20 Things That Are Important To Know About Army OCS

So, since I am now just a week away from graduation I figured I would finally make my list of "20 Things That Are Important To Know About Army OCS." This blog was not just a blog to take down my thoughts and chronicle my beloved OCS time, but it was also designed to give those thinking about going to OCS an idea of what it's like. So with that, here is my little list of things to expect when embarking on this journey.

1) After our class graduates, prior service candidates will no longer be branched prior to OCS. They will have to compete with everyone else for a top spot on the Order of Merit List (OML). Pretty much everyone will get about the same average on everything except for two events: The Bolton Obstacle Course, and the initial PT test. If I had done well on both of those, I would be much higher on the OML. In other words, if you are thinking of going to OCS, be in great great shape before you get there. You want to be high on that OML or be prepared for a crappy branch.

2) When packing your stuff, download the packing list off of www.infantry.army.mil. But, also download the OCSSOP from the same website and make sure you bring the same items on that packing list as well. If you don't and you have a lousy cadre, you might be kicked out of your OCS course and put in HHC. That is about the most depressing place on Earth and you will have to start at day 1 again. You don't want that.

3) Do not sign into OCS until the date on your orders. If you sign in early, you are under the control of HHC until your class starts. You don't want that, believe me.

4) They will give you an outline of the fraternization policy at OCS. DO NOT violate this policy. I don't care how good looking the gals are here or the guys, do not date your fellow candidates and definitely do not date candidates in other companies.

5) Do not lie, cheat, or steal or tolerate others who do. There is an investigation underway right now centering around someone in the platoon who cheated and the individuals who knew and did nothing about it. Your career is worth more than that idiot who wants to take a short cut while you work your butt off.

6) Start to practice saying sentences without profanity. It really has no place in the officer world.

7) The first two weeks be prepared for severe indigestion almost every meal. They make you run right after eating. It's required and for two weeks I did nothing but puke. Led to a dramatic weight loss though.

8) Be prepared for a dramatic weight loss. But, you might gain some of it back when you hit senior phase and they start treating you like a person again.

9) The Bolton obstacle course is about the hardest physical thing I have ever done. Make sure you are proficient at climbing ropes and your upper body strength is solid. You have to pass this to move on.

10) Pressure your student leadership in week one to make a simple room SOP leaving lots of room in it for personal space. The SOP only has to be as strict as the students make it. The less strict it is, the easier life will be because the cadre use the SOP to inspect the students. If you make it stupid, life will be stupid. (I wrote our class SOP. I only put 6 inspectable spaces in it. There are probably a possible 20 places that could go in this SOP.)

11) Make sure your spouse, your girlfriend, or significant other are aware that they may not be talking to you much in the first 3 weeks. They try to schedule your time virtually around the clock during those weeks.

12) Bring civilian underwear as well as the military underwear. Much more comfortable.

13) Wash your laundry whenever you get enough free time. It doesn't come up often, especially in the first 4 weeks or so and there are very few washers in the company. I washed my laundry during the weekends, but I was assigned to a good company who had no problem with giving passes on the weekends. Other companies (A, B) give virtually no weekend passes until week 10. Other companies (C, D, E) are much more frequent in their pass giving.

14) If you have hotel points, use them here. I had 60,000 hotel points from the 3 TDY's I had taken over the past couple of years allowing me to stay in hotels almost every weekend. If you don't have hotel points, save up. When you actually get weekends hotels are great for resting up, getting privacy (which is a rarity here), and just having some time to goof off. If you stay in the barracks on a weekend it is very loud and un-relaxing.

15) Actually read your assigned book in OCS. It's really obvious who didn't read it and just wrote their papers from an online report or something. The cadre lose a lot of respect for you if you do this.

16) Being an officer is special and very important. Treat this course like you are pursuing an honor that very few people obtain. Don't ever take it for granted especially during the last weeks. complacency is killing us right now because many people have "senioritis" and believe they are done helping out with things like cleaning and stuff. Because of this, we've been severely reduced in our privileges.

17) Support your student chain of command as if they were the "real" chain of command. Unfortunately, 99 percent of the stupidity that can occur at OCS is a direct result of the student chain of command making decisions that just don't make any sense or them just wanting to be jerks to look "hard" in front of the cadre. They still have to be supported. If you give them ammunition to be jerks, they will be even bigger jerks. If they feel they've lost control of the company, then they will really be bad. Always support the student chain.

18) In the Army it is often the case that some rules are bent. Do not bend any OCS rules. Class 2's (an article 15 type of deal where they take away time and put you on details) were handed out like candy here. They will have random inspections to check if you have all of the 100 inspectable items we had to carry with us at all times. (There were a lot too. My cargo pockets were bulging every day.) Follow all rules given by the cadre and by the student chain. Later in your career you can bend some, but this isn't the place.

19) If you are tapped to be in the student leadership, use common sense when making your decisions. When scheduling the DEFAC, 1 hour is not enough time for a company of 180 people to eat and shower before class. Just think about little things like that and always think of the troops first before thinking about your own personal leadership eval.

20) The first two weeks are the hardest. Once you get through that, the remaining 10 will not be too, too bad. Just stick with it and you have to want it.

SOC Sharp