Backstory
3 years ago I spent 4 months in phase 0 of Officer Candidate School (OCS). For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, it’s a prep program aimed to prepare you for OCS (read about it here). It’s an intense basic training style environment designed to challenge you mentally and physically. Depending on the route you choose, it can last upwards of 16 months with the main goal of becoming a Second Lieutenant (2LT). As I was saying, I spent 4 months preparing to become an officer. I was incredibly eager to get my commission and excited to go to OCS with my class, but as fate would have it, after months of packing, career being put on hold, family being put on hold, and anxious anticipation I got a call from the RNCO (Readiness NCO) of the OCS program saying that my orders have been cancelled. I was devastated. I received no explanation why, no apologies, no nothing. So, that day I learned something. The ARMY owes you nothing. No matter how much you do for them, how good you are, how many PT tests you pass, hurry up and wait’s, deployments…etc the ARMY owes you nothing. Why? Because YOU took the pen, and signed your name – not them. I was given some good advice by a 1LT mentor at the time and he said, “No one cares more about your military career than you. If you want to be an officer, you have to take initiative. You have to want it. That’s what being an officer is all about.”
My goal with this post is to give other officer candidates an idea of what to expect. It’s a long post, but I want to be detailed. Because as I was researching, there weren’t many detailed posts. So, if you have any questions please feel free to email me at chris@ocwebb.com
Here we go again…
So fast forward 3 years, and here I am again with that advice still stirring inside. But I believe all things happen for a reason. As it turns out, my orders being cancelled turned to work in my favor. 6 months later I was cross-leveled to the 1191st Engineering Company where I would spend the next 2 years preparing, going to, and leaving Afghanistan (read about it here). I learned valuable leadership skills, met some lifelong friends/brothers/sisters and grew as a person. I earned my E-5 (SGT), which turned out to be the most rewarding part of that experience. But being a SGT wasn’t enough, I still had a chip on my shoulder from being screwed out of my commission 3 years back. But instead of holding a grudge, and pouting, I decided to take another stab at being an officer again. So, 3 years later, 2 amazing little girls, a deployment, a promotion and TWINS ON THE WAY, I’m still going to do it! Why? Because “No one cares more about your military career than you!”, and as I’ve learned, the world owes you nothing. So If you want something, take it! You can make whatever excuse you want, but I believe fate lies in your hands.
Paperwork
So, 2 paragraphs later, here I am. I’m gathering ALL of my paper work again, pulling tons of strings and getting my OCS packet together. Roughly 20 documents I have to get signed and submitted. The first phase 0 starts in April. Assuming everything goes as “planned”, I will leave for Phase 1 of OCS in June. If you want to go to OCS, pray you have a somewhat responsive RNCO. They will also be the ones to get you the right paperwork and POC to get you started. Once you hear back from the OCS strength recruiter, they’ll give you documents you’ll need to sign and turn back in. Yes, it’s a pain to get all this paperwork. But remember, nobody forced you to do this. You wanted this right? As with anything worth fighting for, suck it up for a little while so you can reap the rewards for a lifetime.
Preparing
I’ve just received my welcome letter and all the information that I need to know to get started. I’ll be honest, though I’m confident that I’ll make a good officer, doubt constantly runs through my head. What if I suck at PT? What if I screw up cadences? What if I forget something? What if? What if? What if? But I’m committed. As seen in the picture above, this is me mowing my grass with two 25 lb dumbbells. Not because I want to look tough or even to brag, but because that’s what will be expected. Ruck marching with a minimum of 40lbs on your back 12 miles is expected. But as I’ve learned with many parts of my life, a balanced amount of preparation will relieve a ton of stress and give you mental clarity. From my experience before, DON’T OVERTHINK. You’re smart enough, otherwise you wouldn’t have qualified to even enter OCS, right? Trust your skill and what you know. If you don’t know something, great! You now have something new to learn. That’s what life is about and that’s what I believe being an officer is all about. Next up, phase 0.
One of the worst parts of OCS – packing. This is my living room after sifting through 4 containers of military gear. Fortunately, because this is my second time through phase 0 and the packing list hasn’t changed much, a lot of my gear was still in place from 3 years ago.
April Phase 0
First phase 0 is now complete. There’s no doubt this was one of the my physical weekends I’ve had in a long time. If you’re just coming off of basic training, then a weekend like this might be familiar to you. If you’re an NCO and you’ve been in for a while, it’s mainly just annoying. It’s dealing with all the BS all over again.
Day 1 – So we showed up that evening, and the first thing we did was take a PT test. The push-ups and sit-ups were done inside because it was blistering cold and snowy (Ohio weather at it’s best). I did great on my push-ups and sit-ups, but my run was awful. I usually prefer to run in shorts and a t-shirt, but there was no time allowed to change. My pt tops and bottoms were both soaked! Eventually, I couldn’t feel my legs and this all affected my performance on my run. Let’s just say I’m glad it was a diagnostic.
Afterwards, we got in our ACU uniforms and met in the drill floor. That’s where they changed leadership. Leadership titles are frequently changed, either by the next month or by being fired. Leadership includes a: CO, PG, PL and Squad Leaders. I was immediately assigned 3rd squad leader. I was responsible for 10 guys this weekend. After the change in leadership, we were briefed for the following day and we went to bed around 1100.
Day 2 – We had a 0430 wakeup and had to be outside for PT at 0530. Once again in April it was freezing cold, and nothing is worse than doing PT in the wet cold grass. After stretching, we began a 3 mile run. I was wearing my GPS watch, and we averaged around a 9 minute mile (not including all the times we had to turn around to get fallouts). Afterwards, we arrived back at the barracks and got ready for a full day of land nav. We did a brief land nav check on knowledge and then we headed out (Read land nav basic knowledge here). We spent all day plotting coordinates, shooting azimuths and counting our paces. This course was extremely hilly and lot’s of ravines to fall into. Not to mention the thorns that left red dots all over my legs.
Later that evening we ate chow. It was Hot A’s, so it was a really good meal. With the exception that the cadre “forgot” eating utensils and plates. So we were eating out of old MRE bags and Zip Lock baggies.
After we ate, we did night land nav in pairs. We were given 2 hours and we actually completed ours in about 45 minutes. I’ll admit it’s intimidating and daunting, especially since you can’t see. We were only allowed a red light, which blended in with the compass degree’s. The best way to handle this is to “Preset your compass”. For instance, if you want to head 270˚ in the dark. Align your compass to 270˚, then rotate your bezel ring to align with your magnetic arrow. So now, as long as your bezel ring and magnetic arrow are lined up, you’ll be heading 270˚ (Read about the compass here). Eventually we found all of our points, and transited back to our barracks around 2300. Just this day, I put in 30k steps. So if you use a fitbit or smart watch, you’ll understand how much work we did that day.
Day 3 – was full of D&C (drill and ceremony), Tac Shack procedures and Dfac procedures. These are all outlined in OC Guide. Make sure you know them inside and out! After speaking with other troops, this is non-negotiable knowledge. We were let go around 1600 that day.
Overall, these 3 days were very tough. Maybe just culture shock after being away from basic training so long. But one weekend down, and 4 weeks away from phase 1.
To quit or not to quit
One of the hardest decisions in the world is to know when to try harder or to walk away. For the past few days I’ve struggled with a decision I had made. I wrote my OCS leadership and decided to walk away from the program. Must sound hypocritical, after everything I’ve said above, but hear me out. Being an officer is not an easy decision. I decided to leave the program because I wanted to do right by my family. My wife and girls were concerned that I wouldn’t be able to give them the attention they deserve. So after some deliberating, I wrote my command and requested to leave the program. But here’s what I’ve learned since then. It’s not OCS, it’s my priorities. I generally have a lot of things going on in my life, and I wanted to do it all. But it was taking a toll on my wife and girls. But dropping OCS wasn’t going to solve my dilemna. If it’s not OCS, then it will be something else. So after talking it over with my leadership and more importantly, my wife I’ve decided to continue the program. I’ve learned that sometimes you have to experience these kind of feelings to get perspective on everything. So, after being reassured from my command that I can manage this and my family (even with twins on the way), I’ve decided to continue the program. So what can you learn from this? Get your priorities straight. Keep your family first. If OCS trumps your family, then get out. But if your family support you, then keep the priorities straight and drive on. This is a lesson I’ve learned the hard way.
May Phase 0
Another weekend down. Above is a summary of my Saturday according to fitbit. Steps-wise, this isn’t the longest I’ve had, but close. So if you use a fitbit, you can know what to expect. Remember a lot of this includes smokings (pushups, situps…etc). Key things that happened this month, were: APFT, tac shack procedures, classroom procedures, land nav/night land nav, 4 mile ruck march and uniform inspections among some smokings here an there. They are really driving hard on Required Knowledge. So if you’re reading this and preparing to go to OCS, start learning the required knowledge in your OCS guide. Another thing, start breaking in your boots now because the ruck march will rip your feet apart. I’m going to make this a short post, because most of this resembles April’s phase 0, but they added a new thing: night time procedures. They will inspect your barracks and do accountability. The last thing you do is fill your 1 quart canteen and the tac will say, “Ready, Hydrate!”. You’ll then be required to down the entire canteen in one sitting. Not a fun experience, so just be prepared. Next month is phase 1.
Final Phase 0
So let’s just start by saying that the intensity of weekend was raised by about 10. This was the final phase 0 before beginning phase 1. We started the morning as usual, with a PT test. I ran my best time so far. Afterwards, per our typical schedule we have formation then re-evaluate leadership. After a couple of PG’s getting fired, I was promoted to PG that morning. I remained the PG throughout the first day and the morning of the next. Outside of typical mistakes and little things, I think overall I did pretty well. My PL and I had fairly little smokings in leadership. So here’s what I learned, the PG takes responsibility for everything. He/she is responsible for executing everything the PL puts out. Granted my PL was pretty involved and shared the responsibilities pretty well. Overall, Accountability was by far the largest task expected of you. Always count! Learn to delegate, and do spot reports to ensure squad leaders know where their troops are. Next thing that helped as PG, is make a decision and stick to it. Be decisive and have and know why you made that decision. Lastly, be loud and confident. It’s okay to be wrong, but don’t be meek. Show that you want to be there. They will correct you if you’re wrong, but take control of your formation and claim them as your own. Oh, and know cadence! You do that a lot.
So onto the next day. We literally were woke up at 0415 to the sound of bag pipes and screaming leadership. Get outside! What are you doing! Get outside! So that’ what we did, we grabbed our sandals and ran outside and low crawled up and down a hill. Meanwhile, the scottish guy playing the bag pipes is still blaring in my ear as I try to get accountability, while being yelled at in my other ear. I told myself to remain calm, because I knew they wouldn’t kill me (or would they? lol). About 25 times I was asked to get accountability. So I did. Though it’s nearly impossible, because the TAC (training, advising, counseling) officers are constantly smoking your troops throwing off your count. So here’s a recommendation, constantly check with your squad leaders and get a count of your troops, but also make sure everyone is healthy and not hurt. This gives you something else to share with the TAC’s to curb the edge a little. Anyways, eventually I got fired (that’s how they change leadership), they fire you and give someone else a chance. For the rest of the day, it was more intense, but not as bad as that morning. We did another 4 mile ruck march, this time with a mission involved. The last day was a bit shorter than usual, but all in all we got some great hints as to what to expect in our 15 day phase 1. Stay tuned!
Phase 1
Coming soon…
Phase 2
Coming soon…
Phase 3
Coming soon…
Graduation!
Coming soon…
Recent Comments