Do you receive an OCS Class Ring after commissioning?

[KCOTT]

Just curious about this, as I was planning on saving the $500+ instead of buying a college class ring, but do we receive/have the option to buy an OCS class ring after we commission? Not a huge deal, just haven't heard or seen anything about this. I know the USNA grads get them, as well as many other military communities, so I assume that OCS would have a similar option. If not, that will make the wait and hard work for those golden wings that much sweeter.

probably a reason why I'm guessing

 

[scoolbubba]

Do you guys have a free replacement policy with the manufacturer? I know if I were to ever part ways with my ring in any way, all I have to do is call our Alumni Association and I get one free replacement. It might be worth it to call the manufacturer and see as I'm sure that they'd have a similar policy for the service academies.

We've got the same deal with our rings. I went with the BFR. Don't wear it that much, but it comes in handy at dining ins when everyone else is banging on the table with a spoon and i smack 44 pennyweight worth of hokie pride on the table.

 

[MasterBates]

I still have some OCS shirts.. That's about all we got.

Glad I did it, never want to go back. Would not have bought a ring if offered. I don't have a class ring from college or HS either.

 

[AllAmerican75]

We've got the same deal with our rings. I went with the BFR. Don't wear it that much, but it comes in handy at dining ins when everyone else is banging on the table with a spoon and i smack 44 pennyweight worth of hokie pride on the table.

They let you VPI bubbas have the 44? Blasphemy! Heresy!

 

[desertoasis]

Might just be a VMI thing; I know my Citadel ring came with no such policy, just little help from the Alumni Association to defer the cost.

Probably is just a VMI thing. Aggie rings aren't replaceable if you lose it, but you can do pretty much anything else through Balfour like resizing or refinishing, or even remaking it if its too worn down. I think the other SMAs and USNA all get theirs through Balfour too? If its through another company (Jostens etc.) I'm sure their policies are similar.

 

[scoolbubba]

They let you VPI bubbas have the 44? Blasphemy! Heresy!

Yep. Can't let that small school to the north out-ring us.

 

[AllAmerican75]

Probably is just a VMI thing. Aggie rings aren't replaceable if you lose it, but you can do pretty much anything else through Balfour like resizing or refinishing, or even remaking it if its too worn down. I think the other SMAs and USNA all get theirs through Balfour too? If its through another company (Jostens etc.) I'm sure their policies are similar.

Actually, we flip-flop between Jostens and Balfour. Right now it's a Jostens operation.

Yep. Can't let that small school to the north out-ring us.

Hey, you guys have a top-notch football team, let us have our giant, baller rings. Is nothing sacred anymore?

But seriously, I love the way people who are unfamiliar with VMI stare at the ring. Just had a job interview where the head honcho of the company went all wide-eyed when he saw the hunk of gold on my finger. Good times. :icon_smil

 

[RedFive]

Just curious about this, as I was planning on saving the $500+ instead of buying a college class ring, but do we receive/have the option to buy an OCS class ring after we commission? Not a huge deal, just haven't heard or seen anything about this. I know the USNA grads get them, as well as many other military communities, so I assume that OCS would have a similar option. If not, that will make the wait and hard work for those golden wings that much sweeter.

Dude. No. You're going to be sick of half the people in your OCS class by the time you're done. Half of the people you can still stand will turn out to be completely different people on the outside. Another chunk of them will not make it to/through flight school. The only notion you will have of their existence will be random facebook statuses (statusi?) you occasionally run into. If you go to Vance, you can forget about seeing or hearing from anybody outside of Enid, OK for a long ass time. Then one day you'll be battling the most gigantic spiders Oklahoma has to offer and you're going to look down at a pile of clothes and discover the ugliest shirt you've ever seen -- and then it gets worse when you realize that you own more than one of them. Then you curse yourself for spending all that money on them and wonder how you got talked into buying short AND long sleeve versions when you did OCS in the summer.

I'm proud that I went to OCS, but don't romanticize it. Oh, and don't be one of those dudes who goes to the bars in his OCS shirt.

 

[jollygreen07]

Dude. No. You're going to be sick of half the people in your OCS class by the time you're done. Half of the people you can still stand will turn out to be completely different people on the outside. Another chunk of them will not make it to/through flight school. The only notion you will have of their existence will be random facebook statuses (statusi?) you occasionally run into. If you go to Vance, you can forget about seeing or hearing from anybody outside of Enid, OK for a long ass time. Then one day you'll be battling the most gigantic spiders Oklahoma has to offer and you're going to look down at a pile of clothes and discover the ugliest shirt you've ever seen -- and then it gets worse when you realize that you own more than one of them. Then you curse yourself for spending all that money on them and wonder how you got talked into buying short AND long sleeve versions when you did OCS in the summer.

I'm proud that I went to OCS, but don't romanticize it. Oh, and don't be one of those dudes who goes to the bars in his OCS shirt.

Someone is bitter.

 

[RedFive]

Someone is bitter.

Haha, well what am I supposed to do with four shirts and two hoodies and wash khakis and cracker jacks?

 

[Ezekiel]

Haha, well what am I supposed to do with four shirts and two hoodies and wash khakis and cracker jacks?

To the OP: this. You'll have wasted so much money on stuff that neither you nor anyone else care about that the last thing you'll need or want is something else to buy that says "I went to OCS."

 

[SynixMan]

To the OP: this. You'll have wasted so much money on stuff that neither you nor anyone else care about that the last thing you'll need or want is something else to buy that says "I went to OCS."

If you don't throw out a seabag full of nasty PT gear, shitty socks, worn out Ts, etc when you leave Newps, you're doing it wrong.

 

[craftingraptor]

Someone is bitter.

Actually, he's just being honest. Just like how lack of O2 produced different reactions in the altitude chamber, people changed when they got stressed out. And for the most part, the urge to buy t-shirts and OCS memorabilia really did get carried away. I definitely got lured into that buying frenzy.
"Oh hey, we're all *probably* gonna graduate OCS! Oh yeah! Let's buy a t-shirt because we're so pumped that we wouldn't mind doing this all over again!"

ACTUALLY. As someone that worked with h-class, I thought they needed those OCS shirts more than anyone. Except, theirs would read "I've been to H- and back!"

 

[jt71582]

The H- ers were always so inbred. They always acted like they experienced the REAL OCS. I never understood why eating peanut butter in your own "hatch" and having extra time to work on your stuff for RLP was considered H- ardcore.

12 weekers unite.

Actually don't, nobody gives a crap.

 

[Mr. Blonde]

Red, think you meant the Johnny cash's, crackerjacks are an enlisted uniform. Either way though, it does suck having spent money on uniforms we'll never wear again.