SULE I

[klostman]

Jbommer, great advice and gouge. Question, I know you metioned to get injuries treated early to prevent them from being worse. My OSO told me to avoid that at all costs though unless its VERY serious. I'm sure its a fine line between toughing it out and telling yourself, "hey, I better get this treated or else..." Just wondering what your thoughts and experience's on that might be.

Also to add to what someone said earlier, OCC, physically tougher than PLC for the simple fact that your there 10 straight weeks. But I would have to imagine that the 6week PLCer's could be at a disadvantage simply because they go home just when things are already warmed up, go to school a year, party or whatever, then come back to reality. If your not mentally prepared, or physically, I would think it could catch of guard at bite you in the @ss.

Anyways, I've talked to much. Thanks for the info guys.
NICK
SF

 

[E5B]

OCC and PLC-combined have the same training schedule. PLCer's follow a similiar schedule, but split up, obviously. They are all the same physically, but your staff makes a big difference. I didn't think I was at a disadvantage by having a year off. I definitaly needed that time to heal. Like JBoomer said, coming back is hard. If you've made up your mind to come back then you've already knocked out one of the hardest things about Sr's (other than SULE II). When you get back to school, keep up with PT, do some studying and knock out that OP order. One of the biggest things is PTing with your boots (Boots and UTs). At Sr's we only PTed in running shoes (go-fasters) twice and that was for the initial and final PFT. The rest was all boots and uts. Having your feet toughened up is my biggest advice for everyone. Yeah, the new boots they issue don't need much break in, but that's not the case for your feet. Candidates have been sent home because of a simple blister that later became infected (cellulitus). So get your blisters over with now.

I also heard that Hi-Techs were not authorized, but I took some just in case, and sure enough found out it was all scuttle-butt. I used them for all the running events and it sure saved my shins. Not much ankle support, though.




LAND MINES are equal opportunity weapons!!!

 

[Banjo33]

Well, I think their advice was aimed more at those with "bone" pain, like early stages of stress fractures. They treat those sorts of things VERY aggressively. When I broke my foot, I went to medical every day for ice treatments. Basically, they take a 5 gallon bucket and fill it 3/4 full with ice and water. You then put your leg into the water (foot flat on the bottom) and let it soak for 15-20 minutes (I had 20 minutes treatments where some had half that time.). It was pure torture. Your leg doesn't ever really go numb, so it's pins and needles the whole time. But, the theory behind this is: being so cold, your body circulates more blood through that limb which in turn heals the bone faster. I don't know how effective this is, but it worked for me. Anyway, they feel that in the early stages of stress fractures, they can heal them within a few treatments and you can continue to train. I'm not saying to tell them, that's something you'll have to decide on your own if it comes down to it. Some people don't and finish the training and get it taken care of on the civilian side. Some people don't and their leg ends up breaking. I can't offer much more than that. But, what I can offer is the advice to PT now as far in advance of your report date, get your bones strong (calcium supplements don't hurt either) and your muscles stronger and you may avoid the whole thing altogether. Most people don't get these fractures. When my foot broke, there was no faking it till graduation. I would have if I could've though.

I'll not own another pair for the reason as stated above. I love my caddies and jungles though. Except for the weight, I really liked my Matterhorns too. I can run in any of those boots comfortably. We had to read the order from the Colonel that said Hi-techs weren't authorized. I know some still wore them. I was Student Platoon Commander during range week and my Student Platoon Sgt. wore some. Well, the real Platoon Commander caught him and I'm the one that got the butt chewing. He lectured me for the entire hump to the range from Barrett on how I needed to babysit my Marines or they would try to get away with the stupidest stuff. I could go on and on about the stupid things people did....

 

[Taxman2A]

When I was doing the full 10 week session, it was less of a challenge than I thought to stick around. The candidates in my platoon really had to face the music when the first 6 week increment was leaving because we were duty platoon, and were pulled from weapons maintainance time to set up the parade deck for first increments graduation- ouch!
At any rate, I found that by week 5, when the first increment is graduating, you are already assimilated into the OCS culture so much that it's not THAT bad to stick around. Plus, after that weekend, second increment picks up, and its pretty amusing to watch them run around the parade deck with all their gear for the first few days, and think about how it was ages ago when you did that. Another thing that motivated our platoon was a couple of days before the final drill evaluation, we were on the grinder practicing when a platoon of juniors marched by, and their Sgt. Instructor stopped them and was saying "You nasty things are going to have to learn to drill like that if you want to have a chance at passing drill!" That sort of gave us a feeling of being salty, and was an extra source of motivation to ride out the 10 weeks. Also, in weeks 5-7 when you have libo and the second increment candidates don't, you can see the second increment candidates marching around as your company secures, which is also a motivating reminder of how far you've come.

I couldn't imagine the challenge of having to return for a second session for seniors, but to each his own. There are certainly advantages and disadvantages to both. For instance, if you go to jr's and pass, but then fail sr's, you are allowed to start over and just finish seniors. But, if you fail out of the 10 week program at week 9, you have to start over from scratch, now that would suck.

 

[E5B]

JBoomer, you're saying that TBS doesn't authorize Hi-Techs? I don't own any anyhow, they hardly stood up to the 6 weeks of pounding at Sr's. I hardly see them anymore. The new suede boots are very comfortable, just a bit heavier than the others, like JBoomer said.

Did ya'll have LtCol Shusko for a Co, or Col Byrd?

LAND MINES are equal opportunity weapons!!!

 

[Banjo33]

We had Col Byrd. LtCol Shusko was our XO. No, they weren't authorized at TBS. I don't know if that was the Col's order or LtCol Schlotzhauer's (our Company CO) order. I assumed it was Col Byrd's.

I don't have any of the new boots or the new cammies. I had to retire my Matterhorns while I was there. So, now I'm left with my jungles and caddies, hopefully I'll never have wear either again--- just my flight boots!

 

[klostman]

From what I'm getting here, its seems to be good idea to invest in some boots to toughin my feet and legs up before I go out. Any suggestions as to what kind I should get? I live close to a army navy surplus store. I would wait till my OSO issues mine, but thats in late April he said. Personally, I like to toughen my feet up before that. Is it worth spending good money for a pair or should I get something basic that does the job until I get my other boots issued?

 

[Banjo33]

Get some jungles from that surplus store. I think they'll run you about $26. You can get them good and broke in, polish them up a few times (don't spit shine), then when you go to OCS, put some new insoles in them and you'll have a great pair of boots. Jungles are probably the best for a lot of the different courses. You'll run through knee to neck deep water and they'll drain the fastest without holding a gallon of water apiece.

 

[splendid_splinter]

boomer.. 4th platoon never heard anything about any type of boot not being authorized.. we had people wearing all kinds of boots.

is shusko the co of tbs now?

 

[Q-ball]

I still like running in a pair of Bates. They feel just like running shoes, and are super light. The only drawback is that they are horrible on the O-course (no grip on the rope). When I went through OCS we could use bates for PT only. I actually got a couple of essays for wearing them in formation.

Q

Marine Helo Pilot

 

[E5B]

No, Col Byrd is the CO. I heard that LtCol Shusko was the CO for a while between Col's.

LAND MINES are equal opportunity weapons!!!

 

[Banjo33]

There you go, the difference between leadership! 4th platoon was nasty enough to get away with that anyway. I can still remember my eye-watering *yawn* lecture on the importance of looking after my Marines and how it's my fault that they are "killing" themselves by wearing soft soled boots and sweatshirts under their cammie tops.

 

[splendid_splinter]

4th platoon was nowhere near being nasty. langfeldt just wasn't completely asinine like thiele.

and i wore a bates boot i found at the mcx that was gortex/watertight, had a monster tread on it and was amazingly light. cost about 85 bucks, but i woulda paid a hundred85.

 

[Banjo33]

asinine....that's definitely the word!

 

[Lt_SNA_USMC]

Back to the topic of the thread, I could teach my little brother (who is 9) to do SULE I. SULE II requires some thought to do it exactly how they want it. The grading is pretty subjective though. One instructor might give you a 80% and another would have given you a 90%. Just pass. Makes no difference how you do at OCS. Truly. No one cares. No one remembers. Be a PT stud, have a lot of courage, don't be a "sh*t bird" and don't fail anything. That's all there is to it. I wish someone had told me this before I went to OCS. That's my 2 cents.