Looking for a female perspective on OCS

[IslandGirl340]

Quick question regarding High Impact Sports bras. Any recent graduates have any brand that worked better than another? I am hoping to get a call for a November OCS class date and the Victoria's Secret Knockout sports bra is the only recommendation I found from 2017. I wanted to see if anyone had a more recent recommendation.

I’m in the process of getting in shape for OCS with hopes of being picked up, but I invested in a SheFit bra! It’s custom fit and adjustable!

 

[KESSC1]

I read a lot about the SheFit bra and that’s one I’m considering. Thanks so much! Best of luck in selection.

 

[Rhea1126]

I know this is a few months late, but yes your hair WILL have to be in a bun for OCS until the last 3-4 weeks of training. Until that time your hair must always be in a bun, including for PT.

What if our hair is too short for a bun?

 

[Ashley Wick]

What if our hair is too short for a bun?

Then it can be down, but there is no pony tail option for the first 8 weeks. So it will either need to be short enough to be in regs while down, or it will need to be in a bun.

 

[Mouselovr]

What if our hair is too short for a bun?

If its shorter than your collar, you're good to go.
If it's longer than your collar, it will need to be in a bun until the start of week 9.

If its that awkward in between length, I watched two girls cut their own hair with scissors...........

 

[xjoellemae]

If its shorter than your collar, you're good to go.
If it's longer than your collar, it will need to be in a bun until the start of week 9.

If its that awkward in between length, I watched two girls cut their own hair with scissors...........

Desperate times. Nothing like the Nimitz hair salon experience. My personal favorite is when bleached hair grew out so they had to do the NEX box dye razzle dazzle.

 

[Navy2050]

I will be leaving for OCS in 2 months, and I have a few questions. I have been told that there are only 10 to 15 females per OCS class. Is that pretty accurate? Seems like such a small number compared to Navy bootcamp. Are bobby pins allowed or are only 2 clips and hair ties allowed for a bun? How much time do you get to put up your hair into a bun? How much time do you get to shower..3 min? I was told that for the first 3 weeks of OCS, your hair does not have to be in a perfect bun, as long as it is up. Is that accurate? Why are you supposedly tired and hungry while doing the Initial Strength Training test? Is it because you have to PT the day before, or you March around or what? I just want to be as prepared as possible. Thanks.

 

[Tracker95]

I will be leaving for OCS in 2 months, and I have a few questions. I have been told that there are only 10 to 15 females per OCS class. Is that pretty accurate? Seems like such a small number compared to Navy bootcamp. Are bobby pins allowed or are only 2 clips and hair ties allowed for a bun? How much time do you get to put up your hair into a bun? How much time do you get to shower..3 min? I was told that for the first 3 weeks of OCS, your hair does not have to be in a perfect bun, as long as it is up. Is that accurate? Why are you supposedly tired and hungry while doing the Initial Strength Training test? Is it because you have to PT the day before, or you March around or what? I just want to be as prepared as possible. Thanks.

Go to https://www.errantensign.com/the-real-ocs-packing-guide/ there is a section for females

 

[Ashley Wick]

I will be leaving for OCS in 2 months, and I have a few questions. I have been told that there are only 10 to 15 females per OCS class. Is that pretty accurate? Seems like such a small number compared to Navy bootcamp. Are bobby pins allowed or are only 2 clips and hair ties allowed for a bun? How much time do you get to put up your hair into a bun? How much time do you get to shower..3 min? I was told that for the first 3 weeks of OCS, your hair does not have to be in a perfect bun, as long as it is up. Is that accurate? Why are you supposedly tired and hungry while doing the Initial Strength Training test? Is it because you have to PT the day before, or you March around or what? I just want to be as prepared as possible. Thanks.

About 25% of the class is female. Sometimes more sometimes less depending on the class.

You can use bobby-pins for your hair. As for how much time you get to do your hair depends on the schedule for the day. If there’s PT in the morning and you have early chow (most of Indoc phase) you’ll get about 20 minutes to shower and get ready. Once you get into the later phases you get more time.

Other times you will have five minutes to shower and get ready. Bring baby wipes. Also have a good relationship with your roommate so you can alternate days to shower in the mornings when you have very limited time. You will have plenty of time to shower in the evenings every day. You have an hour of head and hygiene every night.

Your hair will need to be in a bun, even during Indoc phase, though they are a little more lenient with how it looks during that phase than in the later phases.

You’re tired and hungry for the IST because they get you up earlier than normal for it and You haven’t eaten since dinner the day before which sometimes is as early as 1630 meaning it’s been over 12 hours since you ate last.

You won’t have marched or anything the day before. You don’t even go to normal PT until after first Friday.

It sounds like your prior enlisted, OCS is so much different than boot camp. In ways that are so hard to explain/describe.

 

[Mouselovr]

I will be leaving for OCS in 2 months, and I have a few questions. I have been told that there are only 10 to 15 females per OCS class. Is that pretty accurate? Seems like such a small number compared to Navy bootcamp. Are bobby pins allowed or are only 2 clips and hair ties allowed for a bun? How much time do you get to put up your hair into a bun? How much time do you get to shower..3 min? I was told that for the first 3 weeks of OCS, your hair does not have to be in a perfect bun, as long as it is up. Is that accurate? Why are you supposedly tired and hungry while doing the Initial Strength Training test? Is it because you have to PT the day before, or you March around or what? I just want to be as prepared as possible. Thanks.

Depends on the class. I saw one class with 40% female another with 5%. Average is probably in your ball park of 10-15.

Yes to Bobby pins.

Usually, you wake up 30 minutes prior to the actual “wake up”, so plenty of time to put your hair up. I would often redo mine throughout the day because I would get bored in class.

I don’t know anyone that showered in the morning. There just isn’t time after PT, especially in those first 3 weeks of indoc. We were given 12 minutes exactly to change and be ready in uniform to get to breakfast. They give you a set amount of time, and they might send you to the sand pit later in the day. Baby wipes, baby wipes, baby wipes.

No, your hair does not have to be perfect, just within regs.

Currently, for the first 3 days of OCS you are running on limited sleep and you aren’t fed properly. For us, we got our first “real” meal the night before the IST. I think I was only given a breakfast sandwhich and 2 pb&js/ bag of chips as daily food the first 3 days.

 

[Navy2050]

Go to https://www.errantensign.com/the-real-ocs-packing-guide/ there is a section for females

Thank you for the site you sent me. I read it, and it goes into pretty good detail about things to know about OCS.

 

[Navy2050]

About 25% of the class is female. Sometimes more sometimes less depending on the class.

You can use bobby-pins for your hair. As for how much time you get to do your hair depends on the schedule for the day. If there’s PT in the morning and you have early chow (most of Indoc phase) you’ll get about 20 minutes to shower and get ready. Once you get into the later phases you get more time.

Other times you will have five minutes to shower and get ready. Bring baby wipes. Also have a good relationship with your roommate so you can alternate days to shower in the mornings when you have very limited time. You will have plenty of time to shower in the evenings every day. You have an hour of head and hygiene every night.

Your hair will need to be in a bun, even during Indoc phase, though they are a little more lenient with how it looks during that phase than in the later phases.

You’re tired and hungry for the IST because they get you up earlier than normal for it and You haven’t eaten since dinner the day before which sometimes is as early as 1630 meaning it’s been over 12 hours since you ate last.

You won’t have marched or anything the day before. You don’t even go to normal PT until after first Friday.

It sounds like your prior enlisted, OCS is so much different than boot camp. In ways that are so hard to explain/describe.

Thank you so much for this thorough reply! That's awesome that Bobby pins can be used for the hair, because it's hard to make a good bun with just 2 clips and hair ties. Especially with layers.

I will definitely be bringing baby wipes. It is awesome that there will plenty of time for hygiene in the evening. That's actually very surprising to me.

That's a pretty long time to go without food for the IST, so I can understand the being hungry and tired part from waking up much earlier.

And yes, I am a prior. From what you have told me, OCS is definitely different than bootcamp in multiple ways. I know that that it is going to be a lot more physical, and there will be rollable events such as First Friday, Fast Cruise, and RLP, among others. I don't believe we had rollable events in bootcamp as long as you passed your PRT's.

 

[Navy2050]

Depends on the class. I saw one class with 40% female another with 5%. Average is probably in your ball park of 10-15.

Yes to Bobby pins.

Usually, you wake up 30 minutes prior to the actual “wake up”, so plenty of time to put your hair up. I would often redo mine throughout the day because I would get bored in class.

I don’t know anyone that showered in the morning. There just isn’t time after PT, especially in those first 3 weeks of indoc. We were given 12 minutes exactly to change and be ready in uniform to get to breakfast. They give you a set amount of time, and they might send you to the sand pit later in the day. Baby wipes, baby wipes, baby wipes.

No, your hair does not have to be perfect, just within regs.

Currently, for the first 3 days of OCS you are running on limited sleep and you aren’t fed properly. For us, we got our first “real” meal the night before the IST. I think I was only given a breakfast sandwhich and 2 pb&js/ bag of chips as daily food the first 3 days.

Thank you for your thorough reply to my post. I can't imagine only 5 females in a class, although from watching YouTube videos of graduation ceremonies, it makes sense. There typically aren't that many females from the videos I have seen at least.

It's good to know that there is plenty of time to put hair up into a bun, and that it does not have to be perfect for the first phase at least.

I will be bringing baby wipes for sure.

That is crazy that you are only given that for the first few days, but I believe we got bag nasties as well going through bootcamp the first few days.

 

[krae3443]

Desperate times. Nothing like the Nimitz hair salon experience. My personal favorite is when bleached hair grew out so they had to do the NEX box dye razzle dazzle.

Wait if our bleached hair grows out do we have to box dye it? Since I bleach my hair in the money piece style where the front pieces are blonde and the rest of my hair is brown will that be an issue? When I pull it up it looks very natural. I just would like to avoid box dying my hair there. But like I know I can go 8 weeks without coloring it and like it doesn’t show my roots so I might be able to pull off 13 weeks.

 

[xjoellemae]

Wait if our bleached hair grows out do we have to box dye it? Since I bleach my hair in the money piece style where the front pieces are blonde and the rest of my hair is brown will that be an issue? When I pull it up it looks very natural. I just would like to avoid box dying my hair there. But like I know I can go 8 weeks without coloring it and like it doesn’t show my roots so I might be able to pull off 13 weeks.

If your roots don’t show in a blatantly unnatural way, you’re totally fine.