ABOUT BOLC II & III (& LDAC as a TAC)

Warrior Forge 2006 – Fort Lewis, WA
Prepared by: 2LT William Kawalek

Being a platoon TAC officer at Warrior Forge 2006 immediately following graduation and commissioning was not in my plans as a new lieutenant. I was surprised initially when I found out I would be participating as a member of a platoon’s cadre right after commissioning and would be working alongside the platoon during their training. After getting to Fort Lewis and meeting the Major and Sergeant First Class I would be working with I actually began to enjoy being there. In the end the experience I had as a mentor and trainer for the cadets would be a very good learning experience. I also got a chance to learn a lot about myself and how I interact with people in a military environment 24/7. Overall I had an excellent time and was pleasantly surprised with the time I spent there and a lot of fun.

Being a part of the overall experience at Warrior Forge also gave me a chance to hone my own skills at some the training events before BOLC II began. I encourage any recently commissioned lieutenants to pursue the great opportunity to work as a cadre member at Warrior Forge as they will get a chance to learn a lot and be eased into the military before BOLC II.

BOLC II – Fort Benning, GA
Prepared by: 2LT William Kawalek and 2LT Amber Hammel

In Processing, Arrival, General Information

The main thing to remember here is to have all your paperwork in order and arrive on time. Always ensure you have enough time to drive or fly down depending on when your start date of your course is and have a couple dozen copies of your orders ready to give up when you arrive. The course for this past summer started on a Sunday at Benning. There is ample parking at Benning where you will be housed and having a car is definitely a necessity I would say.

The rooms and barracks you are housed have a bunk bed (with a roommate of course), two desks, two lamps, two chairs, an air conditioner unit, two trash cans, and two large metal closets for your cloths and equipment. There is typically two bathrooms per floor of about 25 rooms on each floor with about 5 showers in each unit. The air conditioner is definately the best part as it gets pretty hot down in Georgia. Bringing a computer would definately be a necessity I would say too. A laptop would be best, but if all you have is a desktop that would be great still. A printer could come in useful as the paper and printers in the common rooms are always packed with people. There is no wireless internet or connectivity in any of the rooms; only in the common rooms down stairs. They talked about putting connectivity into all the rooms for next year, but don't count on it being down necessarily.

Most of the first week or so of training is just briefs and different administartive work. You will meet with your company commander, battalion commander, and various other officers to brief you on the training at BOLC and other subjects. You will get your quarterly EO and sexual harassment briefs during the first week also. A lot of loose ends get straightened out during this week like pay issues, dental records, etc. Overall its a very slow week where you will also get issued your equipment and begin to learn about your platoon.

Leadership opportunities were rotated at Benning on a week to week basis. That is, a 2LT would be platoon leader, platoon sergeant, squad leader, CO, XO, or first sergeant. There were no formal forms produced for leadership evaluations, but there is counseling of your progress from your platoon cadre. There also leadership opportunities with some of the training events. Being the Range OIC for a day at the firing range or being the OIC of a convoy. Usually people would also get a opportunity to run PT once or twice additionally. There is no set minimum or maximum for leadership at BOLC that existed this past year as some people did not get nearly as many chances as others did to be a leader in front of the platoon.

Overall many of the events and the way the whole training works is very different than Warrior Forge. Some of the planning is up to the students in the course whereas at Warrior Forge it was either already planned or it was more of a cadre-led process. Also, I'm sure a pleasant surprise will be that you very rarely do cadence when you march places (if you march, which you do not always).

Combatives

Combatives was the second week of training at BOLC. You participate in Combatives Monday through Friday and for about 5 hours a day. About half in the morning and half in the evenings. It was a good enjoyable time and I'm sure everyone that has been to any training from MSG Rousey will be more than prepared for it. Its a fun time and a good learning experience nonetheless. The training is done in the grass inside the large track on post. The trainers have varying levels of experience and sometimes will tell you contrasting things depending on who is talking to you at the time. Typically the trainers were members of your platoon cadre (3-4 NCOs, 1 CPT).

Rifle Marksmenship

The third week of training at Fort Benning was rifle marksmenship week. It basically is the same type of training that cadets learn at Warrior Forge, but with a few technological changes. Instead of using the M16 you used a M4. Also used instead of the iron sites are the M-68 CCO (Close Combat Optics) with a red dot to identify your target. Using the CCO was a lot easier I felt than using iron sites as you could keep both eyes open while firing. You will also get familiarized with night vision optics, PVS-14 or PVS-7, and an infrared laser for a night fire PEQ-2A. The week overall is a pretty boring week as you do not get to put many rounds downrange and have to do a lot of waiting around to get the training started or finished with. For example, for one whole day you will group, then the next you will zero, etc. It was a really slow week overall; but pretty good training. My advice would be to do as much PMI as possible when the schedule permits it.

FOB Operations

The FOB at Benning is a very nice facility that I thought sometimes was better than living in the barracks. They basically house a company sized unit in a giant building that resembles an airplane hanger and has very powerful air conditioners. You will stay here during the summer. If you attend BOLC in the fall or early spring you will use tent city (a group of tents on the other side of the hanger) to house in. There are showers, sinks with running water, televisions in the dining facility, and other nice amenities. You will get one hot meal a day and two cold MRE's a day out in the field. The final three weeks are in the field at the FOB. The FOB has a series of towers and gates that are guarded by platoons that rotate through the jobs and will be attacked at certain points additionally. The only downside probably that I can think of is the port-a-johns you have to use; otherwise it is very nice and practically the same as to living in the barracks during the training week.

Convoy Operations

Convoy Operations were a good experience as many of us have never learned any of the techniques and planning involved in producing an actual convoy. The training lasts two days and is good familiarization training and involved a live fire exercise. However, remember not to get frustrated over how controlled the live fire is conducted by cadre. This is the first time for many LT’s get to put live rounds down range while maneuvering next to their buddy.

MOUT

MOUT to me was probably the best training and most fun we did at BOLC. You are trained at a mock city on base that has multiple buildings with sometimes three or four stories of rooms. There is a lot of different missions you will learn and be familiarized with how to execute during the 3 days you are training at the site. They start with the basics of clearing a simple square room with one entrance and build you up to more complicated situations. There are lot of fun opportunities for leadership with MOUT missions and a few at night with night vision goggles and full gear. Most platoons got to do a few missions with SIM rounds (hard paint rounds requiring more protective gear) that would hurt if you were hit with them during the situation. The MOUT training at McKenna MOUT Site is probably the most rewarding and one of the most valuable training you will get at BOLC II.

Land Navigation

The land navigation section of BOLC II to me was the most challenging part of the experience. You will do some internal training within your platoon during down time to refresh everyone on their skills they need to succeed for the actual test. You will do a practice land navigation test during the day on an alternate course that is a good refresher, but not too similar to the terrain or area that the actual test is conducted at. The test is taken on a course that is large and I felt was pretty challenging. It started for us at 0500 and went for five hours til 1000. The first two hours were dark and then the last three were light so if you could find a few points at dark you were doing very well. Moving fast and planning a good route are key to success on the course. Knowing how to use your compass, map, pace count, and other land navigation skills is key to success, but again the most important is the ability to know where you going at all times quickly and having a good route. If you fail the land navigation test you just take it over and over again til you pass.

Physical Fitness

PT is conducted practically every day at BOLC II to prepare you for future training and OBC. There will be a diagnostic PT test administered by each platoon during the first week of training. The record APFT will be in either the second or third week of being at BOLC II. The PT is identical to all the ones we have done at JCU, but is done on a 1 mile track. Also the heat and humidity, even at 0600, is difficult to deal with if you are not acclimated to the hot and humid conditions. PT is done every day of the week while in the garrison environment and also done in the field environment too with whatever facilities and areas you can use to workout.

There are two road marches at BOLC II in addition to regular scheduled PT. There is a 5 mile in the beginning of the course done at a very leisurely pace and a similar one at a 10 mile length at the very end of the course. The road marches are very slow and during both you will take scheduled breaks where you can rest and regain some strength.

Culmination Week

The idea behind culmination week is to put together all the experiences and training you have done during the first few weeks of BOLC II together into a final exercise at the FOB. Platoons will rotate through being gate guards, tower guards, quick reaction force duty, opfor duty, and general squad or platoon sized missions similar to patrolling or squad stx at Warrior Forge. The rotation lasts four days and will be outlined for you before the actual weeks starts. The missions you execute during this final week are sometimes fun and challenging, but usually most platoons do not get enough rotations through running actual missions to be proficient with anything learned at BOLC II. There also tends to be a lot of downtime for platoon members during this week as there is not always a mission to be executed at all times. This week you may find yourself getting the most sleep out of any of the three weeks at the FOB. This week will probably be revamped and reorganized for the class of 2007's rotation as it seemed to need the most work.

BOLC III

General Information

Again most of the same things hold true for BOLC III (formerly Officer Basic Course) regarding preparation and in-processing. Having the proper paperwork and orders sets with you is key to your arrival. Make sure you know where to report and when so you don't burn any leave or miss any training. Reporting in shape is key and that might be a slight problem if you are coming from Warrior Forge as there are limited opportunities to work out there if you are in certain positions. Other than that the prerequisites and preparation for BOLC III would mostly depend on your branchs you receive. I know most of the combat arms branches will additionally have pre-ranger courses available for training to use for opportunities after graduation. Other than Infantry BOLC III the field training exercises will be relatively short from about a week to possibly two depending on your branch.

FOLLOW-ON SCHOOLS

Aerial Delivery Material Officers Course (ADMOC)
Pre-requisites: QM officer, 2LT- CPT, ABN qualified
Prepared by: 2LT Amber Hammell

A lot of hard work goes into the successful deployment of T-10 D parachute, however, as an officer, you are not expected to pack the required 25 parachutes per day that your soldiers must pack. A parachute rigger officer must be a leader, manager, and planner. In the Aerial Delivery Material Officers Course (ADMOC) a quartermaster officer will learn to apply these characteristics in order to successfully manage a parachute rigger platoon. ADMOC is a five week long course consisting of four phases: Pack, Airdrop Equipment Repair (AER), Aerial Delivery (AD), and Planning. During the pack phase officers are trained to pack their own personal parachute which they are required to jump. The AER phase consists of learning to inspect a parachute and sew a basic repair patch onto a canopy. During the AD phase, training consists of learning to pack the G-11 and G-12 cargo parachute, rigging heavy drop loads, and learning about the different types of airdrop systems. The final Planning phase is the most important to a parachute rigger officer. This phase will teach the basic techniques and processes for planning the logistics for an airborne mission. Upon graduation, officers will have completed two additional jumps including a heavy drop mission, and gained the authorization to wear the Parachute Rigger Badge.