Week 1-Chaos of Hurry Up an Wait

Like any other military school there is in processing and the formation game is on at full force. Be ready for 0500 formations and not being dismissed until 2000.

Monday- First thing was height and weight. To my surprise there were a handful of people that showed up overweight, and after being taped there were 5 that were sent home, they don’t play around here. The rest of the morning was filled with filling out forms and getting short briefs from civilians in the administrative fields.

We did not get much of a break for lunch so make sure that you bring food to eat and always a water source. In the late afternoon we were split into our platoons and were introduced to our cadre. Our cadre briefed us on the course and their standards and then volunteers were selected for staff positions. When the BC and SGM arrived we stopped and received a detailed brief on the course from them. Our class is the first class to begin a new training model; I will have more to follow on that later. We were finally released at 2000.

Tuesday- Combatives intro for PT, nothing to sweat over its just the very basics and you really don’t get to roll. After that we were released to go and change for the days medical exams. You need to have a lot of paper work and I will list all the forms at the end so that you can be prepared. If you are already on tricare it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get a full physical, eye exam, and dental exam, because if you have those you don’t have to wait in the office for hours on end with the rest of your class. Although it is good bonding time with your classmates, I could have taken care of other paperwork during that time.

Wednesday- APFT. The APFT is held at the track next to Smith gym, it’s a 1 mile loop on gravel, but don’t worry there are no hills. Much like LDAC the standard is very hard on pushups, so make sure you work on your form. Preparation for the APFT will show and it is a good way to show your peers and cadre that you are one of the best. If you train in the upcoming months the pushups, sit-ups and run will take care of them selves, with some help from adrenaline. I missed the opportunity to train the last couple weeks but I had the drive to push out a 332, and as of right now I am 99% sure it was the top APFT in the class (our cadre have not let us know yet, but that’s the word on the street). The rest of the day was spent taking care of medical examinations again.

Thursday- Our Company Commander is a Crossfitter to the core and because our platoon TAC is injured, he had us do a modified Murph. Our modification was 50 dead hang pull-ups, 150 pushups, 200 body weight squats. The other platoon TAC’s have different work out philosophies, but training Crossfit before you get here is a great idea. The afternoon was devoted to a few people getting dental work done and the rest of waiting until we could be release for the weekend. The First Sergeant gave a stellar safety brief and we were off for the weekend.

0 Week- Cross Country Road Trip

In the movies a cross-country road trip always seems like a cool thing to do. Bullshit, it’s a movie get your head out of the clouds and wake up. Driving over 1400 miles in 3 days is a horrible experience that I hope that you will not have to partake in any time soon. One little bit of advice that no one gave me was, to split it up and take your time. Oh yea and they will only pay for 350 miles a day, so if you are traveling 500 to make good time and get there early to do the right this, check your moral compass because its wrong. Take your time in the end you wont be burnt out and you will make more money.

Upon arrival you will need to check into the S1 office at building 76. From there they will give you guidance on where and when you need to report in the specific uniform. I arrived on Friday and was told to report at 0900 at HHC for a brief. The first week is filled with accountability formations and small details here and there; it is time to take care of your housing, travel, pay and anything else that you might require. I did not get the time to take care of essential paperwork because I received a Red Cross message early Monday morning and I had to fly home for a week to take care of family. The leave process is confusing and time consuming if it is foreign to you, but I had a very good NCO SFC K that took care of me and he got me on a plane in time to make it back home.

The 0 week is a time to work on your PT, get your paperwork done and hopefully draw CIF so that you do not have to later. Use your time wisely and go see some of stuff on post to get well acquainted with the area. 

Preparations to Travel

Well this is the last day I will be in Pittsburg, I am not going to sugar coat it I have mixed emotions. I am so ready to get out of Cadet Command and start my career but at the same time I would like to see the type of leaders some of the cadets turn out to be. That is someone else's job now and I know that cadet leadership as well as cadre will help to produce excellent officers.

There is a lot of preparation you have to do before moving. 1) When you get your official orders get a digital copy of them so that they can be sent, everything you do you need official orders. 2) Get onto the Electronic Transportation Aquisition (ETA), you can find it on a google search. Create an account and set up a move, its easy if you follow the steps. First you have to know if you are doing a House Hold Goods (HHG) move or a Do-it-Yourself (DITY) its called something different now but its the same thing. The difference is that the DITY is exactly what it sounds like, you do everything yourself and the government will pay you to move. In my opinion if you have a small amount of stuff and a vehicle to transport it, it's absolutely the way to go. 3) Confirm, re-confirm, and re-confirm again with your assigned transportation officer that everything is finalized for the move. 4) Finally, drive the 1,000 miles to get to Ft. Benning. Don't try and do it in one day, they will pay for the hotels. I will have more to follow on procedures of getting checked into the class, vehicle registration on post, and anything else that comes up.

Jumping around a bit I figured that I should share some of the resources that were helpful to me preparing for IOBC. Of course each BOLC has a reading list most are helpful but some books were written 30 years ago and although they give insight into leadership, it just doesn't resonate like a current account of combat. Beyond books, there are hundreds of sites that could help you out with information, but I found forums to be one of the best assets, and it kept me from driving all the IOBC grads that I know crazy with questions. Here is a list and small description of books I read and sites I found helpful.

1. War. Sebastian Jungar- Great account of a platoons fight in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan. The best book I have ever read. The documentary "Restrepo" was made at the same time by Jungar and another journalist and as good as it is it still fall short of this book.

2. Strongest Tribe. Bing West- An account of the surge in Iraq over a series of 15 visits by West a former Marine from Vietnam, that specialized in counterinsurgency. Great read and good overall description of the war from the Secretary of State to the Joe on the ground.

3. House to House. David Ballavia- Another book on the Iraq War, the Battle of Fallujah, told from the point of view of a squad leader. Easy and exciting read.

4. Joker One. Donovan Campbell- Best account of PL leadership from training to deployment and back. The only snag is hes a Marine, but I would still suggest it to anyone.

5. Lone Survivor. Marcus Luttrell- Navy Seal who survived an ambush on his Seal team. A good book on perseverance, good story too.

6. Never Surrender. LTG Jerry Boykin- One of the founders of Delta, and was in every famous Delta operation from Grenada to Somalia. Nice glimpse into the Special Forces Community.

7. Not a Good Day to Die. Sean Naylor- First large scale operation in Afghanistan (Operation Anaconda). Look into the pros and cons of the Special Operations community. Really good book, full of useful information.

8. Descent into Chaos. Amhed Rashid- Great background of Afghan War and were things went wrong.

9. FM 3-21.8 The Infantry Rifle Platoon and Squad- Everything that you need to know and much more as a cadet. It is the Bible for IOBC as I hear.

10. Ranger Handbook

Internet Sites and Blogs

milspace- You have to have access to AKO to get this. Search milspace on AKO and it should take you to it, if you have any trouble let me know and I can send a link. milspace is a forum for LT's and it is segregate into branch specific as well as other categories. Great tool to learn about schools or get first hand accounts of leading people.

An LT's Journal - Experiences from Army Schooling- This is the blog that kind of inspired me to write this blog. Its in blogger.com and just use the search, it is very detailed and is well worth reading.

Anything else that you can find, but be weary of blog or forum complainers that make easy tasks seem unattainable.


Well that's it for me, I will post again before class starts to let you know how to check in and what you need to have or bring for the course. Next time will be from Ft. Benning Ga.