OCS

Here's the OCS update:

In short I am going to do direct commissioning instead of OCS. I am currently working on my Chaplain Candidate application and that will be direct commission. If anyone has any questions about this then please feel free to ask. I can probably still answer many of the questions that you do have about OCS so again feel free to ask. If I find the time I'll try to post some FAQ's or OCS tips for ya'll but I can't guarantee that I will have the time. Here's a good thing to work on if you're going to OCS: run. Every company is different but each company runs a lot. Don't come to OCS expecting to get in shape; come to OCS already in shape.

So It's Been A Few Months...

Alright I had full intentions on getting updates posted during basic but before I left I really had not idea of how busy we would be. I will try to get a summary of basic:

Here are the main key points to Army basic training:

1. Lack of sleep

2. Rushed Meals

3. Road Marches

4. Attitudes

That's about it. Basic training is easy overall. The PT is not difficult if you've worked out at all before shipping out. The food is really not that bad and you usually have a selection of chicken, fish, or pasta. Here's what you will experience...Red phase (weeks 1 - 3) there are a lot of briefings...STAY AWAKE! If you fall asleep during a briefing you will regret it very quickly. A helpful trick to staying away is sniffing your hand sanitizer. Now that will wake you up. White phase (weeks 4-6) is all BRM (basic rifle marksmanship). You will point, post, and sprawl till you can do it in your sleep. Blue phase (weeks 7-9) is where you take all you have learned and compile it into your final FTX (field training exercise). When you finish you will be a soldier in the US Army.

A few tips:

1. Get as much sleep as you possibly can. You are working from 0500 till 2000 so the sleep you're allowed to get you need to take advantage of.

2. Be friendly. In basic you will be surrounded by annoying, immature people that you have to live with for 9 weeks. If you start off as a jerk then you have a very long couple of months ahead of you, but if you can be friendly to others then it will make your time a little easier. One of the toughest parts of basic is just dealing with other people.

3. Mole Skin. Most people get a blister at least once during a road march in basic but the chance of this can be lessened by using mole skin.

4. Cough Drops. This will be your basic training candy...bring some good ones.

5. Don't quit. A lot of people, even adult college graduates, will want to quit sometime between week 1 - 4. Don't do it. You will get out of basic faster just by finishing. If you try to chapter out you will most likely stay there usually till after everyone else graduates.

6. Very important - - - The Army is not basic training. In the real Army you are not constantly yelled at and treated like less than nothing. The real Army is great so stick with it and try to keep your morale high. Remember you only go through basic once so make the most of it and finish strong.

Final Week Of Freedom

As I expected there has not been a lot of things to blog about since my last posting. In summary, Court (my roommate who is also going into the Army - enlisted side) and I have been doing PT (physical training) with our recruiting station. Most people take the mind set that they're not going to work out until the drill sgts make them work out. In turn they end up hating basic. I don't want to be in that category so we have been working our butts off. Our main focus has been running but recently muscle failure has been added to the mix.

Besides that I had an APFT a week or so ago. My score was 272.
Running: 100 pts.
Push-Ups: 92 pts.
Sit-Ups: 80 pts.
My goal is to get a 290+ in OCS. I didn't score as well as I would have liked but I feel confident that what I'm lacking now will be made up for in basic.

So I've got 1 week left before I ship out. My plans are to drink coffee and eat chocolate and ice cream while I have the luxery to do so :-). This might be my last post before I leave but I will be writing a friend and she will be posting updates about basic. Also, if you have any questions or comments please feel free to post them and she will send them to me.

Future Soldier Training - Softball

My posts are kind of few and far between right now (mainly because not much is going on) but once I start basic I'll be writing my roommate and asking to post updates for me so this site should stay current.

We had another future soldier training today. We broke up into 4 teams and played softball. Each team played 2 games and my team won both of them. It was fun overall. I think what I enjoy the most from our future soldier training is not the actual sports we play but getting to know the other soldiers. It's exciting to get together with other people who have the same goals and are all training for the same purpose. When I go to these training days it makes me want to ship out right now. I have 50 days left. I'm sure that, in reality, the time will go by very quickly but right now it feels like 2 Nov will never get here.

There are only a couple of other things to update on...first, I told my work that I would be shipping out in a couple of months with the Army and they fired me. Yes, you heard right - they fired me. I asked them if I did anything wrong and they said absolutely not. I was a good employee but they wanted someone who could give them a long term committment. So now they're leaving a future soldier without any kind of income 2 months before I ship out. Sounds kind of like a cheap deal to me. Anyway, I'm not bitter. The Lord will provide.

Secondly, my roommates and I are planning a trip to Oregon the first week of Oct so if there are any OR readers out there who want grab some coffee while I'm in town then just let me know.

Lastly, I'm adding a couple pictures from our last future soldier training, but if you want to see more I have them on my facebook.

Water Survival

I've got 73 days left until I ship out. It feels like an eternity away but I'm sure that time will fly and before I know it I'll be in the push-up position being yelled at by Drill Sergeants. :-)

I realize it's been a week and half since my last post. I'm finding that while I'm in DEP (delayed entry program) there isn't a lot of stuff going on. I will try to post updates every week or two and fill ya'll in on my basic training preparation is going.

My focus this past week has been swimming. For those of ya'll who don't know, I HATE swimming. In the past I have had a tendency to freak out and panic when the water would get up to my chin...I have never even learned how to go under water without holding my nose. One part of OCS is a water survival test. There are multiple parts to it but in essence they want to make sure you can survive in water with your ACU's on and all your equipment. This link gives an outline of what the water survival test encompasses.

With the help of a few friends, I have decided to overcome my fear of water and learn how to swim. The first day of lessons was slow and I felt like an idiot through the whole thing. What 25 year old doesn't know how to swim?! I had to get past my pride and just do it. I was taught how to go underwater without holding my nose and how to stay under water without floating back up. That may seem incredibly easy for most of ya'll but for me it was a huge obstacle to overcome. Day 2 we moved into the deep end (9ft)...anything beyond 4ft is a "deep" end for me haha. I was taught how to freestyle swim and breast stroke (I'm still not very good with that one). This was also a big day for me because it was the first time for me to jump off the diving board. The rest of the week I've been focusing on improving my water treading time. The first time I tried to tread water it was for 45 sec but now I'm up to 2 1/2 minutes. Swimming is easy for most people but it's been a fear of mine since I was a little kid. All in all I'd say that this has been a very productive week. :-)

Unfortunately my work-outs have not been very good this week. I'm going to have to step those up next week.