I'm Back
Sep/10/09 02:30 AM
Well, in case you haven’t noticed, DanEnglish.com has been painfully inactive for quite a while now. No, I haven’t gone on strike. No, I don’t all of a sudden hate blogging. No, I haven’t forgotten how to type. Instead, I decided to do something a little different this summer- something that took my mind far away from politics, annoying drivers, and Georgetown life. I decided to attend U.S. Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico, VA.
OCS is a 10-week training camp that stresses physical fitness, military knowledge, and, most importantly, leadership potential. The program I took part in (called PLC combined) was comprised of kids who had also just completed their junior and senior years of college. After graduating, juniors return to college for their senior year to decide whether or not they will accept their commission to become a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps. Seniors immediately commission after graduation and move on to the next training school, TBS.
People continually ask me about my experience this summer. I’ve decided that the best response is: “It was miserable, but in the good sort of way you’d expect it to be”. I survived the first weeks by going meal to meal. After “morning chow” each day I would say to myself, “Well, only two more meals until lights out”. Every day. Mentally, it got better as time went on. Or, maybe everyone just got used to it.
Our days began at 4:00 AM (0400) when we awoke before lights turned on at 0500 to shave, brush teeth, etc. before the bathroom (head) closed at 0415 for cleaning by designated people in the platoon. We would then make sure that the items needed for the day were perfectly layed out on our foot lockers as ordered, the “house” was relatively clean, and our uniforms looked presentable before hopping back into the racks a few minutes before lights to “wake up” at 0500.
What followed was generally some sort of chaos involving getting dressed quickly, cleaning the house even more, and getting the heck outside as soon as possible for either a morning PT (physical training) session or a march to morning chow. The rest of the day generally included a few classes on subjects like military history, customs and courtesies, etc., some sort of physical course like an obstacle course, drill (marching) practice, or “transition training”, whereby the instructors worked on transitioning us from civilian to military life.
The offical day concluded just before lights out at 9:00 PM (2100) with “evening devotion” and mail call. Catholics would head to the back of the squad bay and Protestants would meet in the middle for a few minutes of prayer and reflection on another busy day. Mail was treated sacredly, especially during the first four weeks when we had no other contact with the outside world.
Though lights went out at 2100, the day was nowhere near over. Many nights I’d find myself up until 000 writing letters home, studying for exams, and remarking identification on clothing and gear using permanent markers and black boot polish. Despite all the hours we were awake, the days went by pretty quickly. We were constantly moving, never having much time to stop and think about what we would rather be doing back home or outside the confines of Quantico, VA. That is, until the last few weeks when all the yelling and hustling let up just a hair.
So, 36 out of the original 65 members of Bravo Company 1st Platoon graduated on August 9th- a month ago today. Upon returning back home, I took it upon myself to become as lazy as possible and enjoyed every minute of it, though it took me almost two weeks to be able to sleep past 6 AM and I still eat meals quicker than ever before. I even made my bed down here at school a few weeks ago with hospital corners. Yikes. But, school has snapped me back into action a bit. I’m back to working out again, preparing for the Marine Corps Maration in DC in late October (I had already signed up for this prior to learning about my summer options. Coincidence). And I’m back to putting in a bunch of hours as the credit union (yes Jimmy, they’re unpaid), no matter how much griping I hear from family and friends about it. Classes for the semester have begun, and I’m off to the races for my senior year at Georgetown.
Learn more about OCS here.
OCS is a 10-week training camp that stresses physical fitness, military knowledge, and, most importantly, leadership potential. The program I took part in (called PLC combined) was comprised of kids who had also just completed their junior and senior years of college. After graduating, juniors return to college for their senior year to decide whether or not they will accept their commission to become a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps. Seniors immediately commission after graduation and move on to the next training school, TBS.
People continually ask me about my experience this summer. I’ve decided that the best response is: “It was miserable, but in the good sort of way you’d expect it to be”. I survived the first weeks by going meal to meal. After “morning chow” each day I would say to myself, “Well, only two more meals until lights out”. Every day. Mentally, it got better as time went on. Or, maybe everyone just got used to it.
Our days began at 4:00 AM (0400) when we awoke before lights turned on at 0500 to shave, brush teeth, etc. before the bathroom (head) closed at 0415 for cleaning by designated people in the platoon. We would then make sure that the items needed for the day were perfectly layed out on our foot lockers as ordered, the “house” was relatively clean, and our uniforms looked presentable before hopping back into the racks a few minutes before lights to “wake up” at 0500.
What followed was generally some sort of chaos involving getting dressed quickly, cleaning the house even more, and getting the heck outside as soon as possible for either a morning PT (physical training) session or a march to morning chow. The rest of the day generally included a few classes on subjects like military history, customs and courtesies, etc., some sort of physical course like an obstacle course, drill (marching) practice, or “transition training”, whereby the instructors worked on transitioning us from civilian to military life.
The offical day concluded just before lights out at 9:00 PM (2100) with “evening devotion” and mail call. Catholics would head to the back of the squad bay and Protestants would meet in the middle for a few minutes of prayer and reflection on another busy day. Mail was treated sacredly, especially during the first four weeks when we had no other contact with the outside world.
Though lights went out at 2100, the day was nowhere near over. Many nights I’d find myself up until 000 writing letters home, studying for exams, and remarking identification on clothing and gear using permanent markers and black boot polish. Despite all the hours we were awake, the days went by pretty quickly. We were constantly moving, never having much time to stop and think about what we would rather be doing back home or outside the confines of Quantico, VA. That is, until the last few weeks when all the yelling and hustling let up just a hair.
So, 36 out of the original 65 members of Bravo Company 1st Platoon graduated on August 9th- a month ago today. Upon returning back home, I took it upon myself to become as lazy as possible and enjoyed every minute of it, though it took me almost two weeks to be able to sleep past 6 AM and I still eat meals quicker than ever before. I even made my bed down here at school a few weeks ago with hospital corners. Yikes. But, school has snapped me back into action a bit. I’m back to working out again, preparing for the Marine Corps Maration in DC in late October (I had already signed up for this prior to learning about my summer options. Coincidence). And I’m back to putting in a bunch of hours as the credit union (yes Jimmy, they’re unpaid), no matter how much griping I hear from family and friends about it. Classes for the semester have begun, and I’m off to the races for my senior year at Georgetown.
Learn more about OCS here.
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