As many of you may have noticed, changes are being made to the OCS program. Starting with the next class (07-06), until further changes are made, the first week you will no longer be Indocrination Candidates, then 8 weeks as Officer Candidates, and the last 3 being Candio's.
I have not been told all the gory details of the new program (and even if I did know, I wouldn't tell), but essentially:
The first 3 weeks will be Military Training, when drill comp (I understand it will be sword drill, there will not be rifle drill anymore) and the RLP (Room, Locker, Personal Inspection) will take place. Read: lot's of time with the DI's. I do not know if the class will be Indoctrination Candidates that entire time. It will be intense.
The next 6 or 7 weeks will be academic, where much of the time will be spent in a class room setting. It will not be like it has been, where you take one class a week, cram for and take the test, dump the knowledge. It will be similar to a semester system, where all the classes are taken concurrently, and during either the 9th or 10th week, take final exams. The intent is to increase the amount of retained knowledge, as opposed to pump and dump.
The last few weeks will, of course, be the Candidate Officer phase of training.
I put this out as a heads up to those planning to leave for OCS anytime soon. As always, the best advice for preparing for OCS is the same. Get in the best shape possible, memorize the BIG 3 verbatim, know the Rank Structure for the Navy and Marine Corps, etc. Everything else will fall into place once there.
I have not been told all the gory details of the new program (and even if I did know, I wouldn't tell), but essentially:
The first 3 weeks will be Military Training, when drill comp (I understand it will be sword drill, there will not be rifle drill anymore) and the RLP (Room, Locker, Personal Inspection) will take place. Read: lot's of time with the DI's. I do not know if the class will be Indoctrination Candidates that entire time. It will be intense.
The next 6 or 7 weeks will be academic, where much of the time will be spent in a class room setting. It will not be like it has been, where you take one class a week, cram for and take the test, dump the knowledge. It will be similar to a semester system, where all the classes are taken concurrently, and during either the 9th or 10th week, take final exams. The intent is to increase the amount of retained knowledge, as opposed to pump and dump.
The last few weeks will, of course, be the Candidate Officer phase of training.
I put this out as a heads up to those planning to leave for OCS anytime soon. As always, the best advice for preparing for OCS is the same. Get in the best shape possible, memorize the BIG 3 verbatim, know the Rank Structure for the Navy and Marine Corps, etc. Everything else will fall into place once there.
Yes this is "just the first part of training", but it is vitally important for kids coming off the street to be quickly and properly indoctrinated. Say what you will about the relative merits of NROTC or USNA, but they have those mids for years to evaluated and make an impression on. In less then 90 days a guy off the street will be commissioned an officer in the worlds most powerful and technical Navy. After that there is no more military training, zero. You think going through flight school or Supply Corps School teaches you how to be a Naval Officer? What if you are in the sh!t (any variety will do, admin, combat, personnel, inflight emergency, etc) be fore you even learn how to use a cruise sock from your Chief, what will you do then? What great example of leadership will you have to draw on? OCS should prepare you for the basics of military leadership and instill a warrior ethos you will want to develop on your own for the rest of your career. You don't learn that from a book and I fear you won't learn it at OCS pretty soon.