May 06, 2006

[Wingnut]

Seems from what I've heard that the physical stuff isn't too big a deal as long as you're comfortably over the minimums. I talked with someone who graduated in March, and she said they averaged around ten or twelve miles a week of running. That seems to me like the sort of thing where you either have to be in really bad shape or working at it to sustain a running-related injury. Truly, this isn't the old OCS, but I guess that's not an excuse to get lazy either. She also mentioned swim quals, I guess there are quite a several swim nazis who are real picky about strokes, and you can't wear goggles either.
Anyway, I still haven't finalized my route. I know for sure that I'll be on I-90 as far as Suix Falls, and then I-29 as far as Kansas City, but from there I don't know if it's quicker to head more east through Tennessee and then south through Alabama or to try for a more direct route through Arkansas and Mississippi. We'll see; it would be nice to link up somewhere along the way if our routes conincide. Hopefully we can arrange some 'last supper' plans. It depends on the schedule, but it sounds like we'll all be there by Saturday.

 

[caseyh46]

Hey will.. I know I plan on being there Friday night.. I'd rather spend an extra day hanging out than have something happen and not make it... I'm surprised you didn't think of coming south through Denver and Amarillo and taking 287 to dallas to shreveport then down to NO and across.... I'm sure any way you go it'll be about the same.. all I know is that Lousiana has terrible roads... anyway... was hoping we'd get a few more folks to chime in here about this class...

 

[BrandonJ1780]

Route option

Wingnut, this is what I've done, being from up near Sioux Falls originally:
Take I-29 to KC like you're planning to, I-70 across MO to St. Louis, I-55 all the way from St. Louis to Jackson, MS, and a big chunk of your route is done...From here, I went down a few months ago and took Highway 49 south for near 100 mi, Highway 98 to Mobile for near another 100, and Mobile to PCola on I-10. If it sounds complicated, it's not. 49 and 98 are 4-lanes, so it's not bad....If you can come up with a quicker route, (maybe the Texas route?? No idea), go for it. Otherwise, best wishes and safe travels.

 

[TSmyth]

Just thought I'd give an update on my plans:
I will be leaving Cincinnati on May 4th and probably spending the night in Nashville. I've never been there and figure, as a music major (music to Navy... natural progression, eh?), I should see the city while I'm passing through. Then, I'll get to Pensacola on the 5th and just stay in a hotel for that night.
CaseyH, will you be there Friday as well?
How's everyone's prepping going? I've finally started on the Big 4!

 

[caseyh46]

I plan on being there on Friday yes... that is if I can get my crap together. I got word from my recruiter that for some reason they haven't received my enlisted service record yet so I've spent the past two days doing legwork on my own to get it mailed to my recriter. He dosen't think it looks promising for May 6th but I'll keep bugging whoever I need to until the date passes me by. It's just silly that my record has to be mailed to my recruiter in dallas, just to turn around and mail it right back to tennessee where the class placement folks are (unless I'm mistaken) Keep your fingers crossed for me. Apparently they're mailing my service record today or tomorrow... lord only knows if there's enough time at this point... so we'll see... it's just downer because I was all prepped and mentally prepared to go May 6th. I almost went and gave my two weeks notice on Monday and a few minutes before I was going to talk to the boss I got a call about my record... geez... glad I didn't do that yet LOL.. anyway.. I'll keep you guys posted...

 

[Wingnut]

Man CaseyH, I hope to see you there. Enlisted boot camp may be substantially different from OCS, but there's plenty that's similar, and it'd be nice to be acquainted with at least one prior military person going in. And I think the more people I can meet and get to know a little before going in, the better; here's hoping they get your paperwork straightened out.
Anyway, I've been working on my gouge material for over a week, and it's starting to get there. I don't know if I'll be able to say it's where it needs to be until it's DI approved; it's one thing to repeat it to yourself, quite another to say it at high speed and volume as is generally desired by OCS personnel. Now if only I could get into NKO: for some reason a whole week of both myself and my recruiter working to try and get through and get my account set up has netted nothing.

As far as my travel plans, I still haven't entirely talked myself out of the two-day plan. It'd be a tiring affair, but I have done long drives before, and I would have Saturday to rest up. So, it's still under consideration. I may be treating long hours on the car a bit lightly, but I just don't see two fourteen-hour stints of predominantly daylight driving as something that would wipe me out. Anyway, I would plan on being there late Friday whether I take two or three days, planning on getting there Saturday would be cutting it too close.

 

[caseyh46]

Thanks Wingnut like I said, I'll work my tail off trying to get there until the day passes me by... I'm ready to go at the drop of a hat basically... it's just whether or not the Navy has time to get me in there... All I know is BUPERS is going to HATE me LOL... I should have known things were going WAY too smoothly for me... that's just the way it is... I sure hope Im in this class though, it seems like everyone so far (like all 4 people LOL) are really cool...

by the way, what gouge are you working on? you mean stuff like the big 4?

 

[twilson]

Got the word a few days ago, I was out of town when my recruiter called. I ll be driving from DFW that Friday. Casey hope everything works out for you amigo.

 

[caseyh46]

Got the word yesterday.. WOO HOO I'm in fella's... My recruiter is the shiz.. got the paperwork thing taken care of and got me in... I'll be headed that way on Friday myself... Tyler.. maybe we could follow one another..

 

[twilson]

Congrads amigo, sounds like a plan to me. Big Red said we could stay at his house in pcola that night. Give me a call.

 

[caseyh46]

Sounds good man... one last night in a decent bed and a phat steak dinner sound pretty good.. cause it's liable to get ugly after that.

Are there any other prior enlisted folks in this class? so far I haven't seen any? I'll do my best to help you guys out... just let me know... send me a PM and I'll give you my phone number so we can all stay in touch... Only about 9 more days now...

 

[Wingnut]

Hey guys, I just thought I'd check in. So far everything seems to be in order for me, the biggest annoyence is that I have yet to get a NKO login. I don't know what's going on there, but someone somewhere is asleep at the switch. I don't get why they don't just create a login for you when they give you your final selection; with only three weeks to get ready I don't have time to screw around trying to find the right person to talk to. It does look unlikely that I'll have any of the online courses done before I start.
As far as my trip down, I still am tempted to do it in two days. Three days may be wiser, but I feel like I can do it in two, and with so little time to get ready I hate to take up an extra day.
Otherwise, I think I'm mentally pretty ready. I need to get some gouge tightened up, I'm not there yet on the big four, but that's coming along. There'll be things I won't have down quite as well as I would like given the short notice, but that's no big deal. I'm getting to a 'let's do this thing' frame of mind, and I just hope most of my class are the sort of people who'll push through no matter what.

 

[Wingnut]

By the way, does anyone have the current OCS chain of command? Supposedly that's something you can get from your OCS mentor, but I've been striking out on that one and have just about given up on it.

 

[caseyh46]

Hey wingnut... that sucks about your NKO login... but actually.. that's just the way the Navy works... unless your recruiter told you specifically I wouldn't sweat those online courses much. Right now worry about OCS... If there's anything specifically I can help you with let me know. I still have my NKO login and I separated from the Navy last July... someone isn't at the switch at all LOL... Also I still have quite a few buddies still on active duty, O's and E's so let me know if you need something and I'll try and get it for you my man.. and yeah... I'm also in that "lets get it started so we can get it over with mode"

I'll work on getting the chain of command... just try and get the order down, it'll be easy to plug in a name...

Casey

 

[twilson]

I was having problems with logging onto NKO aswell and getting a mentor, so I called the number they give on that letter. A candidate picked up and said he couldn't help me with a mentor but he talked with me for about 30mins. He said the only thing you really need down is the big 4 and even then we are going to have classes on that in the first few weeks. I told him I was a slow runner (about 11:30) and he said that was no problem so dont worry about the PT that much. Also he said everybody is getting the flu, so try and bring some airborn. I don't have the letter with me right now, but if you have it you can call the 850-###-#### number and ask them some questions. See yall next week.