Navy OCS

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Comment by Joe DeCristoforo on January 30, 2010 at 1:18pm

Great update and so glad your son was able to email. Hope his experience continues to be so positive. He's in great shape it seems, both physically and mentally. Way to go!

Comment by Edward D. Cookenham on January 27, 2010 at 10:03am

Oh I forgot I believe the show is on at 3:30 EST.

Comment by Edward D. Cookenham on January 27, 2010 at 10:02am

Check out Navy Wife Radio Podcast. Today the MCPO of the Navy will be on for an interview. The woman, Wendy, who does this works for my wife. Perhaps you and or your wifes will find this podcast interesting. She does a call in show and seems to be very popular with the women folk.

Comment by Edward D. Cookenham on January 26, 2010 at 11:31am

Steve; LOL the phone thing sounds like the DI's. Those guys are some pretty tough dudes - most have come from the war. RLP the BIG one is a major hurdle to cross. They hit 'em with knowledge stuff too. We figured Sam would get to do it again on Saturday and do fine but he surprised us, and himself, when he was one of 12 that passed the first time. I figured it was a given that you fail the first time.
The email thing, if I remember correctly, happens when they get to spend more time in the class room vice doing push ups. The address is for OCS only as they will get the permanent one once they get to their duty station. The N4M is really good but as you say you have to sort out the real from the unreal. Moms will be moms though and we will never be able to prevent them protecting their children - LOL.

Comment by Steve Whatley on January 26, 2010 at 10:48am

Thanks. You are right on about the N4M site. there is quite a bit of chatter so you have to negotiate through it to get to the good stuff. but considering we have only had 2 contacts since my knucklehead left we can't be too choosey about what we read. still waiting to hear how rlp went. as they say, no news is good news.
apparently our grooup was given phone privileges following the new classes arrival on sunday. that was the good news, the bad news was that some of the class starting crying while on the phone so the di rightfully stopped all calls(this is if you can believe what you read on N4M). "there's no crying in the Navy".
His class in now starting week 4. approximately when do they give them email privileges and will they recieve their Navy email address?

Comment by Edward D. Cookenham on January 26, 2010 at 10:24am

Good morning all. From what my son said the phone quality leaves a bunch to be desired so if your son doesn't sound like your son that's why. The time they have for the phone is, in Sam's case, a set time and is then divied up between the class members who police themselves. As time progresses they will eventually have a bunch more phone time privileges. They will at some point be able to email but not on a regular bases. Seems they sort of have to sneak that privilege - kinda sorta.
N4M is a great site but remember it is a bunch of Mom's worried about their "babies" and the old rumor mill can get crazy.
Not sure how the 100 classmates thing is going to do their stuff as I can only speak for Class 07-10 which graduated 46 I believe. Wait until they show you the Chowhall Procedures and how they eat everything with a spoon. Sam said hydration is the word of the day!!! The first week he said they HAD to drink 48 oz of water with every meal - it is more important than food he said. That plus many canteens full of water during the day. He said a few folks roll back because of dehydration. Oh, don't be surprised if they get sick. Just about everyone in Sam's class got sick and a few rolled because of it.
All of you need to plan now to attend the Hi Mom's Dinner on Thursday evening before graduation. It is lots of great finger foods and is a tie affair. We had a ball getting to meet all of Sam's classmates and put a face to the Moms from Facebook and the kids too. There was a Lobster dinner on the second floor also but I guess we didn't look hard enough as we didn't find it. Maybe you will luck out. Graduation Friday is fantastic. We did a private commissioning with my wife (retired Commander) giving Sam the oath. Then I gave him is first salute on the quarterdeck located on the first floor when you enter King Hall. I didn't have to many proud tears!
At some point they can have visitors on Sundays. I know several gals that went there and went to church with their boyfriends or husbands. A lot of students get religion as it is a break from the routine. Some go for the right reason though.
If your son makes a reservation at the Navy Lodge you can stay there. The rooms are great with a kitchenette. If not there are a lot of places close by. I think The Best Western is the closest.
Make time to go downtown and eat some great seafood and to tour The Breakers and a drive around to see those multi-million dollar homes/castles.

Comment by Steve Whatley on January 25, 2010 at 7:14pm

Thanks for the response. We received the only phone call we have had on Sunday after the first week. They give them 5 minutes exactly and it did not sound like my son at all. We have had one letter. that one we received last week. I think we have memorized it. The frequency that you get either one depends on quite a few things, but mainly the what the DI will tolerate.
needless to say we have been on pins and needles waiting for calls and letters. As i understand it they used to have classes of 40-50, but with this one they have about 100 people but split them into two separate companies with different DI's. their privileges depend on how well they are doing as a group and where the DI thinks they are. Thanks for the suggested website, we have just about memorized it over the last few weeks. it is a little dated but fairly accurate from what we have seen so far. one of the differences is that now indoc is 3 weeks instead of 1 week. Let me suggest navyformoms.com as another website to look at. my wife checks it constantly for updates. there is some good info, if you believe everything that is posted. since there are two companies we get to see postings from parents in both companies. it can also give you a heads up if you see where other parents are recieving phone calls or letters. i apologize if you have already seen it, but if not it is worth the time. of note, we have been told that both websites are monitored so be careful about any information you put out there.
Good luck to your lo. hope this helps.

Comment by Steve Whatley on January 24, 2010 at 6:07pm

Hey guys,
Does anyone have a lo in the 12-10 class. we have had very little contact for the last 3 weeks and i am getting conflicting reports from the navyformoms site. it is a good site, but there is alot of chatter on it and not really sure if we can believe half of what is posted. we have been told that this is a fairly new format for the ocs boot camp because they now have 3 weeks of indoc. they were to have their rlp this thursday and then outpost on friday. i think no news is good news. when we did talk to him he sounded very tired, but fairly confident. thanks ahead for any updates

Comment by Chris B. on January 21, 2010 at 7:16am

I found these OCS commentaries. They are recent (2008) and seem to describe the experience accurately:

http://www.projo.com/extra/2008/ocs/

Comment by Edward D. Cookenham on January 10, 2010 at 2:00pm

Yes he did. He went back from Christmas leave with Pneumonia but got put on light duty so he squeaked through on that one. Tell Jake to hit the memorization stuff hot and heavy as Sam thought that was the main thing that got him through the major RLP (Room, Locker, and Personnel) inspection. I don't know what the percentage is of start/finish but I know for some other classes it has been pretty high.
I have my new ribbons and mini-metals ready to go for what ever Sam wants. Do need to buy a new type white shirt and the epaulets that CPOs now wear. May have to buy a new cover too if I can reshape my old one. My wife and I have our uniforms at the cleaners so we are in hot stand by as they say.
Last night was 9.2 deg as a low but I see 27.6 right now and some warmer weather on the way. I have a backyard weather station that is on Weather Underground so I keep tabs on the weather. One needs to around here!

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