It was a day a long time coming and one that all of us were waiting for. As COL Kessler said during his speach, the best part of OCS might have been seeing it in our rear view window. But, I must say I've learned a lot during these past 12 weeks and hopefully I've grown from it.
The week was mainly administrative stuff. We had our new ID cards made, we had our DD214s signed, and we had to deal with some interesting demands from our student chain of command. One of them being that we stay late into the evening on Wednesday to clean the barracks. Normally, this would not be a weird request, but it turns out that final barracks cleaning was on Thursday morning anyway. What was the point of cleaning the barracks on Wednesday night just to mess them up as people lived there to re clean the same spots the next morning? Also, not a big deal if our families were not in town. A lot of us will have very few opportunities to spend with our families over the next year. With me, it will be the next year and a half at least since I am set to deploy after BOLC 3. I blame the student chain on this, because as it turns out the cadre actually recommended that we be released Wednesday night. The student chain chose to keep us late for no reason. How do I know this? A little birdie told me. Either way.
Graduation on Thursday was bittersweet. We had the oath of office at 11, the ceremony at 1, and the pinning at 2. I chose the airborne walk for my pinning. Most people chose the Ranger memorial. I have a lot of love for paratroopers. Hopefully, I'll get to go to jump school sometime soon.
After 2:30 or so, I drove up to Atlanta to fly back to Killeen, TX. That's it.
So, I guess before I close this I should say a few things. The cadre of D CO 3/11th IN Regt. are a group of very dedicated, skilled, and demanding NCOs and Officers. I learned a great deal from each and every one of them. SSG Rowzee was the enlisted cadre member of the cycle with CPT Surber becoming the officer cadre member of the cycle. I voted for both of them. SSG Rowzee due to all the extra time he spent preparing all of us for the field, handling our paperwork issues, and just treating us like human beings. CPT Surber due to his incredible planning skills such as the FLX 1-2. He also taught a class in land nav that if you paid complete attention to, you would not fail the land nav course. Sadly, I hear he is leaving the Army. The officers of 3rd platoon, my friends and colleagues, who all pulled together when needed and were always there for each other. I will miss this group. I will see them all individually in other places, but as a group, we could not be beat. I loved every one of them.
So, as I finally close out this blog, it's nice to say that I could theoretically retitle it "OCS 16 November through 19 February." "Hopefully" no longer figures. I have to credit my beautiful and supportive wife, Susie, for constantly telling me that I would make it even when I was a minute away from walking into the commander's office and asking for a release from the course. She kept my spirits high and gave me a goal to fight for. To my little daughter, Annemie, my precious child who looks at Daddy and smiles no matter what. Hopefully she will grow up to know that the reason why Daddy was gone so much was to keep her world safe.
So, finally, it pleases me to say: 2LT Sharp, signing off.
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