Mini OCS

[Piposterous]

Did anyone on here attend the mini-OCS event that took place in Quantico on Camp Barrett this past weekend? I attended and thought it was an amazing and eye-opening experience, especially getting exposed to the intensity of the Gunnery Sergeants, LRCs, and the obstacle course. I also learned that those MREs are extremely hit or miss...

Anyone else enjoy the experience?

 

[USMCmorrison]

I was there, but ours was at PI. Didn't know they had one at Quantico?

 

[milfordguy]

I was with USMCmorrison at PI. I didn't know they did one at Quantico, but knew there were one or two other locations throughout the country. I thought it was definitely a good experience. Nice to see what we have to look forward to for 10 weeks if we get selected.

 

[Freedom's Fist]

I was at the one in the Bay area, was definitely a good experience. The pace of everything was really shocking, the lack of sleep and food was also challenging. I really enjoyed the LRC though, and I was surprised how much I enjoyed the pt sessions.

 

[Piposterous]

I was not aware that they had other sessions elsewhere in the country. Sounds like it was a similar experience. Did y'all have the opportunity to do the obstacle course and take terrain model classes as well?

 

[Freedom's Fist]

I wasn't aware either, ours was on an Army post so there wasn't an o-course available. We had classes on ethics, 5 paragraph order, and land nav. Then we had LRC's, a PFT, and a pt session hosted by the Color Sergeant. We have access to an o-course out at Mare Island so we've done that before, but a terrain model class would have been cool.

 

[Piposterous]

We didn't do a pft, but we did all the other things. I think this may be because there were 114 candidates that attended the session I went to. Our weekend consisted of terrain models, day nav (we also were going to do night nav but the temperature plummeted), 5 par order, obstacle course, 6 mile hike, and LRC's. The LRC was by far my favorite experience.

 

[Freedom's Fist]

Our session also had 100-110 candidates, and the LRC's were definitely the best part of the weekend. Very interesting to see how different candidates handled the scenarios.

 

[milfordguy]

I think the one at PI had roughly 350 candidates. We did a 3 mile hike, LRC, Obstacle course, another course to practice fire team formations, PFT, land nav class and course, inspection, and Saturday night they had different officers talk about their specific MOS's.

 

[USMCmorrison]

If any of you gents have any questions about the first half of your 10 week phase for OCC, give me a shout. I went to PLC-Jrs 2nd increment last summer. I'd be more than willing to answer any questions you may have.

 

[Piposterous]

If any of you gents have any questions about the first half of your 10 week phase for OCC, give me a shout. I went to PLC-Jrs 2nd increment last summer. I'd be more than willing to answer any questions you may have.

For the first half, what is the standard day compose of? At this mini OCS event, they informed us that we would be doing a lot of sleeping outdoors as well as indoors. Is it true that you only run 2 pft's, the entrance and exit pft?

 

[USMCmorrison]

Its difficult to answer what a "standard day" at OCS is like. One thing is for sure, your always doing something. From 0500-2100 your with the Sergeant Instructors. Some nights your lucky to get 6 hours of sleep and others you only get 3. Your "Free Time" available is completely dependent on how much you need to study, how many Chits you get, and of course Fire Watch. And Yes a few times you will spend a night or so out in 'the field'. It's difficult to answer the PFT question for OCC, but as far as my experience at PLC-Jrs we ran 2 PFTs, one at the first week and another the last week.
Hope this answers your questions.

-Morrison

 

[kbarron]

For the hikes at mini-OCS, did you guys use whatever bag you used to bring your personal gear or did they provide you with rucks to use? I'm attending towards the end of April and I'm not sure if I should bring my gear in a hiking backpack (which I wouldn't really want to drag across the deck) or a seabag.

 

[Piposterous]

Upon arrival, they issued us a ton of gear. Some of the things that they loaned us were a ruck (which we used on the hike), camelback, rubber rifle, tent, and sleeper system, as well as a coat, beanie, and gloves because it was colder than shit. That said, don't worry about bringing a ruck - just bring a big duffel bag to stuff all your civilian shit in. Also, be prepared for the pack/unpack fuck-you-games with the drill instructors the minute you arrive.

 

[kbarron]

Thanks for the reply. I've read that putting your gear in ziplocs within your bag can help in this packing/unpacking chaos, would you suggest anything along those lines for the games there?