Holy crip, he's a crapple!

Hello there, ladies and gents. I should be at mini-OCS in stead of posting an update, but I've run into a slight problem. 

Thankfully I was able to leave the 'Problem Solver' at home... this time.

At PT this past Monday I managed to roll my knee. There was a pretty nasty pop, but I was able to keep running and finish the workout. It swelled up, but I was hoping that by mini-OCS it would be ready to go again. Sadly this isn't the case. 

The Miami OSO thought it was probably a better idea to rest and get healthy opposed to put more stress on my knee and potentially turn what's probably a small injury into a bigger one. Especially since I could still potentially be selected for PLC Jrs this summer. With more pull-ups. 

Shit.

So the plan for this weekend? Pull-ups, crunches, and homework. Good luck to all the Candidates at mini-OCS.

Ah, damn - need to update.

Well, ladies and gents, I have to again apologize for my lack of updates. Between the Marine Officer Program  and school, things have been a little hectic - but that's not a very good excuse. It's far better to have multiple posts per month to demonstrate a progression through the program, but alas, we'll just have to play catch up for now. 

Truly, I am

In any event, March has been a busy month. For my medical clearance I've had to sign up for the DODMETS program in stead of going to MEPS. The big difference is under DODMETS I schedule my own appointments at doctors approved by the military. Especially nice since I don't have to pay for it. I'll be doing my scheduling today for hopefully next week, after mini-OCS. What's mini-OCS, you ask? 

You'll be sorry you asked

Mini-OCS is a fun-filled event that happens at selection offices all around the country in April and May. The general idea is to get a bunch of prospective OCS candidates for the coming summer classes together away from civilization for a few days and terrorize the shit out of them. In essence, it's meant to mimic the disorientation and the demanding environment of OCS, especially the "pick-up" from your staff of Sergeant Instructors. In our case, the Miami OSO is getting bused up to Orlando this Thursday to spend the weekend with the Orlando OSO and staff until Sunday. From what I've been told, there's a weigh-in, PFT, lots of PT, drill, a hike, classroom instruction from trained candidates, and probably more PT. We'll also be living off of MRE (Meals-Ready-to-Eat) and sleeping in tents. I don't know about y'all, but I'm stoked! 

In all seriousness, it will definitely suck at times. As will OCS. But this is also an excellent opportunity to experience some of the rigors of OCS while still having the ability to come home at the end of the weekend and prepare further. It'll be a great learning experience about the process as well as how I'll react in a similarly stressful environment to OCS. 

PT, for the most part, has been going well. I've gotten reasonably fast, believe it or not (I still don't). After running my first PFT at 25:12, my time dropped to 21:00 in mid-March and even lower to 19:55 last week. My target run was always under twenty minutes, but now I think I should even be able to lower my time to under 19:00 before OCS. We'll certainly see. Pull-ups and crunches are still a work in progress. Crunches are mainly because I haven't been doing them consistently. That falls completely on me. Pull-ups are a little trickier. I think one of the reasons they're slacking is because I've been working at the behest of the OSO to cut weight. I've succeeded there, but I feel like I've definitely lost a little strength in the process. The good news is they're improving again, so hopefully in another couple weeks I'll be close to a more competitive PFT score. 

As far as selection (and my PFT), I need my PFT score to more or less be squared away by April 15. That is well within the realm of possibility if I can max out my crunches (shouldn't be a problem) and get to fifteen pull-ups. Right now I'm at ten. That will put my score in the 260's, which is about average for PLC Jrs Candidates this summer. I would still fortunately have time to keep improving before shipping out in either May (1st increment of PLC Jrs) or July (2nd increment). What's on the agenda in the coming weeks? Pull-ups, pull-ups, pull-ups. 

"Fuuuuuuuck"

My application paper-works in fortunately just about finished and also needs to be ready by the April 15 deadline. That shouldn't be a problem, however, these things always seem to take longer than they should so I'm trying to get as much finished this week as possible. On a side note: we also have a gear list of things to pick-up for mini-OCS, including boots and PT gear. I was running in the boots a couple of weeks ago to break them in and did a pretty good job blistering up my feet. That was expected, although there is a pretty funny picture to go with it:

Mmmmm, tasty!

The only other thing I can think of is my recent promotion to Candidate Fire Team Leader. That's really not a big deal, but more designed to put us in leadership roles to prepare for that aspect of OCS. It's nice, but being in charge of three other people is definitely a tad harder than the alternative, so it's good to get used to it now.

In any event, I promise I'll update more frequently and certainly shortly after I get back from mini-OCS this Sunday. In the mean time, take care.

Weekend Update: 2/27

Right now I'm taking a study break from midterms so I figured it'd be a good time to post an update on how everything is going. For starters - I apologize for the dearth in posts. It's not that I feel like I'm letting down a legion of fans that can't wait to read every new post, I just feel that in order for this to serve as a resource for others going through the OCS process then I need to be a little better about documenting the details of my selection process. 

For the most part, it's been a pretty quiet week. The majority of my Marine Officer Program application has been submitted and I'm really just waiting for the rest of my college transcripts and reference letters to arrive. PT is hard, as always, but I certainly feel myself becoming a better runner. My crunches are also getting better, although I still should be doing more than I am to improve though. Pull-ups, conversely, are still my weakest part of the PFT. But really all I can do there is keep working on them and work to be better about doing more push-ups. 

 

Fuck you

Aside from my PFT, I've started studying for the ASTB, which is the Navy and Marine Corps flight exam. In order to not waste a 'metric shitton of tax-payer dollars' [citation needed], the military uses tests like the ASTB to judge whether or not candidates would be likely to successfully complete flight school and go on to be pilots. Training is pretty damn expensive, and any test that can provide some predictive validity helps in sending the right candidates to be trained as aviators.  


For my purposes, the ASTB sucks. I haven't taken math in a while, and 'mechanical concepts' is an area of study that I've worked very, very hard to avoid for the first 23 years of my life. Learning basic flight and nautical information won't be especially fun either. The test is pretty complex, so I'll designate another post to a full explanation of the ASTB. Between studying for this and my school mid-terms, my next two weeks is going to particularly suck. 

Wait a damn second here. I paid $70 and this thing won't even take the test for me?!

On a side note - the Navy was on campus a couple of days ago so I ventured over to introduce myself and see what information I could get from them on OCS. For the most part, the officer I spoke to wasn't very helpful. He seemed a little more concerned about hitting on the college girls around me than giving any particular insight into his branch. From what he did tell me I was able to gather that, like the Army, I would have to wait until I graduated from college before I went to any form of OCS. So of the three branches, the USMC is the only service that will let me go to OCS while I'm still pursuing my undergraduate degree. While that may not seem like a big deal, it moves to solidify the USMC's place as my personal favorite just a little bit more. I'd like to start training and get my foot in the door as soon as possible, so if I can do that with the Marines the soonest (while not making any major concessions), then that's preferable. This is also true if I can secure an aviation contract with the Marine Corps. In that case, I'd more or less be doing the exact same job with the Navy and the Marines so I'd have even less incentive to wait around for the Navy after college. We'll see how it progresses from here. 

Initial Meeting #2: US Army

Not just any other branch, either...

Well ladies and gents, after a long week of trading emails and finding a good time for a meeting I can finally say I've spoken to a representative of another branch of the military.
Last Wednesday I met Staff Sergeant Monsale of the US Army. Unlike the Marine Corps, the Army uses enlisted personnel as recruiters for enlisted soldiers as well as officers (at least from what I can tell). This would also be a great time for a disclaimer: my knowledge of the Army's recruiting process is very limited, at best. I will probably make multiple incorrect assumptions in this post alone. I highly encourage anyone with a more intricate knowledge of the Army's recruiting procedures to comment and correct any misconceptions and mistakes that I make here.
With that said, I did my best to get a feel for how the Army differed from the Marine Corps. Not only in the broad sense of it's mission as a force, but also just the intricacies in the OCS process. Obviously, I was mainly concerned with what my specific options were. The Army does not do a course like PLC in the Marine Corps; I could technically "join," however there's no way I could go complete OCS while in college. That's a little bit of a bummer. Not necessarily a deal-breaker though. 


One plus with the Army is the student-loan repayment plan (I'm not sure what the technical name is). From what I gathered, the Army will pay up to $65,000 in student loans, in lieu of your G.I. Bill. That's a pretty solid perk. Truthfully, I don't have that many loans though, and I personally think it'd be more worthwhile for them to pay for my grad school.. so that aspect is really a non-issue. 

As for the differences, the best place to start would be with actual OCS. Army officer training is broken up into three phases: Basic Officer Leadership Course (BOLC) I, II, and III. The first phase is OCS, which lasts twelve weeks. Phase II last six weeks and Phase III is branch-specific training. In the Army, you apply for a "branch" such as Infantry, Finance, Aviation, etc. It's more or less like a MOS with the USMC. The third phase is job training, which can last from six to fourteen weeks, depending on what branch you're selected for. Like the Marine Corps, you do have a choice, but that largely depends on your performance in the first two phases of BOLC and the needs of the Army.

The different branches are pretty similar to the MOS choices offered by the Marine Corps. You have to select three for your preference and one of the three has to be a combat branch. To me, this says there are probably a decent amount of people trying to join the Army with no intention of serving in a combat role. While the Army needs support elements, I think trying to entirely avoid combat in the US Army is kind of missing the point. 

Much like the Marines, you and your recruiter put together an application package to be sent to a selection board with many of the same required documents. Some of these include recommendation letters, a dress photo in a suit, letter stating why you want to become an officer, college transcripts, etc. From what I understand, you then are interviewed by a panel of officers to gauge appearance, confidence and how well-spoken you are, among other things. On top of that, I'll also need to take the Armed Service Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), which shouldn't be too difficult. In the office I did very well on the practice test (frankly, it doesn't judge very tough material) so I'm not especially worried. 


For the most part, I liked what SSGT Monsale had to say, but it really didn't do a whole lot to change where the Army stands in my list of choices. He generally confirmed what I was expecting in a lack of a comparable program to PLC. Also, the Army still seems like an inferior version of the Marine Corps, at least in combat elements. Marines are largely in better shape than their Army counterparts and I'd feel much better going into a combat zone with the Corps. Having said that, the Army did also show that it's an organization where motivated and ambitious soldiers can accomplish some very good things. The advanced education offered for soldiers in schools such as Jump School in Fort Benning, GA is just one of many opportunities for Army officers with a little drive to have opportunities to better themselves in their profession. With that in mind, if the Marine Corps doesn't work for me this summer, I'll definitely be giving the Army a strong look after I graduate.

A Little Bit Of PT Goes A Long Way...



PT? Fun? Surely you jest...

 For those of you I didn't hound via Facebook or text, this morning was my first PT session with my OSO and fellow Officer Candidates. For those unfamiliar with the Marine Corps or the military in general, PT = Physical Training. Like many words in the military vocabulary, PT can be both a noun or verb. In any event, we all met at a park a couple miles east of FAU at 4:45AM and PTed for roughly an hour. Personally, I had been looking at it a little apprehensively because of the unknown. Really the only guarantee was that it was going to be hard, and it certainly didn't disappoint in that regard. We had all sorts of fun running, doing pull-ups, and completing an exercise circuit on the beach, with more running. As hard as the PT was, it was also a lot more fun that I would've expected.

There's a certain amount of group camaraderie that goes with a bunch of Officer Candidates working out together. Sure, the work is hard and it does suck.. but having people suffer through it with you makes a huge difference. It also fosters competition between the group as well as encouragement and motivation. It's much easier to finish a workout when you've got ten other candidates pushing you towards the finish line.

Captain Pages made it pretty clear that first time attendees really needed to focus on finishing the workout. It's pretty hard stuff, but it'll come with practice. Thankfully, I held my own. Definitely wasn't the worst there but also a long way from being at the top of the group. Some of these candidates have been going balls to the wall for five or six months, so it's going to take some work to catch up. And trust me, I have a lot of catching up to do.

Captain Pages and a few Lieutenants are on campus this week recruiting the FAU area so I was able to see them later in the day and finish filling out my application to be in the Marine Officer Program. From what I understand, the program is pretty much just the applicant pool and training program for people who are trying to get selected for OCS. With that completed, I can focus on my PFT score, getting my recommendation letters squared away, and start studying for the ASTB.

As for what's on the horizon: PT, PT, and more PT. We only meet formally as a group once a week on Wednesday, but the other candidates get together at other times to do additonal PT. This is very necessary because once a week really won't cut it for preparing for OCS. Aside from that, I've also got my own routine that I've been working on to keep me busy. Once I get my weight down to 185lbs (seven more pounds to go) I can get physically qualified at MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Command) and move further along with my selection package for OCS.

I still need to formally speak with the Navy and Army when I get the chance. The Navy's tough to arrange a meeting with because their office is a pretty far distance from me and I have difficulty going during the week with my class schedule. I'll hopefully find some time in the next couple of weeks to schedule an appointment and speak to someone.

As for the Army, I've been having a pretty good deal of trouble with their recruiting process. It's disjointed at best. From their website I wasn't exactly clear on who I needed to speak to for an officer program so I requested more information. This put me in contact with a civilian contractor that had me fill out and return a questionnaire of pre-qualifying questions. She informed me that my local recruiting command would contact me in the next couple of days. After about a week she checked in to see if I had been contacted, which I hadn't, so she put me in touch with the recruiter that I should speak to. We've exchanged a couple of emails, but thus far he's been pretty slow to respond and hasn't really answered many of my questions. I'm hopeful that we'll be able to clear this up in the next week or so, but for right now the Army is looking more and more like a last resort to the Marines and Navy. As well as things are going with the Marine Corps, I'm pretty tempted to keep doing that as long as I'm still getting the situation that I want.

Weekend Update: Superbowl Sunday

It's been almost a week since my last post, but frankly there hasn't been a whole lot of new information to relay. Today is Superbowl Sunday, but sadly my Dolphins were out of the hunt right around week three of the regular season, so I'll be spending the day (and most of the evening) in the library.

There's always next year...

Mainly I've just been working on my nutrition and doing push-ups. Lots and lots of push-ups. This is mainly because I realized that I could do a lot less pull-ups than I remember, and push-ups are a good way to start building the necessary upper body strength for pull-ups. It's a good routine to get into, and frankly I've been slacking during my acclimation to being back at a four-year school. The good news is I've lost five pounds since my meeting with the Marine OSO. Conversely, the bad news is I've still got another eight pounds before I'm within my maximum weight (185lbs) and I'd like to lose another five on top of that. It'll come, especially with PT looming.

I did call Captain Pages to touch base and let him know that I thought about it and would like to do the two six-week increments of PLC for OCS. As I mentioned earlier, there are some good benefits to PLC Jrs and Srs, including an easier road to selection as well as a better chance of avoiding injury at OCS. The only set-back is another semester is school, but I can deal.

On another note, I did finally receive and e-mail from an Army Recruiter. He wants me to call or reply via email if I'm still interested in the Army in order to ask a few questions to see if I qualify. If so, he wants to set up a time to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, more commonly referred to as the ASVAB. I was a little surprised by this, because it's normally a test reserved for enlisted service members and not taken by Marine or Navy Officer Candidates. From what I do recall about Army OCS, I think I have to go to regular Basic Training for nine weeks and then OCS for another twelve, so maybe that may have something to do with it. The whole process to get in touch with this recruiter has been slightly disjointed, so it could also be confusion about what I'm trying to do, which of course is OCS. The only way to find out is to check, so I'll be getting back in touch with him this week and hopefully get the chance to sit down and discuss my options.

As far as the coming week goes, mainly just more class, studying, and working out. Captain Pages will be up in Boca all week recruiting the FAU area so I'll get a chance to go over my mostly-completed application for the Marine Officer Program, meet some other officer candidates, and PT with them. I'm dreading the last part, because I know it's going to suck. I've got a pretty steep learning curve, but that's really the best way for me to get ready for OCS. Some of these guys have been there and other will probably go to Quantico with me this summer if I choose the Marine Corps so it'll be good to be training with people working towards the same goal, despite whatever rough transition awaits me.

Forecast for Thursday: Pain

In any event, keep it real - I'll update when some new information comes to me and as always, feel free to add any additional info or comment.

Initial Meeting #1: USMC

Well, my first meeting with my Marine OSO was pretty good. Captain Pages is a very straight-forward guy and he did a great job presenting me with my options as well as outlining what I can expect if I choose to pursue this route.

For starters, he asked me why I was there. As I've written before, this was a question that I definitely expected to be asked so I had spent a little time thinking out a decent, intelligible answer. I feel called to serve and the Marine Corps appeals to me because of its strong emphasis on leadership and being the best. I've been through all of this before here so I'll leave it at that.

The next step in our conversation was for Captain Pages to get a good idea of what I was looking to do in the Marine Corps. I made it pretty clear that I wanted to go for an air contract, but if all else failed I would certainly consider ground. With the Marines, OCS candidates apply for either a ground, air, or law contract. It's reasonably self-explanatory; ground contracts go on to do traditional military jobs on the ground, air contracts work in aviation, and law contracts go into the JAG Corps. As I said earlier, I'm trying to secure an air contract but I could certainly go with ground, if need be. That would partially depend on what kind of contract I could secure with the Navy and Army. I'm partial to the Marine Corps, but this is all about finding the best situation for me personally, so we'll have to see what the other branches say also. 

Captain Pages made it clear that aviation in the Marine Corps is a hot commodity today. They have an increased need for pilots with the new F-35 JSF coming into circulation soon, however this also has caused many current Marine pilots to hold off on retiring. There are aviation slots to be earned though, which is encouraging. 

Just ruling the skies with impunity, nothing to see here

Simply put, I have three big options. My first would be to apply for an air slot for the ten-week PLC-combined OCS this summer. This route in generally meant for juniors in college to get their training at OCS done in their last summer before graduation. While this certainly would fit my time-line for May 2012 graduation, I would have to have a PFT score in at least the 280 range. While that's possible to do (and I plan on having that level of score), the real question is whether or not I have time to do this in two-and-a-half months before the selection board meets. The second option would be apply for an air slot in the PLC Juniors OCS. PLC (Platoon Leaders Course) is divided into two six-week increments (Juniors and Seniors) to be done in the summers after Sophomore and Junior year. This would give me the opportunity to get in decent shape but not necessarily have the ultra-competitive 280 PFT that it would take to get selected for the combined ten-week course. It's also a positive that I'd still be at OCS this summer, even if I'd have to come back for another serving the next year. The only catch of the second option is that I'd have to push my graduation back to December of 2012 in stead of May. That's hardly a deal-breaker for me, just means I'd tack on a minor to my history degree.

A minor in Women's Studies: Both informative and enriching

The third option would be to apply for OCS (PLC or the combined course) with a ground contract. This would mostly be if I couldn't get aviation for any reason or I didn't really feel like waiting to graduate. It's definitely a possibility, but right now I'd say it's a back-up plan.   

All are pretty decent choices. I'll have to think about whether or not I'd like to stick around school for another semester (and compare these options with offers from the Navy and Army), but for right now I think the second option is probably my best bet. At the end of the day, it's about getting the situation that's best for me - and I'll be more than happy to stick around another semester if that helps secure a slot in aviation.

The second half of my conversation with Captain Pages was spent going over my application to be in the Marine Officer program. He addressed the items I need to procure (birth certificate, SS card, etc) as well as the various letters of recommendation that I would need for my application. He also took this time to make absolutely sure that I wanted to be in the program. This is a good time to point out that OSOs are not recruiters - they're selection officers. Captain Pages isn't there to try and convince me to do anything to fill a recruiting quota; he's there to be a career advisor and help me get the situation that I'd like with the Marine Corps. OSOs don't want people who aren't going to be serious, dedicated applicants. So the Captain made it clear that if I left his office with that program application, that my evaluation started with it. No, I'm not a Marine officer, but now I'm expected to conduct myself like one. Captain Pages can't force me to go to PT, but he'll know when I'm not there. He can't make me work on my application, but my failure to do so only hurts me in the end. The expectations are high, and I like that.

So, with my gazillion-page application packet in hand, I was given three big things to consider and work on in the coming week. First, I need to start working harder on my PFT score. I'm expected to PT with the other candidates in my area and it'll be my ass on the line if I don't. My next assignment is to begin working on that application. It's long and the recommendations take a little bit of time, so it's best to begin immediately and get that back ASAP. My third assignment is to start studying for the ASTB (Aviation Selection Test Battery). This test is the flight exam and I only get three chances to pass it, so studying is quite necessary (especially if you suck at math, like me). My OSO will be up at FAU in a couple of weeks so I better have made progress on these by the time I see him again.

I've definitely got a lot on my plate, but I'm pretty excited to start the process. Captain Pages was very helpful and I look forward to working with him in the future. There's a serious culture of accountability and it's somewhere I think I'll do very well.