Week Six of Navy Officer Candidate School

The Sixth Week of Navy OCS

Engineering and Damage Control: You will have your first academic tests this week in Engineering and Damage Control. The 6th Week Personnel Inspection (PI) also takes place this week, usually on a Thursday. The same knowledge for the 3rd week RLP is required for this inspection. Your Class Chief Petty Officer will be primarily responsible for preparing you for this inspection. It is a lot less stressful and requires a lot less preparation than RLP. However, do not take this test lightly as your uniform will be looked over extensively and you need only take 5 hits to fail. Your time will also be split between studying for academics and preparing for inspection, so schedule your time wisely and don’t think you’ll be bored at night. Your Drill Instructor will of course keep the pressure on with Drill practice.

The 6th Week PI is normally the first good chance your class has of securing and getting off base liberty. Most Class Teams won’t secure classes after the 3rd Week RLP even if they meet the required average. Remember, your class is always striving to create a good image and be the best class at OCS. Poor scores on the Engineering and Damage Control tests earlier in the week will not help your class out when the inspection comes. Make sure everything is in your favor – don’t blow off the tests. The good news is that almost every class performs well this week and gets secured with off base liberty this weekend. Again, do not assume that passing the PI is a certainty and treat as any other graded evolution, realizing that the better your class does as a whole the more likely you are to secure liberty for the coming weekend. It is also important to note that this is the first evolution where you should worry more about overall class performance than anything. This is not a difficult inspection to pass personally but it is not all that uncommon for classes as a whole to fall below the required average. Ensure that the weaker candidates in your class are well prepared and try to obtain a perfect score for yourself to help offset others who may not do as well.