sTUPID qUESTIONS aBOUT ocs

[bbf7b2]

... will I have time to travel back home to get stuff to bring to Pensacola or do I have to report straight there and try to get my stuff some other time? My worry about driving there is that I would have to drive to RI, back home after OCS to get stuff, and then to Pensacola which would be a ton of driving. Would it be better to fly?

One thing to consider would be to pack up some of your stuff in a few boxes and leave them with some money at a friends place and have them ship the boxes to you once you get to Pensacola if you don't have time to come home first. I've done this a few times coming home from school at the end of the year and it works pretty well.

 

[Tom]

Drive. Drive drive drive drive. If you don't do all that driving you are an idiot because you will have convenience and will make thousands of dollars.

Use the search function.

 

[nugget61]

With regards to the incoming physical, if you pass something waiverable at MEPS and barely fail it at OCS (like hearing) will they allow you to enter in OCS while they process a waiver (and thus keep your designation) or do you have to redesignate and hope to get your original slot back when you graduate?

 

[Tom]

You continue at OCS with your designator until you are formally disqualified. Then comes the process of finding a new designator, which can be tricky with community slots and time of the year.

 

[nugget61]

You continue at OCS with your designator until you are formally disqualified. Then comes the process of finding a new designator, which can be tricky with community slots and time of the year.

Thanks. For SNA, do you get formally DQed at OCS or at the full flight physical after OCS?
I ask because my hearing is borderline - good days I'm in regs, bad I'm not (but still in waiver range) and I don't want to have a bad day at OCS, lose my slot there and spent half a decade fighting to get it back.

 

[scottwith1t]

Thanks. For SNA, do you get formally DQed at OCS or at the full flight physical after OCS?
I ask because my hearing is borderline - good days I'm in regs, bad I'm not (but still in waiver range) and I don't want to have a bad day at OCS, lose my slot there and spent half a decade fighting to get it back.

how it worked in my personal experience (this year):

you can get NPQ'ed at OCS and at your flight physical down here in pensacola.

HOWEVER, the vast majority of us OCS people didn't really get much of a looking at once we got down here since we had done our flight physicals up at OCS. for most of the SNFO's they just got signed off and for us SNA's we had a vision test before getting signed off.

i do say for MOST of us because two or three did get a good second looking at, with one being NPQ'ed. totally pulling this out of my ass but i think they were selected because of something written on their physicals up in newport, maybe they were borderline for something i'm not sure.

my hearing results in Newport were very similar to those i had at MEPS, so although MEPS is 90% worthless i'd say the hearing test is probably pretty spot on.

 

[nugget61]

how it worked in my personal experience (this year):

you can get NPQ'ed at OCS and at your flight physical down here in pensacola.

HOWEVER, the vast majority of us OCS people didn't really get much of a looking at once we got down here since we had done our flight physicals up at OCS. for most of the SNFO's they just got signed off and for us SNA's we had a vision test before getting signed off.

i do say for MOST of us because two or three did get a good second looking at, with one being NPQ'ed. totally pulling this out of my ass but i think they were selected because of something written on their physicals up in newport, maybe they were borderline for something i'm not sure.

my hearing results in Newport were very similar to those i had at MEPS, so although MEPS is 90% worthless i'd say the hearing test is probably pretty spot on.

Well I have to go back to MEPS in march (had PRK) and will have to go through the whole process again.
So whats the process if they NPQ you from SNA at the beginning of OCS but you're within waiver limits? Will they send in for a waiver and let you keep pilot (and on track at OCS), will they throw you into H until the waiver comes back, temporarily redesignate you or what?

 

[Tom]

While in OCS you receive the entrance long form flight physical. Once you pass that, your standards drop. Once you wing, standards drop again. OCS guys generally do not have to get another flight physical unless for some reason a doc decides they are up for their annual physical. This will be done at branch medical and not NAMI. This is where OCS guys have a better deal than ROTC and USNA guys because you find out if you are qualified before signing the contract.

You do not roll to H while waiting for a waiver. You only roll for failing a training evolution, fail to maintain physically during PT or go med down. Sure, if you get in trouble you can go to H for an extended period of time but that is generally rare. There is no such thing as temporarily redesignating either. You have a designator until it is taken away from you. You obviously can not continue to progress in OCS without a designator. I knew a guy who found out his waiver was denied the day before graduation. He decided to graduate and go SWO.

Generally the PRK guys are good to go and do not even have a hiccup in medical. I knew one guy who had issues and went SNFO.

 

[nugget61]

While in OCS you receive the entrance long form flight physical. Once you pass that, your standards drop... You do not roll to H while waiting for a waiver... You have a designator until it is taken away from you. You obviously can not continue to progress in OCS without a designator. I knew a guy who found out his waiver was denied the day before graduation.

I know it sounds like I'm beating a dead horse, but I just want to remove all of my doubt. From your (edited) quote, it sounds like they will work with you to keep your designation at OCS if you need a waiver and let you keep your designator until the waiver is denied with no effect upon OCS (for something like a hearing waiver, I understand it might for something that PT could aggravate). Right?

 

[xmid]

It wasn't until after I had graduated OCS and was getting my NOMI flight physical in Pensacola that I even realized I had been granted a waiver at OCS for an "athletic heart". So I had no idea that any of that was going on. Two of my friends got NPQ'ed at OCS and both were not informed until it was set in stone that they were NPQ'ed. They were given the option of redesignating, but they both decided to get out.

 

[Tom]

Yes. As for hearing dropping I don't know about that. Sure you are worn out and don't perform like you would when fresh, but I have never heard of anyone having a hearing problem in OCS.

 

[srqwho]

In regards to getting rolled, I understand that the more common times to roll are at the in-PFA and the RLP. But, are there any other times that are more common than others other than those two? It sounds like a lot of times people get sick or injured and have to go to H until they heal up, but is every morning's pt (or any other pt session) an opportunity to get rolled?

 

[nugget81]

...but is every morning's pt (or any other pt session) an opportunity to get rolled?

Ok, that's one way to look at it, but it's definitely the wrong way. Sure it has happened (one morning we had a guy roll into our class from H and that same morning he rolled back into H because our DI said that he didn't have the motivation to make it in our class), but you can't worry about every little thing that can and will go wrong. Is it a good idea to have a plan B and C and so forth? Absolutely. Just don't make yourself clinically insane playing the "what-if" game - you'll get NPQ'd for that

 

[srqwho]

Ok, that's one way to look at it, but it's definitely the wrong way. Sure it has happened (one morning we had a guy roll into our class from H and that same morning he rolled back into H because our DI said that he didn't have the motivation to make it in our class), but you can't worry about every little thing that can and will go wrong. Is it a good idea to have a plan B and C and so forth? Absolutely. Just don't make yourself clinically insane playing the "what-if" game - you'll get NPQ'd for that

That's what I thought. Thanks.

 

[Tom]

Beyond indoc week it is very rare to get rolled during PT.