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A Word on OCS (as of 2 DEC 16)

Hopeful Hoya

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
Just graduated with 03-17. OCS sucked but in the end it was an extremely rewarding experience, especially because of the fantastic staff they have there.

Figured I’d pass on some of what’s been going on since there are some big changes underfoot, and OCS in general is going to be a lot tougher and less forgiving going forward.

The new CO OTCN, DOCS, and DDOCS all have a very similar warfighter mentality and agree that in the past there had been people graduating from OCS who should not be Naval Officers. The Class-O’s and RDCs/DIs feel the same way.

Poopie suits are back. Fast cruise is much more difficult. If you fail the IST, roll into H, and fail it again three weeks later, you’re pretty much gone. The staff are able to roll people more easily and are not afraid to do so if you do something that calls into question your integrity or fitness to be an officer.

There’s a lot more going on, but if you’re applying to OCS you only need to worry about this:

Show up in shape. This may sound obvious, but we had people roll out on my IST who couldn’t do 42 good form pushups (for 20-24 males) or even finish a 1.5 mile run, period, let alone complete it in time. The IST minimums are now SAT-MEDIUM on the Navy’s 2016 PFA standard. To prepare: do sprint/jog runs. Do pushups and situps. Work in some HIIT to prepare for getting beat. Don’t worry about runs over 3 miles or lifting, because you’ll lose all of your base the first 9 weeks.

Prepare mentally. OCS is hard, and it is meant to be. The first couple of weeks you will be stressed pretty much the majority of the time you’re awake. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. It will amaze you how much better you are at compartmentalizing stress after your 12 weeks there.

Prepare to be a leader. Always do the right thing, never give up your integrity. Help your shipmates when they are struggling, but do it in a tactful way. Don’t try to hide or fly under the radar, the staff will find you and put you on the spot. Take chances, screw up, pay the price, learn, repeat. Better to make a mistake at OCS and get beat than in the fleet where it could cost someone their life.

Do those things and you will be fine.

If you have any questions I’d be happy to answer them.
 

Pags

N/A
pilot
Just graduated with 03-17. OCS sucked but in the end it was an extremely rewarding experience, especially because of the fantastic staff they have there.

Figured I’d pass on some of what’s been going on since there are some big changes underfoot, and OCS in general is going to be a lot tougher and less forgiving going forward.

The new CO OTCN, DOCS, and DDOCS all have a very similar warfighter mentality and agree that in the past there had been people graduating from OCS who should not be Naval Officers. The Class-O’s and RDCs/DIs feel the same way.

Poopie suits are back. Fast cruise is much more difficult. If you fail the IST, roll into H, and fail it again three weeks later, you’re pretty much gone. The staff are able to roll people more easily and are not afraid to do so if you do something that calls into question your integrity or fitness to be an officer.

There’s a lot more going on, but if you’re applying to OCS you only need to worry about this:

Show up in shape. This may sound obvious, but we had people roll out on my IST who couldn’t do 42 good form pushups (for 20-24 males) or even finish a 1.5 mile run, period, let alone complete it in time. The IST minimums are now SAT-MEDIUM on the Navy’s 2016 PFA standard. To prepare: do sprint/jog runs. Do pushups and situps. Work in some HIIT to prepare for getting beat. Don’t worry about runs over 3 miles or lifting, because you’ll lose all of your base the first 9 weeks.

Prepare mentally. OCS is hard, and it is meant to be. The first couple of weeks you will be stressed pretty much the majority of the time you’re awake. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. It will amaze you how much better you are at compartmentalizing stress after your 12 weeks there.

Prepare to be a leader. Always do the right thing, never give up your integrity. Help your shipmates when they are struggling, but do it in a tactful way. Don’t try to hide or fly under the radar, the staff will find you and put you on the spot. Take chances, screw up, pay the price, learn, repeat. Better to make a mistake at OCS and get beat than in the fleet where it could cost someone their life.

Do those things and you will be fine.

If you have any questions I’d be happy to answer them.
Congrats ENS! Good luck in Pcola; don't fuck it up.
 

Hopeful Hoya

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
Thanks for the info. What was your experience with the flight physical?

Depends on what kind of issues you have. I was lucky and got my NAMI letter a week into Candio phase, even though I had been expecting a big wait. A number of my classmates got the whammy or are in student pool waiting for follow up appointments.

Best thing you can do is have all of the documentation for past issues ready to go, so you don't have to go hunting for it during OCS. For minor stuff they won't really care, but if it is one of the things you check "yes" for on your medical screening documents you need to have the paper trail to back it up. Most people will need follow up screenings after the initial flight physical, but for me since I had all of my paperwork in order it was more of a "yep you're fine", and then just waiting for the Flight Surgeon to review it and send it to NAMI.
 
Luckily the only thing for me was prk eye surgery. But I wasn't sure if you had to take additional eye tests if you were someone who's had prk/lasik.
 

Hopeful Hoya

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
Luckily the only thing for me was prk eye surgery. But I wasn't sure if you had to take additional eye tests if you were someone who's had prk/lasik.

I don't believe so, as far as I'm aware everyone goes through the same battery (I had LASIK). You get NPQ'd but as long as your paperwork is in order and nothing pops on the physical then you'll get a waiver from NAMI.
 

FormerRecruitingGuru

Making Recruiting Great Again
So basically if you turned it into MEPS, bring it with you?

I would bring a copy of your entire medical record, in particular what was used for the MEPS physical just in case.

I have seen some NRDs get put on blast for not mailing medical records to OCS either on time or even ever.
 

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
I would bring a copy of your entire medical record, in particular what was used for the MEPS physical just in case.

I have seen some NRDs get put on blast for not mailing medical records to OCS either on time or even ever.

I would ask your OR to make sure it was sent, and if you do take your medical record make sure you know what is in there. I say that because I know several from our NRD that took their entire medical record to OCS, a few ran into problems due to items that were not disclosed to MEPS, in both cases it was items that were from when they were kids and just didn't know when they filled out the MEPS paperwork, one was sent home because whatever happened to him was a PDQ item.
 

Hopeful Hoya

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
Congrats Hoya.

Did you have a lot of people fail RLP?

We had something like 23 (out of 90ish) fail the first evolution of RLP, but only 4 people ended up failing it a second time and rolling. I personally think RLP (and a lot of evolutions at OCS) are over hyped, if you plan, start working early, and look at all your stuff with a critical eye (being brutally honest when something isn't the right measurement), then you will be ok.

Honestly the best thing you can do to prepare is show up to OCS with the big 5 down cold. It allows you to focus more on prepping your stuff and helping your shipmates, and it establishes you in a positive light with the Candios and Class Team.
 
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