End of Week 2

Two down, fourteen to go.  Tuesday started out with combatives before PT.  Pt proper consisted of a long and fast run down to 'Big Cardiac'- for those of you not familiar with Fort Benning, it's big freakin' hill.  From there, we did five sprints to the top of the hill, and an additional four sprints halfway up, followed by a slower run back to the quad.  You got to the point where you would will your feet to move, but you were barely inching forward.  All in all, it took almost three hours.  The rest of the day was devoted to classroom instruction - much of it will be review for ROTC and USMA guys - roles and responsibilities of PL/PSG/SL/TL, OERs and NCOERs, how to conduct counseling, how to plan training and PT, nutritional and fitness information.

Wednesday was the O-course.  The whole company was running the course, so choke-points inevitably developed, and the wait to get through certain obstacles was significant.  Basically, the whole thing just got you sweaty.  More classes, this time delving in to the very basics of tactics - mostly operational terms and graphics dealing with fire control measures.

Thursday's PT started with a run to Doughboy Stadium, and then exercises based on ability groups (the cadre will already have a list of who is in which ability group, so no sham for you!).  Basically, a lot of lower body endurance and abdominals.  We went out into the field in order to conduct Combat Lifesaver Training; I have no idea how readily information is available on CLS, but the trainers requested us to not discuss what was taught.  Not that you have to worry about it, they will teach you everything you need to know, and you'll be more than prepared for the examination.  The training itself was at a TTB, so it wasn't exactly roughing it.  They even had showers available, so no baby wipes needed.

Friday was the piece de resistance for this week's PT.  The RPAT (Ranger Physical Assessment Test, or something like that.  I was frankly too busy gasping for air to pay attention).  Run 2 miles in full battle rattle (no rucks), rope climb, 100m litter drag, 6 barrier hurdles, another rope climb, and a 1 mile run to finish.  Standard is 45 minutes or less.  The unanimous opinion of our platoon was that the litter drag was, by far, the most taxing event.  our advice would be not to pull the litter with you hands, but instead loop the drag handle around your waist or upper body and lean forward.  After that, we wrapped up CLS training, took the written exam, and did a practical exercise.  Both Thursday and Friday were long, as they had to pack in quite a bit of training.  Bring caffeine.

All in all, a tough week, both for PT and staying alert.

Observations / Lessons Learned:

• If you don't have a leg-locking technique down-packed for the rope climb, I strongly suggest practicing one.  Even with thirty pounds or so of junk on, its possible to strong-arm your way up, but it ain't pretty.  Do yourself a favor and practice.
• You're not going to have much time after the workday these first two weeks, so prioritize what you want to get done and haul ass.  You'll need the sleep.
• Go ahead and get your gear adjusted/customized before you get out there.  There's a little bit of leeway with your LBE setup, and there's a quite a few adjustment points on the ruck that can't be done on the fly, so take the time to find what works for you.
• If you haven't done so already, start investing in some personal gear.  I'm not saying be a geardo, but a good pair of gloves, and good boots will serve you well.  Snap-links and LED lights seem to be prevalent within the platoon, as well.  You might want to go ahead and look at map cases, as well.  You won't need them until week five, but they aren't going to issue you one, so you might as well find one you like.  One guy had a little map case that folded up into an admin pouch, that he said cost him only about twelve bucks.
• As BRM is next week, there was some discussion about magazines:  I noticed that many people add their own duct-tape / para cord pull loops to the baseplate, to ease pulling magazine out during exercises.   If you're really paranoid about having working magazines, you can buy three-pack replacement followers for about six bucks - unlike the standard followers, they're designed to not slip / stick in the magazine well, which reduces jamming (supposedly).  None of this is necessary, but more power to you if you do it.

Posting will probably be weekly from this point on; I had barely enough time during the past week to take care of things as it were, and the next few weeks are probably going to be spent mostly in the field.  because of this, some details may be lost, just because of memory/fatigue.  However, if you contact me and want me to elaborate on anything, I can probably jog my memory enough to help you out.

End of Week 1

Now that the weekend is here, I finally have time to sit down and type out the week's events.  Each day this week has been long and tedious, and by its end you pretty much just have time to eat and get ready for tomorrow before it's time to hit the hay.

Tuesday:

The day started out with an intro to combatives - a brief history, and some basic ground dominant body positions.  Tuesday was the first part of our physical, to include urinalysis, blood work, hearing and vision checks, and vitals.  Once finished, we picked up our books - bring a large bag.  They gave me more manuals/books than I ever had in college.  Afterwards we had a small amount of time to grab food or take care of other things, and then we did CWST.  The CWST is already easy to begin with, but this one even more so - you simply have to ditch your gear underwater, and swim 15 meters without a rifle.  No 5 meter drop, no swim with weapon, and no water tread.  After that was a urinalysis, and we were cut for the day.

Wednesday:

Wednesday started out with the APFT.  I know the perennial question everyone will have is - "will they have hard graders?"  to which I say, there's no point in answering the question.  It will all be subjective - you may have a company with easy graders, you may not.  The best thing to do is not practice perfect pushups, but practice pushups beyond perfect - hit the ground with you chest.  That way, you know for sure you're prepared, regardless of the grader.  The run will be on a one mile track, and you won't start at a distance marker - this makes it difficult to pace, if you're used to running on a 400 meter track, or having people call out times to you.  You'll only have one call-out, and that's at the one mile point.  Learn your pace before you show up; better yet, find a buddy with a similar run time, and pace each other - even when you feel miserable, you're not gonna want to quit and lose face when you have a running buddy.  Following this, we took care of pantographic x-rays and anyone with CAC card issues got them taken care of at SRC.  This was followed  by our gear issue at CIF.  A lot of stuff here, but you won't need you own barracks bags, as they'll issue you two.  You'll be required to have you name and cat eyes sewn on the corresponding gear - you can get this done at Ranger Joe's for around 30 dollars, give or take a couple.  Afterwards we were free to do as we pleased until an evening informal social at the Officer's Club.  You'll have the opportunity to talk to many senior officers and meet your fellow LTs, if you haven't already.  For those of you not socially inclined, there's booze there to keep you occupied.  Obviously, don't make an ass of yourself.

Thursday:

Not a hard day in the least.  PT was tough - for those of you familiar with Crossfit, we did a double Murph workout, but we were not allowed to break up the exercises - you had to complete all of one exercise before starting on the next.  Needless to say, most people did not finish.  We completed the second part of the physical, and had more dental x-rays, and an exam if necessary.  You'll probably be finished by late morning, at which point you're free.  At 1600, we had an anti-terrorism brief, took a quiz on some basic military knowledge, and got our safety brief.


Misc:

A couple of random things.  First of all, spot reports:  spot reports can be positive or negative, and can add/subtract either two or five points from your final grade.  Watch yourself, as you may get negative spot reports for very minor things, and positive ones are supposedly hard to come by.  Second, although you turn in your medical and dental records on Monday, keep copies of you physicals - if you've had an exam within a year, you don't have to get another one, which will give you some time to do whatever you need to do.

Week One - Inprocessing

And so it begins!  I spent the last week on an OPFOR detail for another company, which naturally involved a lot of downtime for us.  We were responsible for ammo distribution and guard, in addition to playing OPFOR.  I picked a couple of the cadre's brains, as well as listened in on some of the AAR comments from the lanes the platoons ran, so I gleaned some knowledge from that.

I think the comment one cadre member summed it all up - as officers, you can't feel sorry for yourself.  You're going to be cold, tired, hungry, etc., but you still have a mission to do.  Even when you're 'just a Joe,' you can't zone out.  You've got to help your buddies out and continue to be a team player.  Don't start getting complacent and forgetting the little things.  Some examples cadre gave, which we also observed firsthand - rucksack flops, clanging weapons around, noise/light discipline.  It's these little things that irk them.  As another cadre member told me, IBOLC doesn't have a lot of washouts beyond those that get cut for height/weight or PT.  It's when you come here with the attitude that you know it all already, and you don't need to pay attention or take it seriously that blindsides people.  A prime example from this last week - one student didn't check to make sure all of his live ammo was turned back in, and when another student borrowed a magazine form him during the lane, he ended up firing a couple of live rounds.  Nobody was hurt, thankfully, but it really drives home what happens when you get complacent.

I digress - back to inprocessing.

The day started out at oh-dark-hundred; having been given a welcome letter the previous Friday, which included everything we needed to bring, there wasn't any real surprises or or people not coming prepared.  We took care of eight/weight, personal paperwork, finances, and reviewed the material and expectations for the upcoming weeks.  The day was long.  Most of the time that got eaten up was from people not following one simple rule, which they harped on again and again - do not fill in paperwork until told to do so.  They have a specific way they want things filled in, and even though you say 'I've done this stuff before, it's all self-explanatory,' you will fill in something incorrectly, and everyone has to wait until you've redone the form and caught back up with everyone.  The forms you fill out are expected to be pristine - any mistake, and they have to be redone.  Expect to do at least a couple over again.  I'd also suggest bringing a book - there will be some downtime, as there is different paperwork to fill out depending on your commissioning source, and some groups will be done while others are still hammering away.

Let there be no mistake - Ranger School is taken very seriously here, and the cadre flat-out stated that IBOLC is Pre-Ranger School for us.  Barring injuries or failure to meet standards, you will go to Ranger School afterwards.  I've got no qualms about that, personally.  Anything to get me prepared.

You'll also be split up into your platoons and squads today, and get some face time with the platoon trainers.  As the day wound down, we got schedule information for the week - tomorrow will be physical exams, book issue, and CWST.  Wednesday will be the PT Test.  Our PT uniform for tomorrow caused some difficulties - as they announced that we would be wearing the APFU jacket, and it was already 1900.  SInce all the ROTC guys had to turn in their winter PT gear, there was a mad scramble afterwards to go pick up stuff from Ranger Joe's - where the jackets are 30 dollars more than at clothing sales, and most ROTC guys are broke form not having a job for several months (the economy sucks, what can I say?)

One last little aside - after we had broken down into our squads, and the cadre chose the PSG, the PSG started organizing us for tomorrow.  To choose squad leaders, he asked all the prior service guys and West Point guys to raise their hands, and chose from them.  I think it's safe to say that everyone respects the aura of prior service, but the West Point thing got a few raised eyebrows.  Apparently OCS and ROTC guys aren't quite up to snuff on our drill and ceremony?  =P

Observations / Lessons Learned:

• If you're missing anything from your clothing bag, for whatever reason, get it ASAP - wait until the last minutes, and you may be fighting with every other 2LT in the world for the supply at the PX.  Either that, or paying through the nose for it at an off-base shop.
• Bring everything with you that you think you possibly may need - receipts, family documents, memorandums, whatever.  The welcome letter was very concise, but you never know what you may need, given your circumstances.
• You're going to be stuck with guys who come from all walks - OCS, ROTC, West Point, prior service, branch transfers, National Guard, you name it.  Get to know these guys, pick their brains, and never think any less of them because of where they come from.
• Follow the directions of the administrative staff.  Follow the directions of the administrative staff.  Follow the directions of the administrative staff.  Follow the instructions of the administrative staff.  'Nuff said.
• Expect downtime, and have something on hand to keep you occupied/productive.
• If you're hurting for money, don't be afraid to talk to cadre and going to AER - they will understand that you've been unemployed for some months, and have a lot of expenses to take care up before you first paycheck rolls in.
• If you're coming from OCS, you will still have the TA-50 you were issued during OCS.  Because of that, when you're in HHC waiting to class up, you can expect to be pulled for OPFOR detail.  Just a heads-up.