That's pretty funny.
I think you have some good points though, I just can't help wondering exactly how many of these mids would not have the personal courage to complete a rite of passage such as OCS.
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Status of OC in a ROTC unit/OCS for NROTC Units??
- Thread starter Flyboylance
- Start date
I think you have some good points though, I just can't help wondering exactly how many of these mids would not have the personal courage to complete a rite of passage such as OCS.
Yes, the high stress environment does much to bring out character flaws, but it arguably takes a much stronger character to maintain it over the long haul. ROTC doesn't really do much in either case, but I can stand on my fuckin' head for 13 weeks.
Granted, I may or may not have been able to do that just prior to commissioning.
With all due respect, OC, the attitude you're putting forward is what caused a lot of problems with OC's at my unit. It made it very hard for any type of command structure amongst the unit's Midshipman/OC/MECEP ranks to be firmly established beyond a semester-long title. I don't know you, so I don't know what kind of guy you are, but I'm sorry to say the best thing for you to do is to suck it up and play the game.
The OC's that really WERE the leaders - the ones that helped us ignorant Midshipmen the most - were the ones who showed up early when told by their sophomore squad leader they had to come in at 0600 for something. They followed without question while still sharing their wisdom, and led out of humility. They were respected dearly for it, and were looked up to by all.
Those that came off with the whole "OC" thing hurt morale, hurt the effectiveness of military training, hurt their opportunity to endow wisdom and experience, and were seen in a very bad light by pretty much everyone (Mids, Unit Staff... everyone except some of the other OC's).
Look, every Midshipman there KNOWS you have the experience. Don't flaunt it. Don't look for special treatment (cause you're already getting it - look at your paycheck and then ask to see a Midn LES). I know it's a hard transition, but leading by example - showing these Mids how a good OFFICER should act, especially when put in situations that don't make sense or aren't what you want them to be - will pay off a lot more in the end.
Anyone have a take on ROTC units eliminating Freshman Indoctrination? I know that ours was quite effective at weeding out Midshipmen who couldn't deal with pressure---it cut our class in half.
And trust me my know-it-it all wanna be...there are plenty for you to learn as well.
The bottom line is that there are many ways to skin a cat. Not a one of them is all good or all bad. Sit down, watch, listen and learn. Don't sell your experiences short but don't think they are the most important thing in the world.
I know that when I showed up at my unit, over the course of several conversations with the XO and Gunny, we concluded that it was probably best of me to take a different role than the average mid. I was an LPO at sea, I was a First Class...do you want to explain to me what being the PAO at a ROTC unit is going to teach me? What my role evolved into was something like a COB or CMC. I shared things that I'd seen, done and had done to me with ALL the mids, offered advice and an ear to listen. Ended up probably teaching a few things, but learning alot too.
In short...slow you're roll turbo. When in doubt...never miss a chance to shut your mouth. A wise word later is better than 100 clever ones now.
And you haven't seen the same from USNA or OCS? Bad officers get through every program.
I don't understand why you're complaining about wanting to have leadership and then come here and say the above. Why are you dodging them? Why are you not helping to fix them? I've seen some hard-working First and Second classes who had a long day and were tired, but they still had the patience to help mentor some less than stellar JOs. Those same PO were usually the LPOs, Shift supervisors, and eventually Chiefs.
Problem is that there is no funding for it . . . commands that do it do it on their own dime. When I went through at Penn State, my folks had to pay for my weeklong harassment package.
My impression is that it cut the same people who wouldn't make it to commissioning anyway, so same result. I think it should be in there, though.
My opinion on OCs and MECEPs being integrated into the unit...Doesn't really matter.
For the record though...
It is all about unit culture. Our MECEPs tend to hold themselves separate from the rest of the battalion and are pretty invisible except when it comes to being in billets. We tend to leave the Mids the hell alone with their crayons until they want to color on the walls and then we step in to get them back on task. Same when we're in billets (usually a command billet). We execute the billet with the panache that's expected, and don't meddle in the learning process. OCs though, not so much except for one that is coming from and going back to EOD (He's good people) and a former corpsman (she's cool, too). I'm not sure where that fork happens. Maybe it's when they put the khakis on, but I do know that there's nothing stopping them from seizing and defining their own role in our battalion. It's what we did instead of whining about it on the internet.
Thanks for changing the name of this thread to something appropriate.
For the record though...
It is all about unit culture. Our MECEPs tend to hold themselves separate from the rest of the battalion and are pretty invisible except when it comes to being in billets. We tend to leave the Mids the hell alone with their crayons until they want to color on the walls and then we step in to get them back on task. Same when we're in billets (usually a command billet). We execute the billet with the panache that's expected, and don't meddle in the learning process. OCs though, not so much except for one that is coming from and going back to EOD (He's good people) and a former corpsman (she's cool, too). I'm not sure where that fork happens. Maybe it's when they put the khakis on, but I do know that there's nothing stopping them from seizing and defining their own role in our battalion. It's what we did instead of whining about it on the internet.
Thanks for changing the name of this thread to something appropriate.
FormerRecruitingGuru
Making Recruiting Great Again
That and some units don't really have the tools (ie military facilities) to do it.
That's a cop out...you don't need military facilites to do it. We housed our prospective mids in one wing of one floor of a dorm, you need a field for PT...a classroom for GMT etc, etc, etc....get creative and think about what you really need.
Same situation I have seen. I think the divide is dependent on what part of the Navy the OC comes from. Remember that alot of the ship types ("fleeters"), airdales and sub guys probably don't even know what a fire team leader is. I don't know, maybe they get to the ROTC unit and feel lost.
The other types like your EOD and Corpsman OC's probably take shit a little differently since they have had jobs that actually value things like command presence and such. I'm willing to bet that the HM was a FMF Corpsman.
