BOLC II Overview

The powers that be apparently don't want me bashing BOLC II before I even start it, since the internet doesn't seem to want to work long enough for me to finish this post. Let's try again.

I am just now beginning to realize how much BOLC II mught suck... and I haven't even started it yet.

According to my written orders, I have to report in tomorrow, at some unspecified time. According to my online orders, I report in NLT Sunday, at an unspecified time. Rumor has it that if I report in 'early', I will wind up tasked with something. At the same time... I really don't want to sit around all day tomorrow, and I definitely don't want to risk reporting in late by following what the online orders say. So, tomorrow in the am it is. Even though we don't actually do anything until Monday.

Monday starts the wonderful world of PT (which I did not do enough of the past 2 months) and inprocessing. Cue the ass-loads of paperwork, the ridiculous lines, the hurry-up-and-wait boredom, the immunizations, the "oh shit, they told me I didn't need that form!" and, for me at least, the "God damn it, why does Patrick AFB suck too much to give me my CAC card?" Yes, that's right. PAFB doesn't have me updated in the system, so even though I am contracted AND commissioned and have all of the paperwork to PROVE it, they will not give me my CAC card. Even though Jensen, who commissioned the same day as me, got his at the AFB near his home. Wtf? Of all the things that might actually result in me not getting paid on time...

Next week we also may or may not have a diagnostic APFT. Which I will probably pass, but not with a very high score. Who knows? Apparently sometimes they don't do the first APFT until the second week.

Speaking of the second week, we get to do a few days of combatives. Basically, stuff I've done twice already now, except potentially more painful because people actually care now. It also might not help that I weigh 87.5lbs, and don't stand a chance fighting against anyone unless I'm actually allowed to try and hurt them... which we're not allowed to do. Really realistic training right there... *cough* We also get do do classes on BRM. This is an M4. This is how you disassemble it. This is how you reassemble it. Etc etc.

Week 3 is actual zeroing and qualification. Cue the ridiculous amount of time spent waiting at the range to shoot. Then cue the pains of shooting with full combat gear on (yeah, I know, we obviously need to practice in the actual gear we'd wear downrange, but that doesn't make it any more fun to do). At least we get to use an M4 and not the M16s that we get stuck with in cadet-land. We then get to do some reflexive firing and firing at night with the NVGs (which may or may not be a qualifying exercise, apparently).

Week 4 is convoy ops (unless you didn't qualify with your M4... which is a possibility since we'll be using a sighting system that I personally have never worked with before...) and LandNav. 5 points of practice, then the actual 8-point course... A "daytime" course that starts at like 0430. Glad we trained that way at Malabar in ROTC, even though it really sucked back then...

Week 5 is live fire exercises, US weapons, and the joy of kicking in doors. Fun stuff.

Week 6 is the sucky week in the field. Apparently your level of activity greatly depends on what squad you're in. 1st squad is on point most of the time, and therefore always sees action, 4th squad is rear guard most of the time, and therefore rarely sees action. Hard to say which I'd rather be. The FOB doesn't sound too bad though - shower facilities, wireless internet, and apparently we get to keep our phones and stuff even when we're in the field. QRF and guard duty are both guaranteed to suck, as per usual. The week ends with the 10-mile road march. In full combat gear, with approximately 35 pounds in the ruck and a weapon. Joy... Rumor has it it lasts a ridiculous length of time, with little missions scattered throughout it. I really hope the rumor is wrong. Enough time to do it without breaking ourselves or without falling out: good. Several hours spent changing from standing to prone to kneeling and having to get up and down with all that gear on: not good. Did I mention that I weigh 87.5lbs? and all that gear will probably be over half my body weight? Yeah. If they try to assign my the SAW for that march, I might snap on somebody's unfortunate ass.

Week 7 is the usual outprocessing. And cleaning. Lots of cleaning. "Even though the rooms looked kind of crappy when you got here, we expect them to be spotless and perfect when you leave." Thanks.

At some point, we do a second APFT and a 4 or 5 or 6 mile ruck (nobody is really clear on how many we do...). Weekends off (unless you fuck up bad, or your platoon in general is comprised of screw-offs, in which case pass priveledges might get revoked) and evenings off... although they might be very short evenings.

Oh well. I've been told expectations are actually fairly low at BOLC, at least for the first week or two, so hopefully it won't be that bad. It is, however, Army training... which means it will probably suck a great deal of the time... especially since I did all of this at LDAC except convoy ops (which I at least learned about at CTLT) and working with NVGs (which we played with at Spring FTX). So you see Florida Tech cadets, the Panther Battalion actually does prepare you for stuff besides camp ;) (And rumor has it that BOLC II might wind up being abolished as a repetetive waste of time that only benefits a very small amount of people... you lucky little bastards if that is true!)

Is it bad that I'm complaining about training before even reporting in for it?

It could be worse: I could be stuck at Fort Sill.