After All We're All Just A Brick In The Wall -- Back From The Field

We were all very, very tired. We returned from the second week in the field late Friday night, and only had about 40 hours off. It did not feel like enough time. Squad lanes were long, stressful, and physically exhausting. Unfortunately, when we boarded the buses that Sunday, we had no idea how hard the following week would be.

I've always liked going to the field. But like running, I have this attitude toward the field in which I dread actually going to the field. Once I get there, I tend to have a good time and the time passes quickly. This week we were so busy that time just flew by. Now, as I sit chilling out during a two and a half day weekend I reflect on the last three weeks. The field was supposed to be dreadful. It wasn't. In fact, I think the last three weeks may have salvaged the course for me. I learned a lot in the field and am very glad that they organized it the way they did.

Anyway, enough rambling.

Sunday night 158 candidates arrived at the McBride's Bridge training site at Ft. Benning, Georgia to spend a glorious week in the field engaging in simulated anti terrorist operations. Just like last week, this one began with an Operations Order. The terrorists we fought last week as squad sized elements were driven from our immediate area of operation. Now, they have regrouped in a neighboring region and have consolidated their resources to attack in larger elements. Now we must go out in platoon sized elements to fight them. Instead of the squad leader planner and executor that got evaluated during squad lanes, the following positions were evaluated during platoon lanes: platoon leader planner, platoon leader executor, platoon sergeant, three squad leaders, and a weapons squad leader. During the week, I got a third look as weapons squad leader. It required me to figure out how to place heavy machine guns when attacking an objective. Given my limited experience actually doing this, it was rough. Or at least, I thought it was. The company commander was my actual evaluator and he gave me a great evaluation. Guess I didn't do as bad as I thought.

There were a number of people in the company who are on the fence, generally because of planning. As I stated earlier, the platoon leader planner receives an operations order from the evaluating cadre and must take that information about the enemy and create his own operation order for the mission. It must fit into the specific operation order format. I feared this particular evaluation, mainly because in my experience the amount of information intel can give you about an objective would mean that it would take you hours to create a viable operations plan. At OCS, you have 40 minutes to plan, create a sand table, brief, and then move out. In Platoon lanes, you have an hour to do all that. However, the OPORD the cadre give us are short and the information is not quite as detailed. When I did planning, it was not a huge problem. However, there were many people who could not quite get it. They deviated from the OPORD format, which is basically an immediate NO GO. Although this might sound like a minor detail, it really isn't. The job of the officer is to plan missions. It's central and it's important. OCS recognizes this all to well in that failing the lanes means that you are a day one recycle into OCS. But two things disturbed me about those who failed the lanes: 1) to pass, all they had to do was not deviate from the very simple, structured format and 2) most of the failures were prior service with years of experience. Prior service candidates really, in my mind, have few excuses for screwing this up. Even in my strategic little MI world I have heard dozens of OPORDs briefed. I guess this is an indication of how very little soldiers truly listen to their officers brief the mission.

On Wednesday, we had our OPFOR time again where we went out and attacked other platoons trying to do their lanes. It was a good time except for the fact that Wednesday was the only day of the week it rained. We had fantastic weather during our three weeks. Other than the cold, there wasn't any problems. Wednesday was our only rainy day. It also kind of spoiled things because Sunday through Wednesday was very warm. The rain brought the cold back to Columbus. I prefer cold over rain though.

The long, long week in the field ended with the 10 mile ruck march. This was the last such march in the course and it was a little difficult after a week of running through the long platoon lanes. Some of the lanes required us to move, sprint, and crawl through kilometers of terrain. The 10 mile ruck march kind of made my already aching feet protest. However, I somehow made it out of the march without blisters or serious foot pain. After this, the only three graded events are the History 2 test, the commander's graduation run (which is very slow), and the PT test. By the middle of week eleven, everything should be done. Before that though, we must delve into week 10. After going to the field, there is a long period of recovery. We came back from the field at 1 PM on Friday and spent the next 6 hours cleaning the equipment. The student leadership was smart in deviding the labor efficiently among the platoons. They did it so well in fact, that the only stuff we have left to clean are the weapons and our personal gear. The cadre first sergeant was so impressed, that he released us for the weekend on Friday night. This was a surprise, considering none of us expected to be released at all. This weekend was supposed to be two days of cleaning the gear. That's ok, I won't complain.

Next up? Week 10. Recovery, History after 1865, and the Commander's graduation run on Friday. I cannot believe I am so close to the end. Until next week then....

SOC Sharp

It Was a Cold, Cold, Week in the Field

Week 2 of the field is now over. And what a week it was. I was extremely apprehensive about this week mainly because I have heard absolute horror stories about the leadership in the field evaluations. Not only can they be difficult, but failure of this particular task recycles you all the way back to day one. An extra 12 weeks of OCS to me sounds tragic, so I wanted to do as well as I could.

After the long 4 day weekend last week, we all met up at 5 and hopped a school bus to our site. We got there in the dead, cold night after a long drive. It was hard to make out details but it seemed a little more inviting than the sleeping bag in a hole setup we had last week. This week, we live on a FOB with tents containing cots. The tents are even heated! That was definitely a perk considering that it was very cold this week. I froze my butt off the entire week, so it was nice to have heated shelter at night. Of course, eventually you had to leave the heated shelter and that was never any fun.

Tuesday was basically a “day off” for third platoon. Our only tasks were to defend the FOB from the “insurgents” operating in our area and pull CQ. If you weren’t doing either of those things that took up only about 2 hours out of your 24 hour day, you were chillin. Many people were very nervous about their evaluations, so we spent a lot of the day running battle drills and briefing operation orders at each other. It was a very relaxing day.

Wednesday and Friday were our lane evaluations. You were evaluated on two points: operation order planning and executions. The OPORD is the bread and butter of the Army officer’s life. It is in a standard 5 paragraph format that lays out exactly how a unit will conduct an operation. In recent years these things have become very detailed. (Example: the OPORD for D-day was only 8 pages long. The OPORD for last year’s 15th MI Bn holiday ball was at least 20 pages.) Execution required the leader to simply execute the plan. Sound easy? Well, it can be very hard. You are usually given an azimuth and a distance that you have to dead reckon over intense terrain. If you fall off your azimuth and never make it to your objective, you automatically fail your evaluation. What makes this even harder is that since you are taking up the squad leader position, the compass and pace men are two different people in the squad. So basically, if your compass man has a brain fart, you are a failure. To add to it, you had to react to indirect artillery fire that can throw you off azimuth and react to any dangers that the cadre might decide to throw your way like injuring one of your men and you have to find a way to transport him and still complete your objective. Mine was a simple squad attack. We arrived on our objective early, attacked, and killed everyone there in a nice, violent, and efficient Army fashion. I got a GO in execution. On Friday I was evaluated on my OPORD and got a GO on that too. Money. Next week is platoon lanes. Even though each lane will evaluate 7 people at a time, they are planning to evaluate the NO GOs and those they feel are struggling first. I’m pretty sure I’m not on the struggling list, so I don’t see me being evaluated more than once. Even if I get a NO GO on that evaluation, I still stay in the course because you have to have a 50 percent GO to keep going. They would have to evaluate me three times and give me a NO GO each time for me to fail now. I feel very relaxed right now. Bring on that 10 mile ruck march.

Now before I depart, I have to bring up an interesting thing. One day out of the week (it was Thursday for us) you have OPFOR (opposing forces) duty where you are the objective that gets attacked by those being evaluated. Tuesday, one of our platoons somehow missed the fact that 5 people were missing at 2000 hours. It turned out that they were one OPFOR team that was forgotten. Lucky for them, they built a fire otherwise they might have been in big trouble. I think it was down into the 20s that day. The part I didn’t like was this one incident led the student leadership to conduct accountability formations about three times an evening for the rest of the week. OCS would be a fantastic place if it wasn’t for the student leaders. Now, they get their jobs done, but so many of them are so inexperienced at Army ways that they seem to think that formations are the only means of getting accountability (that’s why we have team leaders, squad leaders, and platoon sergeants), putting out information (again, those pesky team leaders are good at that too), and just saying “hello” sometimes. I think we have one formation a day in a typical Army unit. At OCS, thanks to the student leadership, we have about 14. I hate formations. Especially in the cold.

Ok, next week. Week three in the field. The highs are expected to be in the 70s with lows in the 50s. Cake baby, cake. Of course, the sweat will now likely add to the grime. MMMM, grime. Yeah, I was pretty dirty. But platoon lanes should be pretty easy after this week I think. Next week ends in a 10 mile road march. I’ve heard it’s pretty easy just because you are very motivated to get it done. Hopefully, we get to take items out of our 85 pound ruck. Anyway, I am off to enjoy my 30 hours off. Will write again next week.

SOC Sharp

Cold Week in Heck

It was the most difficult week yet of OCS. Despite all the complaints I may have, I have to admit that the way the course is set up builds a lot of character in a person that may be extremely useful in the officer's world. After this hard and interesting week, I am left with my thoughts. There are some good thoughts, but there are also some very horrible thoughts. Here was the week.

Last Sunday after we reported back in from our weekend, we had yet another SOCR practice. The Senior Officer Candidate Review is a ceremony in which we move from Basic Officer Candidates to Senior Officer Candidates. Now we have many new privileges and we can be saluted by basic candidates. The SOCR was on Monday, and it went just fine. Unfortunately, the warmth of the moment didn't last long. We boarded the busses for the field just a few hours later on Monday.

The packing list was handed out on Sunday. When I saw it, I figured half of the list would go into a duffel for a motor move and the rest would go into the ruck. The packing list was incredibly huge, and like many other lists you get in training, contained mostly items you would never use. As for it dividing into two bags, sorry soldier, it all goes in the ruck. The average weight of the final product was 85-95 pounds. I kept my weight down by taking my 5 MRE's and taking out all the items I would never eat. The fun part was getting the entire platoon and their bags on the bus. It was something that violated every safety rule in the book. There were rucks thrown around the bus with people buried beneath them. Finally, we arrived to the field.

The main focus of this week's field exercise was simply the land navigation evaluation. On Monday, we had a practice land nav course in which most of us found virtually no points. I managed to find one point on my map. Now, I'm not "Mr. Land Nav" or anything, but in all of the land nav courses I have ever done I have been very successful. Usually I finish a course in 2-3 hours out of the 5 that you are given. It turns out that the datum for the map was different than the datum that was used for the course. The complete failure of the candidates on this day destroyed the spirits of all of the candidates hoping to pass an evaluation that historically kicks 5-10 people from the course. Well, after an extremely cold night of trying to sleep we were all up at 4 for the land nav course. The OCS requirements require us to execute land nav in 2 hours of darkness, 1 hour of twilight, and 2 hours of daylight. I think we had maybe 1.5 hours of daylight for the sun never really reached full light until about 8 or so. Despite this, I was able to find all of my points in the first 3 hours. The course was actually pretty easy for me. Many people failed Tuesday's course and had to retest on Wednesday. I was ecstatic. Unfortunately, my success came to bite a little. Those who failed were set to go out on another course for practice on Tuesday afternoon. They asked the most successful people who passed to aid these candidates. The lack of volunteers kind of disappointed me, but it made sense. The land nav course requires you to find points in a huge area. We literally speed walked over rough terrain for 5 hours. Most people were exhausted and the feet hurt. Despite my feet screaming at me, I went and helped out a friend of mine. She found all of her points on the practice course and made my life kind of easy. I didn't have to explain anything to her other than very basic terrain association (i.e. if the contour lines on the map show the point on a hill, then look for a hill. If it's on low ground, look to low ground, etc.)

Tuesday is about where the spirits went into the crapper. We learned that one of our best people failed his history re-test on Monday. He was removed from the course and will be recycled. He was a great part of our platoon and we will miss him. Another good person from our platoon was also removed from the course during land nav. He apparently was trying to show another candidate where a particular road was. Since we weren't allowed to talk on the course, he broke that rule. But the cadre also felt that he broke the honor code for cheating by showing another candidate a road. Alot of people in the platoon felt it was a piece of BS. I take the position that we don't know what really happened and shouldn't concern ourselves with other people's business. All I know is that my friend Joe will not be with us any longer and it will be harder for me to get through the course. This particular person and I were good friends.

So, another problem in the field. It was cold. Very, very cold. Our company had these little sink contraptions that allowed you to wash your hands after going to the bathroom and such. I got up wednesday morning, and they were completely frozen over. Plus, we slept in sleeping bags on the ground. Army sleeping bags were very warm and comfortable, but you had to get in and out of them. Not only that, you had to sleep in your underwear in order to not overheat. That means to get dressed you step outside in the nice cold air in your underwear. The cadre made the determination that the cold was too much, so we came back to the company on Wednesday. The spirits of the company were lifted instantly. A lot of people were miserable and the student leadership (including myself since I was a squad leader this week) were working very hard to motivate the troops. We also learned on Wednesday, that we would get the full 4-day MLK weekend off if we can get the remaining training done and complete the road march on Thursday night. So, Thursday was a full day of basic infantry tactics in order to make us a little bit proficient in leading an infantry squad or platoon and not freeze up during the remaining two weeks in the field when we do leadership evaluations. Then there was the ruck march.

We have already done two 5 mile ruck marches along with 1 7 miler just before exodus. This was just another 7 miler. But, you had to consider several things. 1) We had all just completed a land nav course and most of us had feet issues from that. Those who failed and had to re-test once or even twice were even worse off. 2) This march required us to carry our primary weapons which included heavy machine guns for some people. 3) This march required us to carry special weaponry including AT4 (basically a bazooka) and claymores. 4) We also had to carry field radios. I ended up splitting a field radio with one of my friends who got 3.5 miles with it and felt like she wouldn't make it. This was the hardest road march we had ever done. A few people didn't make it and had to be picked up by the trucks. The rest of us had to find it within ourselves to move through the pain and keep going. After the ruck march though, we were released for our four day weekend.

So, the lengthiness of this blog kind of tells you what kind of a week it was. The good thing was we were busy for most of it accelerating the time. It seemed to go by quick. Right now, I am nursing a blister that formed and burst during the ruck march. I've never had a blister burst, so I have to figure out a decent treatment. However, another week is down and graduation is coming. Next week, we go back to the field and are evaluated on squad level leadership. The last two weeks in the field tend to claim some people, but I am now determined that it won't be me.

SOC Sharp

OC Sharp. I AM MILITARY INTELLIGENCE!!!!!

It was a very difficult week for many people. I was very glad that I actually came out of it really well. Most people are having issues walking today (Saturday.) Here's a breakdown of our return week:

Monday: The Downey Mile. It's a mile long obstacle course in which you and your squad carry a whole bunch of gear through the course. At the end of it, the squad must carry the gear and two logs across the finish line. Sadly, our platoon lost by a mile. Noone is sure about why the times were so skewed. After talking to many individuals from other platoons, I learned that many groups skipped the second set of walls and most cadre actually told them the quickest way to pass through obstacles. Slightly skewed, I'd say. But it was a smoker and it was muddy, for it poored down rain as we were doing it. Today was also the beginning of our history classes.

Tuesday: Platoon PT at Doughboy stadium. The entire company has to run the mile to the stadium. Then it was an hour and a half of stairs up and down the bleachers combined with 30/60 sprints combined with laps. More running. History continued today and we had our one lesson on military intelligence.

Wednesday: Urban Land Nav. The squad and platoon redeemed their Downey mile performance by coming in second on this event. It was running from one point to another all over post. Each point was at a minimum 1.5 kilometers away from the previous. Another smoker and our legs are fried. More history today.

Thursday: Military Intelligence exam. I got a 96. Not sure which question I missed, because I knew them all. We had Doughboy stadium again and now we can't feel our legs. We spent two hours doing our Senior Officer Candidate Review rehearsals. It was rough considering all we do is stand in formation and take commands. Cadre are still not satisfied with how the ceremony looks so look out for more rehearsals. We were told we have PT off tomorrow. It was a big morale boost, but the History test is tomorrow and it covers American military history between 1600 and 1870. The BCS championship game is tonight and many people are planning to forgo studying to watch it. I am not that stupid. This test historically fails 20 percent of the class in the first round and then fails 5-10 people in the retest. I don't plan on being one of them.

Friday: Got to sleep in, sort of. Many people got up at 4 AM to study because they watched the game. That woke the rest of us up. The test wasn't at all bad, probably because I studied. Unfortunately, I only got an 88 when it felt like a 95. There must have been some tricks in it that I fell for. As predicted, 23 people failed the test. They will retest on monday. And to round out the week, branching was today. It's a little event where the branch slots of the class quickly count down as the class goes by "order of merit" to choose a branch. I am already branched the coveted MI. There was only one MI slot available and the number one student took it. Surprisingly, Infantry went out after the first 15 people. Why the heck would you want to do that? Oh well. Finance and Signal also took a while to go out. Transportation (not surprisingly), Field Artillery, and Air Defense Artillery were the three branches that people at the bottom of the OML had to settle for. ADA was the last place branch that nobody wanted. I bet my father in law would love that. Once each student chose a branch, they had to turn around in front of the class and say "BOC (name). I select (branch)." If prior service, you say "BOC (name). I AM (branch)." It was actually kind of an interesting and fun event.

Ok so here it is. There's 6 weeks left now, however the meat and potatos of the course is almost over. We go to the field for 3 weeks and two skills will be tested: land navigation and leadership in the field. Leadership in the field historically kicks as many people from the class as the history test. I have some experience, so I'm not really worried about it. Not only that, the platoon will make an OPORD cheat sheet and an infantry tactic SOP. I don't see how you could fail if you have access to both of those. The trick though, is not to freeze to death in the expected 10-15 degree temperatures expected over the next two weeks. The field time will be broken up by a longer weekend next weekend for MLK day. That will be a good time to go back over the stuff we need to know. After the field is over, there's just History II and a PT test. 71 graded events and we're down to 6. Those are the 7 mile ruck march, 10 mile ruck march, Leadership in the field, History II, The PT test, and Land Nav. Sweet.

BOC Sharp

Return to Columbus: Preview of Week 6

The flights for the most part went well until Atlanta. The flight to Columbus, that lousy 19 minute flight, was three hours late getting off the ground. I sighed, happy in the fact that I scheduled my return to Columbus for two days before my required reporting time into Ft. Benning. This inconvenience would not affect my return to OCS, just give me a little less free time for today. I have a few things I need to do before I sign in on Sunday. I have to acquire a new pass to get on post, I need some extra OCS rank, I have to acquire a sand table kit for the field, and I have to inventory my gear to make sure I know where everything is.

It was a fantastic Exodus for me. My daughter is now 8 weeks old and she's absolutely beautiful. She looks like my wife with my blue eyes. I had a great time with both my wife and daughter and it was also the first Christmas for us all. I was extremely sad to leave, but I am determined to get OCS done. All I need to do to get my commission is complete OCS. BOLC 2 and MIBOLC is at the very back of my mind. My motivation will be to return to 15th MI on the 23rd of February wearing bars.

OK, check it out. This week will be more physical than anything else. Monday is the Downing Mile. This is a running obstacle course which will require my squad to run up cardiac hill and carry ammo and water cans over walls. Should be a good time. There will be two tests this week: the military intelligence test, and the dreaded History I test. The History test tends to cut 5-10 people from OCS. I don't worry about any test anymore that's in english, especially after 6 years of taking tests in arabic. We will also find out the results of week 5's tests that many people thought were difficult. Oh yeah, more physical stuff. Platoon PT will consist of stairs in a stadium. We will also do an urban land nav run. (Those are fun. Used to do those all the time.) And the week will be finished off with a company run. The big event for this week will be branching. The College Ops will find out what branch of the Army they will serve as officers. That happens Friday. Even though I am branched, I am looking forward to that day because it should be a party. There will be celebration and there will be some long faces. But, it will also give us a sense that the end is near.

So I guess the game is back on for tomorrow. After signing in I expect a urine test and a few inspections. This course seems to follow the same general format as an AIT and that's usually the general thing after an Exodus. For now, I'm going to try and enjoy my Saturday.

BOC Sharp