Just how intense is Navy OCS nowadays?

[john90]

I am leaving for OCS in the near future and would like a real rundown on what is happening up there. Looking through all the prior discussions it seems there is a linear digression of intensity in Newport. Looking back all the way to posts from 2005 there is talk of 5 miler runs +. But it seems like the more recent you go the more complaining I see about how each new class has it easier.
I talked with a recent OCS grad a month or so ago at my recruiters and he made it seem like it is a cake walk, in terms of the PT portion of training. 1.5 mile battalion runs working up to 3 miles at slow pace over the course of the 12 weeks. Are the RPT sessions no more/greatly reduced. Or is this just a new policy of focusing less on the PT and more on the drill/academics.
If any one with recent knowledge could give a good run down it would be greatly appreciated.

On another note, I am excited to begin my journey with the Navy. Pilot selected candidate, so I have a long road ahead of me, but I am looking forward to every challenge. Except standing watch, I got plenty of that already in ROTC. ( Yes, I was in NROTC for two years as a marine option, but with the downsizing of the Marines came choices. Overcome and adapt. I am just glad to still have the opportunity to serve my country.)

 

[ltedge46]

No advice on the current situation, but every class thinks they had it harder than the next. When I went through many years ago, we were the first class not to do the obstacle course in PCola, the classes ahead of us didn't let us live it down. I wouldn't stress about it, just remember that many less capable candidates have made it through. Get in shape, lern the gouge and play the game, you'll be wearing butter bars before you know it. Good luck.

 

[john90]

Appreciate the feedback! I am mostly curious due to the fact that, after running 30 to 40 minutes everyday for the past two months. My left leg decided to go down pretty badly. I have been resting it all week, but it still aches pretty badly when I run (couldn't even really walk 5 days ago). So I am secretly hoping we get off to a slow running start so my leg can fully heal.

 

[picklesuit]

Volunteer for ice body...

 

[john90]

What exactly is ice body?

 

[croakerfish]

What exactly is ice body?

You're in charge of making sure everyone in your company gets a shot at some ice for sore muscles etc each night.

 

[wink]

...every class thinks they had it harder than the next...

True enough, but as the OP noted in his opener, and you regarding the obstacle course, there have been real changes that on balance have made (A)OCS easier over the years. It seems the trend is always to the easier. Will it ever abate? I know the AOCS guys years before me had it harder than me. It has been touched on before in other threads, but one has to wonder why? Have the demands of serving changed that much? Is the raw material a DI has to work with that much different? Were the guys of my generation who attended AOCS treated so much more harshly for no good reason or are today's officer candidates being short changed? It is always pointed out that regardless of the difficulty of OCS today's OCS sourced officers are prepared for duty and serve more than adequately. So did the Navy have it all wrong back in my day and earlier?

BTW, good luck john90. You are in for challenge one way or the other.

 

[ltedge46]

I think "easier" is a tough term to quantify. While the obstacle course going away made that particular challenge easier (or non-existent), they filled that time with something else. What was it? More drill, more regular PT, more academics? We certainly didn't just get time off. Some components become easier but are there other components that become more rigorous or new challenges added? Have the academics changed, have the inspections changed? If everything has truly been getting easier for the last 30 years, it seems like by now the whole thing would have degenerated to a 2 week cruise vacation. Surely the personal treatment of candidates by the DI's has certainly become more "gentle", but I don't think getting my ass kicked by a DI would have made me a better officer than I am now.

I would say just not having to do pushups on the fire ant infested parade field that was in Pensacola makes the whole thing easier now.

 

[LFCFan]

- One thing I can say is that the living conditions have improved dramatically. I can't speak for P-Cola, but the old Nimitz in Newport (which I called home for the first half of OCS) was a dump. It was freezing cold in the winter (why must the windows in the heads be open? I did not appreciate the breeze when relieving myself!), the furniture was falling apart, RPT sessions in the p-way felt like you were going to kick someone in the head by accident, the dryers left your clothes pretty damp, and so on. The New Nimitz has larger rooms which share a head and shower, which makes head calls and all that sort of stuff a LOT easier. You might even have time to take real showers! On the other hand, early on this means you have little opportunity to get to know other people in your class because you don't get to talk to them in the head. Another downside is that there are no doors at the ends of the pways, which means that you aren't "in your own world" - conversations with class leadership or class team can't be as frank because someone might be around the corner, and so on. If it were up to me they would have put OCS in King Hall and put the direct commission programs in Nimitz. The new building also lacks large common areas for drill or inspection prep like the classrooms in old Nimitz.

- There is less fun in the sand pits, and you can't be hosed in them anymore.

- Sometimes if the class is split into two companies they will share a DI rather than having their own. No idea how well that is working because they started this after I graduated.

- I'm told that there is more emphasis on academics now, of course this isn't like the period at AOCS with API built in, but just relative to more recent years.

- I get the impression that they were less reluctant to roll people in the past than they are now. Maybe the three week wait is a waste of money?

- A friend got NPQed and then came back a year or so later and went through with my class, he said that RLP used to be crazier and more intense. Not sure what exactly that was supposed to mean.

- The chow hall is less nuts, no more DIs on tables, and eating by the numbers is gone (which is totally ok with me)

- I imagine that NWUs are easier to maintain than working khakis, someone can correct me on that if I'm off base.

- Nicknames have been scrapped, supposedly.

- The watch system has changed so that it isn't 24/7, just nights and weekends. And the ODS folks will stand some of those with you. However, someone made a good point and said that it wasn't cool to have candidates roaming the place by themselves at night, so rovers work in pairs. Creates more work for everyone, but it's the right thing to do.

The only thing I know of that has changed for the "harder" is that now you don't get liberty until candio phase, and that at other points in history you could earn it after a month or so. And I know that there was a laundry service in P-Cola (at least while R1 was there, IIRC).

 

[BigRed389]

And I know that there was a laundry service in P-Cola (at least while R1 was there, IIRC).

Laundry SERVICE? Fuck no. We had a few washers and dryers for a class of 50.

 

[zippy]

I am leaving for OCS in the near future and would like a real rundown on what is happening up there. Looking through all the prior discussions it seems there is a linear digression of intensity in Newport. Looking back all the way to posts from 2005 there is talk of 5 miler runs +. But it seems like the more recent you go the more complaining I see about how each new class has it easier.
I talked with a recent OCS grad a month or so ago at my recruiters and he made it seem like it is a cake walk, in terms of the PT portion of training. 1.5 mile battalion runs working up to 3 miles at slow pace over the course of the 12 weeks. Are the RPT sessions no more/greatly reduced. Or is this just a new policy of focusing less on the PT and more on the drill/academics.
If any one with recent knowledge could give a good run down it would be greatly appreciated.

On another note, I am excited to begin my journey with the Navy. Pilot selected candidate, so I have a long road ahead of me, but I am looking forward to every challenge. Except standing watch, I got plenty of that already in ROTC. ( Yes, I was in NROTC for two years as a marine option, but with the downsizing of the Marines came choices. Overcome and adapt. I am just glad to still have the opportunity to serve my country.)

If OCS was a cake walk for everyone these days we wouldn't be seeing so many people DOR because they can't handle it. Show up prepped for it to be the toughest thing you'll be doing in your life to this point or you're going to get hosed thinking its going to be easy.

 

[LFCFan]

Laundry SERVICE? Fuck no. We had a few washers and dryers for a class of 50.

This was back in the AOCS days.

If OCS was a cake walk for everyone these days we wouldn't be seeing so many people DOR because they can't handle it. Show up prepped for it to be the toughest thing you'll be doing in your life to this point or you're going to get hosed thinking its going to be easy.

Solid advice,** and I will add that the things you find the hardest about OCS are not always what you'd think. You may be in great shape, but if you suck and drill or just never seem to get your boots looking shiny enough, they will make you miserable. You know that whole "I'm not angry, I'm disappointed" thing? Some of the chiefs are VERY good at that, and it will get under your skin. One thing that will stick with me for a long time was my chief saying to me in a pretty normal tone of voice "You won't inspire your sailors, and you don't inspire me" when I was struggling with something one day in PT.

**Unless you are going specwar, in which case if you aren't bored out of your mind you might want to start wondering if you're at all ready for BUDS.

 

[Renegade One]

This was back in the AOCS days.

Ah…good times…good times.

But it wasn't "free"…it was a commercial option...you had to pay "Ray" at the end of every month. Don't know about the care and feeding of NWUs…but I can't imagine starched cotton khakis and whites being maintained any other way. Socks and U-trou as well, I guess…I have no cognitive memory of ever pressing "START" on a washing machine in Battalion II.

 

[LFCFan]

But it wasn't "free"…it was a commercial option...you had to pay "Ray" at the end of every month.

I was still shocked when you originally posted that. One of my classmates had many sleepless nights trying doing laundry for us. I think an outsider would expect the ensigns to say "yeah, we just payed someone to do it" and the retirees to talk about sleepless nights doing laundry than vice versa.

 

[Tycho_Brohe]

- There is less fun in the sand pits, and you can't be hosed in them anymore.

They were supposed to put in some new ones over by New Nimitz. Plus you could still get SUYA'ed/Triple Crowned on the way to chow. And for getting hosed down, at least in the summertime, it's probably worse that they don't do it anymore. At least from what I hear; I was never subjected to that myself.

- Nicknames have been scrapped, supposedly.

What, like the candi-o nicknames that go on the class shirt/hoodie? There were some pretty good ones, so if that's gone, I'd say that's another change for the worse, but undoubtedly the result of some CMEO anti-hazing stuff. One of our candi-o's was originally named Death March because of the way she sang cadence, but it was brought to our attention that it might be a bit insensitive.

- The watch system has changed so that it isn't 24/7, just nights and weekends. And the ODS folks will stand some of those with you. However, someone made a good point and said that it wasn't cool to have candidates roaming the place by themselves at night, so rovers work in pairs. Creates more work for everyone, but it's the right thing to do.

Yeah I was one of the first ones put on that double rover King Hall watch. At first I thought it was idiotic, but it actually does get pretty dark around the base. Although two rovers for Nimitz is another issue. But I digress.

One of my classmates had many sleepless nights trying doing laundry for us. I think an outsider would expect the ensigns to say "yeah, we just payed someone to do it" and the retirees to talk about sleepless nights doing laundry than vice versa.

Yeah, I was laundry body back in Old Nimitz, life sucked. "Why are my skivvies still damp?" "Because friggin' Charlie company is hogging the dryers and I barely had time to get them in and out by Taps! Just hang 'em in your war locker and hope they dry out overnight."

Anyway, bottom line, you cannot be over-prepared for OCS. One guy came with Appendix B down pat, he was already studying Appendix C in like the first week. If you can get a pretty good PFA score, and you have the gouge down, you're starting on the right foot.