WOCS

Well for those of you that did not know, I have been selected to be a Warrant Officer.  I put in the packet about a year ago and got selected in the spring and finally got to attend school which started November 12th.  I was a little nervous that I wouldn't make it through school as I have heard that it was really tough so I didn't want to tell everyone about it until I finished school.  Well I am now finished with the first school and getting ready to go to the Warrant Officer Basic Course now.  Warrant Officer Candidate School is located at Fort Rucker, Alabama and was not as tough as I thought it would be.  We were told that the course has been revamped for several reasons over that year and a half so it is not as physically demanding but more mentally stressful.  I can certainly see that having gone through the course and comparing that to what others have told me about the way the course used to be.  It was very busy with the normal day starting out with a 0530 wake up, after which we had about 7 minutes to shave, brush our teeth, make our beds, and get downstairs to formation.  That is quite a feat for 86 people to do.  We got pretty good at it though.  We would then do physical training (PT) for about an hour and then we had between 30-45 minutes to shower, change, clean the barracks and get back downstairs for formation.  From there is was a short march to the dining facility (DFAC) for breakfast.  They gave us plenty of time to eat, thankfully, and then we would march in groups of 3-5 back over to the grove area just outside our barracks to wait for everyone to finish eating.  We were also required to do either 5 pull ups or 10 push ups before going to the grove.  This was also a time for us to meet with our small group leaders for mentorship lessons or time to study for upcoming tests.  When it was time to go to academics, which varied a little each day, we would get in formation and march to the school house which is about 1.25-1.50 miles.  We had academics until lunch, march back to the DFAC for lunch, get information from our TAC officers and then march back to academics and then back for dinner and finished out our nights with cleaning the barracks and some of the other buildings that were in our area.  We were also required to study at least 1 hour every night and then were given a small amount of personal time before lights out.  They kept our days VERY busy.  Nothing overly difficult, just a lot to do.  A lot of the days weren't necessarily normal though.  If you Google WOCS Class 14-04 you can find our class song and possibly our reception video.  We did 2 class songs and we also had to present a class sign that a few people worked on, all apart of the tradition and are meant to show that we could come together as a team to make some things happen.  We also spent a week in the field where we did land navigation(which was pretty tough because of all of the vegetation, the course wasn't really that tough but getting through all of those trees and bushes was no joke), a leadership reaction course, some lanes training and base defense.  Our days were pretty packed which made the course go by pretty quick.  Thankfully it is finished and I am now a Warrant Officer!  Thanks for the support of those that did know about me going through the course, it was great knowing how many people support me no matter what and especially Tammy for holding down the fort while I was at school and is still doing so as I go on to WOBC.  Also thanks to Dennis and Linda Fitzpatrick for coming to graduation and pinning my new rank on me!  I know Mom, Dad and Tammy all really wanted to be there for graduation but it is tough and expensive to get to Fort Rucker, especially for just a day or 2 of being there.

 

This is my roommate (Jay Tsinnie) and I, he was the primary t-shirt officer and I was his alternate.  We designed the shirts and had them made for the whole class.

 

While we were there, the post had a turkey trot 5k/10k run that we helped with (I am in the back left).

 

This was our class sign, turned out pretty good I think.

 

This was from one of our PT sessions, it was pouring down rain that morning so we did PT in the pavilion.  Yes it was rifle drill PT and yes it sucked.

 

This is what happens if you don't make your bed right or don't have stuff hung up correctly.  Not too bad but some people had much worse.

 

Us sitting in academics, I sat next to our class historian that day which is why you see me in this picture.

 

This is my small group that we would do mentorship sessions with our small group leader.  It was kind of cool to have these discussions.

 

This was part of a downed aircraft exercise that we did, if you can't tell I am supposed to be injured in this picture.

 

This is one of the leadership reaction course obstacles, I am on that back platform getting ready to walk across that 2x4s to that little platform in the middle.

 

This was part of a creative thinking exercise that we had to do, this is from the group I was a part of.  It is supposed to be a multi-functional suit for Soldiers.  We had to have a little fun with it because the exercise seemed so ridiculous.

 

This is from the staff ride we took to Andersonville, GA.  Very informative and very sobering event.  Andersonville was a POW camp during the civil war, it was truly amazing the conditions that POWs used to live in.

 

Overall the course was a pretty good experience and I am very excited to start this new phase to my career.