Alrighty well it's about that time again. A few weeks pass and yet another school knocked out of the way. I just came back from PLDC/BNCOC today. It was only 17 days long which is a really great alternative from going through both of those schools the traditional way. Had I done that, it would have been months -- not weeks. The course itself was really just a lot of exercises in team building and testing individual's leadership capabilities. We did a whole hell of a lot of PT too. It was challenging but doable.
On monday starts Phase II. I met my ODA team leaders today. The leadership consisted of a captain from 4th ID with a CIB, a SFC who is non-infantry, and a SSG from a Ranger Bat with a CIB. They all seem like very good guys and I'm really looking forward to knocking out Phase II with them. I'll let you know how it all works out when the class is over in 5 weeks.
One week left at SOPC
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HarleyRider
- Paratrooper
- Posts: 100
- Joined: April 22nd, 2005, 11:33 pm
I just read your whole thread starting off with the beginning of your training in SOPC. Just wanted to say congratulations to all that you have accomplished so far. Keep kickin butt and learning all that you can. Shows that you can accomplish anything so far if you keep a strong mind...
101st 96-98
25th 98-00
173rd 00-03
JRTC 2003-Mar 06
On orders back to 173rd
25th 98-00
173rd 00-03
JRTC 2003-Mar 06
On orders back to 173rd
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Kilted Heathen
- Tadpole
- Posts: 4542
- Joined: November 12th, 2004, 4:52 pm
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The Holmchicken
- Ranger
- Posts: 3943
- Joined: July 29th, 2003, 3:17 pm
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ANGRYCivilian
- Tadpole
- Posts: 2143
- Joined: July 16th, 2004, 9:02 am
Re: One week left at SOPC
That's awesome. I wish I had been in a unit that motivated. Bitches were always falling out even before the run started.Medeski wrote:running until someone quit
St Barbara's Bastards
82C1P
"Parole officer says I gotta upgrade, or he won't give me back my stabbin' knife!"~Roberto
82C1P
"Parole officer says I gotta upgrade, or he won't give me back my stabbin' knife!"~Roberto
I came back from Phase II on Saturday afternoon. Wow, of all of the suck that could possibly suck. Phase II sucked bad :D . What we did during Phase II was learn the basics of patrolling and then execute for three weeks. During the third week, you were put into a leadership position and your performance was evaluated. They put me in as Alpha team leader for my eval and I did fine -- pretty easy spot really. A few guys really had problems grasping the concepts of patrolling, and one was recycled. Besides the one recycle in my squad we had a med drop and one guy got a red cross message, so there really wasn't much of an attrition rate.
Week four was interesting because they really stressed thinking outside of the box. The cadre would just give you a mission and a time hack, and you executed how you saw fit while maintaining the principles of patrolling. That was a decent learning experience because often you would have to deal with instructors who would role play a certain part of the mission.
Week five was the fun part. For the first three days we did nothing but shoot. We zeroed M4's, fired from every position imaginable, and qualified. We also learned to use the M9 and how to transition from your M4 to the M9. The next few days of week five were devoted entirely to MOUT training. We went to range 68 I think it was on Ft. Bragg and just practiced room clearing and moving through an urban environment until the day we went back home. We used sim rounds for this which I hadn't seen before. They seem like a pretty valuable training tool. A little pain definately lets you know when you're fucked up
Before Phase III starts on the 20th, our instructors are letting us take leave so I'm sitting in the comfort of home right now enjoying every minute of it. Some time off is definately welcome after the last 10 months.
Week four was interesting because they really stressed thinking outside of the box. The cadre would just give you a mission and a time hack, and you executed how you saw fit while maintaining the principles of patrolling. That was a decent learning experience because often you would have to deal with instructors who would role play a certain part of the mission.
Week five was the fun part. For the first three days we did nothing but shoot. We zeroed M4's, fired from every position imaginable, and qualified. We also learned to use the M9 and how to transition from your M4 to the M9. The next few days of week five were devoted entirely to MOUT training. We went to range 68 I think it was on Ft. Bragg and just practiced room clearing and moving through an urban environment until the day we went back home. We used sim rounds for this which I hadn't seen before. They seem like a pretty valuable training tool. A little pain definately lets you know when you're fucked up
Before Phase III starts on the 20th, our instructors are letting us take leave so I'm sitting in the comfort of home right now enjoying every minute of it. Some time off is definately welcome after the last 10 months.
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HarleyRider
- Paratrooper
- Posts: 100
- Joined: April 22nd, 2005, 11:33 pm
Finished up Phase III the other day by concluding our 11 day FTX. This mostly just consisted of making commo shots with various radios and of course humping from here to there with some heavy shit on your back. Each member of my team was carrying around 120 lbs in our ruck which I came to find out is just about the definition of suck.
Phase IV aka Robin Sage starts up on Monday the 26th. Most of what I've heard is that Sage is a blast once you get passed infil, here's to hoping its true.
Phase IV aka Robin Sage starts up on Monday the 26th. Most of what I've heard is that Sage is a blast once you get passed infil, here's to hoping its true.
