BOLC...did anyone learn ANYTHING....

[petescheu]

Flash-
You are a lucky dude... talk about the longest week of my life... ever. Talk about immediate brain dump.

 

[webmaster]

You are so full of sh!t I can smell it from the other side of the planet!!

No sense sending aviators to BOLC or BOLTC or whatever you want to call it. Waste of money and time. Most aviatiors can't (or shouldn't even try for that matter) lead their way out of wet paper bag.

Standing by for all incoming missiles.

I guess your IQ has gone down since you left Nuke school, or are you drinking too many beers down at the Purple Porpoise? But I digress from the main reason for my tirade:

No sense sending SWOs to SWOS (or however you spelled that swo-doggy school in Newport), since obviously they figured out that they didn't need to spend money training you guys (why waste the $$ in the fruitless task of teaching SWOs, that could be spent on my per diem or more Jet A?). What, you are the ONLY Line community that doesn't have a school or formal training before you it the Fleet, right? Hope you guys can tie your shoes, pull the knives out of your backs, and find the reply button on outlook to your DH's endless micromanagement emails.

Who loves ya?

 

[Bevo16]

I know that during BOLTC, I was out of class every day just in time to change clothes and hit the red fish running out at trout point (just insided the back gate). I must have caught 150 pounds of fish that week.

As for the course, I second the motion that the timing is bad. There is not much point in taking that course right after you finish 4 years of ROTC/academy, or OCS. There were probably a total of 20 enlisted men in both of my training squadrons, so leadership opportunities were few and far between. By the time you get to the fleet, it's all forgotten. OJT is the only real way to master that stuff anyway. You are not going to learn it in a week long course.

 

[Brett327]

I have not seen AJOLT classes anywhere. I just took a stab at the letters.

Oh and to help out Steve above.... Chaff flare chaff flare...

And since he said most, not all, that leaves some wiggle room for some of us "Lead from the front" type SNA's.

Plus, nobody with an S in front of their designator is leading anything!

Echo what Bevo said as well. Squadron guys get DIVO school, although it's mostly NAMP. I say, put down all the ridiculous "7 Habbits" type books and get to know your people before they're YOUR people, right? Too many 1st tour JOs are timid and insecure about the Es. Bottom line, get in the shops and establish a reputation as a personable, respectable guy so that's what your first impression with them is before you have to lower the hammer as their DIVO. There's always gonna be pressure from above, but if your guys like you, they will be more inclined to tow the line and they will definitely b*tch less.

Brett

 

[Steve Wilkins]

And since he said most, not all, that leaves some wiggle room for some of us "Lead from the front" type SNA's.

For some reason, the picture in my head is that of a gaggle of sperm trying to make it to its target. Dave, you figure out how to fly that T-45 yet....seems like yov've been flying it since I was on the LINCOLN (over 2 years ago).

No sense sending SWOs to SWOS (or however you spelled that swo-doggy school in Newport), since obviously they figured out that they didn't need to spend money training you guys (why waste the $$ in the fruitless task of teaching SWOs, that could be spent on my per diem or more Jet A?). What, you are the ONLY Line community that doesn't have a school or formal training before you it the Fleet, right? Hope you guys can tie your shoes, pull the knives out of your backs, and find the reply button on outlook to your DH's endless micromanagement emails.

Who loves ya?

Oh come on now, more dollars aren't gonna do you any good. That desk you fly everyday....well, that's just a figment of your imagination...it doesn't really fly at all; it's all make believe. And the Jet A you think it takes....well, that's just your spilled coffee. Now get back to work!

Guess I forgot to mention that most SWO's can't lead their way out of wet paper bag either, BOLC or no BOLC. I have the "7 Habits" and have read it, but can't for the life of me see why it needs to be required reading for BOLC. Bevo and Brett make a couple of good points. You simply can't learn this stuff out of a book. It fine to have theoretical foundation of sorts, but you have to get out there and get your hands dirty. One way is by taking a trip around to your spaces (or shop) and talking with the E's. SWO's don't normally get to know their people before taking a division. It's more of an ongoing process for us (or at least should be).

The navy's decision to get rid of baby SWOS (the SWOS Division Officer Course) in Newport is debatable. We were caught in a catch 22. Baby SWOS as it was, was too long for the material being taught. I can remember vividly the discussion among us students about how it should be shortened (or even as some suggested, just gotten rid of). Unless the navy was willing to pay per diem for all those students (i.e. it wouldn't be a PCS move), you couldn't shorten the course. Yet, it was still too long and needed to be reformatted. The navy's solution was to come up with an interactive CD program, Division Officer at Sea. Essentially it's supposed to mirror what was taught at baby SWOS with PQS and real life evolutions / OJT on a real ship. IMO one of the problems with the program as it stands now, is that every ship has implemented the plan differently. There was no direction for implementation standardization. So, there is still training being done for new SWO's, it's just being done differently. If I'm not mistaken (will have to do some checking), the tour lengths for first tour divos have not changed. So unfortunately, many commands feel they need to get their Ensigns in charge of a division (or some aspect thereof) as soon as possible. IMO, tours for these guys should be lengthened by 6 months, and they should be doing ONLY their Divo at Sea coursework for the first 6 months onboard, then take over a division.

How the hell did I get off on a tangent? Now where was I.....oh yea, berating aviators.