Leaving in a week and a half now, wanted to make sure I'm not missing anything

[Zeppelin89]

I've seen several mentions of what to bring scattered throughout the OCS forum and was hoping for some input on my list. Here's what I'm bringing with a few questions (outside of the paperwork listed on OCS website):

300 dollars (should this be cash or is it ok to be on a debit card?)
pre-paid phone card (How much do you recommend?)
Book of Stamps

White Socks (I'm assuming longer tube songs rather than ankle socks) site recommends 7 pairs, I read to bring extra, 10-12 enough?

White Underwear, briefs (someone mentioned boxer briefs are now accepted, is this still true?) Rec 7 pairs bringing 10-12

white towel/washcloth rec 1, bringing 2-3

shaving gear with blades
toothbrush/paste & floss
deodorant
soap/shampoo (2 in 1 to save time)
nail clippers

glasses with sport strap, black
-I plan on bringing contact lenses in the hopes I can wear them upon graduation, is this likely?

2 pair running shoes, <6 months old http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-thing?.out=jpg&size=l&tid=30730840 is what I have and plan on bringing.

Alarm clock
phone/charger
wristwatch, grey
wallet, checkbook, bank card

Anything else recommended? Thanks in advance.

 

[Flash]

-One forty-five caliber automatic
-Two boxes of ammunition
-Four days' concentrated emergency rations
-One drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills
-One miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible
-One hundred dollars in rubles
-One hundred dollars in gold
-Nine packs of chewing gum
-One issue of prophylactics
-Three lipsticks
-Three pair of nylon stockings

 

[707guy]

-One forty-five caliber automatic
-Two boxes of ammunition
-Four days' concentrated emergency rations
-One drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills
-One miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible
-One hundred dollars in rubles
-One hundred dollars in gold
-Nine packs of chewing gum
-One issue of prophylactics
-Three lipsticks
-Three pair of nylon stockings

Inventorying the survival vest again?

 

[Tycho_Brohe]

-One forty-five caliber automatic
-Two boxes of ammunition
-Four days' concentrated emergency rations
-One drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills
-One miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible
-One hundred dollars in rubles
-One hundred dollars in gold
-Nine packs of chewing gum
-One issue of prophylactics
-Three lipsticks
-Three pair of nylon stockings

You forgot clear nail polish.

 

[Tycho_Brohe]

First word, last word

Don't need a phone card, that only applied to the pay phone banks in old Nimitz, the new ones are free.

Some of it should be cash, at the very least the $20 that you need for your first haircut. And be very careful about where you stow your cash, checks, and cards. If it's not on your person, lock it away.

Make sure the alarm clock doesn't have a radio, otherwise they might not let you have it until candio phase. Also make sure the wristwatch has an alarm on it, so that if you get those earlier than the alarm clocks, you can still get up before reveille. A simple $30 Timex Ironman is a popular OCS choice.

Good call on the two pairs of shoes, I ran through both of mine while at OCS. Although I was there a bit longer than most people.

One last thing: foot powder. Bring a bottle just in case. Then at your earliest convenience, raid the supply hatch, there's tons of Gold Bond in there that had been issued, never used, never opened. With great powder comes great responsibility

 

[Maturin90]

As far as razors go are we allowed to bring electric? I can't stand blades because most of the time they irritate my skin.

 

[Renegade One]

-One forty-five caliber automatic
-Two boxes of ammunition
-Four days' concentrated emergency rations
-One drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills
-One miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible
-One hundred dollars in rubles
-One hundred dollars in gold
-Nine packs of chewing gum
-One issue of prophylactics
-Three lipsticks
-Three pair of nylon stockings

"Shoot! A fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff."

Well played...

 

[Zeppelin89]

As far as razors go are we allowed to bring electric? I can't stand blades because most of the time they irritate my skin.

I can actually answer this. I believe I read on another post somewhere throughout that a guy brought out an electric razor the first week, and then promptly got his ass handed to him by the D.I. So, I would recommend get used to straight razors ASAP.

Of course, that post could of been 4 years ago and things may have changed but I would recommend a straight one.

 

[Tycho_Brohe]

As far as razors go are we allowed to bring electric? I can't stand blades because most of the time they irritate my skin.

Not allowed before candio phase, and technically I don't think they're allowed at all, but I know a few guys used them as candios. Shaving every day was tough for me too. Try to experiment with a few razors and shaving cream/gel to see if one works best. I'd shave the night before, get a close enough shave that you're not getting 5 o'clock shadow too early the next day, shower after you shave, and invest in some good balm. I had the biggest problem with shaving because I didn't know to shave with the grain first, then against the grain.

Oh, and straight razors are definitely not allowed. As much as I loved Sweeney Todd...

 

[Maturin90]

I'll try. I'm generally pretty good but my neck always gets a little irritated regardless of how I shave. Just going to have to tough it out I suppose.

 

[Zeppelin89]

Does anyone know if boxer briefs are OK, or are the briefs AKA "whitie tighties" a must have?

 

[Angry]

Does anyone know if boxer briefs are OK, or are the briefs AKA "whitie tighties" a must have?

In the words of my class CPO "I am not going to pull your pants down and look at your underwear. Correction - NO ONE here will be pulling your pants down for ANY reason. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!"

 

[LFCFan]

For some reason the OCS website/packs from recruiters make it sound like you should buy cheap disposable crappy everything. I don't recommend that. Buy what you normally would (decent razors, etc) and bring it in. The candios who will go through your stuff with you on sunday before the fun begins are very reasonable and not trying to screw you.

One thing that always comes up at the out-brief is that $300 isn't enough. Later on you'll be buying the candio PT shirts/hoodie, and you'll want to buy other stuff at the NEX (toiletry bag, etc) so that you don't have to use what you're issued during inspections. Granted, you will be getting paid so you can always add more to that later if scrounging up more than $300 is hard right now.

Your DI will also try and sell your class the drill instructor T-shirts (black with DI logo, see the lower left corner of my user pic) which are pretty cool. A lot of people like to buy t-shirts for their family. You can get the candio shirts with family member's names on them, or go with the DI shirts, or do nothing. I went ahead and did the DI shirts for the family. Reason being that candio shirts can be anywhere from kinda boring (USS Constitution) to super motarded (human heart impaled on sword and rifle). When the orders were taken for DI shirts we hadn't finished our candio design yet, so I played it safe. Our t-shirts came out fine and well done though. Had I known that I would have got my dad one with his callsign on it (yours will probably have the nicknames classmates and class team members give you).

 

[Tycho_Brohe]

One thing that always comes up at the out-brief is that $300 isn't enough. Later on you'll be buying the candio PT shirts/hoodie, and you'll want to buy other stuff at the NEX (toiletry bag, etc) so that you don't have to use what you're issued during inspections. Granted, you will be getting paid so you can always add more to that later if scrounging up more than $300 is hard right now.
Your DI will also try and sell your class the drill instructor T-shirts (black with DI logo, see the lower left corner of my user pic) which are pretty cool. A lot of people like to buy t-shirts for their family. You can get the candio shirts with family member's names on them, or go with the DI shirts, or do nothing.

DON'T splurge at OCS. A significant chunk of the 6 or so total paychecks you'll get there will go to your uniform and equipment issue, so keep that in mind. All told, after buying some extra PT gear and springing for the Brooks Brothers SDB's, my bill was a whopping 3 grand, including that initial mini-NEX issue, which I had forgotten to account for. Uniform allowance wasn't even close to covering it (I think it's like 1,800 total for non-priors). Definitely go for the class shirts (and the DI shirts, some of us got ours in forest green which looks friggin' sweet), but don't lose your head. Keep a budget, keep track of all your purchases, just do something to keep you from breaking the bank while you're there. And once you start getting stuff unlocked, don't go buying bottles of gummy vitamins or boxes of protein bars every week. That shit adds up.

 

[LFCFan]

Uniform allowance is something like $2000 + $600 when you commission, unless you are a prior chief. Plus if you get the starcard, you'll get 25% off your first purchase, which means if your first purchase is paying off your uniforms you'll come in *under* the allowance. Mine was about $2700, and I put $2500 (max out) on the star card, bringing the total down to about $2200. I didn't splurge on the service uniforms that I wouldn't be wearing more than a few times a year.

Oh, and don't buy two combo cover frames. Once you're in the fleet you'll usually just wear the garrison cover with your khakis and leave the white top on the combo cover for whites/dress uniforms.

You don't really need multiple sets of candio PT gear for yourself since you'll be doing your own laundry at that point and won't have to worry about when the laundry body is going to do a load of colors again. I would recommend an extra set of regular PT gear so that if laundry falls behind you won't be gross. This might not be an issue in new Nimitz, much better laundry facilities there.