Blaze, in case you haven't noticed many things will vary from company to company. Expect plenty of confusion and late nights early on but don't be completely surpised if you actually have a company staff that isn't AFU.
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TBS Packing list
- Thread starter Lonestar155
- Start date
I brown bagged at TBS. The above was the experience I had for at least the first one or two nights. It depends on how much bullshit your peers put you through. Like I said, bring food and patience. You'll end up putting your peers through bullshit by the end of the POI.
BlazeUSMC
Belligerent Arm Swing!
Good to go, I'm getting the vibe that the more recent classes aren't as nearly AFU as priors, but then again who the hell really knows. Just gonna remain flexible and go with the flow. Any recommendations of chow? beef jerky? protein bars?...Im not exactly sure of what would be considered acceptable during times of massive paperwork and admin.
Jerky is usually a good bet as well as cold cuts. Just think of stuff that you can prepare really quickly or eat on the go when a class goes long and you only have 10 minutes to get back for another afternoon of classes. At the same time try not to eat anything that will put you to sleep because you will be tired enough. About a month into TBS, both walls of the classroom would be lined w/ Lt's standing up just to stay awake. Don't think it could happen to you? Just wait haha
Regarding gear to bring: Gatorade Mix (cheap and plentiful), Printer Paper, Pencils, Baggies, Computer chair(Brown bagger), 30+ gallon storage bin (helps with moving), 8 pieces OD green nametape, leatherman/gerber (recommend Skeletool), and Camp Dry.
Regarding the student staff deal (especially Charlie Co), the Students run Zero Week, with help of the M Co XO. The Student CO has been there since June '08 and was a SXO during D Co '09 pick up. The Student XO actually had a staff job with a support company while waiting to pick up. I know my company only had one day where we secured after 2100 (usually 1800), and that was because the CO was not satisfied with the quality spread of the company...and a few other reasons I'd be happy to tell you in person. Rumor is that there may be more than 450 competing for a little over 300-304 slots. Save your money, what little you have. Book a room at Liversedge hall(look it up on the MCBQ site) if you get there early since it's $20-$30 a night.
Oh, and don't show up hurt. I got to stay in Mike CO for like 8 months...without a Fitrep.
Regarding the student staff deal (especially Charlie Co), the Students run Zero Week, with help of the M Co XO. The Student CO has been there since June '08 and was a SXO during D Co '09 pick up. The Student XO actually had a staff job with a support company while waiting to pick up. I know my company only had one day where we secured after 2100 (usually 1800), and that was because the CO was not satisfied with the quality spread of the company...and a few other reasons I'd be happy to tell you in person. Rumor is that there may be more than 450 competing for a little over 300-304 slots. Save your money, what little you have. Book a room at Liversedge hall(look it up on the MCBQ site) if you get there early since it's $20-$30 a night.
Oh, and don't show up hurt. I got to stay in Mike CO for like 8 months...without a Fitrep.
zero week sucks but we were usually secure by around 7. The latest we ever secured during zero week was maybe 8 or 9. You will have plenty of time to go out and buy stuff, so don't worry about bringing a bunch of stuff unless you are sure you will actually use it. Best advice I can give you... don't spend all night searching for white 3" binders. Just bring whatever kind of binders you want... nobody cares. I heard there are a lot of students checking in (400-500) for a 300 person company. They will decide who picks up based on whether you are broke or not, your pft score, and your swim qual.
Deror
How can I make this thread more awkward?
I've heard that it is more competitive for air contracts to pick up than ground. Any truth to that? I assume that having a high PFT and checking in early are the only things I can do to make sure I don't end up in Mike Co.
It depends on the company. Normally every company has X number of air guys and X number of ground guys. WIth the recent slowdown of the flight school pipeline I would imagine there being far less air contracts per company. Also, as long as they still do it the same way, the earlier you get there is what gets you into the company. They usually take a few extra for planning purposes and once everyone runs their pft, however many they need to lose, they take that number from the bottom of the pft scores.
So yes, get there as early as possible (maybe even camp out if you are motivated enough haha) and be in good shape.
I don't think it matters when you get here. I was the last person in my room to show up and I was put in a training company right away and stayed in. They carried about 330 Lieutenants through the zero weeks and dropped 30. Some people failed to get 2nd class swim quals (pretty much everyone failed 1st) and some didn't do so good on the PFT (I stayed in with a 280+). Some didn't even get a chance to take either and were put in Mike right away.
Do you really want to spend what little downtime you have from TBS doing more school work?
Good initiative, bad judgment. (You will hear that a lot at TBS, I know I did). Don't take a grad course there.
Unsolicited commentary perhaps unrelated to the packing list. Well, somewhat related.
I haven't seen it mentioned yet, may be covered in another topic, but spend as little money as you can, especially on uniforms. You will get the chance to take out rediculous loans, and you may feel like you are flush with cash to spend. Don't do it. Most of that uniform list you will never use. Half the stuff you think you need for the field you will never use. Somebody else will buy something and you will too because it looks cool, and it'll either break the first time you take it to the field or you will never use it, or if you do use it and it does work, you likely could have bought something similar that works just as good for half the price. I have never seen a kbar or gerber or benchmade knife really used for anything more useful than cutting 550 cord and opening MRE's. Buy a decent multi-tool and it will last your career. Don't waste money on a GPS. The DAGR is a good piece of gear, and if you aren't provided one to use, land nav it - its a good skill to have and hone. When you deploy as a pilot you'll have a PRC-112 with built in GPS. I wouldn't waste your optional 5 lb gear allowance in your SV-2 on an extra GPS, but that discussion can wait.
Don't buy a full uniform set. If you are on this forum because you're going to be an aviator, you don't need have that stuff. The Marine Shop will sell you a set of Alpha's with 2 sets of trousers and then two more sets of trousers to wear in Charlies. I can count on one hand the number of times I wore my Alpha's in my career. Less if you consider I'm on my second set since the first ones were sized right out of OCS when I was at 6% body fat. You won't wear them enough for them to fade differently, just buy one set of green trousers, one short sleeve charlie shirt, and one long sleeve bravo shirt. Get it pressed there in Q-town before you leave, and if you hang it right back up after you use it each time you can probably go 3-4 years without having to take them to the cleaners again. Don't buy the overcoat. I have one and have never once worn it. Fortunately I never bought a tanker jacket but don't buy that either. You only need one pair of shoes. Take care of them, polish them with neverdull and windex and they will last 10 years. Then the plastic will crack, they'll fall apart, and go buy another set. You only need one barracks cover. Its the same frame, just switch between white and green crowns. I've worn the green one all of ZERO times, other than the inspection at TBS. You will almost always wear a garrison cover when in alpha's, bravo's, charlies, or a flight suit. Buy 2 garrison covers. They hide in flight suit pockets and under the seat of your car. In fact, buy 3 and keep one in your car. You will need it. As far as exchange or Marine Shop, The Marine Shop did appear to have better quality stuff and they will certainly wine and dine you and treat you like you are at 5 star restaurant, but after I left TBS I could never tell where anybody got their uniforms from. You wear your Blues to weddings and the Ball, during both you get drunk and have a great time and don't care about comparing the quality of the uniform. Alpha's are worn when checking in to new commands, and most CO's I've seen have you change out of the monkey suit as soon as possible after you see him. CO's don't care where you bought the uniform from either. Bottom line, buy the better quality stuff if you are into that, but realistically nobody can tell and nobody cares, so its your money to spend either way.
I haven't seen it mentioned yet, may be covered in another topic, but spend as little money as you can, especially on uniforms. You will get the chance to take out rediculous loans, and you may feel like you are flush with cash to spend. Don't do it. Most of that uniform list you will never use. Half the stuff you think you need for the field you will never use. Somebody else will buy something and you will too because it looks cool, and it'll either break the first time you take it to the field or you will never use it, or if you do use it and it does work, you likely could have bought something similar that works just as good for half the price. I have never seen a kbar or gerber or benchmade knife really used for anything more useful than cutting 550 cord and opening MRE's. Buy a decent multi-tool and it will last your career. Don't waste money on a GPS. The DAGR is a good piece of gear, and if you aren't provided one to use, land nav it - its a good skill to have and hone. When you deploy as a pilot you'll have a PRC-112 with built in GPS. I wouldn't waste your optional 5 lb gear allowance in your SV-2 on an extra GPS, but that discussion can wait.
Don't buy a full uniform set. If you are on this forum because you're going to be an aviator, you don't need have that stuff. The Marine Shop will sell you a set of Alpha's with 2 sets of trousers and then two more sets of trousers to wear in Charlies. I can count on one hand the number of times I wore my Alpha's in my career. Less if you consider I'm on my second set since the first ones were sized right out of OCS when I was at 6% body fat. You won't wear them enough for them to fade differently, just buy one set of green trousers, one short sleeve charlie shirt, and one long sleeve bravo shirt. Get it pressed there in Q-town before you leave, and if you hang it right back up after you use it each time you can probably go 3-4 years without having to take them to the cleaners again. Don't buy the overcoat. I have one and have never once worn it. Fortunately I never bought a tanker jacket but don't buy that either. You only need one pair of shoes. Take care of them, polish them with neverdull and windex and they will last 10 years. Then the plastic will crack, they'll fall apart, and go buy another set. You only need one barracks cover. Its the same frame, just switch between white and green crowns. I've worn the green one all of ZERO times, other than the inspection at TBS. You will almost always wear a garrison cover when in alpha's, bravo's, charlies, or a flight suit. Buy 2 garrison covers. They hide in flight suit pockets and under the seat of your car. In fact, buy 3 and keep one in your car. You will need it. As far as exchange or Marine Shop, The Marine Shop did appear to have better quality stuff and they will certainly wine and dine you and treat you like you are at 5 star restaurant, but after I left TBS I could never tell where anybody got their uniforms from. You wear your Blues to weddings and the Ball, during both you get drunk and have a great time and don't care about comparing the quality of the uniform. Alpha's are worn when checking in to new commands, and most CO's I've seen have you change out of the monkey suit as soon as possible after you see him. CO's don't care where you bought the uniform from either. Bottom line, buy the better quality stuff if you are into that, but realistically nobody can tell and nobody cares, so its your money to spend either way.
+1