Military Roll Call! Veterans, GTFIH!

Hey, any of y'all try to drop an enlisted to officer package before?
 
GreatSaintGuillotine said:
Hey, any of y'all try to drop an enlisted to officer package before?
Click to expand...
Yes!
Back in 1990. For OCS. U.S. Army. There was really not much to it, but my CO had to give the approval, and as I recall, the recommendation letter. Class of 45 enlistees and 13 graduated. One of the most worthless schools I ever went through in the Army.
 
San Marino said:
Yes!
Back in 1990. For OCS. U.S. Army. There was really not much to it, but my CO had to give the approval, and as I recall, the recommendation letter. Class of 45 enlistees and 13 graduated. One of the most worthless schools I ever went through in the Army.
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Well first off, congrats on being a baller Mustang. I hope I achieve the same.

Our OpsO is a Mustang and is recommending me to go to OCS. I just have to build a package and hope the CO doesn't tell me to fuck off. He thinks I have almost a sure shot but I rather be safe than sorry. What all did you need to get together for your package?
 
GreatSaintGuillotine said:
Well first off, congrats on being a baller Mustang. I hope I achieve the same.

Our OpsO is a Mustang and is recommending me to go to OCS. I just have to build a package and hope the CO doesn't tell me to fuck off. He thinks I have almost a sure shot but I rather be safe than sorry. What all did you need to get together for your package?
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Oh, man! Let me see. That was a long time ago. Before the internet really.
You can look all this up on the internet today. Are you in the U.S. Army?
You can go through the federal or state OCS program. ...and I'll refer to my experience in the U.S. Army.

.
.
It is not an 'easy' school like Airborne school or even Basic Training/AIT where the training staff is trying to help you get through the program. Most of the people we lost came right at the beginning. The first two weeks. There is a physical fitness side, an academic side, and a leadership side. We lost people to all 3. There are three phases to the program: Green, White, and Blue. You'll spend 70% of the time on Green phase. Blue only comes up a few weeks before graduation. Then there is the TAC staff that runs the programs. Mine were all 2nd Lieutenants, but the better programs are run by Captains. ...and those fucking peer evaluations. They can fuck you or help you. Just like in Ranger school. You have to get along with your peers and pull your weight, or you'll be peered out of the program. ...and I do recall a few 'dickheads' in my class. We also had females. A lot of fucking stupid things that the staff made you do. ...and I mean stupid!

. If you didn't get the 'word,' you'll carry around a heavy brick that has "word" written on it.
. If you didn't fill your canteen, you'll carry around a 5-gallon jug of water.
. All sorts of stupid shit people carried around for making mistakes.
. I remember the class dumping all their TA-50 gear in a big pile (everyone's gear in one pile) the first week and then given a few minutes to get your individual shit ready for inspection.
. Wall locker and footlocker inspections.
. Writing long papers about specific topics, etc.

I did not get any leadership value out of the school and ROTC is still the easiest way to get commissioned.
 
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San Marino said:
Oh, man! Let me see. That was a long time ago. Before the internet really.
You can look all this up on the internet today. Are you in the U.S. Army?
You can go through the federal or state OCS program. ...and I'll refer to my experience in the U.S. Army.

.
.
It is not an 'easy' school like Airborne school or even Basic Training/AIT where the training staff is trying to help you get through the program. Most of the people we lost came right at the beginning. The first two weeks. There is a physical fitness side, an academic side, and a leadership side. We lost people to all 3. There are three phases to the program: Green, White, and Blue. You'll spend 70% of the time on Green phase. Blue only comes up a few weeks before graduation. Then there is the TAC staff that runs the programs. Mine were all 2nd Lieutenants, but the better programs are run by Captains. ...and those fucking peer evaluations. They can fuck you or help you. Just like in Ranger school. You have to get along with your peers and pull your weight, or you'll be peered out of the program. ...and I do recall a few 'dickheads' in my class. We also had females. A lot of fucking stupid things that the staff made you do. ...and I mean stupid!

. If you didn't get the 'word,' you'll carry around a heavy brick that has "word" written on it.
. If you didn't fill your canteen, you'll carry around a 5-gallon jug of water.
. All sorts of stupid shit people carried around for making mistakes.
. I remember the class dumping all their TA-50 gear in a big pile (everyone's gear in one pile) the first week and then given a few minutes to get your individual shit ready for inspection.
. Wall locker and footlocker inspections.
. Writing long papers about specific topics, etc.

I did not get any leadership value out of the school and ROTC is still the easiest way to get commissioned.
Click to expand...
Roger that! Thank you very much brother!

Im in the Marine Corps and plan to keep it that way. From my understanding OCS is structured very similarly across every branch. Thank you for all the info, did not know about peer reviews buy fortunately I've always very team oriented. OCS sounds a lot like upscale Basic where they don't care if you graduate lol.

I have my degree already so it seems like I will be applying for the enlisted commissioning program.

Ill keep all of this in mind and let y'all know how this goes for me.
 
GreatSaintGuillotine said:
Roger that! Thank you very much brother!

Im in the Marine Corps and plan to keep it that way. From my understanding OCS is structured very similarly across every branch. Thank you for all the info, did not know about peer reviews buy fortunately I've always very team oriented. OCS sounds a lot like upscale Basic where they don't care if you graduate lol.

I have my degree already so it seems like I will be applying for the enlisted commissioning program.

Ill keep all of this in mind and let y'all know how this goes for me.
Click to expand...
Good luck!
The Marine Corps OCS is run by senior NCO's. I had a friend go through it. Quantico, VA. I'll probably rank it as a little tougher. Like Army vs. Marine boot camp. They also have an obstacle course and a 'problem solving' course where the Squad has to work together to solve a situation with limited items.
 
GreatSaintGuillotine said:
Hey, any of y'all try to drop an enlisted to officer package before?
Click to expand...

Nope. Have more fun educating JOs than I ever could being one...and yes I've had to educate a few O1/2 mustangs who felt their 1-3 years of time as a junior enlisted + their new temp commission gave them more credibility in.the eyes of the O5 or O6...
 
San Marino said:
Good luck!
The Marine Corps OCS is run by senior NCO's. I had a friend go through it. Quantico, VA. I'll probably rank it as a little tougher. Like Army vs. Marine boot camp. They also have an obstacle course and a 'problem solving' course where the Squad has to work together to solve a situation with limited items.
Click to expand...
We had to do those problem solving things in Basic as well during the crucible. Actually really fun. Had a very creative group of people which helped.

Im looking forward to embracing the suck and coming out with something shiny and no ability to do land nav
 
Thrawn33 said:
Nope. Have more fun educating JOs than I ever could being one...and yes I've had to educate a few O1/2 mustangs who felt their 1-3 years of time as a junior enlisted + their new temp commission gave them more credibility in.the eyes of the O5 or O6...
Click to expand...
Yeah, I have no intentions of being one of those guys lol. Im a whole ass Sgt and I still learn new shit from my Lances and junior NCOs.

My goal is to simply be someone who can understand and bridge the gap between the enlisted and officer side because goddamn do we not have enough people who can
 
GreatSaintGuillotine said:
Roger that! Thank you very much brother!

Im in the Marine Corps and plan to keep it that way. From my understanding OCS is structured very similarly across every branch. Thank you for all the info, did not know about peer reviews buy fortunately I've always very team oriented. OCS sounds a lot like upscale Basic where they don't care if you graduate lol.

I have my degree already so it seems like I will be applying for the enlisted commissioning program.

Ill keep all of this in mind and let y'all know how this goes for me.
Click to expand...

Good luck man! The military always needs officers who know what it's like to have been enlisted. I'm praying for your success!
 
San Marino said:
What branch of the Corps are you planning to be commissioned in?
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I'm currently in the wing and would like to keep it that way. Ideally, I want to fly H-1 Y or Z platforms (because I already know those systems from a maintainers perspective) but I'd also be cool with being a maintenance officer. We'll see how it goes tho.
 
GreatSaintGuillotine said:
I'm currently in the wing and would like to keep it that way. Ideally, I want to fly H-1 Y or Z platforms (because I already know those systems from a maintainers perspective) but I'd also be cool with being a maintenance officer. We'll see how it goes tho.
Click to expand...
Great!
...but you have to be able to land navigate with a compass to pass the course. You should start to practice that if you get accepted into OCS. There were a few things I could not do well in the military, but land nav was not one of them. I had fun with it and could land nav well day or night. I had to, I went Infantry. Learn to work well with a map and protractor first. Learning how to plot points correctly is key.
 
San Marino said:
Great!
...but you have to be able to land navigate with a compass to pass the course. You should start to practice that if you get accepted into OCS. There were a few things I could not do well in the military, but land nav was not one of them. I had fun with it and could land nav well day or night. I had to, I went Infantry. Learn to work well with a map and protractor first. Learning how to plot points correctly is key.
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Im good with land nav lol. I was just joking because of the stereotypes about LTs always getting lost. My bad for not making that clear.

The swim is going to be my biggest issue. Im not a weak swimmer but I learned late in life so I definitely need to improve a lot.
 
Thrawn33 said:
Nope. Have more fun educating JOs than I ever could being one...and yes I've had to educate a few O1/2 mustangs who felt their 1-3 years of time as a junior enlisted + their new temp commission gave them more credibility in.the eyes of the O5 or O6...
Click to expand...
🤣
That is the truth!
2nd Lieutenants get no respect.
NCOs lead the way. The backbone of the U.S. Army Infantry. It was a fun rank to hold. Good memories of those days.
 
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GreatSaintGuillotine said:
Yeah, I have no intentions of being one of those guys lol. Im a whole ass Sgt and I still learn new shit from my Lances and junior NCOs.

My goal is to simply be someone who can understand and bridge the gap between the enlisted and officer side because goddamn do we not have enough people who can
Click to expand...

All good man, just reflecting on the time a LTjG (O-2 for you non CG or Navy types) tried to back up his terrible idea with "I was once a Boatswains Mate you know..."

(Senior BM2 [E5] me) Yes Sir I know, I was your A school instructor...only thing you know about that is what I was allowed to teach you....(he was literally my student 4 years prior)

Now I'm a Senior Chief and the smart ones listen...the ones who won't: deal with me doing things exactly as they want...and then explain to the O5/6 why I had to fix it...
 
GreatSaintGuillotine said:
Im good with land nav lol. I was just joking because of the stereotypes about LTs always getting lost. My bad for not making that clear.

The swim is going to be my biggest issue. Im not a weak swimmer but I learned late in life so I definitely need to improve a lot.
Click to expand...
There's no swimming during OCS and you only have to do the minimum qualification at TBS (just like in boot camp).
Do you already have a bachelor's degree?
A shame that the USMC doesn't allow Warrant Officers to be pilots.
 
My Spot said:
There's no swimming during OCS and you only have to do the minimum qualification at TBS (just like in boot camp).
Do you already have a bachelor's degree?
A shame that the USMC doesn't allow Warrant Officers to be pilots.
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Oh thank fuck! That gives me time.

Yeah I have a degree. I'm actually working on a second one.

If pilot was an opinion for WO, I would definitely not commission lol
 
GreatSaintGuillotine said:
Oh thank fuck! That gives me time.

Yeah I have a degree. I'm actually working on a second one.

If pilot was an opinion for WO, I would definitely not commission lol
Click to expand...
So are you waiting to pick up SSgt before you do ECP or what?
 
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