Week 2 Powerpoints and an Obstacle course

So this week started with our first official PT led by cadre, you start and end everyday with the PRT, which is army-wide. On Monday we did the SEAL circuit three times, which is basically a smoke session, kudos to you if you can actually do it all without rest. The idea is cross fit upper body on Mondays, ability group run on Tuesdays, cross fit lower body on Wednesday, ruck march/run  on Thursday, and Friday for our platoon is supposed to be focused on our weaknesses. For us it was a pull up workout with rope climbs. One word-smoked. We also had a piss test on Monday, so make sure to drink a lot of water the night before. As I said on Tuesday we had a run, which was a five mile at a 7:30 minute pace over cardiac hill a couple of times. It was rough for some of us, but it was a mental boost to know you're already set for the run on the RFPT. Then we finished that and went straight to the obstacle course. If you're and ROTC guy it is the exact same one as LDAC at Ft. Lewis. It wasn't too hard the only ones that are truly important are the Big One, where you climb up a rope, walk across some planks, climb up a ladder and then go down a big ass cargo net. The other one, I cant remember what its called, you climb up a ladder and then go down a loooong rope. You must be on top of the rope when you go down and be face forward. If you get a no-go on either of these two (you get three attempts) you will get a major minus (-5 points) and lose out on one of the ten points of leadership presence. Basically you must complete nine of the ten options of on the leaders presence portion or they can theoretically fail you out of IBOLC. Case and point, learn how to climb a damn rope.

The rest of the week was spent in various classes on a variety of subjects. Everything from BRM and Health and Nutrition to how different infantry units are organized. A big focus of the week was also on counselings. The homework for the week was to write four different counselings. One as an initial counseling for your PSG, another for your weapons squad leader, a third that would be an initial counseling for your three rifle squad leaders, and last a discipline counseling. Our Platoon Trainer gave us a scenario about your best SL who recently had a newborn and has been late four times in the last two weeks. Interesting case. But dont wait until the night before to do them, a couple guys in my platoon did and they didnt sleep at all.

Caveat on that, even though this is a Basic course it is nothing like basic training where you start from scratch and they teach you everything you need to know. They expect that you have actually learned something from your commissioning source. You will have some sort of homework every night so if you are banking on eight hours of sleep every night you are wrong. We usually get released every night between 1900-2000 so there just isnt a lot of time. I think collectively our platoon averages about 4-5 hours of sleep a night, and its only week two.

Also, have some spending cash for your gear. I'm not saying go be a PX ranger but you will have to buy equipment because they issue you only a basic TA 50. So gloves, eyepro, and the like are on you. They do allow you to add some pouches and stuff on your FLC. I would advise you get a leader pouch, where you can put your pens, paper, protractor, and any other handy dandy tools. Also start making a leaders book ASAP. Fill it with all sorts of stuff like cheat sheets for weapon capabilities, range cards, nine lines, uxo or anything that comes from an FM. If you need ideas on what to put email me and Ill send you to a link that has a lot of good stuff.

Lastly next week is all in the field at the range, culminating in a team life fire. So we also did the video game version on Friday. It wasnt too bad, but I'm ready to get out of the classroom!