Me either, but OCS doesn't mean anything once you're done, except for the part where you get a commission. Class rank basically determines what you do during your time as a candio, and it's based on academics, PT, military bearing, etc. It's not important.Got it
Strongly disagree.
One thing that few seem to be aware of, is that if you have a good class (most classes ARE), one that learns to work together as a team, and where the stronger reach out and help the weaker... a bond will form culminating often in life-long friendships.
And you never know when one of your AOCS classmates (from more than 25 years ago) will show up for the jump seat.
And you never know when one of your AOCS classmates (from more than 25 years ago) will show up for the jump seat.
On the right in the pic below is "Stroker Ace" (that's what we called him in AOCS) when he showed up for the jump seat a few years ago.
Good times!
All true. I was talking about class rank at OCS, and its impact (or lack thereof) on the rest of your Navy career. But yes, in the sense you're talking about, OCS definitely "matters."Strongly disagree.
One thing that few seem to be aware of, is that if you have a good class (most classes ARE), one that learns to work together as a team, and where the stronger reach out and help the weaker... a bond will form culminating often in life-long friendships.
We communicate often by e-mail, and occasionally phone, with 10 of my NAVCAD Preflight (our version of OCS) buddies, some 58 years after meeting in Indoc Batt. I've found this also to be true of classmates from the USNA, and enlisted Boot Camp to a lesser degree. It seems to be that a strong bond forms between strangers who work closely together as a team, endure and overcome, through a very tough and 'seemingly' long stressful situation!
From what I've read on here, class rank is/has been used in picking orders (at least for SWOs). In that sense, it could be very important to one's career. I think a sailor's first command sets the attitude for the rest of his or her career. The command's climate will also likely determine whether he or she will stay in or get out.
Yes and no. The top-ranked SWO could pick orders that sound great and end up being terrible, so while class rank influences a SWO's career, you don't know how. Class rank is no guarantee that you'll get wonderful orders and go on to have a successful career. And for everyone else who gets orders out of their next training command, OCS is even less relevant in that regard. Someone who graduates at or near the top of the class is probably the kind of person who will work hard and do well in other places, but that guy will do well because he's smart and works hard, not because he was Candidate Captain at OCS.
The mad dog is one of my favorite planes, so many quirky features in the cockpit. Got to love the mirror system for the compass...And you never know when one of your AOCS classmates (from more than 25 years ago) will show up for the jump seat.
On the right in the pic below is "Stroker Ace" (that's what we called him in AOCS) when he showed up for the jump seat a few years ago.
Good times!
Ha!
When I younger, pre-2001, I was able to sit in the F/O's chair after a flight and I remember him telling me about all the funny stuff. He explained the whiskey compass as "They finished building it then realized it was an airplane and needed a magnetic compass!"Ha!
It's so freaking quirky!
It's the quirkmeister!
It's the quirk-o-matic!
When I went through initial training on the Mad Dog back in 2006 following my 5 year Delta furlough...I thought the double mirror system regarding the whiskey compass was a big fat JOKE! Ha! No big fat JOKE! It's REAL! Oh, WOW man!
Wow there is so many more
, great piece of engineering.