A Cadet's Journey

"You're an Officer now -- learn."

2012-10-28T02:25:00.002-04:00

As I briefly stated before in my "IBOLC to PL" post, even though I'm an Infantry Officer, I took over a Cav Scout platoon. The circumstances surrounding my decision were: 1). I had been in TRADOC for nearly a year and I was burnt out on being in a training mindset, 2). When I arrived at my first unit, I was put on brigade staff as a holding place until they figured out what to do with all the new Lieutenants (LTs), 3). I just wanted to be a PL already.

After about 3 weeks on staff, the brigade (BDE) S3 (Operations Officer) called me into his office and just laid it out on the line. He told me: "All the Infantry spots are taken up right now, at best you're looking at a 6 month wait. We've got a Cavalry Scout platoon that's been without a lieutenant for a week now, do you want it?" So I said yes and took myself down to the Cavalry Squadron that next day.

After meeting the Squadron Executive Officer (XO), he sent me over to the Troop I'd be joining. Meeting your Troop/Company/Battery Commander can probably be a very intimidating thing, but for me it all happened so fast I didn't have time to be nervous. Plus I was really, really eager and I just let my youthful enthusiasm carry me through.

The XO walked me over and into the Commander's office, introduced me to the commander and told him I'd just arrived from BDE. He left, and I attempted to follow the book and "report as ordered" to the Commander (one thing I've learned: always air on the side of customs and courtesies. If you think you'll be a dork for doing something or showing too much respect, it's always better for a Commander to chuckle and tell you to "relax" than it is for him to lock you up and yell at you for your lack of respect and military bearing). He appreciated the gesture and then told me to relax, have a seat and talk to him. Backstory on my first commander, this was his second command, he was older and on his way to Major. He had a lot of experience, and with that experience came a quiet calm.

He just sat down and asked me about my life, where I was from and what my ambitions were. Not in the Army, but in life. He was a very personable man and I was put at ease. Then he asked me about my military career: "Sir, I'm an Infantry Officer, I'm excited to be here but I don't know much about the Cavalry." He didn't skip a beat, he just reached behind him to his book shelf and pulled out a binder. The binder was the Cavalry Scout platoon field manual. He just threw it on his desk with a thud and said to me one of the most influential sentences of my military career:

"You're an Officer now -- learn."

And then he just continued talking to me like nothing happened. It was at that moment I realized two things: 1). I was a big boy now, 2). Training was over, you're a leader with men relying on you.

He just stated it so matter-of-factly that I was almost caught off guard. He didn't care that I had no formal training in the platoon tactics I'd be expected to lead. He just expected me to learn it and know it. He didn't want me to do this as a learning point, or for future reference, he just expected it of me at face value. It was one of the biggest wake up moments of my career. I've had a few since then, but I feel that was a great starting point.

As I write about my time as a PL, I'll attempt to go chronologically as memory permits. I learned something from every commander I worked for, and my big take aways from this Commander were: professionalism, the admin side of officership, and property.

From the anecdote above, I don't want to sell my old Commander short by making it seem he just threw a book at me and then let me sink or swim. Far from it. That was just his starting point. He expected me to develop a baseline knowledge on my own, so I could speak intelligently to him on the subject when he mentored me. In fact, part of the professionalism aspect, one thing I learned from him that also stuck with me (in that same initial conversation) was this: "You've been taught in ROTC that your platoon sergeant trains you up as a lieutenant. While that's true, traditionally and you will learn a lot from him (and you should), it is the Captain's job to properly train his Lieutenants. That is a responsibility I take seriously." He did. He always had time for me, my questions and to just call me into his office and give me a personal OPD (Officer Professional Development) on scout things he knew I either didn't know or was foggy on.
So if meeting your commander for the first time is the first scariest thing a new LT has to do, then meeting and counseling his platoon sergeant (PSG) is the second. This Captain taught me a great way to counsel a PSG, and it's a method I've used with every PSG I've had, and knowledge I've bestowed upon the many PLs that I've served with on my left and right. That is the subject of another entry, however.

Platoon Leader time: Complete

2012-10-28T01:51:00.001-04:00

After 22 months and 2 platoons, I have finally completed my PL time and have been moved up to staff. In that time, I've had 3 platoon sergeants and 4 commanders (well, I only had one commander for a month on his way out, but I still learned a lot from him in that one month). That being said, I've got some experience and I'm fresh off the platoon leading trail. If you're a cadet out there or a recently commissioned graduate, don't hesitate to email me. Again, nothing I say is gospel, just what I've seen in my experience.

As for the purpose and direction of this blog, I will now fill it with some stories and situations I recall as a PL. I hope to impart some advice on what it truly is to be in an entry-level officer position, and some tricks of the trade I've picked up from PLs more senior to me, working with several platoon sergeants and serving under different commanders.

After I'm done exhausting my stories, I will close out this blog. I will keep it up, as parents and mostly cadets still email me from time to time, and there's a lot that's scary out there for a new Lieutenant starting from the ground up. However, if after you get started as a Lieutenant and your career takes off, if you still need advice from a blog as you approach Captain, well, I can't help you. It would take a better man than me, as well as some introspection on your part.

My time as a PL in two platoons was a great experience, and I've definitely matured as a person and as an Officer since taking over.

If you stumble across my blog, I hope I help you out. I always remember to throw my disclaimer down as much as possible: this is not doctrine, just my experience. You talk to another PL, he'll have different stories and different advice to give. That's what makes that Army a great organization.

IBOLC to PL

2010-12-06T09:37:00.000-05:00

A lot has happened since my last entry. As it stands now, I recently got promoted to First Lieutenant (1LT) and am currently a Cav Scout (more on this later) Platoon leader. Here's the breakdown:

LTO:
Oh, the LTO. I don't think words can describe what the LTO is without doing it some injustice. For those who don't know, let me explain. The LTO is the Lieutenant Transition Office (now known as HHC, LTO is a technically outdated term, but we still call it that), and it's where motivation goes to die. The LTO is quite possibly the worst place in the world. The LTO is the governing body and is where LTs report in between schools (since we have to go to so many). There are 4 Platoons: Pre-IBOLC, Pre-Ranger, Post-Ranger and Follow On Schools, and the PCS (Permanent Change of Station) platoon (the guys getting ready to leave because all their schools are done). You do PT in the morning, check in at 0900 and once again at 1300. That's it, that's all you do. Unless...of course...you get tasked. The taskings vary, from playing OPFOR (essentially, playing the role of the bad guy for the students going through IBOLC on missions), to Sergeant Major's detail (cleaning Latrines, mopping floors), pulling Staff Duty (being up at the front desk of battalion for 24 hours) or, and I was prvileged enough to be on this detail, pulling up carpet and breaking tile. It turns a bunch of Army Officers into Privates, and since they treat you like Privates, you start acting like one. Instead of volunteering for anything, you consistently try to shirk duties and get the new guys to fall for it. Salutes and respect? You can forget about that at the LTO. Actually, pretty forget about that at Ft. Benning. You're a Private they call "sir" usually with a sense of irony and a tad bit of mockery. Most of the NCOs are cool about it, yet some of them treat it as their last chance to take every dig they can at an Officer. I am not alone in this opinion/observation.

IBOLC:
Infantry Basic Officer Leader Course, the basic branch school all Infantry LTs need to complete, was slow at times but overall I learned a lot. I was one of the first classes to go through the new 16 week course, as opposed to the old 13 week iteration, and to me and some of my fellow students, that they had not quite figured out what to do with the extra 3 weeks. There was A LOT of hurry-up-and-wait, and there were times were we sat around doing nothing for hours on end. That, I hear, has changed, and even the school company that started right after us had a different schedule of events then we had, so, it was/is a work in progress. The first 6 weeks of the course were basic infantry skills, tedious and boring, yet required. We had all done it a hundred times before, but at an Infantry course, you need to be sure your Infantry Officers can meet the minimum standards (marksmanship, PT, land navigation, etc). Week 8, for me, was my best week at IBOLC and the week I felt I learned the most. That's when we concentrated on Operation Orders (OPORDs) and planning missions to a detailed degree I never though imaginable. Breaking down a Battalion level OPORD to what your Platoon needed. I had never used transparencies to draw out the Execution paragraph on map overlays before, nor did I ever do such indepth Terrain, Enemy and Weather anlyses. I lost more sleep that week than any other week in IBOLC because it was very intellectually challenging. The final two weeks of IBOLC consist of Leader Forge, which is intentionally run like Ranger School, in order to prepare Infantry Lieutenants for thier next immediate challenge. Leader Forge isn't hard, and it doesn't even suck that bad. It's just continual missions, waiting for your turn, and supporting your buddies as they take their leadership roles. IBOLC was a positive experience for me, and I felt my platoon cadre were the best trainers of the other ones I had observed (and I'm not just saying that because they check in on this blog from time to time). What set them aside from the other leadership, in my experience, was the fact they never stopped riding us. They never gave us a break. When the other platoons zonked PT, we were out there. They were cool with us, but always firm, friendly, but never buddy-buddy. It was a good template for how to engage your Soldiers and NCOs when you arrive at your unit.

Ranger School: Ranger School for me...hasn't happened yet. I didn't meet the standard, but my Troop Commander has given me an open invitation to go back whenever I feel I'm ready.

Airborne School: Airborne school was definitely an experience. It was the first place on Ft. Benning I actually got treated like an officer. Officers at Airborne school don't have to do any of the duties that the cadets and privates have to do, and the instructors usually smoke and joke with you (and the other NCOs), rather than constantly sneering at you. You do get some additional duties, like being a safety on the towers and such, but overall, the payoff is better. You get released for breakfast and lunch. Airborne School, I feel, could be conducted in 1 week vs 3 weeks, because everything you learn (the PLFs or Parachute Landing Fall) goes out the window once you hit the ground. The PLF is a mythical creature that has never been seen in the wild. The PLF is the, supposed, method of falling once you hit the ground, and the Sergeant Airbornes teach it to you in painstaking detail over the course of 2 weeks. You hit the ground and certain way, and curl your body and roll with the floor, that way, displacing all your energy and therefore (in theory) minimizing injury. However, what usually happens is the wind blows at the wrong time or anything and you hit the ground like a sack of potatoes being dropped off the Empire State Building. I brought up this observation at Mech Leader School (more to follow) and a Captain in that course with me was a former Company Commander at Airborne School. He pretty much locked me up and told me I was just doing the PLF wrong and basically I was a dirtbag who didn't know what he was doing/talking about. So that may be so. However, my friend broke his leg so bad at Airborne he might be out of the Infantry. Another one sprained his ankle, not so severly, but severly enough he had to wait to jump again.

As for my jumps, I was first jumper, first jump (I was also first jumper on my 3rd jump). I wasn't scared on the way up. I wasn't scared at all until I hit had to stand in the door. Then all I could concentrate on was the fact that there were a lot of trees below me. I looked down. Never look down. All I kept thinking of was how badly I'd be impaled if the plane banked and I flew out the door. The green light on the door lit up, I got a slap on my ass and heard "GO!" in my ear. The first jump we got to jump with the T-11 (new parachute vs the T-10D). That is an amazing parachute. You fall so slow and hit the ground relatively gently. The next 4 jumps we jumped with the T-10Ds, and you fall FAST and hit the ground like a turd hitting the water. I did two combat jumps and one night jump for my fifth and final jump. I almost broke my tailbone on the night jump. Thankfully, it was my last jump. So now, I'm a five jump chump and if I never had to jump out of a plane again, it'll be fine with me. I'll do it if I have to, I can. I'm not scared of it. It just sucks. The ground never gets any softer.

Mech Leader: Mech Leader school is the school at Benning that teaches you familiarization with the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and how to employ it. Not much to say, it's a 3 week course that is largely academic. It's a gentlemen's course and was probably the best course I attended in the Army so far. It was all about knowledge and learning, not about smoking or anything like that. You'd come in, learn your stuff for the day, then go home. I also fell in love with the Bradley here. It's an amazing machine. If I ever get into a Bradley Brigade, I wouldn't mind.

Platoon Leading: So I PCS'd from Benning after Mech Leader and headed out to my first duty station. I was put on Brigade Staff for 2 weeks until a Platoon opened up in the Brigade (BDE). One opened up in the Cavalry Squadron, and it was offered to me, and I jumped on it. Now I'm a Platoon Leader and I'm loving life.

Future PLs, don't worry. Just be you and do you. Don't try to be tough or change up your gameplan (unless that's how you are normally). Like I wrote about going to LDAC, you've gotten yourself this far by being you, don't go in and throw a Hail Mary on the first play of the big game. Your NCOs will be good, or they won't be, and you'll do your 30 day analysis and then get cracking.

Life sucks in TRADOC, especially if you're Infantry. Don't worry, though. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. It's called being a Platoon Leader and it's everything you thought it would be, after training for it for some many years.

Commissioning to IBOLC

2010-03-17T15:41:00.005-04:00

I officially became a Commissioned Officer on May 18, 2009, but do to a...well...I couldn't tell you why, really, I did not go on Active Duty until October of that same year. The Army essentially cut myself, and thousands of LTs just like me, loose to do pretty much whatever we wanted until our next assignment (and entrance into Active Duty).

For me, I didn't start Gold Bar Recruiting (when newly commissioned LTs work at the college they graduated from until their Branch School begins until October. So for those of you paying attention at home, that left me with quite some time off between the end of May and the beginning of October (with no time and service being counted). I had to find some way to make money.

So I wound up bartending in the interim and it was...interesting...to say the least. All I can say is that the lessons I've learned about humanity and human nature whilst bartending will definitely come in handy when I eventually get in front of my platoon.

As for Army stuff, I officially entered Active Duty on October 19, 2009 and began a successful career as a Gold Bar Recruiter (henceforth GBR). My Battalion Commander saw fit to give me an Army Achievement Medal (AAM) for my time from October to March, to my shock and surprise. He told me not many Second Lieutenants would have an AAM and sincerely thanked me for my hard work. So, I'm proud that at such a young stage in my career I now have two things I can put on my dress uniform (the AAM will go right beneath my Air Assault wings, which have been shining brightly since 07).

As for right now, I'm about to begin Infantry Basic Officer Leadership Course (IBOLC), which is the official title of BOLC B for the Infantry Officers (this should be apparent but as we all learn at some point: common sense; not that common). I'm just trying to get myself into outstanding shape and stay motivated through the next couple of months which will be spent at TRADOC (Training and Doctrine Command; any time you're at a training school in the Army, you fall under TRADOC).

Beware of Smiling Sergeants

2009-07-10T16:16:00.003-04:00

As a cadet through various training schools and my own ROTC program, I learned that NCOs never smile unless they're up to something. I hope you all get what I mean after these brief anecdotes.

At LTC: During morning formation during the recovery phase of LTC, one of our Drill Sergeants came to our platoon smiling and asked who wanted to eat breakfast first. Those poor ten people who agreed did get to eat early...but only because they had to clean the entire company's rifles all day.
At Air Assault: On the morning of our 12 mile ruck march, the Air Assaults Sergeants told us we were getting a "super breakfast" if we completed the school. So after our equipment check, we pick up our gear and head to the DFAC (Dining Facility) where a bunch of smiling sergeants were handing out MREs. The super part? We got juice.
At ROTC: During an FTX in which we were informed (as MSIIIs) that we would not be sleeping in doors at all the entire weekend, our Master Sergeant came up to us smiling and asked if we wanted to sleep inside that evening. By this time, I knew better, and I quickly told everyone to say no. He later told us had I not saved everyone's ass, he was going to let us bed down for the night, turn off all the lights, wait 15 minutes until we were all asleep, then he was going to turn on all the lights, kick us out of our sacks and have us go outside.

So yes, beware of smiling sergeants.

More Tips for LDAC

2009-07-01T15:52:00.002-04:00

I'm going to share some valuable advice I got from my SMI (Senior Military Instructor) before I left for LDAC last summer.

He told me not to go into LDAC expecting an E. Go in their expecting an S. You don't get an E for doing your job, you get an S for doing your job. If you show up to your job on time everyday, do you expect your boss to give you a pat on the back? No, because you're SUPPOSED to show up on time everyday. So if you run a flawless STX lane with no mistakes, then congratualtions, you're satisfactory.

That's the attitude I had going into LDAC, and I walked out of LDAC with two S's, and the rest of them all E's. As stated in an earlier post, I was a Distinguished Military Graduate as a result.

I'm not bragging, I'm just saying this advice helped me cope with LDAC. It took an enormous amount of pressure off me. Instead of worrying about performing, I just did what I had to do and did it well, and apparently, I got an E for it. That's all. I thought all the work I did was S work, but my cadre at LDAC kept giving me Es. I didn't expect it, nor did I strive for it. I just concentrated, focused on my goal and did what I had to do.

Put it this way: would you throw a Hail Mary for the first play of the Superbowl? Hell no. You'd stick to the tried and true methods that got you to the Superbowl in the first place. Don't change it up when you get there trying to show off. Just do what you've always done on STX lanes and you'll walk away fine.

Also, getting an E in garrision is extremely difficult, especially if you're SL and there's not much to do. LDAC has changed since my time there, as in, you'll be spending a lot less time in garrison and more time in the FOB, so my example may not work, but if there's some in garrison time, you'll understand my analogy.

Just being a good SL will only get you an S. Doing all you're supposed to do will get you an S. Keeping accountability and all that good stuff will get you an S. What I did when I was SL once in garrison was I made my squad practice DNC (Drill and Ceremony) in the company area when we had an hour of downtime. We were bad at DNC and needed the practice, and I was on the Color Guard team so I was pretty good at it. So for an hour we marched around the company area and I had each one of my squad come out after five minutes and do the same commands we all had just done. My evaluator who had seen me do this said that is what put me in the E category for that eval because it wasn't in the basic job of SL, I went above and beyond the duties of my position. I didn't have to improve our DNC, but I saw it as a weakness and used my position to better it.

So, getting an E at LDAC at least in my experience is going above the duties described by your position.

Hope this helps.

Commissioned Officer

2009-06-30T13:01:00.002-04:00

Well, it appears my journey as a cadet is finally over, and as I look at my calendar has been over for a little more than a month.

On May 15, 2009 I raised my right hand to God and swore my oath as an officer in the grade of Second Lieutenant.

This blog is not over; however, my journey has just begun. I'll keep writing tidbits as I remember them, and I'd like to write more on BOLC II and BOLC III as they come up. If I'm not exhausted I'll write a comprehensive review of Ranger School when I'm done with that, too.

My goal is to provide those who stumble across my page with a look into the real life of a cadet, and once you hit your MS III (Junior year), you start hearing about life as a brand new lieutenant and all the schools you'll have to go through, and I'd like to continue aiding that process with this blog. From all the emails I've been getting, I can tell it's helping some people, so why stop now?

However, the posts won't come for a while as I don't leave for BOLC II for quite some time. Until then, I'll be your friendly neighborhood Gold Bar Recruiter.

Things Your Cadre Won't Tell You About LDAC

2009-04-09T15:50:00.003-04:00

Here's a BIG factor that will make or break you at LDAC, but your cadre won't tell you because, well, you'll know why when I tell you:

Do NOT offer to help ANYONE when you're at LDAC.

It sounds messed up, I know, but it's the way it has to be. By me saying this, I don't mean be a Blue Falcon and refuse to help anyone. What I mean is don't OFFER. You'll be (incorrectly) viewed as a Blue Falcon if you do.

Why is this the case? Because cadets are stupid. Yes, it's true. Everyone at LDAC is so high strung about their evals that they will perceive any attempt at help that is unwarranted as a sign you're trying to screw them.

It's the wrong attitude and it's horrible, but it's the way things are. I have a problem with this. I know my stuff and I like helping people. For example, one of my squad members was Squad Leader for a STX lane. We had to locate a weapons cache and hold it. We arrive at the cache, begin our assault, and then one of the OPFOR (opposing forces) took off and ran into the woods. Immediately our SL decided to round us up and go after him. I had been on a STX lane at my university where this exact thing had happened, and the SL at the time got gigged for going after the OPFOR. His mission was to hold the cache, not get the guy. So here is my SL about to make the same mistake. Quietly, and off to the side, not in front of everyone, I spoke to him softly and said "Hey dude, I was on a STX lane just like this one before, and the guy got gigged for not staying on mission. It's up to you, but I've seen it happen, and I think we should stay here." It was simple. I was trying to give advice on a situation I was knowledgeable about. He flipped out on me, on the spot, saying how I needed to shut my mouth and stay in my lane and all this good stuff. (By the way, he got gigged for going off mission and looking for the OPFOR...but that's just between you and me).

I watched it happen time and time again over the course of LDAC. Don't offer any advice or help unless you're asked for it first. Unfortunately, because (as I said) cadets are stupid, you can't do the right thing and help a buddy out. You actually have to watch them fail and do something wrong even if you know you can fix it with a simple suggestion off to the side. It's hard for me to do, and if you're a good person, it will be hard for you too, but please restrain yourself.

If you see something jacked up, let it happen. It seems counterintuitive, but just let it go. If asked for help, don't be a Blue Falcon and do all you can to help your buddy. Just don't offer what is not asked for.

Battalion Commander

2008-11-26T01:20:00.002-05:00

It's official. I am my school's battalion commander as of last Thursday. I suppose this means I'm at the pinnacle of my cadet career?

It's all just a downward slope toward that commission, now.

To The Glory and Honor of the Infantry!

2008-10-24T09:47:00.004-04:00

The title of this post says it all. I found out my branch today and I got what I worked so hard for: Infantry.

(It has recently been brought to my attention that here are other branches other than the Infantry. I had no idea. However, some civilians don't know what Infantry means. Well, hopefully this page will help you: http://www.us-army-info.com/pages/branches.html)

I have stories from LDAC that I will be posting shortly. I really haven't had time because trying to fit a social life around being Battalion S3 has really eaten up all free time I have. Oh, and I suppose I do have to do that whole college thing while I'm at it, too.

Now, this isn't just a post of me bragging, I did plenty of that in celebration last night. A lot of civilians don't understand how cadets get their branch (and even some cadets) and I've had this conversation at least 50 billion times with people asking me how we get what. So I'm going to attempt to write it down in a clear and concise manner.

There are many, many factors that go into Accessions (which is what Cadet Command calls the process in which it selects which cadets go where) but it's broken down into two big groups:

1. Academic Program
2. Leader Program

The academic program is easy to understand. It's 40% of your overall "grade" and you get 40 points by having a 4.0 GPA in college. So, if you have a 3.8, you have 38%. Having a high GPA is HUGE when it comes to Accessions. Lord knows it helped me out a lot.

The Leader Program is further subdivided into two groups:
1. Military
2. Physical

The physical (fitness) aspect is based on your fall and spring semester APFT scores, your LDAC APFT score and your campus and LDAC CWST (Combat Water Suvival Training) tests. The total of all those subcategories adds up to 15%. So if you have 100% in every APFT event (push ups, sit ups, 2 mile run) in both junior year semesters, plus LDAC and you've passed all your CWSTs on a first time go basis, you just got yourself 15 points. Add that in to your 4.0 GPA, and you've got 55% already, stud.

(As you may or may not be able to tell, this is pretty hard to attain already).

Your military grade is 45% of what you get and that consists of many things.
1. 15% is your overall LDAC (Warrior Forge) performance. Did you get an E (Excellent), S (Satisfactory), or N (Needs Improvement)? You get this score based on your leadership positions and your leadership attributes in all your evaluations at LDAC (which include at least 2 garrison evaluations - one squad level and then one platoon level and above, your Field Leader's Reaction Course -FLRC evaluation, your STX evaluations - one non-variable lane, one variable lane, and your patrolling evaluation.

SIDEBAR:

FLRC - You're a cadet given a physical puzzle to figure out. For example, you're given two planks of wood of varrying lengths and an ammo can. Then you're given a sand pit that has stumps sticking out of the ground at varrying intervals and distances away from each other. Then you're told your mission is to move your entire squad across that pit, you can't touch the sand, and you have to bring the wood and ammo can with you when you cross. Oh, by the way, you can't throw the ammo can either. It's all stuff like that. It's difficult.

STX lanes are when a cadet leads other cadets in a simulated mission at the squad level. So that cadet is a squad leader of anywhere from 9-12 other cadets (in Cadet Land). The cadet is evaluated on how well he briefs the Operations Order (OPORD), his rehearsal of the plan, how he executes his plan and how he keeps his command and control of the situation during the simulated battle. A non-variable lane is when you're given the OPORD and the lane is carried out just as that order was given. If you're given an ambush, you set up and execute an ambush. A variable lane is when you begin your lane thinking you're doing one thing, then at some point throughout the lane, "higher" will call you and give you a change of mission. You have minutes to react, plan and brief your squad on the situation and the new course of action.

Patrolling is just a bigger, longer STX lane with more people. Instead of 2 hours per lane, it's 6, and instead of one squad, it's 2. Couldbe variable, could not.

END SIDEBAR

If you get 3 overall Es on your evaluations, you're considered an E at camp. Now, the Army also breaks it's evaluations into 16 leadership dimensions. You're graded E, S, or N in each category, every mission. So let's say at LDAC, I never get an overall on any evaluation, but I've consistently been an E in 7 of my leadership dimensions (the same 7, all the time). Then my overall grade at LDAC will be an E again.

That's how you earn that 15%

2. You're next 25% comes from your Platoon Officer at LDAC. The major or captain (usually) who was in charge of your platoon from the start of LDAC to the finish. Your teacher and mentor while you're there. He gives you a Cadet Evaluation Report (CER) and takes your evaluations into account. He's evaluating your potential and writes official comments on your record. What he says is important. He can praise you, say you're on par with your peers, or say you're not on par with your peers. For example, one of the categories for potential is O - Outstanding, ready to commission now. That's a big one to get. So based on his evaluation you get some or all of that 25%.

3. 15% comes from your Professor of Military Science (your ROTC Battalion Commander, the actual BC not the cadet BC). He also gives you a CER based on your performance as an MS III. It's the same process as the CER above.

4. 10% comes from where your Professor of Military Science places you against the peers in your class.

5. 10% comes from your Professor of Military Science's comments on your place on your class list. He comments on your potential, which might have improved since your MSIII CER.

6. You get an extra 15% for your extra curricular activities, working a job, being Airborne/Air Assault/Any specialty school qualified, and all that jazz. You also get credit for being on Color Guard and Ranger Challenge. This is an easy 15% to get. Just don't be lazy and DO SOMETHING.

7. Finally, 10% is your Land Navigation score at LDAC.

You get certain bonusses on your overall ranking if you're the Top 5 in your platoon at LDAC and if you're RECONDO at LDAC (basically, you have above 90 points in every PT event and you do all the training. It's not that special).

After all that, individually, you're ranked against every other MS III who has gone through LDAC that summer. This year that number is around 4100 I believe. Based on all those factors above, you're put into the National Order of Merit List (OML). The top 10% cadets on the national OML are known as Distinguished Military Graduates, or DMGs. DMGs are pretty much guaranteed their choice of branch and duty station, but it's not 100% guaranteed.

The Army does something called Force Distribution which means that some of the best cadets are put into the less popular branches and some of the worst cadets are put in the more popular branches that other people have earned, so that way, each branch has potentially good and bad officers. For example, the most popular branches are (usually): Infantry, Aviation, Armor, and Military Intelligence. So you have to be very high on the OML to get into any of these branches, usually. However, if you're in the bottom 10%, there's a chance you'll be forced into one of these branches and some DMG will be put into a less popular branch like Chemical and Quartermaster. This way, the less popular branches don't get stuck with all the shitbags and the high-speed branches don't seriously get hurt by having a bad officer, because odds are if you have a shitty officer in the Infantry, you'll have a strong Platoon Sergeant and Squad Leaders to keep everyone alive. At least, that's the idea at any rate.

Now, the final option you have if you're somewhere in the middle of the OML is to do something called ADSO, Additional Service Obligation. The basic active duty contract is 4 years active duty, 4 years reserve duty. Now, you can tell the Army "Hey, I really want Infantry, but I'm in the middle of the OML, I'll give you 3 more years of active duty service if you give me Infantry." You can also ADSO for duty station and grad school. You can ADSO for branch and duty station, but you can't do both branch and grad school (at least to my knowledge you can't).

Now, the ADSO list is a separate list. It's not a guarantee, but it does shoot you up above other people.

Each branch has a certain amount of Lieutenants it can take every year; a quota, if you will. For example, let's say the Infantry can only take 100 LTs this year. So if you're 101 on the National OML and cadets 1-100 want Infantry, you're shit out of luck. Not even an ADSO will save you (if the Army doesn't use your ADSO, they tear it up, so you don't get stuck 7 years in a branch you hate).

Getting duty station is done pretty much the same way.

So that's pretty much it, that's the entire process, now I'm not going to gloat but I am going to put how I did and where I ranked to get where I am today, as a guideline for any cadets going through this process.

My most shameful event: my APFT. I scored around a 250 on all my campus tests and (there's reason for this that I'm not going into, nor am I making excuses for) a 224 at LDAC. That's pretty bad. So I had an uphill battle from there.

At LDAC I got an E on everything, except for one evaluation and I had 7 or 8 overall Es in my leadership dimensions.

My CER at LDAC was awesome, my Platoon TAC said I had outstanding potential and I was ready to commission now. My Professor of Military Science said the same. They both recommended me for Infantry. I was number 2 in my platoon at LDAC (platoon sergeant for the last week....yay!).

I have a 3.87 GPA. When I say study and hit the books to any cadet out there reading this, I mean it. Don't slack off in college. Your GPA can make or break you.

Plus I'm AIR ASSAULT!!!! So that gave me an edge. I was also on the executive board at a club at my college, I volunteer at my elementary school and I work 20 hours a week on top of that. Plus I did Ranger Challenge and Color Guard.

All that crap got me a DMG (I was 219 out of 4000+ on the Active Duty National OML). Now, I wasn't satisfied, I wanted Infantry more than anything. So I signed an ADSO just to insure that I wouldn't be force distributed to something other than Infantry. I took no chances. Today, I was informed that I got Infantry and that I didn't have to use my ADSO, so the Army tore that up.

INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!

Most people can't do what we do

2008-09-08T02:01:00.002-04:00

This is one of those random philosophical musings that happens at 2 oclock in the morning when you should be sleeping but are too stupid to know any better. However, it was the fact that I thought over this fact and then discussed it with my room mate (who is also a cadet) that I came up with the basis for this post.

It's 2 am, and I need to be at Ranger Challenge PT at 5 am. Yet here I am, wide awake, knowing full well I have a smoke session and a full day of work and classes in the morning. I've been doing this throughout college and ROTC and I'm still pulling a 3.87 GPA, as is my room mate (and we both have different majors). I also find evidence of this in non-cadet friends and girls I date. They're always so busy and concerned with sleep and getting work done and their not being enough hours in the day, etc. I always counter with "So what, I have PT at 5 and I can still make time for friends/girls/dinner etc." However, normal people just don't understand that. I had a Tyler Durden moment when talking to a girl, and it may sound arrogant but it's just a fact of life. She's always stressing about school, family and work. I asked her to come unwind and grab a cup of coffee. She said she wanted to but couldn't because of XYZANDAMILLIONOTHERPROBLEMSOHMYGODLIFESUCKS! I just said to her, "You worry too much. I don't buy my books, I don't sleep, I eat whatever I want, I work my job and go to all my classes and I still get it done. I am free in all the ways you are not." She was dumbfounded, not because I was a jerk about it (I wasn't), I was just being honest. That lead me to the following realization:

Officers, nay, all Soldiers are a cut above the rest. Although I'm not either yet, I will be an officer in just over 9 months, and I'm cut from the same cloth as they are. So are all my cadet friends. We get so much more done on so much less than anyone else and we still manage to have integrity (meaning wholeness of life).

America is in good hands. George Orwell (allegedly) said it the best with this quote:

We sleep safely in our beds at night because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.

I will be one of those men very, very soon. So will my friends. Those men are out there, right now. They're shitting in holes. They're shivering at night. They're dodging mortars and bullets and RPGs. They're not eating or sleeping for days.

They are a cut above the rest.

Enjoy your sleep America, the Army's got you.

Back from LDAC

2008-08-20T20:46:00.002-04:00

I have returned from LDAC and have already begun life as an MS IV cadet. My new rank and position is Cadet Major and I will be the Battalion S3 for a while. There will be more on that later but I won't be getting into it right now.

I have many, many stories from LDAC, which I will be putting up shortly as well when I find out my place on the national OML (which I've been told I will be finding out by next Monday, August 25).

Fireguard

2008-06-04T17:03:00.002-04:00

This may seem like common sense to some, but to those of you going to LTC, odds are you don't have any military experience whatsoever.

In the Army, someone has to be awake at all times in the barracks no matter what. In case someone falls off a bunk or a fire miraculously springs up from somewhere, it's the Fireguard's duty to wake everyone up and let the Drill Sergeant on CQ (charge of quarters) duty know. You also have to clean the barracks everyday, and the best time to do this is at night while you're on Fireguard. The best method to do this is create a rotation cycle.

Example: My platoon bay at LTC started First night, first shift fireguard duty as the two people in the bunk on the right side of the room. Hour two were the people next to them down the line, and so on and so forth. This way, you're not stumbling through the dark wondering where the next fireguard is sleeping and waking up the wrong people. Also, this way no one complains about having to do the duty, since it's a cycle and everyone gets their lumps.

Now for cleaning, we also made a rotation. Hour one had to sweep the floor, hour two had to mop the floor, hour three had to sweep the halls, hour four had to mop them, hour five had to clean the bathroom, hour six had to mop it. Then everyone woke up.

That's just one man's way of doing it. It was pretty damn efficient though and I recommend it, only because it cuts down on the bitching factor.

My buddy is Air Assault

2008-05-28T15:06:00.002-04:00

I just called my friend down at Knox and he's officially Air Assault. Hopefully I'll be able to get him to write a few things down here about his experience at a different Air Assault location.

Parental Feedback

2008-05-25T11:29:00.004-04:00

Keep the feedback rolling in, ladies and gentlemen. My site traffic is going up everyday and I'm getting some good emails from all of you. There's no such thing as a stupid question, I want to help you. Most readers are cadets who want some advice and reassurance going into Air Assault, things I never had (except for a few words from my buddy who went the year prior to me).

One of the best emails I've gotten so far, however, came from a mother who has a son at Air Assault right now. She just wanted some insight as to what her son was going through and what to do come graduation day. I was more than happy to help.

I'm just some cadet from New York and the fact that my word is at least helping some of you keeps this site fresh.

Ruck, ruck, ruck!

2008-05-22T13:40:00.002-04:00

I have been getting a lot of emails about preparation for the 12-miler at Air Assault. My advice to those people is always the same: ruck, ruck, ruck! Ruck heavy and ruck often. If you take a look at the packing lists in the previous post, the ruck at Air Assault is not that heavy, maybe about 30 pounds, 35 the most. However, when you train for it, I'd train with at least 45 pounds. You don't know what the terrain is going to be like at your school. If it's Camp Smith, you know from me that the terrain sucks and the hills are brutal. My friend who is down at Fort Knox right now tells me he's doing his 12-miler on an air strip (or so he currently thinks) so it will be largely flat. Having the extra weight in your ruck while you train will make your rucking experience at Air Assault that much easier.

When training, hold yourself to the Army standard of 15 minutes per mile (try to finish each mile in at least 14) and work yourself out from there. Be comfortable with a ruck on and have boots that are well worn in. That will make your life so much easier at Air Assault.

For the 12-miler at my school, we had an Air Assault Sergeant keeping the pace for passing. Meaning, if you were behind the Air Assault Sergeant with the flashing red light, you were failing and you had better pick it up. So if you need someone to motivate you while you're there, you have it.

As for a good general work out/ruck plan, I have found a great one in this book. It's called "Get Selected for Special Forces" and can be found here http://www.specialops.org/news.asp . Scroll all the way to the bottom and buy that book. All the proceeds go to a great cause and that book will not hurt you, I guaran-damn-tee it. In the back of the book, the authors give you a 30 day work out that includes a lot of muscle building, cardio and rucking. I'm currently on Day 4 of the 30 day plan and I'm loving it. This book is probably a smart investment, even if you have no aspirations of going into the SF at a later point in your career (but who doesn't want to go SF?)

Air Assault Packing Lists

2008-05-20T00:19:00.000-04:00

A few readers have emailed me about Air Assault packing lists.

A quick google search for the 101st and Warrior Training Center yielded the following results:

For the 101st -
http://www.campbell.army.mil/aas/

For the WTC -
https://www.benning.army.mil/wtc/wtc/b/aaslt/index.htm

Remember, you still have to know who is teaching your school so you know which packing list to use, and their website MIGHT not have been updated, but those should give you a good look into what a ruck will feel like at Air Assault school.

Question about Air Assault and LTC

2008-05-19T00:24:00.000-04:00

Cadet Aaron Naiditch emailed me and asked me this question. In accordance with courtesy and respect, he has given me permission to recreate his original email here.

"I was just curious as to what you thought of LTC. I am not attending it, since I have been contracted since freshman year. Also, what made you decide to join ROTC in the middle of your college career? Was it difficult adjusting to it, after not being in the program the first two years?

thanks,"

Here is my reply:

"By and large, I thought LTC was a waste of time. I didn't really learn much I didn't already know, then again I did do ROTC for a year before I went to LTC. I started my cadet career as an MSII. However, I'm glad I went and I recommend as many people as possible to go if they can (even if you were a I or a II). As a result of LTC, I have already gotten on a plane and not know where to go when I got off the other side, so I won't feel so insecure about LDAC. I've already worked with a Zodiac and know some of the waterborne operations as a result. I know what it's like to forge relationships with people you've just met and work as a cohesive group. I've also learned things about myself having gone there.

I'm a New Yorker, (Queens, NY) born and raised. I'm a fast-talking, loud, sarcastic prick at times and I can and have pissed people off as a result. My usual attitude to people I pissed off was the New York one: "Fuck em." I have since learned this attitude is incorrect and have been striving to change that. I've met with some success and some failure. It's a slow process but it's a process nonetheless. I've stated before in earlier posts I didn't like my squad at LTC. We got the mission done and I learned how to work with people I don't like (and they didn't like me), but it's a much better process if you like each other. LTC taught me that and as a result has given me an leg up on LDAC, I believe.

And I joined ROTC in the middle of my college career after my freshman year. I had known I wanted to do it basically since sophomore year of high school. I tried to get into West Point, but family issues caused me to withdraw myself from candidacy. The same familial issues also caused me to not do ROTC in my freshman year of college. Everything happens for a reason, however. After going to Air Assault School with West Point cadets I have discerned I would have been miserable with the Academy lifestyle. I've grown so much as a person during my collegiate career and I have so much more to bring to the table now (as an Officer, of course), because I was in an environment that allowed me to make mistakes and learn from them. The structured society of the USMA would have been murderous to my development, in my opinion. Also, not being able to do ROTC in my freshman year caused me to go to LTC, which was a big help for me, so I have no regrets to date.

It wasn't that hard adjusting to cadet lifestyle in my MSII year. I had to learn how to go to sleep at a reasonable hour and work out on a regular basis, but everything else I ate up with a spoon. I love being in the Army and can't wait until I commission."

SITREP

2008-05-18T19:11:00.001-04:00

School has been keeping me busy over the past month or so. My professor's decided that only having 5 classes left meant they had to cram as much work done my throat as possible, so I've been scarce.

One of my MS II friends left for Air Assault school the other day at Fort Knox. I've been coaching him through the process, teaching him how to climb a rope and the like. He called me the other day and he passed Day Zero, and I'm confident he'll do fine.

As for me, I almost got an Airborne slot. The MS I instructor (a LTC) was shooting the shit with me and I brought up Airborne school. He says to me "I just got an email saying there's an Airborne slot available but you have to be on a plane today." Knowing full well I had all my finals the following week, I say to him "Sir, I'll have my bags packed in 10 mikes if you can get me on that plane." He looks at me and says "Are you serious?" "Yes, sir!" "Wait, you're an MS III aren't you?" "Yes, sir?" "I'm not allowed to send you until after LDAC, I'm sorry."

Just like that, my Airborne dreams were squashed...for now.

As for myself and LDAC, I've been assigned to 15th Reg, 16 July to 17 August. So if any of you ROTC cadets who stumble across my page are unlucky enough to have to wait the entire summer to go, you'll be seeing me, I'm sure. Even if I'm not in your squad or platoon, I'll be the bald, deep-voiced, loud guy yelling out "Air Assault!" as I've been known to do.

Air Assault School: The 12-Miler

2008-03-09T16:17:00.000-04:00

In my initial post entitled "Air Assault School, Completed" I briefly mentioned the 12 mile ruck march. I am going to go a little more in depth now because, well, I want to.

As I mentioned earlier, according to one Air Assault Sergeant, it was hotter than Benning at Camp Smith during the course. It was 100 degrees and 90% humidity the entire time. It was brutal heat. However, anyone in the Army knows that with enough time and hydration, you can get used to the heat. Your body gets used to it. You get acclimatized.

So after a summer at Fort Knox and then Air Assault, I was pretty used to the heat. So when it came time to do the 12-Miler I'm expecting a grueling suck-fest of, well...suck.

I wake up at 0300 (the ruck begins at 0430) to the sound of pounding rain. My first thought is not one of anger, or depression, it's "Of course...why wouldn't it be raining?" So I get up, relieve myself, and brush my teeth.

I bring my ruck down to the 1st platoon barracks where my remaining battle buddy is. He's senior to me and is a paratrooper, so has more experience than I do with equipment and the like. He's in the process of wrapping his poncho around his ruck, and thus, waterproofing it. I quickly follow suit and do the same thing. The previous night, we had packed our rucks together in such a way that the 30 pound load feels like it's cut in half, and our ruck looks half as big as everyone else's. My buddy has done the ROTC Ranger Challenge for 4 years at this point and I guess he knows a thing or two about packing his ruck. We had prepped for this ruck since the beginning of Phase Two. Every night at chow, we were given a juice box of Gatorade. We would steal an additional one after dinner if there were leftovers, and as the ruck begins, we have 4 Gatorade boxes in our ammo pouches on our LBEs. Everytime we get up the ridiculous uphill (see below), we'll down a box of Gatorade before driving on.

Before we head off to first formation, I realize I have to take a piss. I decide to hold it, and use it as motivation to finish the ruck in as little time as possible. We step outside the barracks and discover it's 50 degrees outside on top of the rain. I start shivering immediately, but I actually like it. Maybe this ruck won't be so bad after all if I'm not sweating balls the entire time.

Me and my buddy link up as the ruck begins (I was in 2nd Platoon, he was in 1st)and we run for about a half mile until we hit the huge hill I had mentioned previously. If you lean forward at the waist to bear the weight differently, you can almost touch the ground with your hand. If I were a math major, I'd give an approximation on the angle of the slope, but I'm not so I won't. It's fucking steep, is all I'm saying here.

We walk that up and then run a good bit of the lightly sloping downhill (I find it ironic that the downhill is not nearly as steep as the uphill). Throughout the remainder of the ruck, we do a combination of walking swiftly and running (to destinations in the distance or in 10 second intervals of sprinting). We're hitting an average of 12 minute miles, 3 minutes ahead of schedule every time.

When we finish the first 3-mile loop well ahead of schedule and we're not the least bit tired, I look at my friend and tell him "We're giving our families a graduation today." He nods in agreement and we begin running to the bottom of the hill.

Somewhere around mile 6 or 7, we both acknowledge the fact that we're completely soaked and that our feet are swimming in sweat and puddles of rain water. We embrace the suck and drive on.

(SIDEBAR: Embrace the suck became the motto of Air Assault School, or at least to me it did. Right before I rappelled out of the UH-60 as I'm waiting on line for my turn, the Sergeant Major of the Warrior Training Center came up and talked to me. He told me the 12 miler was going to suck, and I told him I would embrace the suck and ask for more of it. He would later on make a speech to our class before the 12 miler and "Embrace the Suck" was at the core of that speech.)

Around mile 9 me and my friends legs cramp up and we have to stretch our legs as we walk, but at this point, we have a comfortable lead on time, so we don't have to run anymore.

We stretch and cramp and curse and walk and talk and bitch and moan and drive on.

As we're passing our last quarter of the last mile, an Air Assault Sergeant is passing us in the opposite direction. As he walks by he says to me and my friend "Congratulations Air Assault, you made it."

Yes we did.

A Cadet's Journey: The first email

2008-03-05T13:57:00.000-05:00

Sometime yesterday I received my first email regarding this blog and I'm a little excited. I want feedback from those people who randomly stumble in here looking for "US Army Air Assault School."

I hope my blog helps in any regard and if you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask. I am not an expert, but I wear my wings proudly. I can give you knowledge on my experience, but that's it. Before I left, I went to Barnes and Noble and I looked up books to buy on Air Assault school and didn't find any. This blog is partially my response to that. If it can help in anyway, then I did some good.

Aside from that it's me recording my journey as a cadet up until I get my butter bar, and right now a big part of my cadet life has been Air Assault. I don't hide the fact that I'm Air Assault and was one of the best experiences of my life, and most people who find my site find it by searching some variant of Air Assault (thank you Feed Burner).

That being said, here's my first email I received and my response. I hope this helps.

Reservist (he didn't give a rank) Brock Thibodeaux wrote:

"Hey whatsup man. I'm an enlisted reservist right now, future cadet, and I've been bugging my unit commander to get me into air assault school this summer.

But..it doesn't look like they're gunna pay for me to go there. So I was really thinking about going as a walk on.

I read your blog and saw that you and your buddies were walk ons and got slots due to passing the obstacle course and because others got dropped.

My question is....how did you get the class dates for West Point? Also, what paperwork do I need to show up with and do I, as being enlisted, get paid active duty pay during my 10 day training period?

To tell you the truth I'll catch a greyhound if I have any chance of going to this kick ass school!

Thanks"

My response:

"Yeah man, anything you can do to get to this school, do it. If you gotta take a bus and camp out in front of West Point, do it. It's essentially what my battalion did.

As an enlisted man getting pay, I don't know. I didn't get paid to go. As a cadet, you're honored with the chance to go, and we're so mega high-speed, hoo-ah, hoo-ah that we don't care we're not getting paid.

Getting a walk on is sometimes easy (the year before I went a whole platoon of 82nd walked on, according to my friend who walked on the prior year), but for me and my four friends, we almost didn't get in. The OIC was a good guy and he saw we were motivated and hard workers and let us have our shot.

As for the class dates, I don't know. I had just gotten back from Fort Knox doing the Leader's Training Course and my friend called me on the last day and said he heard a rumor we had slots. So as soon as I got home, I went to my battalion S-1 and bugged them until they let me take the qualifier to get to go. I aced it and went.

The only paper work I brought was a letter from my Battalion Commander saying I was who I was, I was qualified and legitimately won my spot, my DoDMERB and a record APFT score card (within the last 3 months). My ID card and dog tags also came with me.

As far as the packing list, our S-1 pulled it off the internet from the 101st Sabalauski Air Assault School, however this was a problem. Sometimes the 101st boys teach Air Assault School at Camp Smith, other times it's the National Guard Warrior Training Center. Our instructors were WTC and they had their own packing list. It was a huge snafu. They wanted their list, ROTC cadets had the 101st list and the West Point kids had a West Point list. The only people who had their list were the Guard and Reservist who won slots in their battalions.

So, my advice to you is find out those school dates anyway you can, and then call up West Point and find out who is teaching that class so you have the right equipment. I don't see your BC or your CO giving you problems with going if you're dedicated to going on your own. As long as they know they're not paying, you should be good to go. "

Just to be clear, I asked his permission to reproduce his email here. If you email me, I will offer you the same courtesy.

Air Assault School: The "O" Course

2008-03-05T12:55:00.000-05:00

The Obstacle Course (or "O" course) is the first thing you do at Air Assault School. Well, actually it's not at Air Assault School because the O course is Day Zero and Air Assault officially begins on Day One.

The O Course is pretty grueling. There are 9 obstacles altogether, 2 of which are mandatory. The first mandatory obstacle is the "Tough One" (seen right.) which consists of a rope climb, walking across wooden planks, climbing up a log ladder and then climbing down a cargo net. This one is non-negotiable. You have to pass this or you go home. Learn how to climb a rope before you go or you're wasting your time. Also, if you just man your way up the rope using upper body strength, learn proper rope climbing technique with your legs. You will be smoked before the obstacles so you can't just use raw stength.

Now, my experience at Air Assault varies with one of my friends who went the year prior. I had the Warrior Training Center conduct my school and my friend had the 101st Airborne conduct his. During the O Course for the 101st, he had to say "Air Assault!" everytime his left foot hit the ground. When I was there, we didn't have to do that. We just got smoked in between obstacles.

"Alright Air Assault, good job on the Tough One, now bear crawl over to the Weaver." After the weaver it was "Now do the Steam Engine all the way to the Confidence Climb" and so on and so forth.

The other mandatory obstacle is the Confidence Climb. Basically, it's a 60 foot ladder that you have to stretch your entire body to climb each rung. It wasn't that difficult for me since I'm not afraid of heights, but if you are, perhaps Air Assault really isn't the place for you to be. When you rappel out of that UH-60, you will be 100 feet up in the air with nothing to break your fall except your face.

Aside from that there are some pretty standard obstacles, like a low crawl through a mud pit and a horizontal log jump (jump over each log without touching it with your legs), but the toughest non-mandatory obstacle is the Weaver. (pictured below)

You have to weave your body under one log and then over the other in succession.

You're only allowed to fail one non-mandatory obstacle, but try not to fail any at all.

After the O Course, you're drenched in sweat, mud and victory but you're going to need to complete an 18 minute 2 miler afterwards. The faster you finish the O Course the more time you have in between the run and the time you finished.

18 minutes doesn't seem like much, but you will be smoked so it's going to suck a lot harder than you think, but still, if you can pass an APFT there is no way you should fail it.

Philosophical Musings on Being a Cadet

2008-03-03T10:22:00.000-05:00

I know I have more stories from Air Assault School and Fort Knox I just can't remember them at the moment. Things I've told my friends that I think are insignificant are stories to them. So while I reload my brain I want to give a philosophical musing on being a cadet.

Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm a genius (I doubt that, highly), maybe I go to an easy school (likely), and maybe I have an easy major (undoubtedly so), but I barely spend any time actually doing work for college. I get a lot of it, granted, but I never pay attention to it. When an assignment is due, even a 10 page paper, I cram the research into the night before and pull an all nighter. On days like this I often show up to Ranger Challenge PT at 0500 having not gone to bed. It would be more prudent to budget my time better and spread the work load out evenly as I used to in the past, however I can no longer give school my full attention.

The worst part about being a cadet is the fact that you have so many "bosses" in your life.

I have my Army boss, which is getting ever more so demanding as time goes on. I was promoted to cadet staff sergeant and as such I always have to call squad members and find out why they're not at PT, compile a leader's book and so on. Basically, I wind up doing upwards of 30 hours of work a week for my Army boss and it's stuff I enjoy doing.

I have my Work boss, the day job I need to work in order to eat and pay for gas. Cadet Command gives cadets a stipend every month so that they don't have to go to work and can concentrate on just being a college student and a cadet, however, cadet command failed to take into account the fact that, while there aren't many of us, there are still some cadets in New York City. The standard of living here is ridiculous, and I can't survive on the stipend the Army gives me. Basic Housing Allowance for Army personnel living in New York is about $2,000 a month, one of the highest in the Army. Why doesn't the Army pay out a housing allowance based on where the cadet lives, like the rest of the Army? Oh well, the world may never know. Maybe they'll let me know when I'm a lieutenant, but I doubt it.

Finally, I have my School boss. I still need to go to my classes and get good grades (well I don't have to), but I need to in order to get into the branch I want. The branch I want is highly competitive and I need the best grades I can get, the highest PT score and a load of extra curricular activities in order to ensure I get my first choice. (Based on my personality in all these writings, it should be clear what my branch choice is, but I'm not going to say it so I don't bias any further writings....well, anymore than I already do).

That being said, the one that takes precedence in my life is my Army boss. It's what I want to do and I want to do it now. I immerse myself in it. I consider myself a Student of War and I can't get enough of it.

Instead of reading my textbooks (which I don't even need, why do I waste my money every semester?) I read books on war, anything. I can't get enough.

I've read and re-read the "Art of War" about 10 times, "Starship Troopers" about 6 times, and then I go to Barnes and Noble and buy a new book, mostly two, every week. I read and despised "Jarhead", I am reading and enjoying "On Killing" by LTC Dave Grossman. I am constantly reading histories, of the US Army, of the Airborne units, Medal of Honor winners, anything I can get my hands on.

This is what I want to do with my life and I'm becoming more and more institutionalized. Going out with my Army buddies on weekends is such a difference than my other friends. We can have entire conversations without saying anything and understand what needs to be done, just based on hand and arm signals we apply to real life (such as at a party or restaurant). I know, we're a bunch of dorks for doing it, but that's how big of an impact it has on our lives.

After completing Air Assault School and rappelling out of a helicopter, roller coasters don't give me a rush any more. After completing Cadet Basic at Fort Knox, I know how to prioritize and what's really important in life and what's not. I love the whole Army experience and despise the fact I'm not doing it 100%.

People say I could get into the real Army and I could hate it, and there's always that possibility. But at Fort Knox, the typical garrison day of the Soldier was broken down for me and that doesn't seem so bad. The training is going to be fun. FTXs, rucks, runs, marksmanship and weapon's quals. All that is awesome. Even the times when you don't sleep and you don't eat are not going to be that bad. I've been there. I've done that. I've embraced the suck and come out alright.

The only thing I have no idea about is deployment and combat, which is why I study war. To steel myself mentally and emotionally for whatever might come my way. I have an intellectual idea of what it's going to be like, but if you haven't been there or done that, you really have no idea.

All I can do is sit and wait and occasionally pray when I feel like bothering God, but I usually don't because He has enough to worry about.

That's the "normal" life of this cadet.

GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!

2007-12-11T21:35:00.000-05:00

At Fort Knox, during the recovery phase of training (turning in equipment to CIF - Central Issuing Facility, cleaning your equipment, packing up, etc), we were tasked with basically taking it easy and just scrubbing our equipment. We knew it was busy work, but it had to be done. We were running up and down from our barracks getting our equipment and cleaning what was necessary little by little. Some people were doing laundry, but none of us were sure if we were allowed to do so (if a Drill Sergeant doesn't tell you you CAN, then you should probably assume you CAN'T).

So, like I stated in an earlier post, most of my fellow cadets down there were slack jawed idiots with no discipline. When doing your laundry and then later drying it, if you didn't sit on the dryer, someone would take your clothes out and replace it with their own.

On one day during recovery a cadet took out someone's laundry from the dryer and put in his own. What we didn't know at the time was that the laundry belonged to our Senior Drill Sergeant for our platoon (3rd). We only found out about the greivous offense at a certain exact moment.

The doors to our bay swing open violently:

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! YOU'RE NO LONGER WELCOME IN MY HOUSE! GRAB YOUR SHIT AND GET OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW! MOVE IT! WITH A QUICKNESS! GET OUT NOW!"

I grabbed whatever stuff I hadn't grabbed so far, stuffed it all in my laundry bag and wet weather bag so I can continue doing my duties for recovery. I'm fourth or fifth to last to leave, and due to my late position I see the Drill Sergeant come out of his office with a chain and a lock. That's right. He freaking chained us out of our own barracks. How bad ass is that?

At the time I was scared shitless, as I'm pretty sure anyone who was in the bay at the time was, but thinking back on it, that's some kind of shit you only see in a movie, and I lived it.

Later on, as we're cleaning our stuff outside, a Lieutenant came up to us and asked us why we were all just standing around with nothing to do.

"Sir, Drill Sergeant just kicked us out of the bay."
"What do you mean?"
"He chained up the doors, sir."

At that, he starts laughing and walks away shaking his head.

I don't remember how the bays got unlocked, but it wasn't until sometime later.

Our Drill Sergeant was a bad ass, no joke.

Air Assault School: My favorite animal.

2007-12-10T02:34:00.000-05:00

On the second day of training on the rappel tower at Air Assault school, we were instructed to hook ourselves into the tower once the Air Assault Sergeants OK'd us to get into position. Now, it's somewhat difficult to hook yourself in properly if you've never done it before and have only watched Sergeants do it for you. It's impossible to do it while you're belay man (the guy watching your descent, ready to pull your line taut if you begin to fall - a safety mechanism at Air Assault school) is hanging onto the rope and pulling on it.

I get into the kneeling position and try to hook myself into the rope. The rope won't budge. "Slack!" I yell to my belay man. He relents, for about 2 seconds, and I've only pulled about an inch of rope free. I repeat this about 14 times until I finally get hooked in, only each time I yelled slack and my belay man relented, I had eventually pulled about 2 more feet of rope than I had needed. Then the order came to get into the "L-shaped" (rappelling start point) position. I look at my rope and realize if I attempt the L-shape, I'm falling backwards immediately as there is too much slack.

"Air Assault Sergeant, I think I have too much slack."
"Well, would you look at that. HEY SGT. ADAMS...WE'VE GOT A POSSUM!"

SGT Adams runs over.

"I think we do."
"Go on, get into the L-Shape Air Assault. Here, I'll assist you."

The Air Assault Sergeant then pulled my rope tight and held it there with his own body weight. I begin to put myself in the L-shape, locking out my knees and leaning my ass over the edge of the tower.

My initial instructor just looks at SGT Adams and says "Why the fuck are you helping him?"
"You're right, why am I?

And at that cue, he let's go. I tumble backwards, like a diver entering the water from a boat (if you've ever seen a Discovery Channel special on underwater exploration, you'll know what I mean). I don't let go of my brake hand, in fact I hold onto it for dear life, and I end up 5 feet down the rope, hanging completely upside down.

Air Assault Sergeant: "WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL?"
Me: "The Possum, Air Assault Sergeant, the Possum!"
Him: "Would you like to right yourself?"
Me: "YES!"
Him: "Straighten out your knees and you should be fine."

I listen to him and I right myself, I then begin my descent as normal.

Possuming happens a few times every class, I've been told, so I don't really mind. In fact, I'm so fucked up I thought it was pretty damn fun. I would actually Possum again on purpose in the future just because it's one of the weirdest and adrenaline pumping feelings.