A couple of random questions about OCS

[pass-thru]

Are the Sundays between arrival and first liberty regular PT/training days, or are they to some extent light duty days?

How much, if any, did your initial PFT drop from your pre-ship PFT? Also, I've heard that they are pretty tough on pullup form....what exactly constitutes kipping, is it OK to pull your knees up at all?

What exactly does it mean to drop out of a run....is it falling out of formation, falling way behind, or completely giving up and walking?

Finally, how many times do you run the Obstacle course? I've only seen it on video.....it seems most complaints are about the rope....but that bar you jump and flipp over seems pretty tough to me.....is it there a trick that makes it easier then it looks?

Thanks for any answers......I know these seem random but they're minor details I'd like to know beforehand.

 

[Skypilot]

I don't have much experience at OCS. I went down this summer for 2nd increment juniors and I failed my initial PFT, I was running a 235 going down so I was hoping for a good day. Basically my pullups and crunches were cut in half and i added 3 minutes onto my time. It was definately a wake up call. I plan on going back for the OCC. NO joke, you need to be running at least a 270 before you go down, the heat, stress, 2 hours of sleep a night...it all gets to you. As for pullup form, you hang then pull yourself up then you lower yourself and hang then pull yourself up, no movement from your legs at all. Also with crunches, my OSO allowed me to have my hands on my elbows and at OCS a PTI (physical training instructor) started me over b/c i needed to have my hands either in my armpits or on my shoulders. I guess that technique was personal preference of the PTI. Now, I'm not making excuses I know i was unprepared to go down there, however I now know what is expected and I am not re-applying until I am getting a 270 MINIMUM. Hope this helps.

 

[theblakeness]

Sundays, for the most part, were lighter duty days. They had church service in the morning and afterwards we would usually have a field day of the squad bay and drill practice. The only PT I can recall on sundays were remedial rope practice for those having problems with rope climbing technique. My Platoon usually all went to remedial ropes as kind of a "moto/bonding experience".

As far as the in-PFT...It seemed like everyones PFT dropped during the initial and it was mostly in the run..Everyone lost a pullup or two (some more than others) but it seemed like everyone had ****ty run times compared to what they were running at home. This is usually do to stress, weather change, diet change (box nastys), and the fact that none of us were getting much sleep during processing. On the plus side, I think everyone beat their personal best on the run during the final-PFT. For the pullups, I would get real used to just not moving your legs at all and make sure your going from a dead hang or they wont count. No pullups are given for free at OCS..you have to earn every one of them.

When it comes to the runs..pretty much all of which you mentioned can constitute a fall out. Whatever you do though, DO NOT QUIT! even if you fall out of formation, keep running. The staff hates quitters! If your going to juniors, most of your runs will be ungraded and on a pass/fail basis.

For juniors, we ran the O-course at least once a week until week 4 when we ran it almost everyday. After the intro run, you start getting timed everytime you run it and week 4 was when we had our final times. I dont think it really counted for much though because I dont think the O-course was a graded event, but you do run it as part of the stamina course and that is graded. The rope can be tough when your tired and you dont have the techniques down, but if you listen to the instructors on proper technique then the rope will be fine. By bar im assuming you mean the horizontal bar at the beginning to the course. There really isnt much trick to it. some people think that if you can do a college boy roll over it then you will have an edge but I have seen people with real strong "chicken wings" get over it just as fast.

My advice is to not screw up any of the obstacles because you start burning energy (and time) when you start panicking to negotiate it, and to go 110% the entire time. Dont pace yourself to save energy for the rope at the end because you will kill your time. The course will be over in less than 2 minutes and its certainly doable. The best advice I was given when doing the O-course was to "take myself to just short of being out-of-control"..Take that for what its worth.

Good luck..and dont quit!

 

[Slammer2]

Are the Sundays between arrival and first liberty regular PT/training days, or are they to some extent light duty days?

How much, if any, did your initial PFT drop from your pre-ship PFT? Also, I've heard that they are pretty tough on pullup form....what exactly constitutes kipping, is it OK to pull your knees up at all?

What exactly does it mean to drop out of a run....is it falling out of formation, falling way behind, or completely giving up and walking?

Finally, how many times do you run the Obstacle course? I've only seen it on video.....it seems most complaints are about the rope....but that bar you jump and flipp over seems pretty tough to me.....is it there a trick that makes it easier then it looks?

Thanks for any answers......I know these seem random but they're minor details I'd like to know beforehand.

The first sunday they made us attend some sort of service. They probably just wanted to get us outta the squad bay. The next few sundays it was optional, you dont need to go. The people who stay behind usualy had stuff to do like clean the squad bay or whatever. The rest of the day is mostly easier paced than the previous first week of chaos. Definately the easiest day you'll have at that point next to inprocessing. But dont think that you're gonna get to lay around and do nothing. Everyone was forced to go to remedial ropes the first sunday so that the PTI and SGT instructors could see exactly where people were individually. I think we had only ran the o-course once prior to that first sunday, and they just spent their time yelling and screaming. They made the candidates who couldnt climb the rope keep comming back until they could do it. You're probably not gonna pass OCS if you cant climb the rope since its needed for so many events.

Initial PFT: Mine sucked horribly. I boarded with a 291. My preship was a 271. I got a 240-something during IN-PFT. I did 21 pullups but only 16 counted. You have to be in a dead hang and then they'll tell you to begin. some of the instructors counted out loud and others didnt tell you your score until you were done (that sucked big time). You would think you did good and then they'd be like "good job you got 8". Dont swing your legs at all and dont lift your knees up. Keep your legs at a dead hang. You dont need legs to do pullups. If you're moving your legs at all, then you're using them to get some kind of motion to assist and they wont count them. Now, if you have a little motion, they will probably count it, but if you swing of lift they wont.

Crunches - key thing is form. It doesnt matter what people tell you, or how you do them with your OSO or at poll functions....shove your hands up into your armpits and make sure that both elbows touch both legs. If you want, you can stick your thumbs into your amrpits and grab your biceps, but just dont let them slip. Every groups at OCS may do these different, but if you can do them like that, then you will have no problem doing them the cheap way where your hands slide down all the way to your elbows. and if they see you do a crappy one, chances are one of the instructors will stand right over you and stay there until the end.

Run - Sucked. You dont get to eat before the PFT (maybe good for some of you, I had never done that in my life), lack of sleep, stress however minor it may be, lack of physical activity for a few days, nasty food, fear of failing and getting sent home...all that adds up and makes you suck. Theres a lot of trash going around about how its 3.2 miles or whatever. I dont know about that. I felt so bad that it seemed like it was 5 miles that first time. Its probably only 3.0, but sometimes I got to thinking that that little victory lap around the parade deck at the beginning is unnecessary. IN-PFT i did bad, intermediate PFT all my stuff improved except my run (running on a developing stress fracture in my foot). My final PFT was the best. I got 260-something.

Dropping out of a run can be a lot of things. You mentioned a bunch of them. When you screw things up you'll get a chit (and if you have a staff like mine, an essay to go along with it). You do most PT sessions in squads, broken down into columns of 2. One time our whole squad got a chit for failing to maintain 40 inches back to chest during the run. SSgt ran fast as hell and it was impossible to keep up so he chitted us all for being run stragglers. I think as long as you put out 100% and dont quit you'll be fine. And keep in mind, unless you're that guy who can run the 15 minute PFT run and are good at cross-country running up hills kind of thing, then that place will kick your ass. If you feel like quitting a run or falling out (and for all those guys who say "oh i'll never quit..." you'll be thinking about how easy it would be to just stop for a second and catch your breath) just remember - every other person with you is about to die as well. Even the ones who may look like they just out for a little jog. At the end one of our Ssgt Instructors told us that he could barely keep the pace on most of those runs. He just didnt want us to catch him so we were his motivation to stay fast. He was like "damn you guys for keeping up". Just dont ever quit a run. falling out because you drop from heat or are seriously injured and your body stops working are different things. Dont ever just say screw this I need a break. And finally, if you do fall back, sprint your ass off and catch up. You still might get a chit, but at least you could finish with everyone else. DO NOT try to do this to get a break though. They will know when you quit. Thats the whole thing they're looking for the whole time there.

O course - first time it was done, we all stood along side the first 2-3 obstacles. two of the PTIs ran it side by side demonstrating the preferred method and then the alternate method. They went through the whole thing and then we all split off onto our o-courses. Theres 4 on the PT field and then I believe 4 more on the jr field. You will use the same one each time. At first there was a staff member at each obstacle and we broke down into little groups. We lined up and just ran one high obstacle at a time over and over. We switched after a few minutes and then at the end, we all had to climb the rope twice. If you got up it, you moved through it and waited in line. If you couldnt do it you had to go back. Not too sure what they did with the people who couldnt get up at all. I just know that we stood there for a long time. Then another day, you run it fully. Then you get a timed run. Do that twice more, with the third one being your test. Thats it for the O-course. But you will use it again for other things. The e-course begins with the o-course. So thats about 3 more times. Then if you do it at the field meet (competition between companies) you might do it again if you have one of the better times. If you have your own little special way to negotiate the obstacles, I still reccommend doing the techniques they show you because when you run it hard core for time, you will be dead at the end and wont be able to muscle your way over stuff like you think you can.

 

[JZAB]

Don't let all the hype get you down. My pre-ship was a 251 my first PFT was a 261. Correct form is the most important of all. Lock arms all the way out, ECT. Do PT the day up until you leave!!! You’re going to get three days off before you do your initial PFT.

Also don't worry about kipping they will break you of it....(it is getting momentum to bring your body up) bringing your legs up does not constitute kipping but, bring your legs above your waist and your done.

Falling out of runs is just that falling out. Out of formation, my SI's would sprint between stations on the fartlick and it sucked none of us kept up. However, fall out of a squad run or way back to the point when your squad is waiting for more than a few (5-7 seconds) on the fartlick and it is falling out. My Gunny sprinted the last 500m on a run and 5 of us could not keep up and he called us fall-outs and we got a chit. But we didn't care we stayed the pace the whole run, and would have if he did not sprint. Your run time will get much better while at OCS mine dropped 2 min in 5 weeks.

Don't worry about the O-course. The first "bar" is easy their are to methods the "college boy roll" CBR or the "chicken wing". The "college boy roll" is tough but once you get it, you’re golden. The other and slower way "Chicken wing" is easy and you get lots of practice. You can even go the remedial ropes session on Saturdays with the PTI and he will let you work on the "CBR" if you want don’t worry about the O-course 3 of the 50 guys failed it in my platoon 2 because they forgot their times.

I won't sit here and say OCS is easy but if you can handle not sleeping, doing a lot of running, and dealing with a bunch of stupid crap. It is not that hard. It is a very high stress environment! Any other question shoot!
Jzab C/2

 

[pass-thru]

Thank you very much for the very detailed responces. It is a great help to know what to expect as much as possible.

What's the deal with the box nasties.....seems like not to many fond memories of those. Also, Sunday morning there is a range for arrival times......so showing up on the early side lead to finishing up early (and therefore more sleep) or just more waiting around?

 

[theblakeness]

Thank you very much for the very detailed responces. It is a great help to know what to expect as much as possible.

What's the deal with the box nasties.....seems like not to many fond memories of those. Also, Sunday morning there is a range for arrival times......so showing up on the early side lead to finishing up early (and therefore more sleep) or just more waiting around?

Box nasties usually consisted of a small, processed meat sandwich, a piece of fruit, usually a bag of chips, a granola bar and some cookies. They really werent that bad in moderation, but when your eating them 2 out of the 3 meals a day during processing..you get pretty sick of them.

The first Sunday, people were showing up all hours of the day. Being from the west-coast, I actually arrived the Saturday before instead of sunday. The only advantage was that I got a head start of some of the paperwork, was among the first to get my bag issue and had a head start on marking my gear.


I would try not to stress about it though. Just get into sponge mode while you are there and you will be fine.

 

[Slammer2]

The ham and cheese was actually not too bad. Not too fond of the mystery meat though.

You move about as a platoon even during in-processing. If you get there early, you'll most likely get a head start, but you dont get to go to sleep at night any sooner.

 

[mmx1]

The ham and cheese was actually not too bad. Not too fond of the mystery meat though.

You move about as a platoon even during in-processing. If you get there early, you'll most likely get a head start, but you dont get to go to sleep at night any sooner.

Wasn't there a veggieburger in the boxed nasties?

 

[SuperStallionIP]

This whole thread is very disturbing. I'll probably wake up in a cold sweat tonight from the bad memories I thought I had flushed from my mind. Thanks fellas.

 

[goosegagnon2]

Also beware of those shots during inprocessing, they KILLED my arm...made it sore etc....and I know I probably could have kicked out 2 or 3 pull-ups more without that soreness.

 

[Midshipmanjosh]

i'll add my 2 cents for whats it worth...

Running -- I went up to OCS with almost a 24 min run time (i had pneumonia 2 months before i left -- spent 5 days in the hospital). That was what i was worried about the most. As it turned out, my initial run time was 23:52. 30 days later, my time dropped to 20:28 and im not a fast runner by any means. I just refused to fall out and stayed with my squad on the runs. If you do that your time will drop. Something that you don't hear much of is that a lot of your training runs are squad runs, and you yell cadences the entire was. This helps with breathing and it keeps your mind of the pain of running.

Pullups -- I wouldn't go up with less than 17 pullups. I was confident that i could get 20. Until then hit me with the six shots in the shoulders and then i almost had a heart attack when i jumped up on the bar and they were covered in dew. At that point i was just praying to get over 15 (i got my 20 but i had to dig deep to do it). I never dropped below 20 pullups when i was at OCS.

O-Course -- I loved the o-course when i was at OCS. Another candidate taught me the college boy roll before i left. The best way i can explain it, is to jump at the bar like gymnastics girls do on the low bar; as soon as your feet pass directly below the bar, do a pullup but pull the bar to your hips instead of to your chest. As your legs come up just point them back over the top of the bar and you'll go right over. The key is to make sure that when your legs are going over the top of the bar, you want the front of your hips to be the rotation point on the top of the bar. The rest of the O-course is a piece of cake. I think i started with a 1:30 for my first time and 2 weeks later i ran a 0:59. If you do what the instructors tell you on the rope you'll be fine.

Out.

 

[theblakeness]

you know what my hardest obstacle on the 0-course was...the 8-ft wall. I honestly dont know why, its not like im a short guy or anything...but that honestly was what could make or break my time.

...damn wall

 

[Lawman]

you know what my hardest obstacle on the 0-course was...the 8-ft wall. I honestly dont know why, its not like im a short guy or anything...but that honestly was what could make or break my time.

...damn wall

I hated the log right after it. Not the belly busters for those of you having trouble thinking about what I mean. I mean that one single neck level'ish (Im 5'10") log that if you didnt catch just right you slipped under. That thing was really wet one morning and I ended up making 3 runs at it. :icon_rage

 

[Slammer2]

I thought the worst part was that little sprint to the ropes

During the field meet, I saw this one dude form Alpha whip over those 4 high logs using this spinning method. Never saw that before. It was awesome. Definatly smoked the hopping method.