SURVIVING QUANTICO

An Overview of Marine Corps Officer Candidates School in the Summers of 2006 and 2007
By Julian B. Delphiki

25 April 2008

Dedicated to: The deer that was hit by the train that runs under the bridge that we take on the way to the chow hall (except when it rains). May you rest in peace.

TABLE

OF

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: WELCOME TO HELL DISCLAIMER THE RULES OF OFFICER CANDIDATES SCHOOL HOW OCS IS ORGANIZED CHAPTER 2: PREPARATIONS WHAT YOU GET ISSUED AT QUANTICO SUPPLY CASH SALES/UNIFORMS THE MCX ARMORY WHAT TO BRING TO QUANTICO AND HOW TO PACK IT WHAT TO BUY ON LIBERTY ORGANIZING YOUR EXISTENCE EXCESS GEAR STAGING GEAR THE 2105 KIT THE SHARPIE METHOD WHAT TO KEEP ON YOU CHAPTER 3: SURVIVING THE FIRST 5 DAYS RECEIVING AND THE INITIAL PFT HOW MUCH DO YOU GET PAID AT OCS? PURGATORY PICK-UP CHAPTER 4: SURVIVING QUANTICO SURVIVING WEEKS 1, 2 & 3 PHYSICAL TRAINING THE EVENTS ACADEMICS INSPECTIONS SURVIVING WEEKS 4 & 5 BILLETS

1 1 3 7 11 11 12 14 15 21 22 27 29 30 30 30 31 31 32 33 33 34 37 40 41 41 41 44 46 46 47 47

SURVIVING WEEK 6 CHAPTER 5: BECOMING A MARINE FAMILY DAY AND GRADUATION WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A MARINE APPENDICES APPENDIX A: INDEX APPENDIX B: DRILL CARDS APPENDIX C: SAMPLE OPORDER APPENDIX D: PT SOP APPENDIX E: MISCELLANEOUS TIPS APPENDIX F: MY NOTES

48 49 49 49 50 50 51 53 56 58 59

CHAPTER 1: WELCOME TO HELL

Surreal. a candidates one-word description of OCS

Disclaimer
Everything I have written here is based on my own experiences going through Officer Candidates School during the summers of 2006 and 2007. It is not only possible that your experience at OCS will be different, it is guaranteed. Things are different from class to class, from company to company, and from platoon to platoon. Most things, most of the time, simply depend on what your Sergeant Instructors decide on. Do not expect that simply because I did things some way when I went through OCS, or because my platoon was allowed to do something, that the same will be true for you. Moreover, I did not graduate at the top of my class. I was not on company or platoon staff on graduation day. I was just a middle of the pack candidate that made it through OCS. Im writing this guide because I believe I had a smoother time at OCS than many of my fellow candidates because I was adequately prepared and because I developed a good understanding of what was going to happen before it happened. Take from this what you will. This writing is targeted at candidates who have already been through juniors. If you havent been through OCS, there are things that I will write about that you will not understand. Even if you have already been through juniors, I will still refer to things without fully explaining them. A complete explanation would take too many words and too many pages, To do so would take too many words and too many pages, and this text is already way too long. Finally, I am doing most of my writing almost a year removed, based on my own memory and my notes scrawled randomly on pieces of loose-leaf notebook paper. I did not go through Officer Candidates School with the intention of being a historian. I was sleep-deprived and tired just like everyone else, so if I get some events in the wrong order or something, cry me a river.

My Philosophy
Yes, Im going to get Socratic on you. My philosophy basically comes down to this: I could, theoretically, describe in total detail every single thing that happened to me at OCS, creating a text that runs 200 pages long. You could then sit down and read all 200 pages. Or you could go sprint around the block five times and do 20 pull-ups. Im going to be honest: running around the block will probably help you more than reading this. When it comes down to it, being physically prepared is ten times more important than having an idea of what is going to happen. Youre going to face some difficulties and some surprises at OCS. Thats simply the nature of the beast. What matters is how you react to those challenges. That determines whether or not you make it. If you arent going to survive OCS, this guide will not magically allow you to make it. Even if you are already going to make it, this guide is not going to magically make you a top candidate. Only you can do that. Heres my confession: I dont have any secrets here that will make OCS easy. I dont have any secrets that youre not going to learn by actually going to OCS. Im not going to tell you about the hidden dimensional portal that turns the Endurance Course into a half mile run. OCS is hard. Its going to be hard. Its supposed to be hard. Reading this doesnt change that. The only thing it can possibly change is to give you a little bit more confidence in yourself. You can succeed, but you have to want to succeed first. I cant give you that. Either you find it yourself or you dont. Finally, let me say this: different people attack OCS in different ways, and my way may not work for you. I made it through OCS by thinking. That doesnt mean I wasnt prepared physicallybut it means that I made a conscious effort every day I was there to learn how to become a better candidate. I observed how other candidates ran their billetswhat they did right and what they did wrong. I paid meticulous attention to detail in all things, and was always aware of what was coming next in the training schedule. This was, of course, not the only way to make it through OCS. Some made it through overwhelming physical force (the preferred method of the Marine Corps). Those guys tended to enlisted infantry Marines. Many had combat experience and some were already NCOs. A select few were from Recon units. For them, the difficult PT was a cakewalk. Still, others succeeded on sheer determination. Those were the candidates I truly admired. They were generally civilians with no military experience. Although they were not necessarily the fastest learners, they stuck with things with an unbelievable tenacity. These were the guys you saw practicing their drill steps at 0200 in the morning when the rest of the platoon was sleeping. Think of it like the obstacle course. There are guys who succeed because they are simply in fantastic shape, guys who succeed by carefully learning the techniques, and guys who made it on sheer force of will. When it comes down to it though, just like the o-course you need all three at OCS: physical strength, mental agility, and moral fortitude. Its okay to have one of these as a strength. Its not okay to have the others as weaknesses. Inside every candidate, there are actually two candidates: the courageous and admirable leader, and the exhausted, tired, and unmotivated guy who just wants to go back to bed. You will be the candidate you choose to be. Everyone is tired. Everyone is hungry. Its up to you to be the candidate you want to be.

The Rules of Officer Candidates School

These are my ten rules of OCS. There are many other things you should do, but I have just listed what I consider to be the top ten, in order of importance. The first five rules are ways of avoiding getting kicked out of OCS. The last five are for making OCS a little smoother (I almost said easier). 1. Drink water. They will tell you over and over again to drink water. Its summertime in Virginia, and the temperature will push past 90. Moreover, the weather is extremely humid. Heat casualties are fairly common at OCS, and the standard operating procedures for a heat casualty is for the corpsman to insert a rectal thermometer into the candidates rear in order to obtain his/her core temperature. I have no idea what this must feel like and I imagine none of you have any inclination toward finding out. The bottom line is simple: drink water. Drink a canteen of water in the evening before you hit the rack (most likely, youre evening Basic Daily Routine, or BDR, will include drinking a canteen). When you have to wake up in the middle of the night to pee, drink another canteen. You will probably have to pee again at 0400 and probably again right before the Physical Training run, but thats OCS. OCS is hydraulics. Pump water in, pump water out. Finally, a note: drinking two canteens a night plus drinking water throughout the day was enough water for me, but everyones body is different. You have to find your own balance between dehydrating and overhydrating. Overhydration leads to hyponatremia, an electrolyte imbalance that will just as effectively knock you out of training as dehydration. There was a candidate in my juniors platoon that drank six canteens on the night before SULE I and became hyponatremic. SULE I was not fun for him. Not in the slightest. Also, whenever youre given the opportunity to make a head call, go ahead and take it even if you dont feel like you need it. By the time you need it, you will almost inevitably be in a situation not conducive to allowing you to pee (such as in the middle of a speech by the Colonel). 2. Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the whole truth. I mean seriously. Integrity violation is a sure-fire way of getting kicked out of OCS with no chance of reapplying. When it comes down to it, nothing you do at OCS (or in the Marine Corps proper) is worth cheating to accomplish. Lets put it this way. Think the test is hard? If you fail the test, then theres a chance you could be sent to the Colonel. If youre sent to the Colonel, theres a chance you could get kicked out if this is a repeat violation. However, if you cheat, it is with absolute certainty that you will be kicked out with no chance of re-applying. Bottom line: Dont lie. Dont cheat. Dont have the appearance of cheating. If youre not sure if its okay, ask the staff. If its not okay, dont do it. nuff said. 3. Watch your step. During your PT runs and the conditioning hikes, some of the terrain you will be covering is very rough. Pay attention to the ground to avoid spraining or twisting your ankles. Also be careful in the way you runavoid stomping and remember to stretch after hours in order to decrease the possibility of lower extremity injuries such 3

4.

5.

6.

7.

as shin splints and stress fractures. If you miss too many training days, regardless of how good a candidate you are or where you are in the cycles, you will be dropped. The only thing worse than going through OCS is going through it twice because of an injury. Clean your body. Pay special attention to open cuts, sores, and wounds. If any of these become infected with what they call cellulites, you can be sent home. Ensure that wounds are cleaned, disinfected by the corpsmen or your platoons witch doctor candidate, and bandaged. Also, use liberal amounts of hand sanitizer before eating and after using the head in order to avoid respiratory and digestive illnesses. Pretty much everyone gets sick to some degree at OCS, but if you can manage to avoid it, you will definitely have a much better experience. One of the sayings that some recruit came up with when I was at MCRD was, everything in boot camp is easy until you get sick; then everything sucks. The same thing is true at OCS. Do not lose your mind. Take a moment. Take a breath. When candidates are put into a foreign environment, deprived of sleep, and put under stress, we tend to lose our minds. Ive seen a candidatea grown man 21 or 22 years old, pee his pants in formation without any good explanation as to why. He could have asked for permission from a Candidate Squad Leader or the Candidate Platoon Sergeant instead of a Sergeant Instructor, but he didnt. He couldnt explain why. Dont lose all sense of the relative importance of things. Officer Candidates School, one way or another, will come to an end. Your goal is to ensure that it comes to an end under the most favorable circumstances, graduation. Dont get in a fight with another candidate or, God forbid, with a staff member. Dont try to steal anything or screw with another candidate or do something incredibly stupid thats going to get you kicked out. Believe it or not, OCS is not the end of the world. If you wanted to see that, you should have gone the enlisted route. Organize your existence. Ive dedicated an entire section to this. Organization and time management is key because it means you will get more sleep, keep track of all your gear so youll have it when you need it, and it looks good both to your fellow candidates and to the staff. Not being able to find something is as bad as not having it. Not having marked gear (and if you cant read it, its not marked) is as bad as not being able to find it. Every single item you have, whether issued or brought, should have your name on it. You get a schedule of the days eventspossibly a whole weeks worth of schedules. Take the extra time (and you should have some extra time if you are using time management effectively) to copy it down. Especially if youre a billet holder. Especially if youre a Candidate Platoon Sergeant or above. Think. Think before you act. Think before you speak. Think before you give orders. You can be decisive without being stupid. Know what youre going to say before you say it. Nothing will go farther in losing the respect of your peers that getting everyones attention and then stumbling over your words or giving a genuinely stupid order. We had a Candidate Platoon Sergeant set us up in armory formation with the footlockers staggered across the Drill Instructor highway, take apart our rifles, and then tell us to wagon wheel to get rifle cleaning gear. Just to make the candidate feel [even more] stupid, the Sergeant Instructor on deck forced us to actually execute the order. Imagine an entire Platoon of candidates stepping over footlockers, knocking over cleaning gear and CLP and rifle parts, trying to wagon wheel around the squadbay. For your own self-respect, think before you say eyeballs! Because when you do, the entire Platoon is going to turn and look at you and wait for you to say something. If you say, uh were uh um

this candidate thinks then youve already lost their respect. Respect is gained slowly step by step and lost all at once in one dumb move. 8. Show some maturity. Im not exactly sure what it is about the Marine Corps training environment, particularly at OCS, but for some reason, when the Drill Instructors are not present, candidates tend to revert to kindergarten mode. Show some maturity, and it will go a long way in earning the respect of your peers. Dont complain about what you cant control, dont whine about Candidate Delphikis poor command presence, and dont fight with other candidates about stupid things. If you think the current Candidate Platoon Sergeant is doing a bad job, you can offer him advice after hours if hes interested. If he isnt interested, just keep your mouth shut, and make sure not to make his mistakes when its your turn. If youre with a group of Candidates and they begin badmouthing the current Candidate holding whatever billet, then you should step up and say, Hey maybe Delphiki isnt doing a perfect job, but hes still the candidate in charge, and we should give him respect. One of these days, its going to be you or me in charge, and I know wed want everyone to give us the benefit of the doubt. 9. Work hard. Its the Marine Corps. If youre joining because you think its an easy gig, then youre sadly mistaken. Officer Candidates School is hard. Its hard for everyone. When youre having a tough time, think about this: OCS lasts a finite number of days, and your job is not only to graduate, but to do your best damn job while youre there. You only go through OCS once. I mean, if youre in the six-week program, you go through receiving twice and graduation twice, but on a whole, OCS is a singular experience. If you only get this one chance to do it, you might as well do it right. You dont want to leave OCS having slimed your way through it with minimal effort. Can you get away and graduate with less than full effort when the Drill Instructors arent looking? Can you get away with not re-marking your gear because you doubt the staff will check? Can you get away with doing just 8 pull-ups for your max set even when you know you can get at least 15? Probably. But nothing good will come of that. So put in your full effort everyday all day while youre at OCS. Push yourself when nobody else does. It makes all the difference in the world. 10. Have a sense of the relative order of things. This final one is a little difficult to explain. Theyre a prayer out there that does it best. It goes like this: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. OCS is what it is. Surreal as one candidate put it. One afternoon youre on libo watching a movie at the movie theater and the next day youre running the Endurance Course while being yelled at by the Company First Sergeant. Surreal. But dont lose your mind. Best way I can put it is this. When I was in Boot Camp, lights was at 2230 every single night. Before lights, every night, wed play games. Milton Bradley. Wed have to hold up our footlockers, or two-sheets-and-a-blanket, or front-of-the-houseback-of-the-house. Sooner or later, a recruit would make a mistake, and the Drill Instructors would say, good so Recruit So-and-so here wants to [whatever mistake], I guess well just hold out our rifles a little longer. Recruits would get seriously pissed off. They would get pissed off at the Platoon, at the Drill Instructors, at the recruits who made mistakes. I would try to explain hey you guys know that every night we go to sleep at the exact same time, and we always play games right up until lights? Well its a good point on an intellectual level, but it didnt matter. Anger is visceral. It comes from your gut. Recognize that there are some parts of OCS that are simply going to suck, and there

really isnt anything you can do about it except to deal with it. Recognize what parts of OCS you actually have the power to change, and change that. The Endurance Course is long, and you have to run it, and running it is going to hurt. You cant change that. But what you can change is tightening your gear before the course so it doesnt bounce and cut into your skin. Above all, recognize that some day in the near future, you will not longer be at Officer Candidates School. Do you want to return to being a civilian or do you want to become a Marine officer? Finally, a bonus rule: 11. Beware of the mosquito. Im extremely sensitive to mosquito bites, so this one is near and dear to my heart. The woods in Virginia have mosquitoes. You get issued Off. Use it. Failure to do so can result in what happened to me the first night we bivouacd in juniors. I took off my boots and socks to dry off my feet and left the tents screen completely open because it was hot. Well, I woke up in the middle of the night and my feet were on fire. I shined my flashlight on my foot and saw maybe 20 mosquitoes all at work. My feet were covered in bites. My bites had bites. It was not pretty. Bottom line: beware of the mosquito.

How OCS is Organized

The ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu says in the Art of War, Know your enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril.1 The staff at Officer Candidates School, however, is not your enemy, though this may be difficult to accept initially. You are your own worst enemy. OCS and the staff simply amplify any mistakes you make. The staff at OCS is not there to get you. They are there to train, educate, and motivate during juniors and to screen and evaluate during seniors. Its their mission. Understanding how they are organized, however, may nonetheless prove useful. Like any good organization, Officer Candidates School is divided into sections. These sections dont necessarily communicate well with each other, or always get along for that matter. If you receive conflicting orders, seek clarification. When in serious doubt, use your judgment. For example, lets say that your last classroom instructor told you that the test was being moved to after noon chow. Your Candidate Company Gunnery Sergeant told you that its not until tomorrow, and your Candidate Company Executive Officer told you that its after evening chow. You talk to the other Candidate Platoon Sergeants and your Candidate Platoon Commander and everyone has different word. As Candidate Platoon Sergeant, you ask your Sergeant Instructor, who doesnt know and tells you to go away. Should you instruct your platoon to bring pencils to noon chow for the test? Absolutely. Because whether the test is after noon chow, in the evening, or tomorrow, theres no cost for having the platoon carry around their pencils for a day. Better that than be caught in a classroom with an entire platoon with no pencil to take the test. This was a fairly straightforward and obvious example, but the principles are clear: if youre in doubt, its better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. 1. Headquarters Company a. S-1 Administration: When you first check-in, these are the Marines that are writing on the back of your hand what Company and Platoon you belong to. They are also in charge of all things related to paperwork, including your plane tickets back home. b. S-3 Operations: All I know is that they are in charge of the all-powerful Training Schedule and as well as modifications to the training schedule. 2. Supply (S-4) a. These are the Marines that run the warehouses near Medical and the field head at the start of the seniors run course. b. The gear that they are in charge of includes: i. War belts ii. Canteens iii. Canteen Pouches iv. Blankets
1

Sun Tzu, tr. Samuel B. Griffith, The Art of War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1963): 84.

v. Sheets vi. Mattress Cover vii. Pillowcase 3. Armory a. These are the Marines that run the building next to the field head at the start of the seniors run course, but on the side closer to the barracks. The building is surrounded by barbed wire fence. b. The gear that they are in charge of includes: i. M-16A2 Service Rifle ii. Cleaning Equipment iii. Blank Firing Adapters (BFAs) iv. Slings and Sling Keepers 4. Tactics a. These Marines are the ones that give you periods of instruction while youre in the field. Most of them are infantry (grunts) with a ton of combat experience. b. Most of the ones I have met are pretty laid back, but they certainly know their stuff. Listen to what they have to say. It could save your life someday. 5. Physical Fitness a. These Marines, or Physical Training Instructors, are commanded by a Color Sergeant from the British Royal Marines. b. Your PTI will be the primary source of pain during your time at Officer Candidates School. Standby for that. 6. Academics a. These Marines are in charge of creating your knowledge, administering the tests, and so on. As for the actual instructors to the great many classes you will be taking, they are listed as Training & Education Rep. which leads me to believe that they are often borrowed from neighboring commands, such as The Basic School, to teach classes. 7. Medical a. As with the entire Marine Corps, the medical portion of OCS is actually run by the U.S. Navy. They are noticeably more relaxed that the Marines, but at the same time, Im not sure I want the medical staff to be relaxed when it comes to medical stuff. Priors: you should know this already, but make a photocopy of everything in your Medical Records just in case they lose it. Its been known to happen. While I certainly got sick at OCS, I never sought out specific medical attention, so I really never had any contact with Medical after receiving. b. Each Platoon is assigned a corpsman. During my juniors year, I had probably the meanest corpsman Ive ever met. Once, a candidate approached him and said, Corpsman, my legs hurts to which the corpsman asked, are you going to die? The candidate: uh no. The Corpsman: Then get the hell away from me. On the balance though, when I went to seniors, I had one of the nicest corpsman ever. c. An OCS secret: your Platoon corpsman gets to dispense an unlimited amount of Motrin for pain. Some of the candidates who were hurting took those like candy to make it through OCS. Honestly though, if youre hurting that bad, you might want to go to Medical. 8. Religious Command

a. Battalion Chaplain and the other Chaplains i. Supposedly the Battalion Chaplain is completely outside of rank structure, so he can walk into the Colonels office any time he wants to. ii. The Chaplains are in charge of your religious affairs. They get you for an hour and a half on Sundays and another hour sometime during the week for Prayer and Praise. iii. On religions: Ive heard of LDS and Jewish getting food (cookies) and other special privileges. Apparently, if youre a religion that they dont have a Chaplain for, then you will get an hour and a half to yourself in a room somewhere. iv. If you dont go to religious services or prayer and praise, you stay in the squadbays to do whatever you want. This pretty much means re-marking your gear, organizing your footlocker and wall locker, and possibly getting to hygiene earlier/longer/separately from everyone else. I have heard stories about the Staff messing with candidates who dont go to religious services, but have never seen that myself. Keep in mind though, if they need a working party for something, youd be the most readily available. v. If you have a serious issue, the Chaplains will also deal with it. They can get people out of training for emergencies such a family member dying and so forth. If your family has an emergency and they need to contact you, they should go through the American Red Cross. 9. Cash Sales/Uniforms a. To get here, you have to take the bus. Word for priors: bring everything you were issued in Recruit Training. You may or may not get issued more uniforms for free. You may or may not have the opportunity to buy things that you didnt bring. I brought my deserts to juniors and ended up not even touching them. I wasnt going to bring them to seniors, but then I heard rumors about seniors graduating in deserts. Turned out to be false, and I didnt use them again in seniors. Its not the end of the world if you bring something you dont need. Worst case is you end up storing you Deserts in the company gear locker. Better that than being in a situation where you need something you dont have. b. You have to pay for the stuff you get here, but unlike the MCX gear, you dont need to pay it up front. They have some kind of form to fill out that will dock it from your next paycheck. c. My gear issue for juniors: 2 Green Utility Blouses, 2 Green Utility Trousers d. My gear issue for seniors: none 10. The Civilians a. The Marine Corps Exchange i. These civilians work for the Marine Corps Exchange and sell you your large and small bag issues. These bag issues must be paid in full at the time of purchase. b. The Chow Hall i. Civilians also run the chow hall. Nothing good or bad to say about them, except that it must be a strange workplace watching us get yelled at. c. The Taxi Drivers

i. They dont work for the Marine Corps per se, but theyre civilians you will interact with assuming you want to get off base and dont have a car. Copy this number into your phone: (703) 491-2222. Its the Prince William Yellow Cab service, which is supposed to be the only one allowed to operate on base though other taxis sometimes sneak on base. 11. Company Staff a. Company Level Staff i. Company Commander ii. Company Executive Officer iii. Company First Sergeant iv. Company Gunnery Sergeant v. Company Platoon Sergeant vi. Company Clerk b. Platoon Level Staff i. Staff Platoon Commander ii. Staff Platoon Sergeant 12. Candidate Staff a. Company Level Candidate Staff i. Candidate Company Commander ii. Candidate Company Executive Officer iii. Candidate Company First Sergeant iv. Candidate Company Gunnery Sergeant b. Platoon Level Candidate Staff i. Candidate Platoon Commander ii. Candidate Platoon Sergeant iii. Candidate Squad Leader iv. Candidate Fireteam Leader c. Unofficial Platoon Billets i. Scribe ii. Scribble/Assistant Scribe iii. House Mice/House Rats iv. Laundry Candidates v. Armory Candidates vi. Supply Candidates vii. Money Candidate viii. Field Meet Candidate On the unofficial billets: volunteering for them is definitely extra work. If you want to show how motivated you are, by all means, volunteer for them. Be careful what you wish for though. Our Armory Candidates, for example, had to wake up early every single morning to hand out rifles. Kudos for those guys, but its definitely extra work.

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Chapter 2: Preparations
Proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance. the 7 Ps

What You Get Issued at Quantico

When you get to Officer Candidates School, youre going to get issued the Little Red Book. No, its not a book of Communist sayings by Mao Zedong. Instead, its everything about Officer Candidates School, including all the rules and regulations, how things are graded, what the policies are for everything, and so on. You can also find it on the OCS website.2 Portions of it, such as how to organize your footlocker, are hopelessly out of date, and other parts are hopelessly confusing. That being said, do not lose this little red book. Do not wash it. Do not allow it to get destroyed by seating through your uniform. Get one of your Ziploc bags, preferably one that is pre-wrapped with duct tape and has your name clearly printed on the front in a way so that it will not come off in the rain, and keep your Little Red Book, along with a pen, a map pen, and a pad of water-proof paper in that bag. During your first few days here at Quantico, you will be visiting a number of the different sections at Officer Candidates School to get issued various things. Everything you get from Supply or the Armory, you will be returning at the end of your stay at OCS. Everything you get from Cash Sales/Uniforms and the Marine Corps Exchange (MCX) becomes yours. You must pay for the MCX gear when you buy it, but the Cash Sales/Uniforms can be docked from your first paycheck. Bring roughly $300 in cash for the large and small bag issue. My first year, you were required to pay in cash, and my second year, they said debit cards were possible. That being said, bring cash because you never know.

http://www.ocs.usmc.mil/

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Things Issued at OCS Supply Wargear and canteens, blankets and sheets, pack and all bivouac gear. It is all returned at the end of OCS.

All uniforms. These are fully issued to civilians. Priors Cash Sales/ are supposed to bring everything with them. Anything Uniforms they dont have they must buy. Armory M-16A2 Service Rifle, cleaning gear, magazines, Blank Firing Adaptor (BFA), sling, slingkeeper. Obviously, all returned at the end of OCS. Two large bags of miscellaneous items ranging from highlighters to shower shoes.

The MCX

Above all, do not lose anything you are issued at OCS whether you buy them or not. They are in your custody, and you will possibly need them at some point. You dont want to be the one candidate who doesnt have whatever piece of gear when your Sergeant Instructors tell you to go get it. Next, I will break down exactly what it is you get issued at each location. Supply
Issued at Supply QTY Name 2 Canteens Comments You are recommended to bring your own canteens from home that you purchased at your local Marine Corps Exchange. The canteens you get issued will likely be very old and gross. You take your warbelt with its canteens with you everywhere you go at OCS. Do not hand it off to someone. If you get caught going somewhere without your warbelt, you WILL get in trouble. You dont really get time to pick, but try to get one at least long enough to fit your rack. Otherwise, you wont be able to get the exact 12 from the edge of the mattress to the first fold, and 6 to the second fold.

Canteen Pouches

Warbelt

Blanket

2 1 1

Sheets Mattress Cover Pillowcase

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1 1

Kevlar Helmet Kevlar Helmet Cover They were phasing out the ALICE pack when I was going through. You might get an ILBE or MOLLE pack instead. Similarly, you might get a CamelBak instead of or in addition to canteens

ALICE Pack

1 1 1

H-Harness Poncho Poncho Liner This is your replacement for a blanket if you dont want to re-make your rack every night. I went during the summer so we did not get these, but I have seen photos of Candidates wearing them, so I assume they were issued at Supply.

Goretex Jacket and other cold weather gear? Tent Tent Poles Tent Stakes Tent Stakes Bag Tent Poles Bag Tent Bag Entrenching Tool (E-Tool) Entrenching Tool Cover

1 3 ? 1 1 1 1 1

You share a tent with your rackmate while in the field. You get issued more tent stakes than you need to set-up your tent, but you also need to return the same number, so dont lose them.

Make sure you put this on the correct side of your pack. Theres always one candidate who doesnt. I dont think you get issued this at supply right away. Rather, when you need it, your Sergeant Instructors will hand them out. They undoubtedly come from supply though. During your Land Navigation courses, ensure that you secure you compass before moving. Failure to do so can result in failing the course. And dont talk during the course. Thats just stupid.

Compass

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Cash Sales/Uniforms Priors and returning seniors that failed to bring back some of the stuff they were issued at juniors had the opportunity to purchase whatever they were missing. Priors who didnt bring anything had to re-purchase the entire standard uniform issue. When we went through, they filled out a form (NAVMC 604?) that deducted the cost of the uniforms from your next paycheck.
Issued at Cash Sales/Uniforms for Priors at Juniors QTY Name 2 2 Woodland Camouflage Blouses Woodland Camouflage Trousers Comments The captain there said these were free. As in not even deducted from your paycheck.

Issued at Cash Sales/Uniforms for Priors at Seniors QTY Name Nothing Comments We had the opportunity to buy whatever we did not have, though.
3

Issued at Cash Sales/Uniforms for Civilians at Juniors QTY Name 4 4 1 1 1 1 ? ? ? ? ? 1 1 Woodland Camouflage Blouses Woodland Camouflage Trousers Woodland Eight Point Cover Woodland Field Cover Combat Boots Desert Boots/Hot Weather Boots Web Belts Green Undershirts Green PT Shorts Boot Socks Seabag Green Sweatshirt Green Sweatpants Boonie cover Comments

I think Parris Island graduates call these ICBs

I was not issued this, so this is just what Im guessing.

14

Issued at Cash Sales/Uniforms for Civilians at Seniors QTY Name 2 2 1 1 ? ? ? ? Desert Camouflage Blouses Desert Camouflage Trousers Desert Eight Point Cover Desert Field Cover Web Belts Green Undershirts Green PT Shorts Boot Socks Boonie cover Comments

The MCX
Issued in Your Lg. and Sm. Bag Issue QTY 1 Cost Name Comments You get issued a pair of insoles for your boots and for your running shoes (go fasters). Use them. Might as well right? 2 pairs are not enough. You need 6. Minimum. I think I went to seniors with 10. That might have been excessive, but at least I never worried about not having clean shorts. 6 may be enough, but the more the merrier. If you bring 4 more, youll be good. I never used my jock strap. I think the Staff told us to wear them every time we PT, but they never really checked and nobody else wore them. Apparently, you can get serious medical problems to your man parts from running without a jock strap, so I guess its your call.

$15.00 Biosole Insole

$6.10

Olive Drab Nylon Shorts 3 pack of Olive Drab TShirts

$10.85

$2.55

Athletic Supporter

$11.69 Advantage Sport RP I brought the 2 I was issued at juniors to seniors. Using 4 bags is convenient because then you can always just throw a small bag with 2 sets of skivvies in the laundry without worrying about running out of bags. Your rifle cable lock. Do not lose it. Do not lose the combination. Write it down on something separate from your lock. Memorize it so if you

$5.25

24x36 Laundry Mesh Bag

$7.00

3 Cable Combination Lock

Again, I was not issued this, so this is just what Im guessing.

15

lose the thing you wrote it down on, you can still use it. Same thing. Dont lose them. Dont lose the combinations. One will go on your foot locker and one on your wall locker. I brought mine from juniors back with me because I had the combinations already memorized. These wiry hangers are useless. They will bend if you try to put your uniforms on them. First chance you get, buy some nice plastic hangers from the PX. Take half and stick in your black binder. Take the other half and waterproof it and stash it somewhere just in case. Your letter-writing gear. If youre jaded like me, you wont need this, so you can give it to a Candidate who misses home and does need it. Dont give it away if youre going to want to write letters though. The erasers on these things suck. You make a mistake on the test, and try to erase it managing to smudge the entire paper. Then you have to look like an idiot and raise your hand to get another answer sheet. You should be bringing pencils with you to OCS anyway, so use those instead. If you have a Platoon level billet, order all your candidates to bring 2 pencils to the tests, so you never have a situation with a candidate missing a pencil. Make sure your Platoon has pencils on test day. Dont be that Candidate Platoon Commander that failed to foresee the need. Be warned. Highlighters have liquid in them. If they break somehow, they will spill yellow highlighter juice all over your stuff. Keep in a plastic bag.

$7.00

Combination Lock (2pack)

$0.99

Hangers (10-pack)

$1.49

Paper (200-ct.)

$2.65

USMC Writing Portfolio

$0.10

Pencil

$0.99

Yellow Highlighter (2pack)

1 1 1 1

$1.29 $0.69 $0.50 $5.45

Black Fine Point Marker Regular Sharpie Pen (2-pack) Pencil Sharpener Black 2 Binder For holding your knowledge Okay theres no way you can make it through OCS with only 2 pens.

$4.29

If youre lucky, the receiving Marines will collect this from you and stash them away in Tide Laundry Detergent your supply locker prior to pick-up. Otherwise, be careful not to have your detergent box get destroyed by your Sergeant Instructors. Soap Box Holder Plastic thing to hold soap

$0.60

16

1 1

$0.60 $1.75

Toothbrush Holder Scrub Brush

Plastic thing to hold toothbrush A scuzz brush that you will use almost every day Use for cleaning your ears and your rifle. You will most likely run out and need to buy more on libo or during PX calls. Cut your dang fingernails while youre at OCS. Okay check it out. Theres something called sweat rashes or heat rashes that you can get anywhere on your body at OCS from the excessive sweating. My corpsman at juniors told me the trick: toss a little bit of foot powder on it before you go to sleep at night and youll stop sweating in that area, and the rash will go away. Dont overuse it though because it causes that part to stop sweating and could lead to overheating. No way this is enough hand sanitizer. Bring your own and you will probably still need to buy some during libo/at the PX. No way 2 is enough. Bring your own, and youll still buy a bunch at the PX. The great mystery of OCS. Everyone gets one of these and nobody knows why. Although some candidates used these to clean their rifles, most never touched them. Useful for sewing back on buttons or repairing your uniforms. Dont waste too much of your sleep time though. Once your uniform gets a tear, its technically unserviceable and you need to get a new one. You will need at least three belts to go with your four uniforms (see Organizing Your Existence). One for inspection, one for everyday use, and one for the mud courses. It would be nice to have two for inspection though. Used for writing on maps and anything else you have laminated. Erase with hand sanitizer. I think the only time we ever used these was during SULE II. It was on the packing list and we were supposed to blow them if we got completely lost, and some staff member would come find us. My life for bug spray. Bring it with you to the field. Find room in your pack. Use it.

1 1

$1.49 $0.69

Q-Tibs (170 ct.) Fingernail Clipper

$3.69

Foot Powder (7 oz.)

$1.19

Hand Sanitizer (2 oz.) 1 White Athletic Tape (10 yds.)

$1.99

$1.00

Paint Brush (1 in.)

$2.30

Deluxe Sewing Kit

$2.50

Belt

$2.99

Map Pen (2-pack?)

$5.99

Storm Whistle

$4.29

Deep Woods Insect Repellent Aerosol

17

1 1

$2.19 $1.59

Bristle Dauber Boot Polish

For marking PT shirts using the boot polish method. Since the whole platoon can basically share 3, most of these go unused. Not for polishing boots. For marking PT shirts. These were a new addition my senior year. I guess they noticed that everyone was bringing them and buying them during PX calls, so they added them to the initial purchase. That being said, these are not brand name Ziploc bags, but rather their generic brand competitors, meaning that these kind of suck. Youll need to wrap them in duct tape so that they dont tear. For your ghetto flashlight. Youll be mostly using your high-speed Cyclops anyway. If you get a small piece of thread from your sewing kit, you can tie a loop through the middle hole. This will greatly aid you in figuring out directions from point to point. So in between juniors and seniors, I went and made a custom stencil with my name on it using the juniors stencil as a guide. Guess what? They changed fonts between juniors and seniors. Go figure. The company that makes the stencils is called Delta Creative and you can find their website at www.deltacrafts.com . If you look at their stencils guide (http://deltacreative.com/uploads /media/documents/Stencil_alphabet.pdf) the big stencil we used in 2006 was Basic Alphabet 7x10 and the ones we used in 2007 was Times Alphabet 7x10. Both years, we used Upper Case Alphabet 3x8.5 for the small stencil. Why do I bother telling you? Just in case you want to make your own stencil of your name before OCS. For MCMAP and for poking each other with pugil sticks. This is not the same as the fancy $15 stamp kit you get at MCRD. This one sucks, actually. I gave mine away. You stencil everything anyway. These things explode. Keep them in a plastic whenever you bring them to the field. If you can manage to get your hands on one of the cammie paint kits that look like make-up kits with a mirror on one side and the paints on the other side, get that instead. Its more convenient that carrying around three tubes of paint.

$2.29

Ziploc Bags

$2.49

D Batteries (2 pk.)

$3.70

Square Protractor

$1.79

Stencil Big

$0.99

Stencil Small

$0.95

Mouthguard

$5.35

Marking Kit

$5.59

Camouflauge Paint (3 tubes)

18

$1.99

White Crew Socks

You use a bunch of these in juniors because you always go running in PT gear. You use very few in seniors because you always go running in boots. Another one of those things that was new during seniors. I dont know how effective it was because I didnt use it. I used the bug spray liberally my senior year so I didnt get bitten. For cleaning your rifle. I think two packs of these means 4 total, which is not enough. I brought a whole bunch from home (like 10) so I never had to worry. Simple: if you burn, use it. If you dont, dont. If youre ever in a platoon billet and the platoon is going outside for prolonged duration (to the field), ensure that at least your squad leaders have it. Since they can be shared, not every single person needs one. Despite being labeled as a break-proof container, this thing can still break and leak all over. Keep in a plastic bag. If youre on libo, you can buy the small travel-sized version of the same brand and keep it in the buttstock of your rifle. Dont lose these. Youll go barefoot. Figure out a way to label these uniquely so you dont get them lost when the house is trashed. Your ghetto moonbeam. Since youll be bringing a red lens headlamp for use at night instead, you wont really use this which is good because it will probably break after about 3 days. You will have to wear it on the way to chow before the sun comes up, so dont lose it. You make shower rolls at OCS. Heres the trick. Make a shower roll and keep it at the top of your footlocker. Every time someone says take out a shower roll, take it out to display on your footlocker, but when you actually shower, use a different towel/shower roll. This way, your shower roll is always pristine white instead of turning into nasty puke yellow. Never used these. Your best friend at OCS. Mark it. Dont lose it. Guys who stood through recruit training will attest to this. For writing letters.

$2.00

Insect Sting Mitigator

1 2

$0.85 $1.20

Pipe Cleaners Trouser Blousers

$7.79

Sunblock

$4.99

CLP (4 oz.)

$1.10

Shower Shoes

$5.70

Flashlight

$3.00

Big White Towel

2 1 1

$0.79

Small White Towel

$19.95 Camp Stool $8.20 Stamps

19

$4.00

Tailor Shop

I remember looking at the receipt during receiving and thinking to myself oh, so thats what Tailor Shop is, but now I cant remember anymore. Cost of sewing on/off the white nametapes possibly?

Total Cost: $251.85 I know the females list is more expensive because they have to buy sports bras, and I know that the wintertime candidates list is more expensive because they have to buy some cold weather stuff. You should be bringing $300 specifically for this, with probably another $100 for liberty and haircuts. Even then, you will still need to stop by the ATM in Q-Town.

20

Armory
Issued at the Armory QTY Name 1 3 1 1 1 M16A2 Service Rifle Magazines Rifle Cleaning Gear Sling Sling Keeper Comments This lightweight magazine-fed gas-operated aircooled shoulder-fired weapon of mass destruction fires a 5.56mm NATO round with a maximum effective range of 800 meters for an area target and 550 meters for a point target. This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My rifle, without me is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me

In the Marine Corps, the rifle is a holy thing. Dont drop your rifle. Dont lose your rifle. Your rifle is more important than you are. You should be thinking about where your rifle is at all times. Be the one to lose your rifle. Be the one. It wont be pretty. Never forget the order of importance: rifle, gear, body. That goes for when you go to Iraq too. Rifle, gear, body.

21

What to Bring to Quantico

Theres no correct list of what to bring. You can bring what I brought. You could bring nothing at all. You could look around the online forums and bring every single thing that any candidate ever recommended bringing. The bottom line is the more things you bring the more things you need to keep track of, and the more likely you are to lose something important. Also, I dont chafe and I dont blister (well, I do but not badly) so I didnt bring anything for those. If you do, and almost everyone does, you may need to bring something. Here is the exact list of what I brought to OCS.
What I Brought to Seniors QTY Name Comments I only used one. I was recommended to bring two to carry all my stuff home at the end, but since I threw away a lot of the stuff I wasnt going to need, I actually ended up leaving Quantico with fewer things than I arrived. The warbag I got issued in recruit training.

Seabags

1 2 1 1 1

Large Backpack Wrinkle-Free Civilian Collared Shirts Wrinkle-Free Civilian Trousers Civilian Belt Military ID

Useful for getting back on base if youre a prior or a dependent. Obviously, civilians who are not dependents will not have these. Dont screw yourself by bringing cash and cash only and hoping that it will last you.

1 1 1 1 1

Debit/Credit Card Original Orders Service Record Book Medical Records Dental Records

There actually isnt a separate Dental section at OCS. These records just went in my civilian bag in the civilian gear locker. Cell phones are confiscated at the beginning of the training and returned at the start of each liberty

Cell Phone

22

session. Make sure you turn your phone off before you return it to the contraband locker. If it rings, your staff is liable to take it out and toss it across the squadbay. 1 Cell Phone Charger Dont leave home without it. Your phone battery will die within six weeks, even if its off most of the time. A necessity for billet-holders. If youre general population, you may or may not be allowed to bring a watch around with you in your pocket. $7 a haircut times 6 weeks = $42. Bring enough ones so that you can always give exact change to the candidate in charge of haircut money. $60 was nowhere near enough money to get through three liberties. That being said, there is a Bank of America ATM in Q-Town and at the Main Exchange. For the large and small bag issues More useful than a 12 ruler since everything you measure needs to be six inches. My ruler was a folding ruler, so it could collapse into a tiny little box. 2 to your parents, 1 to your significant other, 1 to your OSO. I think I ended up only writing the one to my OSO and only because I was handed the I arrived safely, sir or maam form letter. I wasnt big on letter writing at OCS, but some candidates read letters and wrote letters every single night. Seemed like a waste of good sleeping time to me, but if its what you need to make it through, than its what you need. Arriving with nametapes already made will help you out greatly during the first two weeks. Instead of having to make the nametapes during your first few nights, you get to sleep. You will be asked are they more than three weeks old. If you say yes, you will be ordered to buy a new pair on liberty. Do not wear seriously old nasty running shoes. They wont let you run in them because you will get shin splints, stress fractures, or other impact injuries really quickly. Never used. Never used. Never used.

Waterproof Digital Watch

$42

Haircut Money

$60

Liberty Money

$300 Initial Issue Money

Six inch ruler

Pre-address Envelopes

24

Pre-cut pre-marked Six Inch White Nametapes

Go-fasters

1 1 1

Desert Camouflage Blouse Desert Camouflage Trousers Desert Camouflage

23

Eight Point Cover 1 Desert Camouflage Field Cover Never used. 2 were used for storing things. Based on the presumption that your Drill Instructors arent going to open your hygiene bags and throw the contents all over the squadbay, I had a bunch of hygiene bags. Some guys brought or bought electric razors, but although they are faster, they dont shave as close as manual ones. Since you can get firewatch or otherwise punished for improper shave, it doesnt seem worth it to me.

Hygiene Bags

Razor

4 1 1 1 1 1

Extra Razor Blades Shaving Cream Soap Dish Soap Bar Toothbrush Toothbrush Holder Redundant with issued gear Redundant with issued gear Uh bring a regular toothbrush. None of that fancy electric stuff. Redundant with issued gear Get one where the cap flips off but is still attached instead of the ones that you screw off. That way youll never lose the cap. My rackmate in Boot Camp lost his toothpaste cap and got toothpaste all over everything. Most people did not bring shampoo. I did, and I thought it was useful even though you get your hair shaved off on the first day. Haircuts after that are high and tight so you will grow out some hair.

Toothpaste

Shampoo

Woodland Camouflauge One for inspection, one for daily use, and one for Utility Blouses with the Quigley White Nametapes Slick Woodland Camouflage Utility Blouse Woodland Camouflage Utility Trousers No such thing as too many. You can stage these in hidden areas, such as around the foot of your rack, so if you ever need one really quickly you can grab it. Slick = no nametapes

12

Boot Blousers

24

Combat Boots

I brought my Desert Boots to juniors as inspection boots. If you simply take care of your combat boots, they work fine as inspection boots, so I did not bring them back for seniors. Three pairs of boots was not too many, per se, but it was one more thing to keep track of. Some people swear by them. Some people wont touch them because they say the weaker grip hurts on the rope. I brought them and I wore them, but I dont know if it made that big a difference. You can do what one of my buddies did: bring them, but always train in the heavier combat boots until the test day, and you will run faster because you are used to the heavier combat boots. No kidding this is more laundry than most other candidates bring. Together with the issue, I had 13 Green Undershirts and 9 Green PT shorts. That being said, I never had to worry about not having clean clothes to wear.

Bates Lites

7 7 7 4 2 2

Green Undershirts Marked Silky PT Green Shorts Regular Boot Socks High-speed Hiking Socks White Socks Pre-cut pre-marked preshrunk Web Belts Pre-cut pre-marked preshrunk Inspection Web Belt Pre-marked White Towels

Split between Thorlo and the other brand All you really need for seniors because you do most of your running in boots Refer to MCO for how to mark

Shiny brass protected with a piece of cloth

From last year Disinfect your canteens right after your receive them (assuming you are not swapping them out for your own canteens) and then again periodically throughout the cycle. You will run out of mouthwash, but you can get more at the PX. I have heard of candidates being banned by their platoon staff from getting mouthwash since its alchohol. My staff never mentioned anything though. If youre near MCRD, they sell these field breakresistant bottles of hand sanitizer at the recruit exchange. For when you get the candidate crud Redundant with issued gear

Bottles of Mouthwash

3 3 1

Bottles of Hand Sanitizer Facial Tissue Packages Nail Clipper

25

Erasable Pens

Worth their weight in gold during juniors when a bunch of people wrote two essays a night, and just extra weight during seniors because they almost completely stopped assigning essays With plenty of lead; useful for the tests I swear by the Sharpie method of marking shirts, but others dont like it. Its more work, certainly, but the Sharpie method survives one wash, so each time you mark a shirt, youre really marking two. Also, it looks cleaner. Finally, you can do it in your rack at night. Plus the two you get issued makes six, and I still ran out of these before the end. Thats okay though since you can get them at the PX. Useful for miscellaneous things. I was the only one in my platoon to bring clear tape, but it was useful for laminating things.

Mechanical Pencil

Sharpie Rub-a-dub Markers

White Athletic Tape

Clear Tape Collapsible Six Inch Ruler Stapler Small Writing Pads Waterproof Writing Pad IP Scissors

1 1 3 1 1

Small stapler that was issued in recruit training

IP = Irish Pennant, those threads on your uniform that must be cut off. The heart and soul of OCS. This is your most valuable item at OCS because it allows you to work at night without having to hold a flashlight in one hand. I used the one by Petzl. Its small, has the red lens built in, runs on 3 AAA batteries, and I havent yet found the need to change the batteries despite 12 weeks of OCS. Highly recommended. Birth-control Glasses. I actually never used these simply because my vision isnt that bad. Granted, I cant tell the difference between a Gunnery Sergeant and a Staff Sergeant, but it seems like neither could the guys with 20-20 vision.

Red Lens Headlamp AKA The Cyclops

Military Issue Glasses

In addition, I bought the following things during the first few PX calls:
What I Bought at the PX/on Libo QTY Name 1 Cough Drops Package Comments Be warned: your staff may or may not permit these.

26

1 1

Sweatshirt Because our squadbay was freezing at night Sweatpants Because I ran out For Company and Battalion Commanders Inspection

More White Tape 1 Additional Inspection Belt

I have heard of the following things recommended: Biking Shorts or Anti-chafing Cream for those who chafe Body wash for high-speed hygiene Bathing sponge for high-speed hygiene Small iron About blisters and your feet: I dont have anything to say. Not that my feet dont blister, but they dont blister badly so I just ignored it. I dont know how many candidates fall into this category, but Im willing to bet all the money in my pockets that its a small minority. So go out and figure out and take preventative measures against blisters and also learn how to treat them.

And How to Pack It

Figuring out what to bring to OCS is only half the battle. The other half is making it through pick-up with most of your stuff, and getting the rest of it trickled to you over the next few nights. Here is the basic philosophy: mark, bundle, and bag. 1. If it can be marked, mark it. Every single little thing. I marked my razor. If its not marked, and you lose it during pick-up, dont expect anybody to come asking you if the item is yours. If you didnt bother to mark it, then it must not be important enough for you to want it back. 2. You know how the Marine Corps command structure works, with any given level being in charge of three basic elements? (Platoon Commander is in charge of 3 Squads, Squad Leader is in charge of 3 Fireteams, etc.) Same idea for your gear. You should never open something and have it scatter into 20 pieces. It should fall out in three bundles. When those bundles are undone, they should fall into three bundles. For example, I took my soap, put it in the soap container, wrapped it up in a small towel, put a piece of white tape around it, and wrote my name on the tape. 3. Similar items should be kept bundled together. Your writing utensils should all be kept in the same container, most likely a plastic bag. Same goes for all your hygiene gear in a hygiene bag. Not your rifle cleaning gear per se since it goes in the buttstock of your rifle, but your rifle cleaning rag, CLP, Q-tips, and pipe cleaners should all be bundled together and put in the same bag. Here is what I did: 27

Cammie Rolls: composed of 1 Camouflauge Utility Blouse and 1 Camouflage Utility Trousers, rolled together, taped up, and marked on the tape with my name as well as what type of uniform it was (daily use, inspection, Quigley). Skivvy Rolls: 1 Green Undershirt, 1 PT Shorts, and 1 Pair Boot Socks, rolled together, using your socks to make keep it together. Skivvy rolls are then placed in a mesh laundry bag. Hygiene Bags: I had all my hygiene gear in one, all my writing utensils and some miscellaneous gear in the other, and everything else in the last one. They are rather inconspicuous since both the staff and other candidates simply presume that you have hygiene gear in your hygiene bag. I knew what was in which bag, and although they were securely put together, I was able to very quickly take out one element. When I had to dump my stuff, out fell 4 cammie rolles, two pairs of boots, 2 laundry bags fill with stuff, and 3 hygiene bags. Its much easier grabbing 11 items than trying to grab a hundred piece of individual gear. Dont be the candidate trying to pick up 20 individual pens or boot blousers on pick-up. Theres always one. Exploding/Leaking Items Laundry detergent, foot powder, hand sanitizer, bug spray, highlighters, shoe polish, cammie paint, sunblock, CLP, shaving cream, mouthwash, and toothpaste can LEAK or EXPLODE. Since you dont want a mess, keep these things stored in plastic bags or a hygiene bag. You dont want to get cammie paint all over your gear. Sweat Damage It is hot in Quantico during the summer. You sweat. You sweat completely through your cammies. Anything you keep with you must be protected from this sweat. This includes candidate regulations, drill card, embark tags, and notepads. Keep these dry in a marked plastic bag, preferably with a pen. Inspection Heres the final word on preparations for inspection. Be fully prepared for your first inspection on the day you arrive at OCS. Not kidding. That means you have a fully pressed, neatly marked set of inspection uniforms, an inspection belt, inspection boots, inspection cover, and so on. On the night before inspections, when everyone is fervently working on their inspection clothing for tomorrow, you can be preparing your knowledge, or getting the extra sleep to ensure that youre sharp. Better yet, you can help out those candidates who are working to earn some goodwill.

28

What to Buy on Liberty

You dont actually need to buy these, but they are worth considering:
Consider Buying During Liberty QTY Name Comments Yes, you get issued one with your cleaning gear, but it tends to be old and nasty. A new brush with stiff bristles will help greatly. I bought one at a shop in Q-Town. Although its almost impossible to fail the last two inspections, you have the time and you want to look good, you can get a new pair of cammies. If you want.

All Purpose Brush

1 1 1

New Slick Camouflage Blouse New Slick Camouflage Trousers Inspection Boots

You can also consider buying new versions of gear youve been issued, such as a warbelt, but it seems like a waste of money to me. On your last liberty, buy a good moto book. I recommend Making of the Corps by Thomas Ricks. The last week is incredibly boring and having some good reading material helps pass the time.

29

Organizing Your Existence

Congratulations, you made it through pick-up to your first night. Your evenings are your opportunity to organize yourself. Youre tired and so is everyone else. Resist the urge to dump everything in your footlocker and go to sleep. Take some time to organize yourself this first week and create a system and it will make things go a lot smoother. To begin with, I was on the top bunk all three times. This is significant because I have access to my ALICE pack even in that period from 21:00 to 21:15 when youre not allowed out of your rack. (Some platoons make it from 21:00 to 22:00.) So here is how I organized things. You can and obviously will do things differently. Whats important isnt how your organize themits the fact that things are organized and you know where everything is. Excess Gear All excess gear, such as Desert uniforms, civilian clothing, inspection boots (which arent needed for the first two inspections since those tend to be more hazing and less actual inspecting), and other unused gear should be stored in your civilian bag in your civilian gear locker. Out of sight. Out of mind. Fewer things to deal with. That being said, make sure that you dont stash away something that youre going to end up needing. Best case scenario is that your company leaves the civilian gear locker unlocked at night and you can go at night and get your stuff. Kind of annoying since you have to get fully dressed to walk onto the quarterdeck, but not that bad. Worst case is that your company locks it and the key is with the Company First Sergeant or Company Gunnery Sergeant. Then you have to explain to your staff why you left X necessary item in the civilian gear locker. Not fun. Staging Gear Staging simply means putting it in a place so that you can readily access it. Stage your gear appropriately. Stage a pair of extra boot blousers someplace inconspicuous on the rack, such as at the bottom of the racks legs. Things that you will need quickly or daily should be at the top of your footlocker. This includes a hygiene roll, your hygiene bag, etc. Things that you either dont use or rarely use, such as inspection boots, should be kept at the bottom of your footlocker. This seems fairly obvious, but there are a great multitude of candidates that have to open their footlocker, pull out the shelves and dig around to find things that we need everyday. If youre on the top bunk, stage the things you need at night in your ALICE pack. Since you normally just have your knowledge in there, you have some extra space. In the next section, I will talk about the 2105 kit, and that goes in the ALICE pack as well. Stage the following gear by taping to the inside door of your wall locker: both stencils, mouthguard, a pencil, a pen, six-inch ruler, regular sharpie, rub-a-dub sharpie, protractor, map pens, and IP scissors. These must be removed before inspections, but otherwise, I cannot overemphasize the value of being able to run to your wall locker and grabbing the correct stencil and a sharpie when you need it instead of digging around your footlocker. 30

Stage pre-made white nametapes on the inside cover of your footlocker. This includes not only regular 6 nametapes for your rack and footlockers, but also the white nametapes for your rifle, warbelt, ALICE pack, H-harness, canteen and canteen pouches. The canteen and canteen pouch nametapes are 18. Creating one for your rifle is a bit tricky because you need your name centered on the correct side and your company and platoon centered on the other side. Best way to do it, is to create one using the rifle itself, taking it off the rifle, and using it as a template to create the rest. The 2105 Kit Why is it called the 2105 kit? Because you use it at around 21:05 every night. This is how it works: most nights we get adjust at around 21:05. Since were not allowed out of our racks until 21:15 (or 22:00 for some platoons), most candidates just lay there awake at night. If you have a 2105 kit staged in your ALICE pack, though, you roll over and grab it and start working in those ten minutes. It doesnt seem like much, but by week 2, you can be done working for the night before most other candidates even get up to start working. The following items are in your 2105 kit: 1. Sweatpants and Sweatshirt because our squadbay was freezing at night 2. Cough Drops (Warning: Check with your staff to ensure they are okay.) 3. The Cyclops, a red lens headlamp 4. Poncho liner, to be used instead of your blankets so you dont need to re-make your rack 5. Rub-a-Dub sharpie marker 6. Faded PT shirt 7. Written Calendar, so I could cross off a day to get a little motivation 8. Extra canteen for hydrating Theres no need for a third canteen, but I brought one from home, so I kept it there for convenient hydration. By 2115, I was warm and cozy, stopped coughing, hydrated, crossed off a day from my calendar, and had remarked a PT shirt. The Sharpie Method Heres the trick to the sharpie method: dont use it the first time. No thats correct. The first time you create a PT shirt, use the boot polish method. It will create the outline for you in 1/10th the time it would take to make it using a sharpie. After you mark it using boot polish, wear the shirt, launder it, and get it back, you will still be able to see the line where to mark the shirt. Thats when you start using sharpies. Secondly, use Rub-a-Dub Sharpies and Rub-a-Dub Sharpies ONLY for marking your PT shirts. The regular sharpies wash off after one run through the laundry. Rub-a-Dub sharpies stay black for the second time around. Therefore, each time you mark one shirt using the Rub-a-Dub method, youre really marking two. Yes, it takes longer, but it looks neater presuming you take the time, and you can do it from your rack between 2105 and 2115. Bring a bunch of Rub-a-Dub Sharpies and swap them out when they start not marking as dark. The whole point of the sharpie method is to make it look better than the boot polish method, so dont be using a worn out sharpie. Finally, on my first liberty instead of going out to town, I laundered every single article of clothing I had including uniforms and re-marked all of them. I didnt have to mark another shirt for a week and a half.

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What to Keep on You Keep a pen, your candidate regulations, and a [preferably waterproof] notepad in a plastic Ziploc bag in your cargo pocket at all times. Keep hand sanitizer in the other cargo pocket. The hand sanitizers at the chow hall are almost always empty, so youll have to rely on your own hand sanitizer. Then, be a good guy and share with the candidates around you. As general population (not-billet holding candidates), youre prohibited from wearing a watch, but you can keep a watch in your pocket to check the time. During receiving, keep an erasable pen, a regular pen, and a rub-a-dub sharpie on you at all times. You can bring additional pens, but they will be borrowed from your during receiving and you will never see them again.

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Chapter 3: Surviving the First 5 Days

Receiving. a candidates answer to what is the most difficult part of OCS?

Receiving and the Initial PFT

The game starts when you get to the airport from your home. Its very likely that at least a few of the other candidates you meet here will be either in your platoon or in your company at OCS so make friends with them. You may be saving each others behinds in one weeks time. Wear the proper civilian attire. Thats a collared plain color shirt without any sayings, and a pair of solid color slacks. Tuck in your shirt, wear a belt, and wear dress shoes. No rainbow colored whatever with polka dots. You should burn that stuff. Dont be the candidate that shows up in tennis shoes, jeans, and a t-shirt with Coors Lite is my life on it. Theres always one. Youre encouraged, but not required to have a fresh haircut and clean shave. It gets completely buzzed off during receiving anyway, but at least youll look sharper for the first few days instead of looking like John the Baptist during receiving. Youll have to shave off your goatee on the first day anyway, so you might as well. Finally, dont bring a rolling suitcase. Youre not going on vacation. Youre going to OCS. During pick-up, you have to carry around everything you bring with you along with everything youve been issued and run around with it. Bring a large sturdy backpack. Relax on the flight and at the connecting airport. Its your last chance to relax for three weeks. Eat something light and take a nap if you can. Drink a soda. Watch the in-flight movie. Dont worry about OCS. Plenty of time to do that very soon. Your OSO should tell you this in the departing brief, but if your flight gets delayed or you lose a candidate or anything unexpected happens, call your OSO. He can arrange things to happen, and he will also notify the Quantico Marines who are supposed to pick you up. If something along those lines happens and you end up needing to take a taxi or a shuttle to Quantico base, keep the receipt because it is reimbursable. When you arrive in D.C., stop at the first bathroom you see on the way to the baggage claim and make a head call. Call your parents and your loved ones to tell them that you made it to D.C. and youre not going to talk to them for three weeks. Take a breath because this is pretty much when the game begins. Once you get accountability of everyone from your Officer Selection Office, head down to baggage claim to pick up your packs. Youll probably run into another group or two of candidates. Youre pretty easy to spot with the collared shirts and the look of dread. If you have a chance, buy a large (the larger the better) bottle of water from the

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airport here. I know its expensive, but its worth it. By the way, west coast candidates (12th Marine Corps Recruiting District?) arrives on Saturday while everyone else arrives on Sunday. Once you get your bags, youll walk around for a bit before running into the troop handlers. These Marines are usually junior enlisted dressed in Service Charlies or possibly Desert cammies. (At OCS, all staff wears Deserts while the candidates wear Woodlands.) Theyre here on a Sunday (or Saturday), so they might yell at you a bit. Get used to it. Once you check-in with them, theyll tell you to switch to go-fasters. Having your go-fasters at the top, rather than the bottom, of your seabag will make this much easier. Now youll probably sit in dead silence with 50-100 other candidates waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Get used to that, too. Eventually the nasty old schoolbus will arrive, and a bunch of you will get in to leave for Quantico. This is your first experience with East Coast heat for everyone not from the East Coast. Its unique because its extremely humid. Even if you have been training in the middle of the day in Texas heat (which is somewhat suicidal if you ask me), you still wont be quite prepared for this humidity. Even if it doesnt feel hot, youll quickly start sweating, so start hydrating with that bottle of water you brought. The bus has no air conditioning. Yeah, I know it sucks. Once you arrive at Brown Field, which is the part of Quantico that is Officer Candidates School, youll be given a red booklet, the Candidate Regulations, and assigned into your company and platoon. From here on out you have four days of sitting. Waiting. Sweating. Wondering why you decided to come here or come back here. Its miserable. In fact, I think its the most miserable part of OCS and a lot of candidates I have spoken to agree with me. Once training actually begins, things will actually start moving, but right now, youre just waiting. You wait around all day to do something simple like fill out paperwork, and by the time night rolls around, you have to wait some more. You get very little sleep. This is purgatoryyour inbetween hell. How much do you get paid at OCS? Im putting this section here because its when all the administrative paperwork processing is being done. Heres the word on direct deposit at the time I was going through. If you are a prior or have already signed up for direct deposit with your OSO before you go to OCS, your paycheck will be deposited directly into your account. The tricky part is that you may have filled out a direct deposit form for you OSO, but it is not officially submitted to Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS). Instead the form was included with your original orders when it was faxed to Quantico (thats the reason why they dont actually use your original orders when you arrive in Quantico. You still need to bring them, but they already have a copy.) Whether or not you filled out a form with your OSO, bring a voided check or a copy of your banks ABA routing and account numbers to OCS. Better safe than poor. So heres the deal: whether you filled out the form with your OSO and it was sent to OCS or you fill out the form while at OCS, if you do not already have direct deposit before you arrive at OCS, you will not get direct deposit. You will get a hard check mailed to you at OCS during mail call or handed to you. Hopefully. Why did you fill out that direct deposit form either with your OSO or at OCS then? Because then youll have direct deposit set-up when you check into TBS.

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As for how much you get paid at OCS? I dont know. What a cop-out right? Well it comes down to this. You get paid as an E-5 (Sergeant) on active duty unless you are a prior and higher ranked than Sergeant. Your basic pay also depends on the number of years Time in Service you have if you are enlisted, but the enlisted guys already know about that and it doesnt apply to civilians. In addition to basic pay, or salary, you also get Basic Allowances for Subsistence (BAS) which is a little additional money that youre supposed to spend on food. If you are married you get Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) on top of that. Im not married, so I dont know much of anything about BAH. However, if you are married and you dont know if youre getting BAH, make sure you ask the admin Marines sometime while youre at OCS. Its some serious money. All military pay also increases each year in order to match inflation, though it rarely does. This is somewhat confusing because military pay increases occur on January 1st of each year while the military fiscal year begins on October 1st. Right now, it is written into law to automatically increase military basic pay by 3.0% each year. Around December of 2007, however, Congress was deadlocked about the proposal to raise military pay by 3.5%. Although this was eventually passed, it was done only after the automatic pay increase. Finally, there are a number of deductions from your paycheck. Some, like Social Security, Medicare, state and federal tax, you dont control. Others like the amount you pay into the Servicemembers Group Life Insurance (SGLI) that you may or may not sign up for at the beginning of OCS and the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) that you may or may not sign up for can also be deducted. Lastly, you pay for the meals you eat at the chow hall at OCS. Kind of messed up huh? Serving your country and the cost for food comes out of your paycheck? This all goes by way of saying that its difficult to calculate exactly how much money youre going to get before you actually get it. However, you can get a rough estimate. In 2007, an E-5 with less than two years TIS (for the civilians at OCS) was $1,854.00 per month. For 2-3 years, it was $1977.90, and for over 3 years, it was $2,073.30. If youve been in the Marine Corps for four or more years, Im going to assume that you already know how to figure out pay. You are paid on the 1st and 15th of each month, so one pay period is two weeks. I could be mistaken, but I think that you dont get paid on your first payday because the paperwork isnt done, so you just get paid more on your second payday. When I went to OCS, the six weeks covered four pay periods, with the last one basically covering your last two days. Heres the breakdown of what I got in the summer of 2007. Please keep in mind that I have 2 years Time in Service at this point, so I actually get paid slightly more.
Second Increment July 7 August 1 Description Basic Pay BAH Partial [dont know what this is] BAS (Monthly) BAS Disc Meal Rate TOTAL ENTITLEMENTS FITW [stands for Federal Income Tax Withholding] Amount $1,582.32 $6.96 $223.90 $5.96 $1,819.14 -$130.60

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Social Security Medicare SGLI $400,000 TSGLI [stands for Traumatic Servicemembers Group Life Insurance; automatically added to SGLI] Uniform Deductions Thrift Savings Plan (I didnt sign up for it) BAS Disc Meal Rate TOTAL DEDUCTIONS TOTAL PAID Second Increment August 1 to August 15 Description Basic Pay BAH Partial [dont know what this is] BAS (Monthly) BAS Disc Meal Rate TOTAL ENTITLEMENTS FITW [stands for Federal Income Tax Withholding] Social Security Medicare SGLI $400,000 TSGLI [stands for Traumatic Servicemembers Group Life Insurance; automatically added to SGLI] Thrift Savings Plan BAS Disc Meal Rate TOTAL DEDUCTIONS TOTAL PAID

-$98.10 -$22.94 -$28.00 -$1.00 None N/A -$198.75 -$479.39 $1,339.75

Amount $1,120.81 $4.93 $158.60 $5.96 $1,290.30 -$61.66 -$69.49 -$16.26 -$28.00 -$1.00 N/A -$135.15 -$311.56 $894.72

For those last two days, I was paid another $84.02. In the end, I brought home $2,318.49. I also got all of what was taken by FITW back in April since Im in the too poor to live tax bracket. Its not great, but its not shabby. Youll end up using almost all of it on your commissioning uniform. Thats okay. You didnt join the Marine Corps for the money anyway. One final note: if you take a taxi/shuttle anytime anywhere while traveling to or from OCS or if you incur any other expenses, keep the receipts. Your OSO will provide you the opportunity to get reimbursed from the government, but Im not exactly sure what is

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reimbursable. I turned in the meal receipts from eating at the airport, but I dont know if they count. Its not much, but if you spend $30 each way on a taxi, an extra $60 should be nice to help celebrate finishing OCS. Purgatory In Roman Catholic belief, purgatory is the temporary place between heaven and hell that you go after you die before you are admitted to heaven. At OCS, its the place youll be in before you are admitted to hell. Receiving is a stationary misery, characterized by utter boredom and a sense of dread. You came to OCS to do earth-shattering things and become transformed. Instead, here you are waiting. Just waiting. On the first day, you will do the following things: 1. Get accountability of who is here and who went UA by jumping off the plane. 2. Fill out all your administrative paperwork. They have to do this for the entire Battalion so it takes hours. 3. Go to supply and get issued your wargear and canteens. Hopefully, youll still have your water bottle so you can drink that and re-fill it for the first few days to avoid using the canteens until you get a chance to sanitize them using mouthwash. 4. Eat a box chow. 5. More admin Get blankets and sheets from supply. If youre lucky, you may actually get 6 or more hours of sleep. Dont count on it though. Dont count on getting any sleep until the day before the PFT. Over the next four days, you will do all of the following: 1. More administrative processing 2. Spend $300 buying the large and small bag issues 3. More admin 4. Eat a box chow 5. Go to Medical and get vaccinated for everything except candidate crud. Priors: bring your medical records. Failure to do so will mean that you get all your shots over again. 6. Wait around 7. More admin 8. Eat a box chow 9. Body weight standards and tattoo screening by the physical training instructors 10. More admin 11. Eat a box chow 12. Urinalysis 13. Wait around 14. Eat a box chow 15. Get your hair buzzed off 16. More admin 17. Eat a box chow 18. Get your uniform issue

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19. Eat a box chow you get the idea. Between the sleep deprivation and the tedium, the whole thing should pass like blur. That being said, youre an industrious candidate, so youre not sitting around just waiting. Spend your free time marking the gear that you get issued. The candidate regulations will describe how to mark everything, and if it isnt in the candidate regulations, then mark it however you want. Just ensure that it gets marked. Use your time wisely. Mark, bundle, bag, stage, repeat. When you get bored, start getting to know the candidates around you. You need to help each other out if you want to survive. Returning seniors: on the second or third day, you will have to take the returning seniors test. Your OSO should have made you take it a few times already. Its the same test just with the answer order scrambled. Its not difficult in and of itself, but the sleep deprivation is starting to get to you. Your eyes have difficulty focusing on the page. You drift in and out of consciousness as youre reading the questions. Fight it. You have to pass this test. I got 99/100 on the practice test with my OSO and something like 87/100 when I took it at OCS. Dont get below an 80. You will have to see the Colonel and he might just decide to kick you out of OCS right there. Finally, on the day before pick-up, you have the initial PFT. Theres a reason your OSO had you doing 20 pullups, 100 crunches, and running 21:00 before you left. Between having sat around and done nothing for the last three or four days, eating box chows instead of real food, not getting any sleep, and facing the Virginia humidity, your PFT has fallen substantially. Your 20 pullups has fallen to 17 and the staff member counting you only counted 15. If youre counts are not going up as you do pull-ups, you are doing them wrong. Check to make sure that youre not kipping and youre going all the way up with your chin above the bar and all the way back down to lock out your elbows. Its better to do 16 pull-ups that count than 22 that dont. Instead of doing 100 with time to spare, you only did 91, so youre starting your run with only 166 points instead of the full 200. As for the run itself, it is three and a half laps. Our PTI mistakenly told us two and a half laps, so we all ran two and a half laps in record time. Except thats not three miles. Yeah, that last lap seriously sucked. Your OSO may have told you that you need to score a 245 on the initial PFT. You actually need a 245 to ship (as of 2007), but your initial PFT just needs to be above 225. If youre running at the bare minimum though, either PT is going to be the most completely miserable experience of your life or youre not going to make it. Dont overtrain on running because you risk impact injuries, but try your best to get to 20 pull-ups and 100 crunches. The only candidates who can do well at OCS despite a low PFT are those who have trouble with pull-ups. They might keep you if you do only 10 pull-ups but run a 18:00 since you will be able to keep up with the platoon. That being said, OCS, and in particular seniors, requires a lot of upper body strength. You should definitely be doing at least 16 solid pull-ups, at least 90 crunches, and at least around a 22:00 for seniors. Prepare yourself physically. If morning PT completely drains you, then youll be more tired throughout the day. Youll be more likely to make mistakes when it comes to interacting with your staff and the tiredness will also hurt your academics since youll be falling asleep during class.

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One last word on PT: theres fast and then theres tough. At OCS, you need both. If youre a gym rat, spent some time running outdoors and across rough terrain. If youre a superdistance runner, spent some time hiking around in boots with a heavy pack. Youre going to need to be decently fast (6-7 minute a mile pace) when youre running in go-fasters, but youre also going to need to be able to put on a 30 lbs. pack and hike 12 miles. Your initial PFT is going to be weaker than your shipping PFT (unless you didnt try hard enough on your shipping PFT). You have to make it as close as possible. Do your pull-ups correctly. Push yourself on the crunches. Fight through the humidity on the run. On the day after you barely pass your PFT (despite being a PT stud), comes the end of receiving. You will be gathered into the classrooms and listen to the Colonel give a motivating speech. Afterward, the staff marches in and you are introduced to each member of your staff. You should be getting pretty damn nervous at this point. Afterward, you go back to the squadbay and all hell breaks lose.

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Pick-up
Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war. Mark Anthony

Im not going to talk about pick-up. Youre going to have to face pick-up by yourself.

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Chapter 4: Surviving Quantico

40 days time Jesus spent in the desert;5 also length of OCS for 6-weeks

Surviving Weeks 1, 2 & 3

Congratulations. Youve survived pick-up. I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the level of strictness at OCS for these first few days is the highest it will be your entire time here. Although things tend to vary from staff to staff, most Sergeant Instructors tend to let up on the pressure with each week that youre there. The reason they do this is because if they are in full Drill Instructor mode running everything, they wont be able to effective evaluate you as a candidate, which brings us to the bad news. Although they are less strict and delegate more authority to your candidate staff with each cycle of candidate billets, the activities you undertake become increasingly difficult. Your PT increases from a 3-mile squad run in PT gear to the Endurance Course with full canteens and rifle. Your academics tests become increasingly difficult culminating in the history exam. Finally, youre going to have to face the leadership evaluations of Squad in the O and SULE II that are the heart of OCS. However, right now its best to focus on what is immediately in front of you: surviving until the end of week 3, which is your first liberty weekend. Physical Training Im looking at my barely legible notes right now and trying to figure out what I wrote. Dont take this list as exact details, but rather read through it to get a general idea of what PT is like. Specifically, dont take this as the order you will do the PT events. Its almost certainly not. But you will do all of them. 3-mile Squad Run. They say its at an 8 minute per mile pace. Its not. You might cross the finish line after 24 minutes, but thats not because you were running at 8 minutes a mile. My Sergeant Instructor basically sprinted us until a candidate fell out. Then we began playing a version of a reverse Indian run where the entire platoon runs out, then turns around and runs back for the failing candidate. Dont be the failing candidate. Even if youre tired and only slept 4 hours, falling out of the first run is pretty bad. It paints a big red target for your staff. Keep in mind that almost every single day that you do a run, it also includes push-pull-abs. Push-pull-abs usually consists of (I could be mistaken here) 35 push-ups, 12 pullups, 2 minutes of crunches, 30 push-ups, 10 pullups, 1 minute of
5

Mark 1:13

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crunches, and 25 push-ups, 8 pullups, 30 seconds of crunches. Youre probably thinking to yourself, thats really easy. Well, it is if youre healthy, got a good sleep, ate a good meal, and are ready for it. Its not so easy when youre not ready for it. Thats why you need to train yourself to be doing 20 pullups and 50 push-ups. One last note: if youre going to call cadence, make sure you know cadence. If you dont, youll just embarrass yourself. I mean know cadencenot you read a few lines on the internet. Best is obviously if youre a prior and youve been in a unit that does PT runs calling cadence three times a week every week. Falling short of that, go out and buy some of the Marine Corps cadence CDs and listen to them over and over and over again. Internalize them. That way when youre tired and not thinking clearly, you dont ever draw a blank when it comes to cadence. The Fartlek Run. The same basic idea as the Squad Run except you run around to stations and do exercises at each station. Fairly straightforward. Im going to be honest here and say that Im pretty sure the juniors run courses were harder than the seniors ones. If it says do 20 exercises, than do 20. Should be obvious, but Ive heard stories about candidates that did 19 and got kicked out for integrity violation. Again, with the Fartlek Run, you might cross the finish line at what should be an 8-minute pace, but that doesnt mean youll be running at an 8-minute pace. On the same day you do the first Fartlek Run, you also do CVFs, which you dont need to worry too much about. The Obstacle Course. Your PTI, if youre lucky, will tell you to take it a little slow and get the technique down the first time around. Follow that advice. This doesnt mean walk the course. Definitely put all your effort into it, but get the technique down. The technique is money, and will help you when you take it for real. The O-course is pass/fail for juniors but graded for time in seniors. Its two minutes to pass and one minute to get full points. Almost all the candidates are somewhere between 65 and 85 seconds. Later on, you will have the opportunity for remedial o-course or ropes training. If you are having trouble, by all means, take the opportunity. Its actually rather difficult to fail the obstacle course by going too slow (though I wouldnt push it). Failures tend to come from candidates who cant make it over an obstacle or make it up the rope. For the rope, its all technique, and you have to practice using the technique even if you have good upper body strength. As for making it over the obstacles, it takes a combination of good technique, coordination, and upper body strength. To work this one, do dips when youre at home, or you can do what my office does and actually train by climbing over walls. On either the first or second time you do the Obstacle Course, instead of simply doing it all the way through once, youll either do the whole thing repeatedly or do one section repeatedly. The o-course was one of my strengths, so I enjoyed this PT, but I have heard other candidates say that this repeated o-course day was the most difficult day of PT during the entire cycle. UBDs. Stands for Upper Body Development; it gets tacked onto one of the runs during the first two weeks. It involves a circuit course that has, among other things, weight lifting such as the military press. This one is a bit difficult if you dont have a strong upper body, but I dont have any special advice for you except that you should work out your upper body before you get to OCS. The 4-mile Squad Run. Same thing as the 3-mile squad run, but longer. Also, the candidate who was falling out earlier is keeping up now, so the entire squad runs faster.

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The Combat Readiness Test. This was the first physical event I did at OCS that I considered truly difficult. Not to say that the other things werent difficult, but this one really pushes you. If youve been reading the Little Red Book, then you should already know what it entails. o Rope climb. Gear: Blouse, Kevlar helmet, deuce gear with full canteens, and rifle cross-body. You have a good window to make it to the top (I want to say 30 seconds), but you have to actually be moving up to make it. Again, technique is key. o Obstacle course. Gear: No blouse. Once you finish the rope, you take off everything and stage it at the end of the obstacle course. Take a moment to remember where you staged it. You dont want to grab someone elses and you dont want to be looking for your gear when you finish the course. You run the obstacle course perhaps a little slower than you would normally because when you finish you grab your deuce gear and your rifle, leaving behind the Kevlar helmet and blouse, and start the 3-mile run. Gear: Deuce gear and rifle. No need to kid yourself. A 3-mile run in boots with deuce gear, full canteens, and a rifle is not easy. That being said, its not that difficult eitherdont psyche yourself out. As long as you keep moving forward at a good pace, you will finish with some time to spare. The two key parts are moving forward and good pace. You are allowed to drink water from your canteens if you want. Ive done it before, and I dont think it helps. Youre still carrying the weight, but the only difference is its inside of you. If youre dehydrating, which you shouldnt be because you are a good candidate and properly hydrated, then by all means drink water. Other than that, I dont see any reason to drink your canteens. Just dont dump your canteens. Its not only morally wrong, but also incredibly stupid. Once you finish the run, you go through the shower (keeping your rifle dry), gulp down some water, and start the fourth portion of the test: o Push-ups. Gear: Blouse. You have to do 35 to pass, and 50 to max. I dont remember the exact time frame, but I want to say 1 minute. Almost every candidate does well on this one. Train before you arrive at OCS to make sure you can do 50 good form push-ups where you chest goes all the way to the ground and back up keeping your back straight. Next you start the fourth and final part of the CRT, the o Buddy fireman carry. Gear: Blouse, Kevlar helmet, rifle, deuce gear? Get the technique down. You want to carry your buddy high so your entire body his carrying him. Make sure you find a buddy of roughly equal weight. I carried a candidate who was probably forty pounds heavier than me. I finished in time, but barely. It was not fun. Finally, make sure your Kevlar fits securely. If you drop it, you have to bend down to pick it up, and that takes precious seconds. o Fire and maneuver course. Gear: everything. If you still have a little energy left, this one is kind of fun. Its pass/fail so there isnt much to worry about. It involves a magazine change and firing off three rounds. Make sure youre doing the correct thing at the correct place. Also, you can fail if you get up to move with your weapon not on safe. It should be instinct by now, but ensure that whenever you are running with the rifle, its not on kill.

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MCMAP. MCMAP training at OCS can be either one of the hardest things or one of the easiest things you do at OCS, depending on your PTI. Your PTIs arent actually required to have you do any training since you basically need to start over at TBS in tan belt training anyway. Moreover, you dont get tested on anything. Therefore, its up to the PTI. Most of the time, MCMAP training is right in the middle of the afternoon when its hottest, so your PTI will just have you sit in a circle around the PT table while he gives a few demonstrations and talks. After a while (after a few candidates are caught sleeping), you will all get up and form lines practicing some of the techniques. If you havent done it before, I can almost guarantee youre doing it wrong. Thats okay, there more MCMAP training at TBS. Your PTIs are also supposed to teach you about Marine Corps core values, ethics, and character. I have to say, this part was probably what I considered to be some of the most valuable time at OCS. I believe that the time spent thinking about what courage was or other aspects of moral character has actually made me a better person. Some of the other candidates obviously did not buy into this at all, and simply took it as a chance to relax away from the Sergeant Instructors. The Endurance Course. Im not going to talk too much about the E-Course except to say that in my opinion, it was physically the most difficult thing you have to do at OCS. I felt it was more difficult than the conditioning hikes or SULE II though there are certainly candidates who disagree with me. The E-Course is long and hard, and the only saving grace is that you actually have a good amount of time to complete it. That doesnt mean you should run slow. That means you should be careful enough to pace yourself so as not to burn out halfway through. If the E-Course doesnt suck for you, youre not running it fast enough. The Squad Ability March. Im not going to talk about this. I went to seniors not knowing what it was, and I found out that this was actually one of my most favorite events at OCS because of the level of candidate independence you have. Commando Crawl Training. At some point during these first few weeks, you will go to the practice commando crawl course where you will have the opportunity to practice the commando crawl. Use this opportunity wisely. Figure out the technique for the commando crawl and how to maintain your balance by keeping on leg hanging straight down. You wont have time to start learning the commando crawl when youre actually doing the Endurance Course (or Stamina Course for juniors). The Events

The Combat Course. The Combat Course is actually one of the most fun courses at OCS. You will get briefed, as with every other thing you do at OCS, on exactly what to do, so I will just say this: try to keep your rifle as dry as possible. Some level of water is completely inevitable, but do your best to keep your rifle free of sludge. I have heard the advice given that you should drink both your canteens prior to the start of the course because the canteens will provide buoyancy during the Quigley (since its not a timed course, our staff permitted this. As with all things, check with your staff.). Ive done the combat course with empty canteens and with full canteens, and I honestly cant tell that much of a difference. Im going to be honestI dont know how you fail the combat course. Im sure its possible, but since its not timed, I really dont know. Just rememberswimming through the Quigley is the reason why you came to Virginia. A

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word on the culverts: they feel longer when youre actually traveling through them than when youre looking at them. Heres the rule: DO NOT PANIC. Its like the gas chamber. Even if you get snagged on something, just take a moment to think what you got caught on and loosen yourself. If you start to panic and flail, you wont be able to get through. If it hasnt rained for a while (i.e. since youve been in Virginia), theres a good possibility you can actually breathe inside the culvert because the water level is low The Leadership Reaction Course I. The thing to keep in mind about the LRC is that the Marine evaluating you is not evaluating whether or not you actually accomplish the objective in the set time frame. They are evaluating your leadership ability. What does this mean? It means that if you have terrible leadership skill but your team manages to get through the obstacle on time, you will do worse than if you have good strong leadership, develop a solid plan, and fail the obstacle simply because you needed one or two more minutes. Land Navigation. Dont start the course until it starts. Secure your compass before you move. Dont talk to anyone except the staff. At night, dont use your flashlight until you are absolutely sure that you are covered. If there is a full moon, you can actually just find the points where the moonlight shines through the trees and read your card. The 6-mile hike. This may actually be the most difficult hike simply because of the speed. The female platoon hikes 3/4 kit meaning that they dont have to carry a tent. Doesnt make that much of a difference though because the difficulty in the 6-mile hike comes from two sources. One is the rough terrain because all those roots and stumps can cause you to trip or twist an ankle. The second are the Drill Instructor games, which youre going to have to learn about yourself. Let me say this about hiking in general though. Wear your seatbelt. Its that strap that goes around your waist. Tighten it up, and tighten up your shoulder straps so your pack doesnt bounce when you walk. Make sure the weight is distributed evenly when you pack your pack. As youre hiking alternative between having really tight seatbelt/looser shoulder straps and a looser seatbelt/tighter shoulder straps. This alternates the weight between your shoulders and your back so no one set of muscles gets burned out. Keep one arms length away from the candidate in front of you. Any closer and you have to match his steps, which is actually not a bad idea provided that you are both the same height. Any farther and pretty soon its going to be two arm lengths and your Sergeant Instructor is going to come and yell at you. DO NOT RUN. Youll see. At the beginning of the hikes, and in particular the shorter hikes, the platoon will have the Accordion Effect.

Yes, the Accordion Effect is capitalized and gets its own paragraph. This is basically what happens. A tired candidate is hiking along. He doesnt pay attention at lets the candidate in front of him 50" away, then 60", then 70". Suddenly, he realizes there is a large gap in front of him, so he runs forward to close the gap so the Drill Instructors dont start yelling at him. Alternatively, a candidate billet holder or a Sergeant Instructor might have one of the games where you touch the pack of the candidate in front of you, so the tired candidate has to run forward. Either way, now the tired candidate who began the Accordion Effect is a good distance away from the candidate in front of him, but theres a gap between him and the candidate behind him. The next candidate has to run to catch up. The candidate behind that candidate then has to run to catch up. What ends up happening for the last candidate in the platoon is he has to sprint for like 30 seconds before stopping. Except rather than returning to a regular stride, he actually

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has to stop because the candidate in front of him had to stop, and so forth. In the end the platoon moves like a slinky (the toy not the underwear). It comes down to this. If you run, you are screwing all the guys behind you. You are a Blue Falcon. DO NOT RUN. If a gap opens up in front of you, open up your stride and pick up your turnover (the rate at which your feet hit the deck) slightly. The corollary to do not run is do not permit a gap in front of you to open up. Either screws the platoon. That all being said, there are times when you will have to run. This can include consolidating on the move from single file to platoon formation. Theres nothing you can do about this. Academics General Military Skills 2 Inspections Sergeant Instructors Inspection. Im not going to talk about the Sergeant Instructors inspection except to say that you have to experience it to believe it. Platoon Sergeants Inspection

Finally, a word on peer evaluations.

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Surviving Weeks 4 & 5

Common sense was an uncommon virtue. a saying by candidates about candidates

When youre doing the Leadership Reaction Course II, you will spend a good portion of time sitting outside of the LRC course, either before or after, with the tactics Marines learning about sand tables or other things. Take that opportunity to drink water. Lots of water. Not enough to get water intoxication, but enough to be completely hydrated. Youre going to need it. Billets Put in that extra effort on your billets. Its what really counts at OCS.

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Surviving Week 6
Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom. - Arthur Schopenhauer

Provided that you dont do anything stupid, youve more or less made it through OCS.

Go buy a moto book during your last liberty weekend. I recommend Thomas Ricks Making of the Corps.

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Chapter 5: Becoming a Marine

Family Day and Graduation

What it means to be a Marine

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Appendices

APPENDIX A: INDEX
Error! No index entries found.

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APPENDIX B: DRILL CARDS

These are the four drill cards used in second increment summer 2007. Remember the acronyms RIPO (Report, Inspection Arms, Port Arms, Order Arms) and PLOPO (Port Arms, Left Shoulder Arms, Order Arms, Present Arms, Order Arms) for all cards.

Card #1 1. Form Platoon at Normal Interval 2. Port Arms 3. Left Shoulder Arms 4. Order Arms 5. Present Arms 6. Close & Extend on Line 7. Form the Platoon for Inspection/Reform 8. Rest 9. Column Right from the Halt 10. Close & Extend while Marching 11. Column Right 12. Right Oblique/Platoon Halt 13. Right Flank Return to Column 14. Column Left (Repeat) 15. Left Flank Return to Column 16. March to the Rear (Repeat) 17. Column Half Left (Repeat) 18. Marching Manual 19. Column Left 20. Pass in Review 21. Dismiss the Platoon

Card #2 1. Form the Platoon as Close Interval 2. Extend on Line 3. Port Arms 4. Left Shoulder Arms 5. Order Arms 6. Present Arms 7. Form the Platoon for Inspection/Reform 8. At Ease 9. Column Right from the Halt 10. Close & Extend while Marching 11. Column Right 12. Right Oblique/Half Step 13. Right Flank Return to Column 14. Column Left (Repeat) 15. Left Flank Return to Column 16. March to the Rear (Repeat) 17. Column Half Left (Repeat) 18. Marching Manual 19. Column Left 20. Pass in Review 21. Fall Out

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Card #3 1. Form the Platoon as Normal Interval 2. Port Arms 3. Left Shoulder Arms 4. Order Arms 5. Present Arms 6. Close & Extend on Line 7. Form the Platoon for Inspection/Reform 8. Parade Rest 9. Column Right from the Halt 10. Close & Extend while Marching 11. Column Right 12. Right Oblique/Mark Time 13. Right Flank Return to Column 14. Column Left (Repeat) 15. Left Flank Return to Column 16. March to the Rear (Repeat) 17. Column Half Left (Repeat) 18. Marching Manual 19. Column Left 20. Pass in Review 21. Dismiss the Platoon

Card #4 1. Form Platoon at Close Interval 2. Extend on Line 3. Port Arms 4. Left Shoulder Arms 5. Order Arms 6. Present Arms 7. Form the Platoon for Inspection/Reform 8. Parade Rest 9. Column Right from the Halt 10. Close & Extend while Marching 11. Column Right 12. Left Oblique/Mark Time 13. Right Flank Return to Column 14. Column Left (Repeat) 15. Left Flank Return to Column 16. March to the Rear (Repeat) 17. Column Half Left (Repeat) 18. Marching Manual 19. Column Left 20. Pass in Review 21. Fall Out

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APPENDIX C: SAMPLE OPORDER

This is what they teach at OCS. I know for a fact that its slightly different from what they teach at TBS and also from what you use in the fleet. Hold all questions until the end.

You are the squad leader for Golf Company, 2nd Platoon, 3rd Squad. Current location is grid coordinate 971641.
Sqd Ldr G Co 2
nd

Orientation

Plt 3 Sqd, Loc Now 971641

rd

Situation
At 0600, 2-4 man teams of Abu Nidal Iraqi insurgents were spotted terrorizing the local populace, setting up IEDs, and fortifying positions in the vicinity of grid coordinate 9663, along Engineer Road. The enemy was spotted with assorted US-made small arms, desert utility uniforms, and IED-making equipment. Upon contact, the enemys most probably course of action is to defend until overwhelmed by superior numbers, at which point the enemy will use their small numbers to facilitate withdrawal. The platoon mission is: at 0900, 4th platoon will conduct squad attacks in the vicinity of grid coordinate 9663 in order to deny the enemy a base of operations. 1st and 2nd squads have the same mission in the same area of operations. There are no supporting units at this time.
0600 2-4man Abu Nidal Iraqi insrgts terrorizing locals, setting IEDs, fortifying pos IVO 9663 (Engineer Rd) US SA, desert uni, IEDs MPCOA Def --> W th At 0900, 4 Plt will conduct sqd atks IVO 9663 IOT deny EN ops base st nd 1 2 sqds same M same AO

Mission

At 0900, 3rd squad will attack to destroy enemy forces in the vicinity of 9663 in order to deny the enemy a base of operations from which to launch attacks threatening coalition humanitarian operations.
rd

0900 3 sqd atk to des EN IVO 9663 IOT deny EN ops base from which to launch atks threaten hum ops

Execution

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The commanders intent is to establish a secure base of operations in order to launch humanitarian operations in the vicinity of grid coordinate 9663. The concept of operations is to move from the assembly area to the attack position (initial formation) in a squad column fireteam wedge. At the attack position (attack formation), we will shift into a squad wedge fireteam wedge, and move to the assault position, crossing the line of departure. At the assault position (assault formation), we will shift into a squad line fireteam skirmishers right with one fireteam covering the left flank and one fireteam covering the right flank. The fireteam in the middle will be the main effort and the base unit. Upon enemy contact, all fireteams will return fire establishing fire superiority at which point all fireteams will conduct a frontal assault using buddy rushes. We will rush 20 meters past the objective at which point I will call for a hasty 180, and the three fireteams will cover the 180 degrees facing away from the objective. After assessing no chance of enemy counterattack, I will call for a consolidated 360 and receive ammo, casualty and EPW reports. There is no fire support for this operation. Tasks. First Squad: On order, 1st squad, our main effort and base unit, will lead the attack to destroy all enemy in the vicinity of grid coordinate 9663 in order to deny the enemy a base of operations from which they can threaten coalition humanitarian missions. Second Squad: On order, 2nd squad will move alongside 1st squads left flank and laying down supporting fire as needed in order to protect 1st squads left flank from possible enemy counterattack. Third Squad: On order, 3rd squad will move alongside 1st squads right flank and lay down supporting fire as needed in order to protect 1st squads right flank from possible enemy counterattack. Coordinating Instructions. The time of attack is 0900. First squad will the base unit and main effort. Order of Movement. During the initial formation, first squad will in the front, and during the attack and assault formations, first squad will be in the middle. During the initial formation, second squad will be in the middle, and during the attack and assault formations, second squad will be on the left. During the initial formation, third squad will be in the rear, and during the attack and assault formations, third squad will be on the right. After assaulting through the objective, on the command to form a hasty 180, first squad will cover 11 to 1, second squad will cover 9 to 11, and third squad will cover 1 to 3. On the command to form a consolidated 360, first squad will cover 10 to 2, second squad will cover 6 to 10, and third squad will cover 2 to 6. The tactical assembly area grid coordinate is XXXXXX, the objective grid coordinate is XXXXXX. The azimuth we will be following is XXX for XX meters.

We will be using self aid, buddy aid, corpsman aid. The corpsman is located with 1st squad. Enemy prisoners of war are to be searched for weapons and turned over to the company gunnery sergeant. Resupply will be conducted after securing the objective.
Self, buddy, corpsman aid st Corpsman: 1 Sqd Resupply at Obj

Administration and Logistics

We will use hand and arm signals, voice on contact (HAVOC). I will be with 1st fireteam over the duration of the assault, the platoon sergeant and platoon commander will be with 1st squad. In

Command and Signal

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the event that I am killed, the succession of command will be 1st fireteam leader, 2nd fireteam leader, 3rd fireteam leader.
HAVOC st Sqd Ldr: 1 FT st Plt Sgt: 1 Sqd st Plt Cmdr: 1 Sqd st nd rd Succession: 1 FT, 2 FT, 3 FT

Are there any questions? The time is now 0815. You have 45 minutes to prepare.

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APPENDIX D: PT SOP
Form the Company for Mobility Laps Call the Company to Attention Give the Company Double Time, March Mobility Laps Chain Breakers Arm Circles to the Front Arm Circles to the Rear Inboard Shuffle Outboard Shuffle Running Cadence Form for Stretches In-place Doubletime Platoon Halt Cover Candidate Platoon Sergeant Moves to Front of the Platoon From Front to Rear, Count Off Take Interval to the Left, March Arms Down Even Numbers to the Right, Move Candidate Platoon Sergeant Moves Back to Side of the Platoon Parade Rest Stretches Overhead Body Stretch Triceps Stretch Shoulder Stretch Back Stretch Chest Stretch Quadriceps Stretch Nice Wide Base, Back Straight, Slight Bend in the Knees Side Stretch Toes Outboard Groin Stretch Hamstring Squat Stretch One Leg Forward Calf Stretch Sitting Crossover Gluteus Stretch

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Warm-up Exercises Arm Circles to the Front Arm Circles to the Rear Side Bends Trunk Twists Star Jumps

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APPENDIX E: MISCELLANEOUS TIPS

Use the standard issue hangers or cleaning rods from your rifle cleaning kit to open rusty alligator clips. Stage much needed items in readily accessible locations, such as inconspicuous parts of your rack, the door of your footlocker, and in the front pouches of your pack. This will allow for quick easy access. Theres fast and then theres tough. Make sure you have both. You will need fast for the initial PFT and the few subsequent go-faster runs. You will need tough for the endurance course, CRT, conditioning hikes, and SULE II. Use your seatbelt on the hikes. Alternate between having a tight seatbelt/looser shoulder straps, and tight shoulder straps/a looser seatbelt. This will shift the weight between your shoulders and your back. Stride it out when a gap opens in front of you in the hike. If you run, you are not only wasting energy, but you are also screwing all the candidates behind you in the formation. If you get yelled at for having a gap, just sound off Aye, aye, Staff Sergeant and stride it out faster. As a billet holder, finish everything you say with either Do you understand that? so everyone knows to sound off or Are there any questions? so everyone knows to keep their mouths shut. If you are giving an order, finish with Ready Move so everyone will know when to execute. Otherwise, you will get candidates starting to execute the order while you are giving it, and sounding off an affirmative reply in a cascading and weak response. Example (note the use of the future imperative): Whats going to happen now is when you receive the command to do so, first squad will move to the left side, second squad to the middle, and third squad to the right. Does everyone understand that? (Yes, Candidate Platoon Sergeant) Ready, move! (Kill). Part of getting the platoon to sound off is to ensure that they know when they are supposed to sound off. The command is Double-time March, not Double-time Marine Corps. Its Ready Seats not Ready Kill. Its Count Off, not Count Snap. Learn the command properly if you expect anyone to follow your commands. Use standard issue foot powder to counter the effects of heat rashes. Heat rashes are also known as sweat rashes, and result from your skin sweating too much. The foot powder will stop that area from sweating and keep it dry.

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APPENDIX F: MY NOTES
These are in no particular order or organization structure. They are simply all the notes I scribbled in my notepads while at OCS. The notes are not complete. I distinctly remember not copying down things I already knew so that I could focus on the things I did not know. As always, take from it what you will. Traits of a Professional Moral Leadership Competent: continually endeavors to improve Responsible: knows expectations of rank Dedicated: willing to sacrifice self and personal needs Professionalism: the quality men and women invest in every task or duty with consistent competence, and with discipline of mind and spirit. Importance of Professionalism to Marine Officers Public Servant Responsible for human lives Law of War 1. Fight only enemy combatants 3. Do not kill or torture prisoners [what happened to 2?] 4. Collect and care for the wounded, whether friend or foe. 7. Treat all civilians humanely. 6. Destroy no more than the mission requires. [I dont know why these are out of order or why I did not write down the missing ones.] Special Trust and Confidence POTUS [acronym for President of the United States] has special trust and confidence in Patriotism: love and loyalty Valor: courage in battle Fidelity: faithfulness and devotion Abilities: talents and skills based on presumption that officers will practice integrity, good manners, sound judgment, and discretion, all with honor and courage. Noblesse Oblige Nobility obligates

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By virtue of their position, it was incumbent on 18th century nobles to render appropriate public service. The price officers pay for special trust and confidence is exacting and unremitting personal accountability. Code of Conduct I. I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of my life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense. II. I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist. ethical guide VI. I will never forget that I am an American fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.

UCMJ Rights of the Accused Protection against self-incrimination Protection against being coerced Protection against immaterial but degrading evidence Protection against unlawfully acquired evidence Personnel subject to the UCMJ Active duty military EPWs [stands for Enemy Prisoners of War] [Just so you know, the UCMJ also applies to reservist military as well as civilians serving with the DOD, I think.] Summary Confinement for 30 days (restriction for 45 days) Forfeiture of 2/3 pay for 1 month Reduction to E-1 (reduction by 1 pay grade) Special Confinement for 1 year Forfeiture of 2/3 pay for 1 year Reduction to E-1 Bad-conduct discharge General Death Forfeiture of all pay and allowances Reduction to E-1

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Dishonorable discharge Forfeiture of pay and allowances Reduction in pay grade Bad-conduct discharge Dishonorable discharge

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