BOLC/WOBC

BOLC/WOBC for aviation seems to change every couple of years or so.  When I went through aviation BOLC (Basic Officer Leadership Course) and WOBC (Warrant Officer Basic Course) were combined.  So, Lieutenants and Warrants were in the course together.  The problem is that some of the classes in BOLC are the same as they are in WOCS.  Also, it is definitely geared toward commissioned officers and not warrants.  All of our cadre were commissioned officers and I think we only had 1 WO instructor.

Now, WOBC is separate from BOLC and the cadre is made up of warrant officers.  It is also split so that you do part 1 of WOBC after WOCS and part 2 after your advanced aircraft course.  This also makes a lot of sense since some of the classes (the ones they moved to the end) are OPD (Officer Professional Development) courses that will help you when you get to your unit.  Teaching them a year and a half before you leave Rucker doesn't really make sense.

Anyway, BOLC is a pretty easy course if you apply yourself.  It's nice in the sense that you go home every night, and the days aren't really that long.  My class was 8 weeks long, but now they've shortened it to 5 or 6.  The first 3 or 4 weeks are all academic classes.  Everything from CVID (Combat Vehicle Identification), to Attack/Recon tactics, to logistics and CAB (Combat Aviation Brigade) formation.  It's a nice change from the classes in WOCS, since almost all of them are aviation related.  After that is field week.  It's a great field week too because again, you go home every night and most days are half days.  The last couple of weeks are OPD classes, and a tour of the airfields.

The biggest thing that I didn't really think was a big deal at the time, but ended up being a big deal later, was that BOLC is the first course during flight school that counts toward your OML (Order of Merit List.  The OML is what determines what aircraft you will fly.  Basically, starting in BOLC, everything you do is given a point value and graded.  Whoever has the highest grade, or OML score, will get to select their aircraft first.  So if there's only 1 chinook and you really want chinooks, you better be top of your class.  At the time I went through, BOLC was worth 30% of the overall OML score.  The graded events during BOLC are as follows:

Academics
There were only 4 exams that we had during BOLC, but each exam covered multiple subjects.  There was one exam that was worth a lot of points, and it was pretty difficult.  This was the Aviation Tactics Exam.  There were failures almost every exam.  If you fail an exam, you get one chance to retake it, however you will receive a 70% for that exam regardless of how you do the second time.  This can really hurt your OML score if it's on the Aviation Tactics Exam.  Studying is a must.

Field Week
During field week, you will go to the range (9mm and M16), do a ruck march, land navigation, and a
tactical convoy.  You will be scored on the 9mm range, M16 range, ruck march, land nav, and receive a leadership grade.  I had never shot a 9mm before BOLC, so the first time was at the range.  The range isn't difficult, but some of the targets were faulty.  The M16 range is a standard range, nothing special.

The ruck march is pretty easy as well.  You use an assault pack instead of a ruck so it's that much easier.  I don't remember the distance.  BOLC land nav was a little easier than WOCS land nav.  There were still 3 road points and 1 off the road point, but even though it was not a self correcting course, many of the point signs had the 8 digit grid written on the back from previous people who have used the course.  That was really helpful!

The tactical convoy goes into your leadership grade.  The goal is to plan a tactical convoy including an OPORD (operations order), and a brief using the sand table, and then actually take the HMMVs and complete the convoy you just briefed.  This is done as a team, so everybody doesn't have to do the OPORD and briefing, just a few people from your class will (probably LTs). 


At some point during BOLC (probably the last couple weeks since there's so much free time at that point), you will have to go to Lyster Army Health Clinic and get your class 1A Flight Physical.  Even if you just got one a month ago, if it wasn't at Rucker, you have to go again.  You will also probably do HOST (Helicopter Over water Survival Training), AKA Dunker.  I did it during BOLC, some people did it after BOLC.  It's only 1 day long and I'll talk about it in another post.

That's about it for BOLC.  Make sure you study, and try to do well on the field week stuff so that you can start off at the top of the OML.  After BOLC comes SERE, so enjoy your nice climate controlled, dry bugless house while you can!

Bubbles

I want to take a little bit of time to talk about bubbles.  No, not the soapy bubbles that you chase around on a warm sunny day.  I'm talking about the time that you are at Fort Rucker when you are not actually in a class (ie WOCS, BOLC, SERE, IERW, AQC).  When you are not in class you will probably be assigned some sort of detail through B Co.  More than likely it will be honors (funeral) detail (I'll get into that more in a minute), Flatiron, SDO (Staff Duty Officer) or you'll just be assigned to the SMO (Student Managament Office).

Flatiron is probably the best gig, because there's very little oversight and you don't have to do it every day.  Also, you will actually be on the flight line.  Your job at Flatiron will be to answer the phone in case there is an aircraft accident, incident, or if an aircraft has a PL (Precautionary Landing).  You'll jot down the info, then inform the Flatiron (Medevac) crew so that they can go pick up the downed aviators.  Most of the time, however, you will just be sitting at the desk staring at LUH-72 Lakotas or watching Netflix.  It's pretty relaxed, and you usually only have to be there a few days a week.  I never got this detail, but a few of my friends did and they loved it.

Photo Courtesy: www.army.mil

Funeral Detail (fundet) is a more likely option.  It has changed multiple times since I've arrived but basically you will do 0600 PT with fundet, then go to B Co at around 0900 for accountability and area cleanup.  This is the time when you will be trained in how to perform honors at a funeral as well.  You will be assigned to a 7 man detail or a 2 man detail depending on what they need.  7 man teams go to 20 year veteran funerals, and soldiers who die while on active duty.  2 man teams perform all other funerals.  You will probably be released around 1100 for lunch, and then back to B Co at 1300 for accountability.  Hang around for an hour or so, then be released for the day.

I've been on 2 man and 7 man teams.  The detail isn't that bad, but funerals almost always come in on the weekends so you will not get all of your weekends off.  If a funeral is a certain distance away, you will stay overnight the night before the funeral in a local hotel.  Meals will be paid for as well as hotel, so it's not too bad.  Sometimes you get lucky and get an overnight funeral in Destin or Panama City.  Those aren't so bad.  And I feel that you are at least doing something meaningful while on this detail.  The worst time on fundet was during Christmas Exodus.  I did not take leave and I think I only had 3 or 4 days off during the break.  I even had a funeral on Christmas Eve.  So, TAKE LEAVE DURING EXODUS!

You could also get assigned as a SDO for one of the B Co offices.  Depending on which team you are attached to you will either just sit around and answer phones, or you could be busy all day with paperwork and other menial tasks.  Either way, SDO is the most time consuming because you are there all day Monday thru Friday.  Some of the teams are only there every other day, and some are only for half days everyday.  The only upside is that you don't have to report to morning PT.

The amount of time that is spent in bubbles is completely dependent on whether or not classes are being filled quick enough.  So, even though you talk to your buddy who's only a couple months ahead of you and he didn't have a bubble doesn't mean that you won't.  I had about a 3 weeks between WOCS and BOLC; 1 week between BOLC and SERE (although it was actually more because I had Christmas Exodus right after BOLC); about 5 weeks between SERE and IERW; and about 4 weeks between IERW and AQC.  I don't know anybody who had bubbles during IERW (between primary, instruments and BWS).

I did not make, nor do I endorse this patch. It's just funny

The biggest thing during bubbles is to make sure you study (if you can...you can't really study for BOLC or SERE, but prior to primary and advanced you can).  You will probably be upset with B Co at one time or another.  Either because they pulled your pass or leave because they "needed" you for a detail, or because it's a huge waste of time to just sit around at B Co doing nothing when you could be with your family or the library or because you get told at 1659 on Friday night that you need to be at B Co in an hour for an overnight funeral.  You'll probably eventually realize that WO1s are like the PVTs of Fort Rucker.  But just remember that in the grand scheme of things, it's not really that bad.  You're still going to be a pilot (unless you really screw up) and you're still getting paid as a W1 doing PVT tasks, and possibly getting flight pay (if you've already started primary).  It could be worse...at least you're not still in WOCS!

Warrant Officer Candidate School (WOCS)

So, after 10 weeks at Fort Benning, GA I was finally on my way to Fort Rucker, AL to become a Warrant Officer.  I was required to report the same day as leaving basic.  The Army transported us via bus to Atlanta (ATL), and we flew to Dothan, AL (DHN).  When we got there, we called a cab and reported to HHC (Headquarters and Headquarters Company) at 1st WOCS.  Since I came straight from BCT, I didn't have any of the "required" documents to in-process, so I had to fill them out when I got there.  I was assigned a room in the "transient housing", which are like dorm rooms, and issued blankets, pillows, a PT belt, and a WOCSOP (Warrant Offficer Candidate Standard Operating Procedure).  Most candidates are prior enlisted or inter-service transfers and are required to report 10 days early.  However street to seat candidates are not, so I only had a weekend to get everything together and get ready for class to start.

Before I get into what exactly happened at WOCS, I am going to explain a few things that might help in understanding the course.  First is the WOCSOP.  This is the bible for the 7 weeks that you are in WOCS.  If possible, I would recommend picking up a copy before you leave for basic and bring it with you.  I had so much free time during basic that I definitely could have read over it a few times before arriving.  Especially since I didn't get the 10 days to study like the other candidates did.  You can get a copy at The Hangar which is a local pilot shop.  The more you know, the better.  For example, when I arrived I was told to do pushups because I didn't have a fresh haircut.  I dropped and started doing pushups.  I probably did about 25 before the TAC (Training, Advising and Counseling [Officer]) asked me what I was doing.  I told him I was told to do pushups, and he asked how many I was supposed to do (Hint: the answer is in the WOCSOP), and I told him I didn't know.  So, needless to say, if you can, read it as much as you can.

WOCS is a "gentleman's course".  There's not usually group punishment if one person screws up.  They don't tell you exactly how to do something, or when to do it.  You are treated like an adult for the most part (at least compared to BCT).  I'm not saying it's easy, but it's definitely not mind numbing like BCT.  I thought it was a nice change of pace, but most of the candidates that were in an operational unit prior to WOCS didn't seem to like it.  That's one of the advantages of being a street to seat candidate I guess.

The rank structure is set up as follows.  When you arrive, you are considered a "Snowbird" and you will wear a white square rank patch on your ACUs.  After you start, you become the junior class, and you will wear black WOCS insignia.  And at some point when the TACs approve it (usually about 2 weeks from graduation), you will become the senior class, and wear gold WOCS insignia.  Snowbirds, and the junior class both salute and render honors to the senior class candidates using the greeting of the day "Strength and Knowledge Sir (or Ma'am)."  Obviously, every candidate will do the same for any Warrant Officer or Commissioned Officer that they interact with.

So, when you first arrive you are a snowbird, and you will in process for the post and for 1st WOCS.  About a week prior to class actually starting, you will "class up".  Your whole class will get together,
and you will receive some briefs and be told what you need to take care of before you start.  You will also move into some HHC barracks.  On the first day of WOCS you will do the "bag drag."  This is nothing like I imagined it to be.  I expected it to be like the shark attack during basic, but it was nothing like that.  You don't get "smoked" but you will probably get yelled at and possibly do some corrective training.  But you will meet your assigned TACs and move into your permanent barracks.

Once you start, WOCS really isn't too bad but it's very detail oriented.  I'm going to cover a few things that I think are important, or things I wish I would have known going into WOCS.

Leadership Positions
Sometime after you class up and before you start WOCS, you will be given a chance to choose an additional duty.  This ranges from S shops (which I knew nothing about, and you won't really learn about until BOLC) to DFO (Dining Facility Officer) Morale Officer, and a bunch of others.  They are outlined in the WOCSOP.  These will help the TACs determine your leadership ability during the course.  Some require more work than others, so read the WOCSOP to determine which might suit you best.  If you don't choose one, and they are all filled, you will be given an additional duty such as helping the DFO seat candidates during meals, or road guard.  I was a road guard the entire time, and it wasn't that bad.

Additionally, you will have a chance to be in some sort of leadership position throughout your time at WOCS.  It could be as a squad leader, platoon leader, class leader, etc.  These positions are not too hard, but you are in charge of accountability for whichever group you are in charge of.

A Typical Day
A typical day looks something like this:

• 5:30 Wake Up - No earlier, no later.  The TACs will probably monitor your rooms to ensure that you don't get up early.  After you wake up you are required to make your bed, put on your PTs (you can sleep in PTs), brush your teeth, and shave.  You have to figure out a way to do this in 7 minutes, because...
• 5:37 Morning Formation - At exactly 5:37, your entire class must have full accountability and be ready to run to the formation area and report.  The earlier in the course you can get this together the better.
• 5:45 Morning PT - PT varies in difficulty depending on your TAC team.  Some like to run a lot, some like to vary it every single day.  My class barely ever did runs, but we definitely got our PT in.  Every morning there will be a different PRTO (Physical Readiness Training Officer) that is required to lead PT sessions.  Be prepared for your turn.  Usually the guys straight from BCT, like myself are a little better because we just did PRT every single day for 10 weeks.  
• 7:00ish - Finish PT, shower, get dressed, get laundry ready for pickup, and secure your books for academics.
• 7:30ish - Accountability in the meeting area
• 8 - March to the DFAC for breakfast.
• 8:30 - March to academics
• 0845-1145 - Academics
• 1145-1230 - Lunch
• 1230-1300 - Small group time with your TAC, or take care of anything you need to take care of (ie going to the soldier center for pay issues, writing a memo).  Also, possibly peek at your room and hallway and see how much of your stuff is thrown around.  The TACs will jack up your room if it isn't set up correctly.
• 1330 - 1630 - Academics
• 1700 - Dinner
• I don't remember the exact times, but in the evening you have 1 hour of MST (Mandatory Study Time), 1 hour of CACU (Common Area Clean Up), and about an hour for personal hygiene/personal time.
• 2220 - Stand against the wall in the hallway, and sing the Army Song, the class song, and recite the soldiers creed.
• 2230 - Lights out

On the weekends it's a little different and every weekend is different depending on what's going on (car wash, holiday weekend, etc)

Having fun during our weekend "Area Beautification"

Spot Reports
During WOCS you are required to carry around a blank "Spot Report" and present to any TAC upon request.  A spot report is basically used if you get in trouble for something, however it can be used if you do something exceptionally well.  They will either deduct points or add points, and if you get a certain amount you will be placed on probation, which prohibits you from certain things during the course until you get off of it by writing a memo or essay correctly.  You can get spot reports for pretty much anything you do not follow in the WOCSOP.  Some examples are not securing your PSA (Personal Storage Area.)...it must be locked at all times, not saluting a TAC, swearing, not being in the correct uniform (forgotten patches, etc).  Try not to get a spot report because finding time to do the memo or essay (usually due the next day) is pretty hard sometimes.  I was one of the lucky few to not get a single spot report during the course.

Rights
When you first start WOCS you won't have any "rights" such as caffeine, phone use, internet use, computer use (which means you have to write essays and memos by hand), dessert at the DFAC, and many other things.  To get these, they have to be approved by the commander in the form of a
correctly written memo.  This is where your morale officer comes in.  The more he submits, the more you will get.  We put in crazy requests, and we were actually granted a few.  We got our phones after a week and a half, we got caffeine around the same time, and we got 2 pizza parties with movies.  However, if your class is doing horribly and not working together, you probably won't get anything approved.

Another way to earn rights is to do well in the WOC Olympics.  Every Saturday, the WOC classes compete against each other in a 4 or 5 relay event WOC Olympics (monkey bars, pull ups, litter carry, and relay race).  The top 2 classes compete in a tug of war event.  If you win the WOC Olympics, your TACs will probably grant you some rights.

Academics
You will have academics every weekday for 4-5 weeks with multiple tests during the course.  They are actually pretty challenging, mostly because you don't have a ton of time to study.  Some instructors will tell you exactly what to study, and some will just give you a class without any idea what is going to be on the test.  If you fail a test, you have one chance to retake it.  You cannot fail more than 2 tests during the course or you will be set back to another class.  We had 3 eliminations due to academics failures.  Most people made flash cards or some sort of study aid (I made Q&A study guides once we got computer privileges).  If you study during MST and free time, you will be fine.

Other Graded Events
Aside from academics there are a number of other graded events.  If you fail one of these events, you will get the chance to retake it if there's time, otherwise you will get set back a class to retake it.

• Land Navigation - The WOCS Land Nav course isn't too hard.  You will receive 4 points to find in a certain amount of time, and 3 of them will probably be within 25 meters of a road.  We had a couple of first time failures, but nobody failed the retest.  Most classes have 1 or 2 land nav failures that get set back to another class.  If you fail after getting set back, you will be eliminated.  The biggest advice I can give is to keep an accurate pace count, and plot water points that are near your points.  I also double checked my points by doing a pace count from a known point to verify it (ie a road or water point).  
• Ruck March - There is a 10k ruck march that is graded based on your time.  Unlike basic, this is an individual ruck.  You can run, walk, crawl, skip, pretty much anything you want to get from start to finish.  I think it was 60lbs, but I can't remember.  Maybe 50.  The route is a little hilly, so that kind of sucks, but I ran downhill, and walked up and got a pretty good time.
• LRC (Leadership Reaction Course) - These are group obstacles that require the team leader to come up with a plan on how to get all of the other candidates from one side to the other based on parameters that are given in the directions.  The score is not based on whether you accomplish your goal or not, but how you execute it.  Every once in awhile there is a setback because of this, but it's pretty rare.  There is a grade sheet that tells you exactly what they will be grading you on, and you get it in advance.  Just look at it to ensure you do everything, and don't be a jerk of a leader and you will be fine.

  

  Leadership Reaction Course

• STX Lanes - This is easy and nobody fails it.  Just get from the road to the village.  You will have to react to contact, call in a 9 line Medevac, and some other "soldier stuff."  Pretty much the same as in basic, but not really as intense.
• PT Test - The pre-WOCS PT test is given before Day 0, and shouldn't be a problem for any street to seat candidate.  If you made it through basic, you will pass.  And if you passed the first one, you should pass the final one because you do PT every day.  A lot of people say that the initial PT test is hard because they grade very strict, but they just grade to standard.  I didn't have any problems, but that's probably because they also graded to standard in basic.

That's all I can think of.  There's probably more.

Pay, PCS, and PTDY
Ok, so before you got to WOCS, you were probably a SPC.  I was a PFC.  When you get to WOCS, you will start getting paid as an E5.  It will take a few weeks, maybe a month for it to kick in, but you will get back paid.  If you have dependents, you will be authorized to move them as well as your household goods AFTER you graduate WOCS.  It's a pain in the ass, but it makes sense in case you don't make it through.  You can go to the travel office the day you graduate to set up your move.  The Army will not pay for you to go anywhere, but they will pay to move your dependents and your stuff.  Also, if you are street to seat, Bravo Company (B Co, 1-145th Avn Bde) - which is where you will be assigned after WOCS - will give you 10 days of PTDY (Permissive TDY), which is not billable leave so that you can move and find a house to live in.

I would recommend living on post if you can.  The housing is really nice, especially for post housing.  Munson Heights (the east side) and Bowden Terrace are the nicest.  Allen Heights isn't bad, but the houses aren't as new as the other two areas.  The biggest advantage to living on post is that when you start flight school and have to get to the bus stop at 4 AM, you are only 5 minutes away.  Also, when you have short breaks (like lunch) you can go home if you'd like to.

One of the things that I wasn't prepared for was the amount of money that you will need to spend before starting WOCS.  The most expensive is your uniform.  You need to buy all new ranks, branch insignia, shoulder boards, stripes for the pants, and a bunch of other things.  In addition you'll need to get everything sewn on, and possibly have your ASUs tailored.  Also, there are some packing list items that you won't have.  When you start the course there are some things you will have to pay for as well, including laundry service, class shirts/hats/memorabilia, and random other things.  I think I spent around $600-$700 so be prepared for that.

Being OPFOR during field week

Well, I know this is a LOOOOONG post, but I wanted to get info out that I thought might be useful.  One last thing about WOCS.  Field week is great.  It's much better than basic.  You stay at a FOB (Forward Operating Base) with bunks and air conditioning, and you have a lot of free time...for naps.  Overall, WOCS was not a bad experience.  It was a little long, but after basic it is a great change of pace.   

Basic Training

By May 2013, I had endured 6 month wait, took a month off work to spend with my family before shipping, and I was finally ready to get this ball rolling.  You'll go to MEPS a day or 2 before you ship.  For me it was two days.  On the first day, they do a quick physical to make sure you're still ready to go, you'll swear in and talk with the liaison one last time.  If your flight can be scheduled for the same day, you'll only have one day at MEPS.  Since I was going from Oregon to Georgia, I had to wait an extra day because of the length of the flight and the 3 hour time difference.

I arrived in the heat of Georgia, and went to the "clocktower" in the airport to meet all of the other recruits that were getting ready to go to Fort Benning.  After about a 3 hour wait, someone came to gather us and put us on a bus.  I imagined that when we got off of the bus, it would be yelling and screaming, the stuff you see in movies.  But that didn't happen (although I would experience this later).  We got off the bus gathered our stuff, and were welcomed to reception.  This lasts about a week, and is a bunch of hurry up and wait.  They can't physically smoke you, but they will take away your sleep if you screw up.  The drill sergeants here are either on their way in or on their way out of actual basic training, and most of them are bitter.

After reception is over, you'll get put into platoons, and get on one of the infamous white buses to go to actual basic training.  This is day 0.  You get to experience the shark attack, where your drill sergeants will push you physically and mentally until you understand that they are in charge, and you no longer get to make any decisions for yourself.  You'll probably also learn that even if you are perfect (which you won't be), you'll be punished for other peoples mistakes.  I won't ruin the surprise by telling you exactly what happened, but I was definitely at muscle failure, and sweating buckets.  There was a huge puddle of sweat below where I was standing by the time we were able to actually "get settled."

I was in a company of almost all 17 year old "split option" privates.  They were here for basic training and would be going home afterward to finish their senior year of high school before going back for AIT.  I was one of the oldest ones in my platoon, although there was one other warrant officer candidate, and an OCS candidate.

As far as basic training goes, all I can say is just to get through it with the best attitude you can.  There will be times when you want to strangle your drill sergeant or punch your battle buddy, but it's all part of the game and in a few months you will be a warrant officer on your way to flight school.  Also, if you are like me and let your PT slip while you were waiting to ship, make sure you apply  yourself during PT sessions, and you will actually see a pretty good gain.  I went to basic running a 16:20 minute 2 mile, and finished running a 13:40. 

At the end of basic there is a family day where you may or may not be awarded an on or off post pass.   We got an off post pass, so I went to Columbus and watched a few movies and got some non-DFAC food.  You'll also be awarded a pass on graduation day.  The next day, you'll be on your way to Fort Rucker for WOCS.

Getting Ready

So, I had 6 months to wait from the time I was selected until the time I was supposed to ship off for basic.  There's not really much that you can do to prepare ahead of time, except for keep up with your PT, which is something I didn't do.  My biggest recommendation is to keep up with your PT, especially your running.  It will make basic training, and WOCS, a lot easier.

Also, if you can, take some time off before you ship out and spend time with your family.  Between BCT and WOCS, you will not see them for about 4 months.  If you are married, prepare your spouse to be able to handle everything that you usually handle (i.e. paying bills, vehicle maintenance, etc.)  You will probably also want to give someone Power of Attorney to handle any financial situations that arise while you are away.

Instead of quitting your job, you can actually take a Military Leave of Absence (LOA).  This will keep you legally employed with your current employer, and serves as a backup plan in case anything happens during basic, or any time after.  The LOA can last up to 5 years.  So if you break your leg in basic, and you get medically discharged, you will have a job to return to.

Other than that, enjoy the time you have while you can, because as soon as you ship off, you belong to the Army!