Submit a story!
October 13th, 2009 Doug Posted in General Site Updates, Submitted Stories | 5 Comments »
You might notice a new link on the right: you are now able to post your own stories about OCS to this site, for all to read. My goal with this is to broaden the experiences contained here. You all will have different experiences than I did: perhaps yours will help someone else out more so than my own, or perhaps you have some bit of advice on a particular event that you think might help another soldier out.
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.
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:57 PM
I’m going to start OCS this winter (December 7th). I can’t promise anything, but I might be able to keep track of some of the days and events. I kept a journal when I was in Desert Storm, so I might be able to do the same here. I currently live in Georgia, and I am married with two children. I am a former Marine and I’ve been out of the service for 10 years now. I’m 38 years old. This will be fun. and Tough!
December 2nd, 2009 at 2:58 PM
Cool, and good luck to you. If it is anything like my OCS, you probably won’t even be the oldest one there
December 8th, 2009 at 1:52 AM
The December class is set to start on the 14th. The APFT will be on the 15th. As of now, there are 300 slated for 172 slots. The November class had 240 for 172 slots…hard to get a slot unless you have at least a 260 on your APFT. FYI.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:12 PM
Ya I heard the same thing going into my class, that everything was way over slated, but it turned out not to be the case. There were rumors about 300 trying to get into 160 slots, but when I showed up on Sunday there were only 152 present. Not saying that this won’t happen in December, but it isn’t a lock. Regardless, you should be aiming for as high as PT test as possible anyway…
March 23rd, 2010 at 7:14 PM
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.