Buy the book here.

Just checking in with a couple notes. BOLC B is going fine, but I’ve been hobbled by a couple injuries. First I developed Plantar Fascitis, which is roughly where the tendon on the bottom of your foot gets inflamed, develops scar tissue, gets more inflamed, etc. It’s quite painful.

But being me and being stubborn, I tried to just run through it and developed a stress fracture because I was running funny to compensate for the Plantar Fascitis. So things could be going better…

School itself is going fine, and if I’m going to be injured, it is probably much better to be injured here than at OCS. They won’t send me home here; if this had happend last summer at OCS I’d probably be at home already.

But why I’m really writing this is I just stumbled across a book that really aims to do exactly what I did here: a journal of OCS. It is called ‘Give Me My Damn Bar,’ by Gabriel Landowski. You can buy it from Hulu.

What is weird about this is that he was at OCS at really the exact same time I was. He reported June 4th  while my class started June 7th. I’m assuming he wasn’t in my class, perhaps he classed up in the next class (or I have a really bad memory…)(edit: I misread the book description. He graduated on June 4th.)

Anyways, I’m anxious to read his book and will order it soon. I encourage you to go check it out.

Doug

That’s all I have for now, look for more posts if you’re interested.

OK, AMA-AOCS is over, and frankly it would be really hard to explain it all due to the vast amount of sleep we did not get. So I am going to break it down into how OCS was applied because there is a great resource here on this site. We learned the same information, just a compressed version of OCS.

Stress: You are cut off from the outside world.. completely, and almost every single day consists of a 19 hour work day. In leadership you will see maybe 1 hour og sleep.. and you better get that just so you do not fall out.

The TAC’s are on every mistake like flies on bull.. er.. poop. The process is the same, they cannot touch you but will make life miserable as possible.

Military bearing: even if you have it the other 40 or so in your PLT may not, and you will get smoked for it. Just a fact of life. However when you are in leadership, and in charge.. be in charge. Being filled with command presence AND doing your required paperwork right will make you there, doing it wrong and no presence.. well we had about 100 of those and they left. KNOW how to march and run 200 people, know how to do the evaluations prior to getting there, etc.

PT: Less then 250 and you might want to put AOCS off. Tough and very physical, not that you will not make it with a 220.. it will just be harder. Accelerated is what it is, and you do not have any time to heal, the better shape you are in the better you can deal with the minor injuries you WILL get.

Get a script for Motrin 800′s. Get enough for 3 times a day, for 75 days. You WILL be allowed to take it IF it is prescribed to you. This will help keep the injuries down.

Boots: Buy two great pairs of boots, issue boots will destroy your feet Rambo. Or you could not buy them and go home.

Good Socks: Nuff said.

Buy enough small stuff (no matter your size) to complete your wall locker. Having it ready for inspection at all times makes for less stress, and only small items can be fit in.

You are allowed only 1 duffle in your locker.. funny they ask you to bring 2 full of crap you do not need. So be sure you figure out beforehand what can fit into your duffle, what you NEED and what you can live without.

Do not store anything in the ceiling tiles, under the drawers or any other cavity you find. They know them all and it just earns everyone a smoking.

Stay awake but grab ANY sleep you can, it is rough, no sugar coating it. The instructors understand but the TAC’s will eat you alive.

Eat everything you can, TRUST ME. No worries about calories, you’ll burn them Muh hahahahahaha (sorry)! I concentrated on a carb heavy diet and still lost 30 pounds.

Above all you are there to be a leader, so be one. You have 1.5 months less to impress your TAC’s and they were (no kidding) kicking people out up until 2 days prior to graduation for failures in leadership.

I would suggest you also visit ARMYOCSNG forums, there is a wealth of information there.

Don’t worry, though, if it is legit, it will get posted.

First If I had not mentioned I am 39, prior service Airborne Infantry (Desert Storm / CIB). The decision to come back into the military as a citizen soldier is motivated by an early retirement among others.

Anyway Phase 0 is conducted to evaluate soldiers while slightly adding stress on them prior to phase 1, out of our current class all but 5 dropped for various reasons and the rest of us are only being sent because according to the TAC’s who WILL be going with us we are EXPECTED to pass and they would not have sent us if they did not believe this. All told our state is sending only 5 candidates, maybe a 6th who missed last drill due to a family emergency and has to take another APFT and conduct a road march. Considering there will be 200 candidates there for training and only 5 states it makes us feel good to have the training staff place allot of belief in us as candidates. Our Senior TAC told us that while “there will be no stars in this bunch” he expects us to represent the state.

Phase 0 consisted of inspections, classes focusing on Phase 1, inspections, and PT evaluations. We were in general not smoked too much but the mental stress was high. All told no candidate under 32 is going.. I find that strange that the younger soldiers did not want to handle it. Notice I said did not want to.. I guess that is what the TAC’s were looking for.

Inspections were a constant reminder that nothing is right, and they were actually focusing on us all being the same. Little things like helmets all being painted, tees rolled correctly, clean barracks. You can expect that they will take the mentoring roll serious and if you listen and apply what they say they will stop messing with you. Those that quit never learned this. They have nothing but time in Federal OCS.. time to mess with you. In accelerated that time is limited and if you are squared away from the get-go they will move on to weaker prey. They give you the OCS guide for a reason, read it. FM’s for a reason, read them!

Other then that nothing different then what I expected. As prior service I am looking forward to accelerated because it allows me to stay in the zone, rather then jump back and forth into my civilian life and career.

Now to the expense part. Doug mentioned costs when he first got to Federal, its no different in the NG. I had to scrounge to find all my gear, most finally got to me through my unit but I ensured I had more then enough. I bought extra shirts and PT gear, socks and non-issue boots. Overall I have spent a solid 5-600 dollars, more then likely more. Now this will actually make it easier, small tees to roll for inspections, extra tees for less laundry, etc. Boots are a big big big deal. Now I bought the Converse on advice from a recent grad, out of the box into a 5 mile road march not a single issue. They have done great on the last few 6 miles and 8 mile that I did for PT. Buy some after market boots.. no matter how Hooah you are.

I will post prior to leaving / when on the bus traveling down.

See you in Apr!

Well, now you can submit these stories and have them posted here. Just use the link on the right side or click here to send in your story. I will of course review them all and then post them.

Let me know if you have any questions.

I’ve kind of stalled in getting entries updated and cleaned up: I’ll try to continue working on that in the future. In other news though, I’m adding a major feature to the site in the near future: keep an eye out for it.

I’ve begun to go through and clean up the entries, so the errors throughout should slowly but surely start to disappear. I plan to continue doing this until I’ve gone through them all, as well as adding to the FAQ and other things. I’ve also got it in mind to try to write some sort of guide for preparing for OCS, including what to bring, what not to bring, what to buy at Fort Benning, when to buy it, etc. Don’t hold your breath for it though: I’ll post it when I’m done.

I also added a Google advertisement bar to the right. The goal is simply to pay site costs: anything extra will go to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. I’m not looking to make anything off this site: your friendly comments are payment enough.

As far as myself, I am in the National Guard, so I am back home and have resumed my civilian job. We were usually busy at OCS, but never underestimate the amount of time that a job and family take. I almost feel busier back here! ‘They’ always say that a deployment is harder on the spouse than on on the soldier: having been deployed and gone for schools, take it from me, it is true.

More to come.