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Good day today. We had a good ruck march this morning - I thought it was pretty easy, but at least we're increasing the distance a bit. My rucksack and my vest were situated a little better this time, and that made a world of difference. With my new Blackhawk combat boots, it's like walking on air. On an even more positive note, I got some praise from my Platoon Trainer today, an Infantry Captain who I look up to quite a bit. That clearly put me in a good mood and helped me start the day off on the right foot (which I definitely needed after only getting three hours of sleep last night).
Today we had a long class on the Troop Leading Procedures, and although I am already familiar with them, it was good to get a refresher. Our class was taught by this badass Australian Army Sergeant Major. He clearly knows his stuff, and he's clearly been there, done that, and gotten the T-shirt. He's been in the Infantry for 24 years and fought in the Middle East. At any rate, it was very cool to get a class from him and get his perspective on the Troop Leading Procedures.
Another pleasant evolution this week is that we are finally allowed to have coffee, soda, and energy drinks in class. This is extremely beneficial because Building Four (where we have our classes) is also known as Building Snore! Additionally, we get "study time" this week, instead of "study barracks," which means that we can use our phones, laptops, ipods, and even leave the Battalion area after dinner chow. Previously we had to sit at our desks and study for two or three hours a night, then go right to bed. It is a very big mental and emotional help to know that at the end of the day you will be able to relax and make a phone call or surf online.
At any rate, this is BOC N signing off.
Oh and P.S. Tomorrow we will be exactly 1/3 of the way to being commissioned!
- Location:The Room
- Mood:content
 - Music:"Indestructible" - Disturbed
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Today is not a good day. My bullshit tolerance is at a record low, and everything is aggravating me to the extreme. I hope I'm in a better mood tomorrow. Oh yeah, and the student leadership needs to jump off a bridge.
- Location:Same as always.
- Mood:cranky
 - Music:"Stars and Boulevards" - Augustana
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| Week two is done! We had on-post day passes on Saturday and Sunday, but had to be back by 3:30, which was annoying. Knock on wood, but I think we are getting an off-post pass this weekend, assuming we don't screw up too badly between now and then. Weeks three through six are all classroom training, which is just fine with me. That means our day looks like this: Get up, PT, chow, class, chow, class, chow, study time, bed. Too easy. The classroom days seem to go by faster for some reason, even when the classes are extremely dull. This is mostly for my own purposes (so I can catalogue what we've done for PT here), but this has been our PT schedule so far:
Week one:
Tuesday: Army Physical Fitness Test
Thursday: Pushups and Situps
Friday: Battalion 5 Mile Run
Saturday: Crossfit with the CPT (pullups, pushups, military press, squats, wall jumps, sprints)
Week two:
Monday: 4 Mile Ability Group Run (w/ 5 times up "Cardiac Hill" - painful!)
Tuesday: Pushups and Situps
Wednesday: 5 Mile Forced March w/ 45 lb Rucksack
Thursday: Crossfit w/ the CPT (pullups, pushups, squats), plus Last Man Up Sprints, then Abdominal workout
Friday: 5 Mile Ability Group Run - just under 8:00/mile pace
Week three:
Monday: 2.4 Mile Run, plus Crossfit workout at Doughboy Stadium (pullups, pushups, sprints up the stands, lunges, bear crawls)
Tuesday: Combatives (hand to hand combat training)
That's it so far. The PT here is very very good, especially the runs. The Captains here at E Company are some of the fittest people I have ever seen, and they like to run us to death. Add to that the fact that we have to run everywhere we go each day, and you have a recipe for some nice metabolic shifts!
I hope everything is going well at home, and I will try to call some people this weekend (assuming my new phone comes in the mail this week - at the moment mine is broken). Keep on keeping on, and all that. - M Oh P.S. Please don't use names in posts to this blog. Capitalizing the first letter of a person's name will be sufficient (i.e. M or S). Thanks! | |
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Hello all,
We have finished week one! It is not quite as difficult as I had imagined, since there is not much in the way of mass physical punishment. However, the instructors are very very very particular and if some little detail is missed or someone messes something up, they will make your lives miserable with extra chores to do and will take away sleep and personal time (not that there has been more than an hour of personal time this week). The first half of the week was basically admin stuff, but we've since started to get into some actual classes. These include first aid, land navigation, etc. Once we cover individual tasks, we will begin to learn the tactical and administrative sides of leading others. Most of it will be a refresher for us prior service people (particularly those who were already combat arms), but it should be fun. If anything it will at least make the time go by faster to be doing something meaningful.
A few weeks from now, we should start getting more and more free time and privileges (i.e. coffee and food in classes at Building 4, being able to carry our cell phones, etc). I will continue to keep everyone appraised of my situation here. Talk to you soon!
- M
- Location:The room
- Mood:calm
 - Music:The cadence that is stuck in my head
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We are now living on the main post at the OCS barracks. We have temporary rooms and roommates that will only last until after we take the physical fitness test and the flock is "culled," so to speak. Once that happens, we will be assigned new platoons, squads, and rooms. We have heard many different things about the cadre that will be leading our class. This includes everything from "last cycle they booted out 30% of their candidates," to "oh their company is the easiest - don't even worry about it!" We are all full of uncertainty about the week to come, as it will be a rude awakening for some, and certainly an adjustment for all of us. The one that is certain is this: Officer Candidate School will either be as hard, or as easy, as we make it. If we keep our heads straight and square each other away, we should be able to knock everything out and sail through the course. However, if we get stupid and let each other make avoidable mistakes and/or don't follow the rules, the next twelve weeks will surely not be pleasant. Also, the amount of free time that we have (to do things like update this blog!) will depend greatly on how well we do. Anyway, true believers, I have to go get some chow. This weekend could potentially be the last time that I have free time for a few weeks, so don't expect to hear from me. Thanks again for all the well-wishes before I left!
I just want to get this week started and kick the PT test's ass.
- M
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So, ironically, I am not feeling as gung-ho about Infantry, Infantry, Infantry!!!!!! In fact, I am starting to see how Armor/Cavalry, or Field Artillery would also be interesting. I wouldn't be guaranteed the "Hooah schools" (i.e. Airborne and Ranger), but I could still probably walk on to Airborne, and if I perform well enough, I might be able to get a Ranger school slot at Field Artillery school. The benefits to Field Artillery are that I already have an FA background, and that I am ahead of the game with my Combat Action Badge (awarded to non-infantry people who engage or are engaged directly by the enemy). The CAB would also help me out in Armor. If I were to take Infantry, however, I would be at a disadvantage because I lack a Combat Infantry Badge (only awarded to Infantry). It could be argued that if I take Infantry, I will be deployed soon enough to get a CIB anyway, but who knows? I've got six weeks to decide, and we will be hearing presentations from officers of all branches, so I will be sure to ask good questions and get the best intel I can.
If I had to, at this moment, put together my list, though, it would look something like this:
1. Tie between the Big 3: Infantry, Armor, Field Artillery
2. see above
3. see above
4. Military Intelligence
5. Corps of Engineers
6. Ordnance
7. Signal Corps
8. Military Police
9. Transportation Corps
10. Air Defense Artillery</p>Of course, if I perform as well as I am hoping to, I should not have to come close to needing 10 fall-back choices. It seems like we have a pretty good group (at least the 20 or so that I have met so far), but not many of them are quite as motivated to do PT. Hopefully that means that I will smoke them on the PT test.
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| We've arrived at Fort Benning, the self-proclaimed "Best post in the world!" That's what the signs say anyway. I will be the judge of that, however. Thus far, our stay here has been pretty uneventful, albeit a bit aggravating. We are still stuck at 30th AG, which is the inprocessing center for everyone that gets assigned to Fort Benning. Unfortunately, Benning is a basic training post, so we are stuck in an area with new recruits and Drill Sergeants. The good aspect of this is that it is very gratifying to have a Drill Sergeant speak to you like you're an equal. The bad aspect of this is that our freedoms are very curtailed at the moment, as they don't want their prior service processees acting the fool in front of the new recruits. Additionally, the civilian staff at 30th AG treat everyone like dirt, new recruit or not. I will be honest: it's a little unnerving having your finances, family information, and accession status at the mercy of a government employee who couldn't care less about helping you out.
The negatives notwithstanding, the main post (where we will be training during OCS) appears to be very nice. It is a relatively old post, but it is very nice, and there is plenty to do. There are so many soldiers constantly moving through this post for OCS, airborne, ranger, and Infantry school that the post requires adequate facilities. There are several different places to hang out within a five minute walk of the OCS barracks. This includes a ten screen movie theater (showing current movies, thank god), a starbucks (with wi-fi access and FREE COFFEE REFILLS), the Benning Brew Pub with the attached Mexican restaurant, a Subway with attached MWR activities center (movies, pool tables, video games, etc.), and several other restaurants, as well as a mini-mall and Clothing and Sales. This is good news for us Officer Candidates because it means there will be plenty to keep us busy during the weekends. There is nothing worse than having time off on a military post with nothing to do. I, at first, was feeling emotions similar to those I felt when being deployed to Iraq, but these have subsided for the most part. I feel better after seeing the main post and checking out the OCS area. Also, it is comforting knowing that communication with S and other family and friends will be a breeze, unlike when I was in Iraq. All in all, I am feeling pretty confident about OCS and the coming months. I just hope I stay healthy, avoid injury, and perform well. As always, my thoughts are with the little one growing inside S's tummy - I can't wait to meet her!
Yesterday's workout: Pushups, situps, and 100 Parallel bar dips
Today's workout: 50 minute run
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| So I figured I should decide what order I am going to put my branch preferences in, even though I only want one of them. I need two combat arms (one of which has to be in my top three), two combat support, and two combat service support.
Top Three:
1. Infantry
2. Armor (includes Cavalry)
3. Corps of Engineers
The Rest:
4. Field Artillery
5. Military Intelligence
6. Aviation
7. Air Defense Artillery
8. Ordnance Corps
9. Signal Corps
10. Transportation Corps
Basically, the only one that I want is Infantry. I am hoping I don't get screwed out of it. The worst case scenario, though, is probably that I am stuck as either Armor or Field Artillery, which are still combat arms. There is a good possibility, I'm assuming, that someone will be stuck with Infantry and not want it, enabling me to swap with him. | |
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Here's the order I've decided on for my training wishlist. It's mostly so I don't forget it haha.
We're assuming here that I have completed the OCS, IBOLC, Airborne, and Ranger pipeline.
Pathfinder school - learn to assist in pre-airborne insertions
Army Master Fitness Trainer school - Become a badass runner and apply PE principles to Army PT
Jumpmaster school - mastery of all things Airborne
The next are SUPER wishful thinking (but hopefully what I'll be able to do after a few years with a unit)!
SFQC - become superman
Mountain Warfare school - climb mountains, Army style
Combat Diver school - sneak up on bad guys underwater
Scout Swimmer school - recon by way of water
Combatives school - vulcan death grips and whatnot
- Location:Che Laptop
- Mood:excited
 - Music:"Touch the Sky" - Kanye West
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| Who watches the watchers? This is one of the questions raised by David Ayer’s Street Kings, a fast-paced police drama featuring Keanu Reeves and Forrest Whitaker. The story immerses you in the under-the-radar world of the LAPD’s Special Vice unit. Obstruction of Justice, planting of evidence, falsification of reports, drug deals, and murder ensue. Reeves plays an alcoholic gunslinger of a cop who does the missions the department would rather you not know about. Whitaker plays the Vice commander who is always defending the unconventional methods used by his team. Things get complicated and some cops die; Reeves looks like the bad guy. How far will he go (and should he go) to clear his name? Are the tactics he and his team uses justifiable? Do we really want to know what the police and military do when we aren’t watching? Bottom Line: Despite the sometimes lacking dialogue and, as usual, uninspiring performance by Reeves, Street Kings will leave you thinking about the nature of justice and whether or not an honorable and necessary end can sometimes justify a questionable means. Oh and there’s lots of gunfights. And the guy who plays the Human Torch. 
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