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.