hop but the views were amazing. Clear Washington skies, evergreen forests, and Mt. Rainer made for a trip you could almost mistake for a tourist ride.

Fort Lewis has a giant Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) site. It’s at least three full blocks of furnished buildings- schools with playgrounds, 5 story high rises, homes, banks, gas stations- a snapshot of a suburban city. For the next three days we got the best training most of us had ever seen on how to negotiate the civilian and tactical environment of the modern battlefield. I drew one of the short straws and had to carry a M249 machine gun for the two weeks in Washington, but using it in an urban setting was a lot of fun. It was three days of hard chargin, door kickin action. I loved every minute of it. Our mission ended in a “Blackhawk Down” scenario with everyone involved in securing and extracting the pilots while chaos happened all around you. And just like the real event 20 years ago- nothing went like it was supposed to. You can’t put a price tag on what we learned.

From there we went back to our WWII barracks near the main post and got to shower for the first time in about a week. And then 60 guys got to share one washing machine. Brilliant. Garrison life was the most lax I’ve ever seen in OCS- we got to use of cell phones in the barracks, and we didn’t have to have our wall lockers to a standard- they just had to look clean.

The last few days were a cake walk. We took the combat swimmer survival test (or something along those lines) in the pool one day- it freaks out all the people that can’t swim but having spent 5 years as a lifeguard and nearly all my childhood around water it wasn’t that challenging.

Another day we went to a lake to do the water confidence course which consisted of squad boat races in zodiac boats, river crossing with your gear, and a 90 foot tall zip line. Despite an air temperature in the mid 50’s the water seemed decently warm, so that was a fun day.

Our last hurdle was the obstacle course. I hate these things and always will, so I didn’t really enjoy that day. Same obstacles as the ones in basic training, you just did all of them in one day. It was quite the workout.

After that it was the typical hurry up and wait. Clean weapons, clean barracks, clean anything else you can find, wander around the PX, pack your stuff and wait for the end. There was a short graduation ceremony that counts as your date of rank even though the official pinning ceremony wasn’t until a few weeks later. Immediately following the ceremony we got on busses back to the airport and people started celebrating like military men and women are so good at- I opted to take the first flight out over hanging out in the airport bar. It felt great getting on that plane- leaving Fort Lewis and OCS behind me.

Out of over 100 candidates that started the OCS program in Texas 29 finished. I am one of them.

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.

National Guard Officer Branching Process (From the Limited Perspective of an Officer Candidate)

This month we got our branches- one of the most exciting parts of OCS thus far. The process seems more magic than method, and our class had a lot of questions about how it was going to work, so here's a basic timeline of how it happend.

Early this spring we had a branch briefing- essentially an overview of each of the 16 officer branches in the Army. The title of the presentation should have been "99 Ways the Army Will Take the Branch You Thought Was Going to be Cool and Suck All the Fun Out of it", subtitle: "And How Fast You'll End Up Behind a Desk." It was disillusioning at best. (See editorial comments at the bottom.)

As an Officer Candidate you're at the mercy of the National Guard. It's not like the enlisted side where if you don't like the MOS slot that's open to you at the MEPS station, you don't sign the papers. As an officer you take what you get and do your duty. The state fills 2LT slots with OCS and ROTC graduates, so each commissioning source is given a proportional amount of paragraph and line numbers (equivalent to job codes in the civilan world) to fill.

The exception to that rule is that you can be a go-getter and find a 2LT slot in a unit and branch you want and get that commander to put it in writing and send it to your state HQ. This can be done at any time up to the time you leave for BOLC. Just don't expect it to be an easy route and there are still no guarantees it will work. We had a female in our class who secured a paragraph and line number only to be re-assigned by the state. On the other side of the coin, we had someone who changed branches after being assigned (which you can do before BOLC begins).

Two months after the branch brief, we were given our branch preference sheet. There are 16 branches available to junior officers. The branch preference sheet asks basic questions like where you live (with the option of asking if you're willing to travel over 250 miles to your unit), what your degree is in, which unit(s) you've been a part of (they won't let you go back to any of the units you were serving in as an enlisted soldier, even if you were just there for one drill between BCT and OCS), and as the title suggests, what your preference is for branching.

Of the 16 branches, Aviation and Medical Service Corps require that you've already been working with a recruiter from that branch, so start that as soon as you get into OCS if those are routes you wish to pursue. From there you number your top 13 choices from 1-13. Males must have three combat arms branches in their top five slots.

We turned those in April, and in May we were given our branch and unit assignment. What happened in between, no one really knows. We think our cadre did most of the branch sorting and then the state HQ assigned us to our units. The top performers in the class got their top picks. The inverse was true for the bottom of the class.  (UPDATE: Cadre informed me that all the decision making was done on a state level without their input.) Most got what they put into their top three.

After OCS I'll be moving on to an Engineering unit- I'm excited about that. Initially, I didn't want to do what I did on the civilian side, but over time I realized its what I was good at and professionally it won't hurt to have parallel career paths. It took about two minutes for us to embrace our branches and the banter carried on like we've been doing those jobs forever.

We've spent a vast majority of our time in the field the last two drills. That will make for much more interesting reading and I intend on summarizing all that into one post. As a class, we know we're close to being done with this, but as a whole we haven't started acting like "short timers." We're still working hard to the end, it doesn't get any easier and there are sill a few key hurdles in between us and Phase III.  And though no one will admit it, we're getting nostalgic. We just have two drills left with this close knit group before we're all sent on our separate ways. We've developed close friendships and they're ones I'm exceedingly grateful to have.


Feel free to shoot me any questions that weren't clearly answered in the comment section and I'll to my best to answer them.

*IMPORTANT NOTES TO READ BEFORE YOU SIGN AN 09S CONTRACT*

Editor's Note: These opinions are strictly my own, calling them like I see 'em. The Army spends a lot of money on propaganda to keep the slots filled; take it with a lot of salt. 

The number one lie that's fed to the civilian populous is: "Join the National Guard and you'll get to do all the high-speed things you see in the commercials!"

Here's my response to that:
  A) Go active duty, the weekend warriors don't get the budget to do cool stuff. Best I can tell we're the B-team. 

  

  B) Don't be an officer- go enlisted and lead as an NCO. The higher you get in rank the farther you get from the action. Don't let people tell you that because you have a college degree that you need to be an officer. I've met plenty of NCO's that have graduate degrees. There is no correlation between a degree and leadership. If you're doing this for the money, you'll be disappointed regardless of which side of the house you're on. 

  

  C) Join the Army eight years ago. Read the news- combat ops are winding down in Afghanistan. The American people have no more appetite for sending our troops to another country. So if you're joining to satisfy your Call of Duty fantasies you're pretty much out of luck unless something crazy happens (in which case see subparagraph A). 

  

  D) Seriously, read subparagraph B.  

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!

Staring Into the Heart of Darkness

We lost four more so our numbers are down to 34. They all quit on their own accord and they were all  good people- this just isn't for everyone. The rest of us seem to have embraced the mentailty that we've invested too much already to just give up. One of our cadre calls it the momemnt that you stare into the heart of darkness and keep pushing.

The first drill after Phase I left us with some hope that things would get easier in Phase II since we have such a tight knit group of strong leaders- but the cadre are just requiring more and more from us to make sure we still struggle through this course. All part of the game- and for good reason. This shouldn't be an easy course to get through.

A note for the leadership- learn from the people who had the position before you. You're going to make mistakes, but don't make the mistakes that have already been made.

We have a guidon now, so that's cool- our motto is Vires Et Honestas (Strength and Honor) and some of the artists in our class created our logo.

We keep pushing on, embracing the suck so we can get those gold bars. 

The Start of Phase II

I'll probably start to taper off here in the level of detail as we go through Phase II and I'll hit the highlights over the course of the next year. By now we're starting to know what to expect on a monthly basis and the class is really coming together. Class 55 is a year ahead of us and just finished Phase II. Going into the weekend they had a class of 15. Six were pulled and said they had two choices- recycle with 56 or drop the course as the instructors deemed them unready to progress to Phase III. That's a tough pill to swallow as they've now spent over 16 months in the program, only to have to start over in Phase II. We don't know the exact circumstances of why those six didn't make it but it was a sobering weekend that made us all a little nervous. Two look like they may rejoin our class but no final decisions have been made. As of now Class 56 has 38 candidates.

We expected Phase II to start with a bang- the instructors telling us how sorry we are, how we'll never make it, how we forgot everything from Phase I, and on and on. But that didn't happen. Our student leadership was on the ball all weekend and we actually impressed the cadre. That's not to say we were perfect- we spent plenty of time in the dirt but overall we did a solid job. If we can keep it up for a few more months we'll have a good shot at making it to intermediate phase where supposedly the cadre take some pressure off. I'm not holding my breath.

We spent a lot of time in the classroom this drill. Most of it was purely death by powerpoint- Army Ethics, Army Writing, Army Leadership, Effective Listening, etc. All part of learning to be an officer but everyone (including the instructors) would rather be in the field.

We had a short religous service on Sunday morning that was led by an OC- it was the first time we'd done that  in Texas and I was glad the Cadre gave us time for it.

We talked briefly about graduation- we need to sart collecting dues for the graduation ball, our company guidon, and class shirts in the magnitude of tens of thousands of dollars. Apparently the ball is quite the expensive ordeal. It seems like a long way off at this point but hopefully the next year goes by quickly.

OCS Phase I: Kansas

Most of the things I heard about Phase I turned out to be untrue. It was worse than what people made it out to be. I'm not sure if we just had a tough crop of cadre but the intensity on day one continued for the whole two weeks.

Travel Day


We were slated to leave Camp Swift in Texas early in the morning, so most of us went down the night before to do a gear layout and save ourselves from waking up in the middle of the night to drive to Austin. That turned out to be a good choice. The people that didn't were scrambling the next morning to unpack and repack all their gear to ensure they had all the items on the packing list. [Note: they didn't send anyone home for packing list deficiencies but it makes you look bad when you give the excuse that you weren't issued something. Plan on spending a good amount of your first few drill checks on buying things your supply sergeant won't issue you.] We left in two charter busses with 43 officer candidates on schedule. Per Texas tradition we made a "say goodbye to Texas" stop at the first rest stop in Oklahoma and got smoked there before continuing on. About 11 hours later we arrived at the Kansas  Regional Training Institue (KSRTI). It wasn't what I was expecting- just a few buildings in the middle of Salina, KS. Immediately after arriving, we got smoked for about three hours by the Texas cadre. Long day.

Welcome to Kansas


Day two started out with in-processing and the opening ceremony. From there, 130 candidates representing Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois were marched onto the parade field. That's when everything broke loose. The hot afternoon sun already bumped temps into the 100's and the TAC's just had at us. It was an hour of low crawling, push ups, flutter kicks, front-back-go's, 3-5 second rushes, and any other forms of exercise the individual TAC's felt like throwing in. At breakfast we were told to take a piece of fruit for a snack later on- when I went through bananas were all that was left. Needless to say, it did not survive this event and it destroyed my brand new OC Guide and training schedule... outstanding. A few people were immediately dropped from the program as heat casualties- you have to show up hydrated and in excellent physical condition. We finally got into our assigned squads and platoons which had an even mix of people from all the represented states. The rest of the day was more smoke sessions and getting our lockers and beds inspection ready. Usually we'd come back to our bays looking like this:

Classroom Week

You'd think a week they call classroom week would be relatively easy, and in some aspects it was, but they found every opportunity to smoke us. Lights out was between 2230 and 0430. Usually you were lucky to be in bed by 2330 and then there was generally fireguard that would take up another hour in the middle of the night. Four hours of sleep was the average most people got each night. Add on top of that the physical exhaustion that came from the activities outside the classroom, and heavy meals right before and it made staying awake a constant battle. Each day was about eight hours of death by Powerpoint and tests were given at the end of the blocks of instruction. Each test had to be passed with a 70% or above to continue in the program and none of the tests were a cake walk. The hardest test was probably the LandNav test. I would consider myself to be confident in my skills but this test also required speed. If you couldn't finish the problem in two minutes you weren't going to complete the test (the sleep deprivation also added a fun twist to this dilemma). I ended up passing all the test but I probably won't be up for any academic honors at the end of OCS.

Early on in classroom week we also completed a 5 mile ruck march. The time standard is the same for males and females and it must be completed in under 1:45:00 with a 35-40 lb ruck, not including water, helmet, and load bearing vest. The fastest male finished in 59 minutes and the fastest female finished in 1:18. Average time was probably in the 1:25 range. The course was half pavement and half fine gravel roads and all of it was extremely flat. A lot of people had blisters after the event. I'd spent a lot of time preparing my feet beforehand so I was fine.

I also had my 48 hour leadership position during the first week. Be ready for failure and for everything to be your fault. No one on in our platoon got a "satisfactory" on their overall evaluation. Fortunately you don't need one until Phase II. I was a squad leader, so I was fairly low profile compared to the people that were 1st sergeant or company commander.

Field Week


My favorite part of OCS was the five minute helicopter ride to our bivouac site for our field training. I've never ridden in a helo before, so it was quite the experience. We got to ride in UH-60 Blackhawks with the doors open- I had a seat on the edge facing aft. I've never experienced anything like it. It was old hat for those who had been deployed but it sure beats a day at the office.

The rest of the week was largely dedicated to LandNav training. This is where a pair of well broken in boots was worth their weight in gold. Each day we were on the course twice- once during the day an once at night. Each course had us walking 4-6k of hilly, uneven terrain. (Somehow they actually found a hilly, vegetated plot of land in Kansas). We did the course with instructors, then small groups, then we did an individual diagnostic test, then the final day in the field we did our test. I got 7 out of 7 points in the day course but only 3 of 5 points at night. I got stuck on my 4th point. Pretty sure somebody moved it before I got there... Fortunately, the night course only required you to get 2 of 5 points to be a "go" for the test. We did all of our training exercises on the north course but the final test was on the south course. Everyone seemed to agree that the north course was harder overall but the south course was more difficult to use terrain association to navigate as the terrain wasn't as prominent. If you were fortunate enough to have trained at Camp Swift in Texas on the LandNav course the Kansas course shouldn't give you any trouble.

In between our time out in the field we had Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills to do. We each taught a skill and then everyone had to preform that task to standard. Passing all the drills was a graduation requirement. The drills are to the Army what a play book is to a basketball team. They are skills that are practiced over and over again until they become second nature skills that will save your life on the battlefield. We rehearsed everything from first aid, weapon assembly/disassembly, Nuclear disaster reaction, and planting explosives. I really enjoyed the hands on training and learned quite a bit more than what was taught in basic training.

The weather out in the field was typical of Kansas. Temps in the 100's and sustained winds of 30+ mph  all day long. We had one storm roll in that I got to watch while I was roving around the camp on fireguard. Watching the lightning dance across the open prairie was spectacular. They moved us into busses for a few hours until the lightning had all passed. We also got to enjoy the blanket of stars that stretched across the sky each night. I've never seen stars that clearly- even to the point that I could see the gaseous trails of the Milky Way. The field site was nothing short of a spectacular display of God's beautiful creation.

We had a church service out in the field on Sunday night, and it was quite heavily attended. Throughout the two weeks, I ran into a lot of people who were committed Christians. Three out of 40 people in our platoon were pastors on the civilian side and weren't there to be chaplains, but officers in combat arms. I was really encouraged to see so many believers stepping up to lead. The military truly is a mission field, and it looks like God is preparing a crop of officers to be salt and light to a community that needs to know him.

Recovery Ops

By the end of the two weeks I've never smelled so bad. The unhygienic ripeness was a badge of honor- earned by hard work and determination. We moved back to KSRTI for recovery ops by bus. We got back around 0200 after our night LandNav test and the TAC's were quick to remind us we weren't home yet. We were yelled and screamed at until we had all of our gear off the trucks and we were in bed. The next day we played "Combat Dodgeball" in place of our normal PT. That was actually really fun. From there we started getting everything ready for the battalion commander's inspection. Orders kept constantly changing as the deadline got closer and it was a struggle to get everything laid out like the TAC's wanted it. At the time the inspection was supposed to begin, they dragged us all outside and smoked the living daylights out of us. I was on the verge of puking my guts out when it was finally over. Apparently, there would be no inspection and we were ordered to secure all the gear we had laid out and go to sleep.

The last day was fairly chill. We cleaned everything, turned in our weapons, had a closing ceremony and were turned back over to our state's control. Immediately following the closing ceremony we boarded our busses back to the Lonestar State. We got smoked again after we crossed the Texas border at the first rest stop we came to. By that point it didn't phase any of it- we knew we were done. We came back with 39. We lost one soldier to paperwork issues, one female found out she was pregnant, one didn't pass LandNav, and one was a heat casualty on the first TAC attack on day one. And from here Texas Class 56 moves on to Phase II.

If you're going to Phase I, here are a few things not on the packing list that you'll want to have.

• Fox River Socks- Yeah, they're expensive, but when you spend days on your feet you can't put a price tag on blister free feet.
• Protractor- Because the standard issue one sucks.
• Ranger Beads- An essential for LandNav.
• Master Lock Speed Dial- Perfect for operating under pressure and in the dark. I HIGHLY recommend getting these. Follow the instructions precisely when setting it up. Also available at Lowes.
• Super Fine Map Pens- The smaller your points are on the map, the more accurate you can be. And when you're looking for a square 4 inches by 6 inches on a course that's a square mile in size, precision matters.
• Baby Wipes- Most days showers won't be an option. Especially out in the field.
• Name tapes/patches- To make your life easier, set up your uniforms (including patrol caps) with all the patches, name tapes, and rank insignia you need. You'll be glad you did.

My advice to anyone about to go through this is to look at one thing at a time. Don't worry about what's coming up next week, tomorrow or even an hour from where you currently are. One thing at a time. Don't count days. Just focus all your energy on what you're doing at the moment and do it well. Show up in shape. If you don't prep for the time in your boots you'll immediately regret it. Hydrate hydrate hydrate. They can inflict pain and take away sleep but they can't hurt or kill you. If you've gone through basic training then there's no reason you can't complete this.

*All photos taken from Kansas Officer Candidate School Alumni Association Facebook page

GX Magazine Phase I Article

Class 56 is just a few short days away from shipping off to Phase I in Salina, KS. I found the following article that glosses over what Phase I is like- its more Army Hooah than actual content, but I'll give a much better breakdown when I return.

In the meantime: GX Magazine 7.1 (article on pg. 38-39)

Here we go!

Pre-OCS Phase 0 (Weekend 3 of 3)

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.

Pre-OCS Phase 0 (Weekend 2 of 3)

This weekend was definitely different than the last drill. I hesitate to say it was easier or harder than last month, it was just different. As a class we were more prepared and the leadership seemed more put together. Also all of our TAC Sergeants were out, so we just had the regular cadre sergeants who don't feel the need to yell and scream as much. Out of the original 83 candidates we had 58 return for another round. About six of those were new- they didn't attend the first Phase 0, which is technically allowed but highly frowned upon. My squad leader from last drill didn't come back, so since I was Alpha team leader I got bumped to the squad leader position. Friday night was spent continuing to take care of paperwork deficiencies. Getting all the documents together for Phase I is a small miracle thanks to the efficiency of government employees. We got smoked once or twice Friday night but it wasn't bad. We were in bed by 2230.

Saturday we had a 5 mile ruck march with our kevlar helmet, LCE, and a 35-40 lb. ruck, plus water. All in all I probably had about 60 lbs. of gear. The standard to pass is 1 hour 45 minutes. It was still cool when we stepped off at 0600 in the dark. I settled into a 16 minute mile pace, which is the pace I had done a few training marches at- reasoning that coming in 25 minutes before the standard time is a pretty good time. The instructors, however, wanted to see times closer to 1:10:00, so I was a little too slow for their liking, but now that I know the times they're really looking for I'll adjust fire. We were told we couldn't bring commercial combat boots to Phase I in Kansas [later that was taken back, commercial boots may be worn as long as they meet the regs], so I used my standard issue boots, and they tore my feet up. Thank you lowest bidder for your excellent work. Looks like I'll need to be wearing them more often to keep from blistering up in Kansas.

The rest of Saturday was spent in the classroom doing a land nav test that they let us take with a battle buddy and reviewing the basics of how to apply the classroom portion to the practical course. Around 2000 we were in a mass formation and the cadre passed the word on to the student 1st sergeant to release us to our barracks for the night- most of us were in shock, the sun wasn't even totally down yet. So naturally we were excited to get a little free time. Right as they were giving us the orders the cadre stopped us and said we needed to stretch out first. No problem. I needed some good stretching time after the march that morning anyway. Well from there it took a nose dive- after the first two stretches, two of the officer cadre just started smoking us for the fun of it. Talking to a sergeant about this later, NCO's go through training on when to tell how much is too much. No doubt smoke sessions are meant to toughen up soldiers, but contrary to popular belief they aren't designed to injure or break people. Officers go through no such training. So for an hour and a half we got smoked. Some of the females were crying and one candidate stood up and quit the program. A minute after he did that we stopped and continued stretching. I about puked from how hard they worked us, but thankfully I didn't- that's not the kind of attention you want.

Sunday was the land nav course. The course is designed to be extremely difficult so that candidates excel on the actual course in Kansas for Phase I, which our cadre told us is a joke compared to our course. Driving up to the course I could tell the woods were so dense you could barely see the sun coming up through the trees. Dense underbrush would be an understatement. We needed to find 3 out of the 5 markers that we had grid coordinates for- which the cadre promised would not be an easy task. There were no beaten paths and this course regularly fails seasoned infantry sergeants. We had three hours to complete the course and somehow my team of three hobbled around on our hamburgered feet and got all 5. We were one of the only (if not the only) groups to do so.

Candidates interested in going to the accelerated OCS course had to write a letter explaining why they needed to go. As of leaving Sunday evening, I didn't hear of anyone getting approval to go. Most people were told no, and a few hadn't received an answer yet.

Sunday afternoon we spent cleaning the barracks and standing on the concrete in the hot sun until we had been there long enough to satisfy the training requirement. We got released at 1600 which is about an hour earlier than when the scheduled time was- no one complained. Another month down and only one month left in 0 Phase.

Green Light to Pre-OCS

I retook my APFT this weekend and passed without any trouble. My LT made us all pass with a minimum of 70 points in each event (something he informed us of three days prior to the test...) not the Army standard of 60 in each event. I scored personal bests in both push ups and sit ups, so that was cool. Now I just need to repeat that performance for the next three months of Pre-OCS so I can move on to Phase 1 of OCS.

I submitted my application packet for OCS today as well, so I'm on track and ready to go down to Austin in a few weeks.

OCS Symposium

This last weekend was the OCS Symposium for Class 56 at Camp Mabry in Austin. Essentially it was just a workshop set up to help candidates complete their packets for admission to OCS. I was skeptical at first and thought it would be a waste of time, but it was actually helpful in getting the packet together. A lot of the time was typical "hurry up and wait" but it's all part of the game. I found out I've had my security clearance for several months already- apparently it's been sitting on someone's desk for the whole time. We also found out Texas has funding for 30 to go to accelerated OCS- that's a huge difference compared to "Texas isn't sending anyone." With those kind of numbers half the class could go accelerated. It is all dependent on where the instructors rank you in the OML during Pre-OCS to determine if you get a slot or not.

Sunday morning we did an APFT, you need a passing score to move on to Pre-OCS that starts in March. My grader shorted me on at least 20 push-ups that I know I was doing correctly- so I only was given credit for 35, not enough to pass. At that point it didn't really matter what I did from there, if you fail one event you fail the whole thing. I maxed the sit-ups and got a decent run score considering I was too cold to feel my feet for the first 1/2 mile. We should have another chance to take the test next month at drill, that will be my only shot at getting into this class for OCS. I'm frustrated because I preformed well enough to exceed the standards, but I guess sometimes you have to be willing to prove that more than once.

I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.

Battle Handoff

I've been getting a lot of questions about what's next, so here are the most recent updates:

Battle Handoff
I've been officially handed over to my unit, so I now sport the patch for the 36th Infantry Division on my uniform (its an arrowhead with a capital T in it). I'll be a part of this company until I am assigned a branch of service. If I end up as an infantry officer chances are I'll be at that unit, but if I get a different branch assignment I'll end up somewhere else.

Officer Training
For a while there was some debate as to which route I'd be taking to get my commission. One of those options was eliminated as the Accelerated OCS program is not currently available to officer candidates in Texas. ROTC was also on the table so I could go back to school for my masters degree and my commission at the same time. The problem with that program is that it's really designed for full time students and working while going to school would have been a logistical nightmare for 2 years. The final option, and the path I'll be taking is the National Guard Traditional OCS program- one weekend a month for 18 months. The training is held outside Austin, TX at Camp Swift. That program starts in March 2012 and I will be drilling with my current unit until then. Once OCS starts I'll be promoted to a "Candidate" and be paid as an E-6 (2 grades higher than I am now) and once the course is finished I'll be given my commission as a 2nd Lieutenant. Training won't stop there- I'll still have a 4-5 month Officer Basic Course (OBC) where I'll learn my specific branch responsibilities (similar to AIT) and a 6 week Basic Officer Leadership Course II (BOLC II). It may sound like a lot of training but it's also a lot of responsibility to be handed, so it'll be worth the journey over the next few years.

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.

RSP- White Phase (Part II)

Here's what went down at Sunday drill:

Morning PT consisted of running in four man teams with a stretcher and a 250 lb. dummy for about 350 yards, once we got to point B the "MedEvac" changed landing points back to where we were originally. So back we went. Then we did log PT wich consisted of lifting a pole with a buddy until your arms fell off and then some. After we were sufficiently drenched in our own sweat, we set up an ultimate frisbee course and played that with the sergeants for over an hour. That was actually quite fun- it also showed how people instinctively give and take respect based on someone's athletic ability. After my performance in the game the other enlisted guys wanted me on their team to help them out with things and the opposite was true for the soldiers who didn't play well. I'll leave the application of that lesson for the sociologists out there.

After much welcomed showers we got down to the warrior training we prepped for the day before. We spent what was left of our morning assaulting the armory until we got to the point where most of us were visibly frustrated with how it was going. It wasn't like the movies where we just instinctively knew what we were doing- that's the work of hours and hours of training with your unit. What we were doing was amateurish at best. The sergeant wisely brought us all back into our classroom so we could talk through the issues we were having and appointed me as squad leader (SL). From there we talked through our frustrations and we got everyone on the same page as we tweaked our battle strategy. It was great experience for me and several times I had to remind myself I'm not actually a 2nd Lieutenant and this was still the sergeant's training exercise. He was gracious though and let me act like a SL would need to- even including running the operation I planned. It was reaffirming to me that this is where God wants me to be right now. I was in my element and enjoying every second of it.

On the administrative side of things I found out my best shot at OCS is going to be in March of 2012. That'll give me about 3.5 months after basic to keep getting in shape and learn what I need to. The way it will work is that I'll compete against other candidates on an Order of Merit List (OML) that takes into consideration previous service and PT scores (probably some other things as well). Based on where I rank on the OML I'll get to pick either accelerated (8 weeks, 23% pass rate) or traditional (18 months one weekend a month). My goal is to get into accelerated. If I fail out I'll just get rolled into the traditional class. I'm sure I'll talk more about that after basic, but as of now this is the plan.

One more drill weekend next month and then it's off to Fort Jackson, SC for basic!