Chris94
CWO selected
Don't use a wooden clipboard, get yourself a fancy plastic one. Or a spatula....
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sTUPID qUESTIONS aBOUT ocs
- Thread starter TheBubba
- Start date
Chris94
CWO selected
I just graduated from that hellhole…I mean OCS and figured I’d post a gouge. Primarily about indoc phase and essentially what to expect and how to prepare. These will be some things I wish I knew before going in. If there are any specific questions just DM me and I’ll try to answer the best I can.
Full disclosure, I rolled…TWICE. This was during the third phase (SOC – senior officer candidate phase). Watch-O and Officer personnel inspection got me. During my time there, this phase completely changed with the addition of cyber classes and a test, history classes and a test in addition to all the Watch-O and OPI stuff. It's a 13-week program now.
So, first things first, my recommendation is as soon as you know your date, try and get a hotel room with another candidate (if you want) at the Navy Lodge on base. The day of check-in (indoc Sunday) the taxis will be booked like crazy and you don’t want to be late. Stay at the gateway and just walk across base. You’ll get to Callaghan Hall and there’ll be candios yelling at you before you even get in the building. It’s not that bad, just kind of a shock. You’ll be required to call them “candidate officers” and they’ll just make you be loud. Be “ballistic” when they tell you to be but don’t completely lose your voice for RLP. The first week you’re shuttled around from place to place, you learn chow hall procedures (they suck) and then you’ll get to first Friday where you meet your class team. It’s a lot of pushing and screaming and then you’re done. The IST is taken that Monday and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, come prepared! The number of people that showed up there, completely physically unprepared was ridiculous. If you fail the first time, you get a retake. If you fail the retake you go into H-class (Holding class) for three weeks and then you get to retake it. So do yourself a favor and come physically prepared and crush it the first time.
After first Friday you have “sucky Saturday” (staff doesn’t call it that, but that’s what everyone else calls it) which is basically running and pushing around “training country” seeing where and what everything is. You won’t retain any of it do to the stress and continuous pushing. After Saturday you have your Sunday break. Take advantage of Sunday to go to church (even if you aren’t religious). It’s a really nice break and some time to de-stress.
You’ll begin drill training that following week and then rifles will be incorporated into the drill. My class trained a lot (apparently more than others) and scored fairly well but it seemed more trouble than it was worth. Drill will be taught by your Drill Instructor and after that you won’t see much of him or her besides during PT. If your class scores well they typically ease up on you guys. You might even get dessert and/or coffee if you score well.
That brings me to the chow hall. The food isn’t that bad. It’s not gourmet, but it’s not horrible either. You aren’t allowed to talk or look around while you eat until candio phase. You’ll get used to inhaling your food since you only get 12-15 mins to eat it.
Finally, we come to RLP. This will be your third week there, I believe it’s on a Thursday and the retake is on Friday. The best advice I can give for RLP is study the gouge that’s on the OCS website (that’s all the knowledge you will be required to know, VERBATIM). I studied for about 2 months prior to going in and it helped immensely when the day came. This is the only event that does live up to the hype, so just be prepared to be ballistic the whole time, push as hard as you can and know your info. Room needs to be spotless, the clothes are folded and placed a certain way (they’ll show you during the review for RLP), your uniform needs to look good, and the rest is luck of the draw. The draw being which Chiefs or DI’s you get as inspectors.
OCS can be very much of what you make it. There are aspects that seem pointless (some truly are) but they usually all have a purpose. Don’t doubt yourself while you’re there and just don’t give up and you’ll do fine.
Again, if anyone has any specific questions, feel free to DM me.
Good luck and congratulations to everyone accepted!
Full disclosure, I rolled…TWICE. This was during the third phase (SOC – senior officer candidate phase). Watch-O and Officer personnel inspection got me. During my time there, this phase completely changed with the addition of cyber classes and a test, history classes and a test in addition to all the Watch-O and OPI stuff. It's a 13-week program now.
So, first things first, my recommendation is as soon as you know your date, try and get a hotel room with another candidate (if you want) at the Navy Lodge on base. The day of check-in (indoc Sunday) the taxis will be booked like crazy and you don’t want to be late. Stay at the gateway and just walk across base. You’ll get to Callaghan Hall and there’ll be candios yelling at you before you even get in the building. It’s not that bad, just kind of a shock. You’ll be required to call them “candidate officers” and they’ll just make you be loud. Be “ballistic” when they tell you to be but don’t completely lose your voice for RLP. The first week you’re shuttled around from place to place, you learn chow hall procedures (they suck) and then you’ll get to first Friday where you meet your class team. It’s a lot of pushing and screaming and then you’re done. The IST is taken that Monday and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, come prepared! The number of people that showed up there, completely physically unprepared was ridiculous. If you fail the first time, you get a retake. If you fail the retake you go into H-class (Holding class) for three weeks and then you get to retake it. So do yourself a favor and come physically prepared and crush it the first time.
After first Friday you have “sucky Saturday” (staff doesn’t call it that, but that’s what everyone else calls it) which is basically running and pushing around “training country” seeing where and what everything is. You won’t retain any of it do to the stress and continuous pushing. After Saturday you have your Sunday break. Take advantage of Sunday to go to church (even if you aren’t religious). It’s a really nice break and some time to de-stress.
You’ll begin drill training that following week and then rifles will be incorporated into the drill. My class trained a lot (apparently more than others) and scored fairly well but it seemed more trouble than it was worth. Drill will be taught by your Drill Instructor and after that you won’t see much of him or her besides during PT. If your class scores well they typically ease up on you guys. You might even get dessert and/or coffee if you score well.
That brings me to the chow hall. The food isn’t that bad. It’s not gourmet, but it’s not horrible either. You aren’t allowed to talk or look around while you eat until candio phase. You’ll get used to inhaling your food since you only get 12-15 mins to eat it.
Finally, we come to RLP. This will be your third week there, I believe it’s on a Thursday and the retake is on Friday. The best advice I can give for RLP is study the gouge that’s on the OCS website (that’s all the knowledge you will be required to know, VERBATIM). I studied for about 2 months prior to going in and it helped immensely when the day came. This is the only event that does live up to the hype, so just be prepared to be ballistic the whole time, push as hard as you can and know your info. Room needs to be spotless, the clothes are folded and placed a certain way (they’ll show you during the review for RLP), your uniform needs to look good, and the rest is luck of the draw. The draw being which Chiefs or DI’s you get as inspectors.
OCS can be very much of what you make it. There are aspects that seem pointless (some truly are) but they usually all have a purpose. Don’t doubt yourself while you’re there and just don’t give up and you’ll do fine.
Again, if anyone has any specific questions, feel free to DM me.
Good luck and congratulations to everyone accepted!
They added a test for history? That blows. I remember when we had the history class, they told us there wouldn't be a test and half the class instantly fell asleep.
Chris94
CWO selected
I was definitely part of that half
The history class was one of my favorites, but not having a test in it meant you could chill through it when you got tired. That sucks there's a test now...
BroskiOCS
Well-Known Member
Social media isn't allowed while at OCS. The computers in the room are technically for official use only (studying, coursework, etc). Some class team may allow some personal use. Our class team said we could use the computers for personal things on Sundays to include checking personal email, bank accounts, etc. Of course this was after about halfway through the program.
Marceli
Active Member
Nice. Email is good enough. Thanks ?
BroskiOCS
Well-Known Member
Yes.... you should memorize them. You don't know FOR SURE what you will be asked during an inspection. I memorized the Watchstanding Principles and never got asked any of them. I also know people that chose not to because it was too much (especially the 7th and 8th) and they were asked during an inspection. The stronger you are with the knowledge, the better off you'll be.
Marceli
Active Member
Ok. Thank you.