Waiting for selection letter with start date......OCS

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Joe Parsons on April 17, 2017 at 7:33am

Brian, our son was selected and waited appx. 6 months before reporting to Newport and graduated in November of last year. As far as keeping in shape, push-ups, sit-ups and lots of running will get him to the physical finish line. Let your son know although the instructors/drill sargents are tough, there is a purpose in everything they do to shape our sons/daughters into officers in 13 short weeks. Knowing this, and posssessing a positive attitude and mindset going forward should set him up for success.

Good luck to your son and your family.

If you are on facebook, there are closed groups for most classes. It, as well as Navy Dads is a great source to get information and ideas during their OCS experience. Ours was Navy OCS class 02-17 Family

Officer Training Command Newport is another face book group that's a must. They display pictures of your son's class every week of their training!

Permalink Reply by Carl Bolander on April 17, 2017 at 7:56am

Brian,

My son was just commissioned recently. I'm sorry to hear that you sons recruiter is not as helpful as he/she could be.

I agree with Joe,

Push ups, sit ups and running should be focused on, make sure the mechanics and form are correct for the push ups and sit ups. It is much harder with correct form.  And run as much as possible, my son was a varsity soccer player so running was no big deal for him, he said it was painful for many who were not used to it.

Oh and details,details,details pay attention to details LOL

It will be demanding, tiring and at times seem frustrating but it is by design. As Joe says keeping a positive attitude is a must.

The Officer Training Command Newport facebook site has photos of many classes and would be a good spot for your son to see snippits of OCS.

Good luck to your son and your family.

Permalink Reply by Brian James on April 17, 2017 at 8:04am

Thanks for the great comments! Details/memorizing, running and push-ups/sit-ups is what he is focused on. Should the recruiter be more involved, let it go, or should we push him to get more involved? I know from an enlisted standpoint the recruiter is overly involved until you ship off to boot camp. Guess that was what I was thinking would happen. Just want to help him be prepared for what is coming! Thanks again.

Permalink Reply by Carl Bolander on April 17, 2017 at 8:15am

I dont have any advice on the recruiter issue, My sons recruiter seemed responsive and helpful, but I have a feeling his situation is a bit out of the ordinary.

The actual OCS web site has a lot of information, have your son review the web site, if he hasnt all ready.

http://www.ocs.navy.mil/ocs_program_requirements.html

http://www.ocs.navy.mil/ocs_requiredpaperwork.html

There is medical paperwork you should be looking into now, vaccination history is good to have to avoid redundancy in vaccinations,  read the required paperwork sections etc.

Get two pairs of good running shoes and break them in before reporting

Permalink Reply by Andrew Warrington on April 17, 2017 at 8:40am

We are in the same boat (pun intended). He was told "June or July" by the recruiter when he was told he was selected SWO also in about March. Seems pretty loose in terms of time. Also recruiter is somewhat similar - answers questions but not what you might call proactive. Perhaps that is what they are told to do? Maybe they will be in the same class? He is doing the exercise regime as noted here by others. He also got the book "Newly Commissioned Naval Officers Guide" by Commander Kacher. I read it too. Seems full of useful stuff. At the back it has a guide for further reading. That's in addition to the stuff on the OCS web site. We live close to the Great Lakes Naval Station, and I know some people there. One of them put him in touch with a relatively new SWO LT who he met to talk about the process. It was helpful. 

Permalink Reply by Brian James on April 17, 2017 at 8:50am

Great advice and information! Andrew, they may be in the same class since his said that too....June to august ship dates. Thanks again everyone! Look forward to more discussions

Brian

Permalink Reply by Greg Ilkka on April 17, 2017 at 9:46am

Brian - My son is currently at OCS. His recruiter was very involved and helpful through the process.  Are you saying his recruiter was a Chief (Chief Petty Officer)?  That's strange because usually Officer recruiters are always LT/LCDR. 

I would agree with the recommendations above about the physical conditioning, it's on target. In addition, the Facebook groups are great, mostly moms or wives, but, excellent information.

As a side note, anyone attending OCS should be psychologically prepared to roll back through week 8. It may be due to lack of physical conditioning, inspections/knowledge, Fast Cruise, academics, or as in our case - injury.  There are a lot of rollbacks, most will say it was a needed break and helped them get it together to complete the program.

Good luck to your son!

Permalink Reply by Brian James on April 17, 2017 at 12:16pm

Thanks....great info. I too thought it was a little weird that a chief was the lead recruiter and disappointed in his lack of involvement. How long did it take for your sone to get his selection letter/date to report once he found out he was selected. This wait is stressful for my son!

Greg Ilkka said:

Brian - My son is currently at OCS. His recruiter was very involved and helpful through the process.  Are you saying his recruiter was a Chief (Chief Petty Officer)?  That's strange because usually Officer recruiters are always LT/LCDR. 

I would agree with the recommendations above about the physical conditioning, it's on target. In addition, the Facebook groups are great, mostly moms or wives, but, excellent information.

As a side note, anyone attending OCS should be psychologically prepared to roll back through week 8. It may be due to lack of physical conditioning, inspections/knowledge, Fast Cruise, academics, or as in our case - injury.  There are a lot of rollbacks, most will say it was a needed break and helped them get it together to complete the program.

Good luck to your son!

Permalink Reply by Greg Ilkka on April 17, 2017 at 12:30pm

Sorry Brian! I can't help you with the wait time question...my son is in the NUPOC program, so he was technically in the Navy as of last July, had to graduate with his engineering degree last December, then he hung out about a month and started OCS 29 Jan. I'm not sure when he got his orders, but it was after he graduated.

If it was a Chief as a recruiter that explains why he didn't want to meet to discuss what to expect - he has no idea! Just really strange that it was a CPO, IMO.

Permalink Reply by SteveGeorges on April 17, 2017 at 12:36pm

First off thanks very much to your son for volunteering to serve, and to your family for supporting him.  I have no service background personally.  My son Mike does all the sacrificing, while I fly the wing chair in the chicken hawk squadron.  Anyway, I do recall how this went and will tell you the advice you have here from others is spot on.  Mike said people had problems because they were out of shape, they didn't have the gouge memorized and a few did not listen to or follow the rules.  The only other thing I would add is that you all must remember he is going to belong to the Navy.  Sounds obvious, but I have heard some people in different online venues complain about things that sounded like they thought they were picking a dorm room.  Find and follow some of the recent classes ahead of him and you will get a feel for it all.  He will feel plenty.  Your job is to write, early and often, get to Hi Moms and Graduation.

Best to him and to you, and to all that serve and support. 

Permalink Reply by Tony Belmont on April 17, 2017 at 3:42pm

Brian;

Things move slow when it comes to OCS which is the fast track to becoming an officer as opposed to the academy or ROTC. So they have limited resources and space at Newport which is where he will go. With the new President stating that he will add money and more personal to the military hopefully this will make things move faster. But it took my daughter 10 months from the first day to get to OCS.
As for the recruiter some are good at their job and others well---it happens. My daughter didn't know that I called my congressman after 9 months out of a lack of patience and everything started moving quickly. If she knew I called she would have died. But it worked! I would give it more time but if it starts to drag on, do what ever you feel you need to do. Because in the end result your doing a good thing for your son and the country.
As for exercise--he needs to arrive there in Tip-top shape! Especially push-ups.

Good Luck!
Tony Belmont
Veteran USMC

Permalink Reply by Brian James on April 17, 2017 at 4:16pm

Thanks! He is so anxious to go I hope his isn't 10 months


Tony Belmont said:

Brian;

Things move slow when it comes to OCS which is the fast track to becoming an officer as opposed to the academy or ROTC. So they have limited resources and space at Newport which is where he will go. With the new President stating that he will add money and more personal to the military hopefully this will make things move faster. But it took my daughter 10 months from the first day to get to OCS.
As for the recruiter some are good at their job and others well---it happens. My daughter didn't know that I called my congressman after 9 months out of a lack of patience and everything started moving quickly. If she knew I called she would have died. But it worked! I would give it more time but if it starts to drag on, do what ever you feel you need to do. Because in the end result your doing a good thing for your son and the country.
As for exercise--he needs to arrive there in Tip-top shape! Especially push-ups.

Good Luck!
Tony Belmont
Veteran USMC

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