Just Checking In

Nothing much going on for the moment - until you class up, there's not a lot to do around here.  Once you're released from formations, you're free to do whatever.  As far as details go, it's a one week on, one week off deal.  Depending on how long you're in HHC, you may end up playing OPFOR or otherwise being a warm body for some evolution the training companies are running.  Other than that  - make sure you show up here able to perform physically.  It should be a no-brainer, but if you still need assurance on the matter, the PT here is challenging.  I don't hear people complaining about PT being too easy.  Next posting will occur the following Monday.

Day...0?

And so, it begins.  I got to Benning early, so I decided to use the time to take care of some miscellaneous things - ID card, vehicle decal, uniform parts, etc.  Things went smoothly until I went to Olsen Hall to check on the BOQ reservation that I made a few weeks prior.  While they knew I was coming and had me in the system, there were simply no slots available for me.  They sent me on my way with a 'Non-Availability Statement' and an explanation that I would be reimbursed for up to ten days of staying in a hotel, until my housing situation was settled - either by a slot opening up, or me finding a place.  Needless to say I decided not to bank on a slot opening up.  While it's never a joy to shell out money for a hotel, it's the nature of the beast; there's simply too much going on here for them to have space available for everyone.

Speaking of money, I seem to have been bleeding it since I arrived.  Nothing major, just little things, but one of those 'death by a thousand cuts' feeling.  Two particular things stood out - we are required to have an orange reflective vest with our name and rank embroidered on white tape, front and back.  There are several military stores around the area that will take care of that for you, for about 25 dollars.  Twenty minutes later I have a nice shiny reflective vest.  We also need a canteen - I gave myself a couple of kicks for deciding to not bring mine along, but such is life.

Once I took care of this stuff, I reported in proper.  As you would expect from a course of this nature, in-processing is more or less down to a science.  They'll give you all the info you need to get started.  You'll know when, where and in what uniform to show up to events, and how to get the ball rolling on BAH.  As I said, they'll give you everything you need to get started, but in case you're curious, DA-5960 is the form you'll be dealing with.

Other than that...once you report in, you'll be doing PT and showing up to formations.  From what I gather ,the following week will be devoted to getting all the admin stuff out of the way before IOBC starts proper.  I'll keep updating as I go along, but for now my only concern is housing.

Observations and Advice :

• Make finding housing your priority - from what I can gather from my fellow LTs, everything else will be taken care of during in-processing, but a place to live is all on you.
• If possible, start travel early.  This gives you time to take care of any little details that need to be taken care of before class, and if something delays your travel, it gives you a buffer.  If you show up before you report date, they'll still in-process you - easier for everyone all around.
• Check in with DEERS / ID cards and make sure you've been moved to Active Duty - if not, they can take care of that for you before it rears its head later.
• Places you should know how to get to - Olsen Hall (Housing), Soldier's Plaza (Admin and DEERS/ID), and PX (Clothing Sales).  You should do a route recon from where you're living to the IBOLC building, so you know how to get there.
• Make copies of everything, and keep all receipts.  From my limited experience with military orders, you always are required to make far more copies than you end up using - as soon as you try showing up with fewer copies than listed, however, Murphy's Law will kick in and you'll end up needing them all.  
• Never give up your original copies - in fact, I would leave your originals in your room altogether, and carry only copies.  If you're down to your last copy of something, tell the person wanting your copy that they are free to make a copy for themselves.

One Note Before I Begin

I will be reporting in shortly, so before I do, I wanted to add an OPSEC disclaimer to this journal:

Due to OPSEC (and brevity - you don't need to know every waking moment of training), I won't be describing anything doctrinally-based (e.g., tactics, techniques) in detail - if you can't already find it in a field manual, it will not be posted here.  This is simply to protect our personnel, and prevent people from using the information to harm us.

If you do want some specific detail pertaining to something I mention, you should contact me with a .mil email address, and I will be happy to discuss it with you.

On that note - in my previous post, I mentioned that I would tell you how things went with the firearms registration, as I was a bit unclear on my situation.  Upon further consideration, I won't be posting that information, due to several on-base incidents involving firearms on base.  If you want to know about it, you can again contact me with a .mil address.

Preparing for IOBC

As the first entry into this journal, I suppose I should bring you up to speed:

I graduated from college and commissioned into the Army Infantry in May 2010.  Due to my particular degree, I did not have any classes on the main campus, and my class schedule precluded be from attending the regularly scheduled ROTC class.  Consequently, I fell through the administrative cracks on several occasions.  Unfortunately, one of those cracks was getting my orders for IOBC.  After asking ROTC for the orders, and being on the dark for several months, I called my branch manager; ROTC found my orders the next day.  As luck would have it, my report date was more than a week before my class date, so I've been in a bit of a scramble to get packed and ready.

Before all of this, I looked around for anything that would give me an idea on how to prepare for IOBC.  We only had one active duty officer in my ROTC cadre, and he was not an Infantry officer.  The infantry officer we did have, was not very forthcoming with useful advice.  My ROTC program did assign me an active duty mentor, an infantry captain who was stationed in the area.  He had good career advice, but again, lacked information for IOBC.  Lastly, there was the IOBC website - while there was some administrative data, I still left like I was being thrown to the wolves.  What do I need to pack?  What kind of paperwork aside from my personnel jacket do I need to bring?  is there anyone I need to contact beforehand, and for what reason?  No idea.

So that is the current situation, as it applies to me.  My father, an artillery officer, helped me to prepare, but acknowledged the fact that he was Field Artillery.  Not to mention he went to OBC several decades ago.  As it is, the following is what I have done to prepare.  I will let you know in a few days if it was adequate, or I looked like a moron upon reporting in.

• Records and Personal Information

First, I reviewed my personnel jacket.  The ROTC admin office made me copies of everything for my own records, and provided a checklist of items in the personnel jacket (OMPF).  I check to make sure everything marked on the checklist was actually present, and anything that was missing I made copies of and replaced.  Specifically, my jump record from Airborne School was not present, nor were my orders for my jump wings. My DD-214 also did not list two unit awards I was entitled to, so I made sure to place copies of the citations in my jacket as a temporary measure, and then made some phone calls to have my records corrected.  

The OMPF isn't the only thing to be concerned about - I checked my records for things such as school transcripts, insurance information, titles, etc.  I also made copies to leave with my parents, should something happen to my own copies.

• Uniforms

I looked up the clothing bag list in AR 670-1, and did my best to fill that list out, given my limited funds (no one wants to hire a college grad who they know is going to leave in a couple of months, but people are more than happy to keep sending you bills).  I packed four sets of ACUs, sewed the rank on my patrols caps, broke in my berets, and made sure my PT gear and dress uniform was in order.  I decided to wait on winter gear, simply because I doubted I would need it immediately, as thus could wait for my first paycheck.

• Housing

Housing is the one area I'm feeling anxious about.  Since I got my orders late in the game, I didn't have time to look for housing.  To compund matters, you cannot get a BOQ slot unless you are TDY.  Since I was PCSed to Fort Benning, I could only reserve a room for 30 days.  Hopefully that should give me time to find an apartment in the area.  I plan on using a combination of the Army Housing Network and internet research to decide on a place.  The main thing is that I only need a place for four months - if I get orders for Ranger School after IBOLC, I see no need to pay two months' rent for a place I won't use.

• Packing

Between the housing situation, the length of IBOLC, and the need to place stuff in storage if I got to Ranger School, I decided to pack light.  Computer, civilian clothing, professional reading, kitchen supplies (couple of pots, utensils, dinnerware, spices), toiletries and cleaning/maintenance supplies, and a minute amount of miscellaneous gear.  As far as TA-50 goes, I'm taking my own compass, more protractors than I can shake a stick at, and a couple of map cases.  TA-50 will be issued to us, and anything I end up needing I can buy once I'm on post, but it's always good to have your own compass that you know works - the quality of what 

you get handed to you by CIF varies.

• Automobile and Firearm

I made sure to look up in the Benning website what they needed in order to give you a base decal, and checked that I had everything in order.  Aside form that, I made sure to fix anything on my car that someone might balk at on base (for instance, some jerk stole my driver side mirror, so that had to be replaced).  I also plan on bringing a firearm with me, and looked over the regulations pertaining to privately owned weapons.  I'm a little unsure of my situation, as I am in the BOQ for perhaps up to 30 days, but no matter what, I have to talk to the MPs first anyway, who will tell me what I need to do (or chew me out for asking stupid questions).  This may also be a stress point, so once I show up and talk to the MPs, I will make sure to post what happens, and my observations.

Again, I'll be arriving in a few more days, so I shall see how well I prepared, and relay to you what I could have improved on.