the end

graduation was on thursday. i, now lieutenant cunningham left ft benning that afternoon on to other things. i am hanging out with the fam in mount pocono. i have to buy a car, catch up with some old friends, and work with the local recruiting office while getting ready to move to virginia. also, need to get to nj as much as possible for quality time with the cunninghams,and a few runs.

this is the last post for this blog, since i no longer attend ocs nor am i in georgia anymore. perhaps once i get to fort lee i'll start a new blog. we'll see.

until then, adios!

asu

this is me in the formal asu- army service uniform, or 'dress blues'. pretty fancy, huh?

released

last night's social was a good time. we schmoozed with some colonels and there was music and drinks. i actually worked details, got there early and put together some propane heaters, then worked the keg all night. it was definitely the place to be, however, because then everyone has to come to you.

they cancelled pt today, nice, and will release us for the weekend around 4. we are no longer required to sleep in the barracks, so i can bug out when my posse gets here. i do have to work cq (the guard desk) tomorrow from 4-6 am, but i'll take advantage to get to bed early tonight and i'll go for a run right at 6.

i e-mailed the ordnance branch manager, and today i received and updated rfo (orders). upon reading, i'm 99% certain that i now will be able to go to fort lee from november to september. this will make relocating as a family infinitely easier. thanks to everyone for the prayers and support.

we're just killing time now, i think i'll try on my new dress uniform (pic to follow).

one week to go

hey, to everyone who tunes in. everything is beautiful in georgia when it gets cold. it has been real chilly in the mornings (around 40) and nice throughout the day. we had a good run this morning, about 6.5 miles- this was our last group run.

this afternoon is the battalion commander's social, it's a chance for all of the officers in the brigade to come and drink for free, lol. really, it's supposed to be for us to socialize and chat it up with some of our senior officers. it should be fun.

family arrives in two days, i'm stoked.

as i transition out of this place, i am asking everyone to pray for me that it is a smooth ride and that everything works out in the best possible way for my family.

sorry the coin pictures were so blurry (alex), i had to use my phone to do it.

liberty dollar

our class coin

new orders

hello family. today was an eventful day here at ocs. we had our senior-level inspection today and, as a company, we passed. three individual rooms need to be re-inspected tomorrow (not mine). this is one of the last milestones in our cycle.

we had a briefing on our discharge paperwork; see, you can't be enlisted and an officer, so we are receiving honorable discharges on next wednesday. then we commission the next day as lieutenants. fortunately my paperwork did not need to be corrected, so i saved myself a lot of time. later, we had our branch lunch. there are no ordnance officers in our battalion, but sfc flugga is a mechanic in ordnance (on of our current trainers) and he came out with us and talked about some of the goings-on in an ordnance company.

after dinner we had a meeting to discuss the social events and graduation. it should be a fun two weeks, or as fun as possible in this environment. we got our class coin and silver dollars as well. the class coin is commemorative. the silver dollar is traditionally handed to the first enlisted person who salutes you, i'll probably save it for my duty station...

which leads me to the big news. i received my follow on orders. i will be part of the 42nd fires brigade, stationed at ft. hood, tx. this is definitely not the worst assignment out there. unfortunately, i was misinformed about 'snowbirding'. i have to go to texas in november, then i will tdy (temporary duty) over to ft. lee from may 13 to sep 13, then head back to ft. hood. this will have a major impact on lots of things, so we'll have to see how everything works out.

in the short-term, we have our final pt test for record in the morning. i've never taken an apft in the cold weather, i hope i do well. i have been performing in the 250/300 range, it would be nice to beat that.

and the best news, after tomorrow's briefing with the battalion commander in the afternoon, we get full privileges. that means that the end of the work day comes and we get released; we can change clothes, leave post, etc. i don't have anything to do, but the freedom will be nice. the other nice point is that it was confirmed that we are not required to sleep on post after friday, so i can stay at the hotel; good to know.

have to go, need to get up at 0430.

the10k

what a day. i got up early and had some breakfast before heading out o uchee campgroound for the oktoberfest 10k. there were 25 or so of us from this ocs class running. the company commander was also there, he's an avid runner. since we were not released yesterday, this turned out to be a great even in which to participate.

the race was challenging, 10k trail run, all in the woods, lots of muddy sections and, man the second half was almost all uphill, whew. i had a lot of fun, worked hard but definitely didn't kill myself on this one. i finished in 51:50, and according to the guys with the really good gps watches it was a 6.6 mile route. i feel pretty good about it, you can't get road times in the woods, ya know.

after the race we got to hang around and drink oktoberfest beer with the captain, fun stuff. we had some german food and coffee and i got a little buzz, nice.

we came back and are waiting to find out if we'll be released at all. according to the 1sg, only 1st and 2nd plt are accounted for and will get let go, 3 and 4 are screwed. we'll see what happens this hour. as long as i get to mass tomorrow i'm cool with anything.

used my new ipod for the run, it's really accurate for distance and is a great aid. unfortunately i didn't set it to shuffle and listened to three alanis morissette songs before i realized it was running alphabetically by artist. i had to hit 'next' a ton of times, then got a couple counting crows songs, then wailed on the button again and got a creed song, then hammered some more to get to a dave matthews song, then pounded away and have no idea where i got from there. i still don't know if it was helpful or a hindrance to be so lost- hah. also a bummer, i forgot to stop the workout when i crossed the finish line (i set it for 10k and thought it would stop automatically) and so i ot gigged for an extra kilometer while i walked around getting water and a banana, messed up my time to be sure.

can't wait to get to my next race. also, gonna be training for the 18 miler with bobby c next october and have to bike to train for a triathlon with mama-bear. i'll be ready in a few months.

god bless, 2 more masses before graduation.

end of week 10

wow, 10 weeks done, 1 and a half to go. it has been a whirlwind of activity here, and by that i mean we have done the same things repeatedly. in an effort to stress the crap out of candidates, we had a 1,000 word essay based on a leadership book due yesterday (thursday) and a 5-slide powerpoint presentation with speaking notes. also, we had the fast three days of history which covered everything from just after the civil war to iraq and afghanistan, this culminated in an exam this morning. during the week, we had recovery ops all of our 'free' time. this include heavy barracks cleaning and was dominated by weapons cleaning. we got most of our weapons accepted on wednesday, but the machine guns (240B) got sent back. we had to re-clean all 22 of them last night, it makes it hard to study. well, anyway, that's over now.

the other challenge this week was that while we were in the field we did not get a chance to do any good pt. everyone felt out of shape. this morning was our 'graduation' run. this is a 4 mile run, but it's at a slow pace, just under 9 minutes per mile. unfortunately we had two people who had to be treated medically at the end of the run, one at the hospital. thankfully, they both will be ok.

today we''ll keep cleaning the barracks and do some minor paperwork. we have a briefing on leadership with the colonel this afternoon then that's it. the rumor is that we won't get released tonight, maybe we're being messed with, who knows. tomorrow i am running with a few guys in the oktoberfest 10k on base, this should be fun, it's a trail run in the woods- woot.

monday we have our senior inspection of uniforms, equipment and barracks. there is a pt test on tuesday. that's pretty much it, lots of paperwork and briefings. can't wait until next saturday to see danielle and the boys and mom.

getting there

man, it's been a tough week, and it's only wednesday morning and we had monday off until 5:00 pm. hah. weapons maintenance has been going non-stop; me, personally, i'm really close. two little trouble spots, and i should be good by lunch time today.

we started history part two yesterday. it's just as boring as history one was, but compressed. for example, we did all of the time between the end of the civil war to the end of world war one in 3 hours. then all of wwii in 3 hours after lunch. it's crazy. today we did all of korea and vietnam up through 1975.

our test is on friday. our inspection- class a uniform, equipment issued to us, etc. was rescheduled from tomorrow to monday (yessssss!) and next week will be all paperwork and a pt test.

my good friend mike, with whom i went to basic and came here with, got stopped by the mp's, with two friends of his on sat night. even though they were not arrested, they have been removed from our class and will start over on day 1. the next company to class up will start in two and a half weeks, right after we graduate. i feel really bad for him, but he's taking it well. ironically, over in headquarters he will get the weekends off, but we may have restrictions this weekend because of the incident.

i got a go on my weapon late morning, finally. things are looking up...

rodger dodger

hello there sports fans! we have cleaned and cleaned and were finally released around 2100 (9pm) this evening. we will draw weapons again on monday to finish cleaning them. go figure. tuesday, we start history 2.p it will be hard but not impossible; heck, nothing is.

today, we cleaned and cleaned again and etc etc, reference my last post if you don't think we cleaned weapons a lot- lol.

this weekend i will clean my field gear and get ready for my last 2-3 weeks here at ocs. i am excited to be done, more excited to see danielle, danny, bobby and mo c. it will be a good time. i hope fort lee rocks. i'm sure we'll love it.

roger, out.

field work complete

phew. it was a pretty good time, out in the field at mcbride's bridge. i received my second 'go' for leadership, executing a flanking assault on an objective replete with bunkers as the squad leader. 2 for 2, yay me. actually, a few people did not do so well and are headed back to hq to join the next company and try leadership lanes again. i would not like to have to repeat any part of the course, but especially not weeks 8 and 9 with new people, it will be tough for them; i wish them the best of luck.

we got in last night and cleaned weapons. then we got up at 0330 this morning, drew out the weapons, and went on a 10 mile ruck march. four poor souls in my platoon fell back a little ways and will have to repeat the march, this is terrible and hopefully will get overturned, they made good time despite the lag.

after the march we had an mre for breakfast (sucks) and cleaned weapons. then we broke to take our platoon and class photos. fun. then we cleaned weapons. then dinner, then we cleaned weapons. i dropped the firing pin retaining pin for my m16 tonight in the grass. this is a ridiculously small piece and i thought i was in a real jam. fortunately i remembered that i had a magnet up in my locker and was able to find it, in the dark, wow. tomorrow, we will clean weapons.

my family will be here in two weeks and a day, this thought carries me forward. we have a three day weekend assuming the weapons pass inspection tomorrow, that's a nice thought too. it's getting closer and closer to the end of this course, woo-hoo.

love you all, peace.

refit 2

having just returned to the barracks from a week in the field, i am feeling particularly grimy as i write this update. flx2 (field leadership exercise) began this past week with squad stx (situational training exercises). the army loves acronyms, obviously. a squad stx is a chance to show your leadership skills in 'real' situations. one squad leader plans a mission based on a platoon level order and briefs the squad. another squad leader takes over and executes the mission. it was a blast. my platoon was opposition fighters on monday (lots of naps in between runs), ran lanes or stx on tuesday, had duty/security on wednesday, lanes again on thursday and opfor- naps again- today. it was a good week and went by pretty quick. i was personally only evaluated once, i volunteered to go first on tuesday morning. i received a 'go' and that took the pressure off for the week.

the food stunk, we all got sick of mre's, pooping in port-a-johns is no fun, the shentunt started to reek, etc. typical field environment; but it really was fun. we go back out sunday afternoon and will finish in the field on thursday. then its back to class in week 10. as for this weekend, we aren't allowed off post, but we can go to the px to refit and get our stuff cleaned.

we have hit some ocs milestones, we're into october, we're over 2/3 done, we have less than a month to go, etc. my favorite one is that my mom and family will be here in three weeks!!

next week i should get my orders and i'll find out when we're moving to virginia. lots of excitement!

refit 1

hello to all my supporters out there. we just came in for a 24 hour refit. this is basically a time to do laundry, buy necessary supplies, shower, etc. i feel clean for the first time since wednesday, and probably smell less offensive as well. we're waiting around now for word on when we can actually leave the area, but we're not allowed to leave post, so i don't really mind being stuck(except for not being able to use my phone).

we had a decent week in the field. once we put land navigation behind us, we moved into field leadership exercise 1 (flx1). this consisted of the training aspects of our field work. we did movement to contact, actions on an objective, reflexive fire, ambushes etc. we also worked on orders and graphics, which will be a big part of our evaluations next week. overall it was good, but being in the field drains you after a few days.

this week culminated this morning with a 7 mile road march. it was a tough one since everyone was shot. also, we had some larger weapons with us we had to carry. me, i had the tripod for a m240b machine gun in my bag, dang heavy piece of iron. but, every single person in the company made it all the way!

when we go back out, we will be planning and executing missions, applying what we;ve learned in ocs and in prior training. this is the apex of our course and the evaluations here are key for leadership skills. it should be a pretty good week. i'm mostly looking forward to playing opfor (the bad guy).

war games, hooah!

shentuts

i am my squad's squad leader this week. in one sense it has been easier than previous weeks because there is a significant amount of down time in the field. in other ways, though, it has been much harder because if people wander off they are impossible to find. also, everything we are doing is out of the routine, so we have to brief everyone a lot.

we moved our gear to the fob (forward operating base) where we will be conducting all of our combat-based scenarios. we won't get much time to sleep, but when we do , we have cots in these shed/tent/hut things: 'shentuts', i'll call them. they look like garages, but not as high and the door opening is a canvas flap of three layers. inside is a square flat open space, a concrete slab. the outer shell is coated with water/weather-proofing material. it looks like a wasps nest.

i mentioned in a previous post that the a/c was broken. i heard later it wasn't, but it wasn't turned on. it felt like a convection oven in there. it would have been impossible to sleep in there. i'm sure it will be nice with the a/c and fan going, better than a pup-tent anyway.

shentuts aside, we have a lot of training and work to do out there. i am excited to partake in all of the fun, but also will be glad once we complete the exercises with passing marks.

sorry for the double post today, but this time, we actually will stay in the field for more than one day. that's the plan anyway. be back saturday or sunday, i hope.

land nav

hello avid readers. the direct e-mail marketing method seemed to work since i received feedback from you guys. thanks for listening! i will continue to force my thoughts on you :)

well, we're in barracks tonight, and i don't know why. i think it's because the a/c is broken in the field... more on that in a minute.


we went out to the 'yankee' range on monday afternoon for land navigation. we hauled our rucksacks and assault bags onto a cramped bus and rode 40 min or so to the site. we reviewed some land nav techniques; dead reckoning, shooting an azimuth, etc. also we got our pace counts for roads, woods and while running.

we pulled up stakes and went in that night, lightning warning, apparently there were serious storms in atlanta. we really didn't get anything here. it was nice to sleep in a bed anyway, but we had to get up at 4 am to get back out to the course for a 5 am start. the course went fine for me in the beginning. it's a ton of walking, but you get 5 hours to complete. when i was ready to hit my 4th point (of the 5 needed to pass) i realized that i had lost my score sheet. this is the sheet where you log the points you have found. there is a verifying hole-punch at each station. so, i get a little dejected and walked my sad-ass back to the start point. i was a no-go, but it did not count as a failed test because it was "pre-qualifying".

that evening i was subjected to re-training and a 3 hour run on the other nav course. my already aching feet had to suffer. i was embarrassed at not passing, and a little annoyed i had to train on the steps i wasn't having any problems with. i got up this morning at 4:10 with the other re-testers. we headed out at 5:25 and i was off. i had three points before the sun even came up. i had my fourth and fifth with so much time left, i was able to take an easy walk all the way back. i turned in my sheet for a 'go' at 8:30, with 2 whole hours to spare. you won't see me blow the same training twice.

tomorrow, we get to sleep in 45 minutes later than the people who still failed land nav; a 4:15 wake up for weapons hand out. hooah. armed and not dangerous for the next 2.5 weeks.

senior officer candidate

sorry i took a few days off of the blog. i have been pretty sick, flu or other virus i guess; headache, fever, chills, night sweats... all-around bad times. i wake up monday morning a little better, and hopefully will continue to improve.

over the weekend we had practice for this morning's ceremony, in which we will transition from basic officer candidates to senior officer candidates. we switch from the black ascot to the white ascot, we wear the branch insignia on our uniform top and the basic candidates are supposed to salute us.

ocs completely changes at this point. we move into the field for 3 weeks: land navigation, war gaming, etc. then, the last three weeks are military bearing and officer conduct. better than that, we only have one more exam in week 11, history part 2. scary.

apparently following a blog does not mean you get informed when i make new posts, and its real easy to forget about it. so i am trying a new setting that will e-mail new posts to selected e-mail addresses. hi, everybody! i may be posting at an irregular rate, as i will not have access to my computer until wednesday, then not again until saturday, etc.

keep danielle in your prayers, she has surgery today. thanks.

the big day

well, friday finally got here, and a great day it was (or is). we got up super-early for the 5 mile run, but it was a good one. despite high humidity, everyone ran well. i put down 5 in 34:58, feeling strong; earning my breakfast.

the history review was excellent, really made the test easier. they let us know by the afternoon if we failed or not. not hearing my name called was the best feeling ever. i feel bad for the 20+ people who did not pass, but they get a re-test on monday or tuesday and i'm sure they'll do fine.

finally, after lunch and a class on memo-writing, we went to the branching ceremony. we lined up in oml (order of merit list) order and filed into the hall. there was a wide selection of branches for people to consider. even when i went, number 76 out of 172, i had my pick of everything we got. so, i got my first choice- ordnance corps. there i will get to work with the maintenance and development of weapons, systems and munitions. i am looking forward to it.

now, if only we can get off this weekend to celebrate a little...

wet pt

man did it rain today. early middle and late. rain rain rain. we lined up for pt this morning and we were all pretty sure it would be cancelled, but nope. we ran around in the ran and did push ups and sit ups for an hour. it was cold and wet, but really not too bad.

the military intelligence test was harder than the instructor made it out to be, but reasonable. i believe i broke 90 on it, i'm sure i passed.

we got our supply and training exam scores back today. i scored a 95 and 96 respectively, that's one wrong on each. i can live with that. those two and today's test make up the last scores that will contribute to the order for branching tomorrow. it would be all i could think about, but we are all seriously sweating the history test tomorrow morning. it looks brutal, we learned (or at least saw) a ton of crap this week. tonight will be dedicated to review.

tomorrow, we run as slow as we can.

nada

besides a killer 8.5 mile run this am, nothing to report. history was a little boring, the rest of the day was more boring. we have a test tomorrow. everyone is just waiting form Friday. a challengin exam and branching. then we prep for the field.

love.

zonk

this week started off at a high rate of speed. up early monday for an army pt test. this is normally done about once every 6 months to evaluate your physical fitness, but in the training environment its a little more frequent. this was my 6th test and i've only been in 5 months. i did ok, about the same as my last test. drinking over the weekend probably didn't help, but this test wasn't for record so i'm not sweating it.

this week we started with hstory class. its a little dull at times (obviously) but we move through the material fairly quickly. it's interesting for me to go back and learn some things that i had in elementary and high school from a military standpoint. we have class on this half of each day this week with a test friday morning.

we had two short exams in the afternoon, on last week's classes of supply activities and training management. i'm pretty sure i nailed them both, but its hard to be sure on those tricky multiple choice tests.

we got back our caffeine privileges, as well as extended laundry hours and tobacco use. we're still on lockdown in the evenings, but there's not really anywhere to go so it's fine.

this morning we lined up for combatives, which is probably my least favorite form of pt. i learned of a military tradition that i had never seen before. the senior trainer stuck his head out the door and yelled zonk. this means to disappear. we ran inside like crazy, apparently you do not want to be left outside after the time they feel it takes to get yourself gone. so now i can sit here and study, right after getting this post done.

stay warm and dry.

week 6

it was a nice weekend here in sunny georgia. we did not get a pass friday night, but i believe this was intentional, not really due to anything we did. saturday morning had two events. firstly a blood drive. i was fortunate to be able to donate; there are many of my fellow candidates who were not able to because of vaccinations or deployments outside the us (or oconus as they say). i got a cool t-shirt, which is pretty good motivation to do anything. secondly, we had our first in-depth barracks inspection. wall lockers, bunks, displays, etc. i ended up with a negative spot report because my acu tops were not zipped up while hung, i did not know this was required, but i do now. a buddy of mine got busted because his boots on display weren't tied. i've never heard of that, we usually just inch up the laces and tuck them in. ah well, we'll do better next time. after the painful walk through, we sat around until it was time for chow, then we got released until sunday night. nice.

being that today is my birthday (yay me) i went out with some friends for a late dinner and some beers. some became a few and we stayed out till 2 am, woot. i still managed to get up in time for church (thanks for the 8 am phone call mom). now its time to hydrate for our student-graded pt test tomorrow.

we turn the corner as we enter week 6. this is our last week as basic officer candidates and we transition, early week 7, to senior officer candidates. it will be quite a week- 3 exams: supply and training, military intelligence and history 1- our pt test- a 5 mile release run and then on friday we select our branches. this is a huge milestone in the course of a cycle. it will be nice to get through this week to focus on the next set of challenges: leadership exercises.

i should have my first duty station location and follow-on training orders in about a month, so i will finally be able to tell people where we'll be living!

rock on.

good pt

started off the day with a 4 mile release run. a release run being where we do not run in formation, but go for time. this run does not count for points or ranking, so i did not want to kill myself. i had three goals in addition to the standard; which by the way is 9 minute miles, or 36 minutes. 1- i wanted to beat 8 minutes, or 32 minutes. 2- exceeding that i wanted to break he 30 minute mark. 3- a stretch goal, i wanted to break a 7 minute pace, or 28 minutes total. i was very proud of myself to come in at 27:46. now i can relax for a week until our 5 mile release run.

we did tactical communication today. radios, again. this was the first time, for me anyway, where we actually got to use encryption and fh, or frequency hopping. pretty neat stuff, but i prefer cell phones.

after lunch we went out to the volleyball court, which we never get to use, and did operations orders. this will be a key skill for us to have in the field in weeks 8 and 9. it was hot, and a little boring, and i swear i fell asleep on my feet at one point. but i did learn a few things i'll need later.

the rest of the evening we're prepping for an inspection tomorrow. full lockers, desks, etc. its a lot of work, but it will hopefully get us off for the weekend.

signed-
'folding in ft benning'

look out now

Secretary of the Army has reposed special trust and confidence in the patriotism, valor, fidelityand professional excellence of CUNNINGHAM, ROBERT W., in view of these qualities and his demonstrated leadership potential and dedicated service to the US Army, he is therefore, promoted from SPC to SGT, MOS 09S2O00YY is awarded as his primary MOS, effective 10 AUGUST 2009.

my first promotion! you can call me sarge while it lasts...

back to basics

well, we got creamed today. a misinterpretation of a memo that resulted in people signing out to the px during study hours; which we all thought was ok, got all of our privileges revoked. no more coffee, no more eating in class, nothing.


i ate a bag of trail mix today, prior to the sanctions. i thought it was healthy. i was shocked to see that it was 150 calories per serving. i was even more shocked to see there were 5 servings in a 5 oz. bag. yikes. good thing we have a four mile run tomorrow.

for some reason i have more trouble with open book tests than with memory only. i pulled off a 92 on the last exam. still an 'a', but i could have used those 8 points. we are branching next week.

speaking of, it seems like there is no way to get my paperwork submitted to be considered for medical services. this is a bummer. there was always a chance they wouldn't need any officers from this cycle, or that they wouldn't want me for my background, but it would have been nice to be considered; especially since a clerical error got three of us off the list.

on a brighter note, even though there are only 6 slots available for ordnance (the branch i want next) there is not a lot of interest. based on a straw poll, the person ranked 146th in the class will take the 6th slot. that makes my #70 rank seem pretty hooah. the branching next week is about all i can think about, that and the two exams in between. after that we hit the field for three weeks. then its downhill and paperwork time.

can't wait to be done, but need to keep focused each day. keep me in your prayers!

hump day

wednesday came fast this week, nice to have monday off. we did combative fighting; except for my big friend rolling over my ankle, it was ok. so far no one has gotten hurt rolling each week, this is good and we all hope it will continue.

we had an exam on army ops this morning. it was fairly easy, open notes and multiple choice. that concluded our section on tactics and theory and we're moving on...

the leaders reaction course was an interesting event. 16 obstacles that you have to maneuver your squad through. each person takes turns as squad leader. they are not very dangerous, but caution is required. unfortunately, the last people to use the course emptied the pool underneath it, so we couldn't use the obstacles that are over water. this is most of them; so we only got to do 2 in my squad. in order to keep us motivated, the company held a competition. first we all climbed in and commando crawled through the pool to get nice and wet. then we ran around the entire course, by platoons, and crawled back through the pool. turns out we came in second. not bad, but it sucks to lose to 2nd platoon again.

on a brighter note, i'm eating more peppers and less pie.

tough day

well, it was back to the grind today and it was kind of beat. we had chow detail in the morning, handing it off to the new team, lost all my time after breakfast. then a quiz i wasn't really ready for. then a new sop for how lockers are laid out, and rumor of a full inspection in the am. i'm not ready for it and don't have enough time to get organized. also, had some paperwork that missed a deadline- not my fault- and it can affect my future career significantly. not a great day. however, there are lots of opportunities for things to get better.

on the bright side, the test tomorrow is open note. then we have leader's reaction course, that should be fun. it apparently involves groups conquering obstacles, so we'll have no problem- go 3rd squad 1plt!!

oc finn just came in and told me that there is definitely no locker inspection. that's nice to know. poor guy wasted over an hour getting his stuff ready.

luck favors the prepared.

labor day

hey folks. the weather was great here for labor day. i took it real easy and caught up on laundry and phone calls. since i have so little to report i will mention an issue that is of growing concern: 'comments'. are there any? does anyone even read this thing? i would love to see a response so i know that i haven't killed all the blog followers with boredom.

in that same vein, i am struggling with the theme of the content. i can't tell if it seems dry because i am re-reading what i wrote, or if it is as dull as it looks. i am open to suggestions of what to add/delete for content to make the posts more interesting. let me know by using the 'comments' feature. heh.

otherwise, all good and quiet. getting ready to gear back up and am counting down the days to the branching ceremony. in between are some cool events, stay tuned for details.

only losers use drugs and only users lose drugs.

having fun now

having a good weekend here. went out a little and made it to church. my cousin danny and my uncle jerry made it into town today. we played 18 holes and went out to dinner, had wings etc. it was great to see them, especially since i haven't seen danny in like 8+ years.

i slacked on pt this weekend; i guess that's ok. i did climb ropes yesterday, but got a burn on my leg for my trouble. i'll have some making up to do this week.

the coolest unexpected event this weekend was finding a machine that plays photo hunt. i only played one round, but we kicked tail. i guess it's kind of like riding a bicycle.

this coming week we have a 4 mile release run. i can't wait, it should be good competition. also, my sister sent me my running shoes, so it's been a pleasure to run again.

recall is at 1900 monday, so i'll sign off for now. live and love.

holiday weekend

well, we've made it through 4 weeks here and are fortunate to have a holiday in this training cycle. we got released thursday after dinner and don't have to report in until 7pm on monday. people are taking advantage of the time to catch up on laundry, sleep and drinking/ eating civilian foods. i, personally, am grateful to be able to play a little golf and to talk to my kids since they're usually asleep by the time i can use the phone.

we're coming back to 2 exams and a field course- all of which will take place during a 4 day week. i guess we'll be pretty busy. the next two weeks are the last chances to earn points prior to branch selection day. the order of merit list, or oml, was published for the first time on thursday. i am number 70 out of 171, not too bad, not too great. you never want to see anyone fail, but if a few people got less than perfect marks on the next exams i wouldn't complain.

despite my rank, i should be able to choose almost any branch. many of the 69 people ahead of me already are branched, so they aren't in competition for the week 6 ceremony. also, most people don't want the same job. for example, a lot of my class wants military intelligence, and i do not, so i will still have plenty of choices when i get up there.

enough thinking about all that, it'll happen when it happens. for now, i need to work on my golf swing. peace.

peppers

in basic training, i ate hot peppers with every lunch and dinner i had, and some breakfasts. i like the taste and one time i heard they are good for you. they also add kick to foods that may be less than flavorful. i continued that habit here for a couple weeks, but noticed today that i no longer take peppers with my salads. in fact i have reduced my intake significantly. moreover, i believe that i have replaced them, subconsciously of course, with pie.

the other day i had lemon meringue, last week i had pumpkin and the week before i had both peach and apple. the pie here is fantastic. i hate eating here. before i joined the army i almost never even had dessert. now i have a had time resisting the temptation for pie.

at least we work out every day, so i can afford a little dessert, but its not a habit i want to cultivate. although i did have a really good piece of pecan a few weeks ago, if they put it out again i don't know....

week4

well its been a few days, mostly because we had our pass over the weekend and i took advantage of it. i got to watch the ufc fight in a bar and even had a couple beers. it was a good time, but not really worth it- we ran hard this morning and i could feel the alcohol and food taking its toll over our normally good diet.

today we start a week of operations, tactics and graphics. the operations and tactics have been excellent classes so far. we are learning a lot about the dynamics of battle and war. we will end up having 3 quizzes for practice and a test next week; wednesday.

this week is short, we get friday off. we'll be off fri, sat, sun and mon; therefore next week will be short too. also this week, i am on the chow detail. we go in early for meals and help keep the lines moving, fill drink glasses, clean up tables etc. that will keep me busy for the week.

tonight i have staff duty. an excellent job that involves sitting in a room for two hours and answering a phone that almost never rings. its too easy.

tomorrow we fight with fists!

closing out week 3

well, this is the end of our third week, and we were told that those are the worst as far as freedoms go. so, it'll be nice to reap the benefits of coffee and using cell phones a little more.

i don't have much to report today. we did have our leadership/justice/ethics test. and yes, i did get a 100%... yay me!

other than that, we're cleaning, just making sure we don't lose our pass for this weekend.

follow me!

no gi joe

well, this morning we had platoon run pt and we did enough push-ups to make everyone sore. it was pretty good overall, but at the end our trainers, the cpt and ssg, told us to come up with a new plt nickname and motto; they thought cobra-kai was form gi joe. sucks. we'll see how quickly we find a new motto.

today was leadership 3. like many sequels, it was better than the second one but can't live up to the original. i'm spending the evening studying for tomorrow's exam on the combined subjects of leadership, ethics, justice and law of land warfare. unfortunately i have duty from 0400 to 0600 tomorrow morning, then a 3 mile run. well, who needs to sleep past 0330 anyway ;)

see ya...

cobra kai

in case i haven't mentioned that my platoon kicks ass, well we do. first platoon aka cobra kai! we rucked 5 miles again today and it was our turn to step off last. the pace standards is 16-18 minute miles and we were busting them out in under 15. at the turnaround point, the company first sergeant stopped us and gave us a quick lecture on how its not about passing other platoons and to slow down. we still caught up with the next group...hah!

once you get into a groove, a ruck march can be very peaceful. i take advantage of the time to pray. you can knock out a full 3 rosaries- 15 mysteries- in 5 miles.

today we had 'leadership II'. within the first 20 minutes there were over 30 people standing up because they were falling asleep.

as i was sitting in class, learning about the army's equivalent to a corporate performance review, i started thinking about work. me last two jobs had a lot of similarities; my new job is obviously different. but since i've been in training since may, and anticipate training until next year, sometimes i feel like i haven't been at work this whole time. this is weird because we work our butts off, but it's not the same. i wonder what it will be like at my first unit, adjusting back into a routine work life.

not chilling, but grilling.

justice etc

it's tuesday, that means combatives for pt. nothing like some hand to hand combat to start the day.

we lost our first soldier to injury. one of the women in our platoon- my squad actually- hurt her pelvis and is being recycled. she'll go back to headquarters barracks to heal up. unfortunately she'll be there for at least 4 weeks, maybe more. then she will probably have to start over with another company. recycled... restarted, the two most frightening words here.

the 1st lesson today was part one of three on leadership. tons of good info, but very dry. i'll have my nose in field manuals all week for this test. after lunch we had the law of war and some uniform code of military justice. great class, lots of important stuff. also, an energetic instructor who kept it moving.

early morning tomorrow, off we march.

nite.

hoo-whee, the alpha ability group for running is sure stepping it up. this morning we ran 7.3 miles, including a trip up the aptly named 'cardiac hill'. on the way back to barracks, we saw a buck and a doe on the road, beautiful creatures. the 3 mile release run we have this week should be too easy after the training we've been getting.

today we had ethics classes all day with the chaplain. he was fairly entertaining, a funny guy- and he got some good messages across. we talked about the 'judicious application of violence'. we spoke of the justness of a war and just acts in a war. heavy stuff.

** despite the topics, it is very difficult to stay awake after lunch and we aren't allowed caffeine until this saturday =(

besides a run later this week we have another ruck march an exam and an essay due friday. should be a good one.

peace in afghanistan.

another week down

we had a nice weekend here on ft. benning. a little hot but ok. we had free time for all of 8 hours on sunday again. church was nice, and a few of us went to see 'inglorious basterds'. great flick, especially if you like tarantino's work and hate nazis.

i had won a bet last week regarding the squad competition, so my battle-buddy finn had to buy me lunch- little caesars woot!

i had two hours of duty at the battalion office; fortunately my partner there and i had a good conversation so it went by quick because it was pretty uneventful.

i am working on an application type packet to get into medical services. keep me in your prayers everyone. i spent some time on the cover letter, it should be ready to go monday.

got a haircut in the evening, made some phone calls then off to dream-land.

whole lotta nothin goin on

nothing like pumping up the day with the graduation run! its a nice 4 mile trot around the area down by the airborne field and back up the hills. we took it at a good clip, had a good run with the general, and congratulated echo company; they're out of here this thursday. i can't wait until we're over there, only 9 weeks.

after cleaning up on the exams this morning, i celebrated with a piece of pecan pie at lunch. as restricted as we are here, since i just got here from basic training it feels like club med.

the afternoon was literally filled with air. we had company trainer time, but i didn't see any trainers at all. we had to study/read etc. for 5 hours. sounds easy, but its pretty boring.

we have class tomorrow, and should get off on sunday. just enough time for church and lunch. after this weekend they should be loosening up the reigns a little.

robbie, out.

This is a little test to see if I can blog from my phone. Also I would like to report that I rocked a perfect score on Call for Fire. BOOM!

no dirty rocks

well, we didn't win the warrior tasks and battle drills competition, however my squad had the 2nd fastest overall time. in fact, we would have won, but we were penalized 40 seconds for switching out our casualty, yes we bent a rule, but most teams did and not all were noted. not the end of the world- to be sure.

third platoon picked up dead last, which earns them the dirty rock. a dirty rock is just that, a large rock the size of a mortar round which has to be carried around by someone in the platoon until the next competition when the new last place team will earn the rock. they are required to paint it creatively; depicting an event or challenge. if its really good it goes in the hall of fame in the company day room. capt. has insisted that we do not get any dirty rocks, so we didn't let him down on that one, but he was disappointed that we didn't win.

the course was fun and included assembling weapons, evaluating and treating casualties, assembling a radio and calling in a medevac, tossing a hand grenade (fake one), calling in an activity report and a clear/ functions check on a weapon. all the while you're carrying food (MREs) and a water jug. at one point some 'gets injured' and you have to carry them on a stretcher for the rest of the course. neat stuff, and we got really sweaty out there.

for anyone who doesn't know, an MRE is a meal, ready-to-eat. they are really good if you like this type of thing, if not you'll hate them. i know that makes no sense, but basically people love or hate the food. i recommend any of the vegetarian choices, or anything with candy in it.

we have a light afternoon to study for our first test- call for fire.

cunningham, out!

warrior tasks

this morning started out a little tough, but the day got easy. we got up at 4-ish for a 5 mile ruck march. the bags were fairly heavy and the pace was decent, we covered the 5 in 80 minutes. nothing like finishing that up before the sun rises.

we went into the field, literally a field, and played with weapons today. no firing, just a lot of 'take it apart, put it together' type stuff. then we had a repeat of radios and alert transmissions. we have a competition tomorrow and i'm on the first platoon super-squad. our plt trainer has made it clear that he wants us to win win win.

speaking of, we have our initial counseling with him tonight. captain seems pretty cool, he's a straight shooter. he may head home before my turn, so perhaps tomorrow i'll talk to him.

time is flying here in ocs, way faster than basic training, but the end is still far away.

wish me luck on the SUPER-SQUAD - huah!

back to basics

we had several classes today. the topics were like being back in basic. radios and transmissions, weapon systems, movement tactics and map reading. all of this will come in very handy next month when we have three straight weeks in the field. our field leadership exercises will test our knowledge and aptitude of warrior tasks and battle drills. it should be a very cool 20 days.

so far we have only had three things contributing to the order of merit list, the first physical fitness test, the obstacle course and combat water survivbal test. these all were done in week one. our next points come tomorrow, 25 points for completing a 5 mile march with a 40 pound rucksack on - too easy. hopefully i'll gain some points in the next two weeks. it's hard to balance teamwork and competition, it's like you want to help your buddy, but it helps you if he fails. very weird. after wek 6 the points don't mean crap for branching, so we can all get along again.

sleep tight america.

Week 2 - Monday

we had one of our first in-depth classes today. we spent several hours on the intricacies of 'Call for Fire'. this is an important lesson for a future troop leader, because it allows you to string together the right phrases and information to get somebody's ass blown up. and if you're paying attention- it won't be your ass!

it was hard to stay awake, after running 5 miles this morning, but it helped that they had videos of explosions stuck in the presentation.

we have an exam on this on friday. it is one of the seven graded exams that comprise the academic scores for the OML- order of merit list. this class rank is used for class honors and bragging rights. more importantly, however, is that in our sixth week, we will select our future jobs in the order we are on the list. if you don't do well, you could get stuck with a really crappy job. also, if you get less than a 70% you fail and if you fail the re-test you get kicked out. ouch.

other than that it rained a lot. peace.

first post- week one is done

well, i'm going to give blogging a try here. i kept a journal for my time in basict training and it helped me out in keeping perspective and it gives me a reference iif there's something i want to remember. this will be my version of that record for my time in OCS.

i will not spoil any of what we do behind closed doors, anything that is not intended as public knowledge. but the majority of our course is unclassified and discussed on other websites, so i think i'm ok.

i have just finished the first week of 12 and i am sore and tired, but also energetic and excited about the upcoming curriculum. we have been told by numerous sources that we are in the strictest company here, and i believe it. we have received less than an hour of personal time each day (inwhich we can use our cell phones or pc's plus time to shower and straghten our rooms). it is sunday and we had less than 9 hours to do everything we need for the week. harsh. but it comes with the territory.