OCS Day 81 (27/AUG/09)

September 2nd, 2009 Doug Posted in Journal Entry | 4 Comments »

Getting pinned!

Well, here I am. Graduation Day.

I won’t go into too much detail about the day, but we had to be at the barracks at 0500 for final cleaning and turn-in. We were issued our 2LT ID cards, got our leave slips and were out the door at 0630. I had to be back at the Ironworks at 1130, so we had breakfast at the hotel, kind of hung out a bit, and then I got my uniform ready for graduation. We didn’t actually wear the gold bars until after graduation, but we did put the ‘U.S.’ on our jackets in place of the ‘O.C.S.’ So then I went to the graduation with the rest of my family coming at 1230, as the ceremony started at 1300. The ceremony itself took about 45 minutes, and Tada! I’m a Second Lieutenant. (Actually I was a 2LT that morning, as we got our ID cards and the graduation was more or less nothing more than a formality for our families. But of course I still would have gone even if it was optional and even if my family would not have been there.)

So after that I took my family back on post and over to OCS to show them the area, and then over to the Infantry Museum. Again, the museum is a fantastic place and definitely something to check out if you are in the area (or of course at OCS!) That evening we went out to eat, then out for a couple drinks and that was the day.

So here I sit, 81 days later, and while getting my commission was certainly a huge accomplishment, writing an entry about OCS every day for 81 days seems like a quite big accomplishment itself. I’m quite surprised I was able to keep up with it and didn’t quit. In fact I’m thrilled that I was able to do it, and looking back on it glad I did it. At the beginning I said one of my goals for writing this was being able to remember what I did, and I certainly accomplished that. That this could and seems to be helping other people thrills me as well, and I appreciate your comments and gratitude. But that’s it for me as far as the diary is concerned…I don’t think I’ll post anything about my drive back home. I will, however, be trying to keep this site somewhat up to date and make it better. There are countless typo’s I’m sure throughout the entries, so I will be going back to clean those up (while I always seemed to find the time to write entries, even if it was a few days later, proof-reading was another matter!)

But anyway, it has been a lot of fun, and I am thrilled that I am closing off this diary successful in what I came down here to do.