Background: CPT Tyler Lowe and CPT Ryan Hooper are newly direct commissioned 38G's attending the Direct Commission Course at Fort Benning, GA. We will be posting short blog's on our daily/weekly activities and we also have included the current Welcome Letter, Packing List, and SOP. We hope this will help to prepare you all for success in this course. Both of us have prior service as enlisted soldiers and want to say that this class is not a "gentleman's course" or a cake walk. Many of the things you may read online about the course being "very easy" are mostly outdated. You will be treated with respect and won't be getting yelled at like movies about basic training. However, you will conduct real army training such as field exercises, land navigation, rifle marksmanship, CS gas chamber, physical fitness, and ruck sack marches. We'll continuously be updating the "blog" to keep you all informed. Feel free to reach out to our LinkedIn messages for any clarifications or questions unanswered.
Typical Day: Below is a schedule of a generally typical day so far at DCC. When you go out to the field/range/other activities this could look a bit different.
0445: wake up, clean rooms, make bed, get changed for PT
0530-0700: PT
0700-0715: Shower and change into OCP uniform
0715-0800: Breakfast together
0800-1200: Classes
1215-1245: Lunch
1300-1700: Classes
1715-1745: Dinner together
1800-1815: Last formation, discuss tomorrow, etc.
1830-2100: Free time to yourself
2100: Lights out
A Few Do's/Don'ts of Direct Commission Course:
Be humble: We all have lots of accomplishments/experiences in our lives that make us "experts" in our respected fields, but that doesn't mean we're too good for anything in this course. We had a former special forces soldier in our course who had more military experience/expertise then everyone combined. If he displayed humility and wasn't "too good" for the things we did in this course then none of us are.
Positive attitude: Have a positive attitude about everything you do. It's the army, you're going to do some things that seem stupid or that you think could be done in a much more effective way. It's only 6 weeks of your life, don't be a negative nancy about everything.
Listen: Our cadre of instructors were excellent with decades of real-life experience and knowledge in everything they were teaching us. Listen to them. For example, people who never shot a gun before were able to successfully qualify because they were a sponge soaking up everything our instructors taught us. On the other hand, some people who "own hundreds of guns" and were self-proclaimed experts struggled to qualify because they thought they knew everything and didn't liste.
Respect: This is sort of a strange course in that it is one where we will out rank (and out age) our instructors. However, you will still stand at parade rest for the NCO instructors and do exactly what they say without any complaints. Be humble. Paraphrasing our battalion commander.. "If you don't show respect, you're not going to make it here or anywhere else in the army.)
Take it seriously: Don't treat this as a summer camp as you will notice some of your classmates will. To quote our Battalion CSM, "The training and information you will receive here could save your life one day." He's not wrong and for us, this could be the last time we receive a Combat Lifesavers Course or the last time we go to a rifle range before we really need it.
Prepare yourself:
-Physically: As mentioned before, this course was a lot more challenging than we were told/had read about. You will be challenged physically/mentally, especially during ruck marches or land navigation. Even prior service people (yes, even the former Special Forces guy) felt this course was challenging at times. There were injuries. Take care of your body, before the course and during it. The more you PT before coming to the course, the less you will suffer during the course.
-Civilian jobs: We all have civilian careers. Many people came thinking they'd be able to spend a lot of hours keeping up with their civilian jobs. Everyone I talked to who tried to work "part-time" a few hours after training or on weekends found that it was very difficult due to being tired or because there simply wasn't enough time. Not saying it can't be done, but just letting you all know what we saw.
-Homelife: Make sure everything at home is in order. There's going to be a lot of training and you will be busy. It'll be very hard to make time to handle any external issues.
Don't do stupid stuff: Last, but certainly not least. If you do something stupid, you will get counseled, you will face punishment, you will be prevented from graduating, you could get kicked out army before you even start. These consequences happen in every class including ours. Follow the rules. Many of them will be childish (lights out at 2100, not allowed to leave the footprint, no caffeine/alcohol, etc.) Many are serious ("flagging" someone with a weapon, negligent discharge of a weapon, SHARP, EO, etc.). There were people in our class who violated these serious rules and serious consequences were given.