Commissioned Officer Training !
Well I have almost finished with my first week of COT (Commissioned Officer Training). Please forgive me if this blog has spelling errors and jumps from one thing to another. I don't have much time to write but a lot of you have asked about it so here it is!!!
My journey began on Saturday June 31, 2012 when I drove from Michigan to Alabama. I made my trip in 12.5 hours rather than the 14 ... I ran into very little traffic and no problems. I was so happy! However when I woke up on Saturday I was not feeling too well and I felt worse as the day when on but I of course kept driving. Once I reached Alabama I went straight to Urgent Care before finding a hotel. Just as a I suspected...I had strep throat. They gave me a shot of antibiotics and a script and 3 hours later sent me on my way. Needless to say it was an extremely long day. I finally checked into my hotel at midnight after leaving Michigan at 7:45am.
Sunday was spent running errands and getting ready for the first day of training on Monday. I also met up with some girls that I had met over the Air Force Social Worker facebook page. We have all been chatting for months so I was so excited to finally meet them. We went out and had dinner before the big day. We stayed up way too late that night chatting about in-processing day and we were all a bit nervous. I didn't sleep well that night.
The day finally arrived. The girls and I went out to lunch for our last "real" meal before heading to in processing. We arrived around 2pm and at that time it was near 100 degrees. We walked up with just our backpack and then we got yelled at to return to our car to get all of our luggage. Uh-oh. I had a large suitcase, a small suitcase, a large clear tote and at least 12 hangers full of my uniforms. I obviously couldn't carry it all so I had to get creative. Finally after the mile walk with all my stuff (one of my friends had just as much stuff so we walked up together) we were told OK I guess I should say yelled at to drop our stuff and stand in line at attention. I was a dripping sweaty mess (I had to wear khaki capri pants and a casual dress shirt). While standing in attention you cannot move at all. I had sweat running into my eyes and bugs flying around me. We waited in line at attention for at least an hour. We moved when the lined moved. I single file line looking straight forward not speaking. Yes we were being yelled at the entire time. In this line we received out key to our room, access to our laptops, hydration system (we have to carry this camelbak filled with water on our back at all the times) and reflective belts.
The belt determines what squadron we are all in. Each squadron is made up of 80-85 people. There are 300 people here total at COT. We have dentists, pharmacists, medical, Chaplin etc here for training. The age range is anywhere between 26-40ish. We also are split into flights. My flight team is called Sierra Flight and we have 15 people. These are the people who live on my floor. We do everything together. Eat, study, etc...we are together every minute of the day except to sleep. Let me just say that we are a team however there are a lot of personality clashes LOL...it is making this experience even more interesting!
OK back to the first day. Once we got all our materials we headed outside to march. This was intense. We also have this 90 page manual that we have to read any time we are "waiting". We have to carry this manual on us at all times. I was on my feet for over 7 hours on the first day. Marching is very hard to explain and it is very difficult to remember all the calls and movements but we have been practicing every night (I even practice in the shower LOL). We march everywhere. In the hallways, outside etc. The only place we do not march is in our dorm room. The dorms are pretty nice. I have a roommate and its co-ed. It is better than I thought it was going to be. We obviously are not in our rooms that much but we have air conditioning, own desks, own closets and sinks :) We wake up every morning at 4:30am. We either head to physical training or Drill until 7:21am. Then we march to breakfast.
Breakfast is usually a boxed meal but in a few weeks we will get a hot meal at the chow hall. Then we either do more marching, classroom instruction or lecture. Lunch is at 12:21 and dinner at 5:26. We have "tight meals" which means we get about 10 minutes to eat. We cannot speak to one another. We have to sit at the table at attention. We all have jobs at the table (a table of 4) and a process for standing up and walking out of the Chow Hall. We have Chow Sharks that are in there yelling at us if we make a mistake. The food is not good and lately we have been eating a lot of MER's which are down right nasty. During dining time at the Chow Hall we have to drink 3 glasses of either water or juice (no soda) to rehydrate ourselves. So I have to down three glasses in 10 minutes. On Tuesday I almost threw up. I have been struggling with not having enough food in my body and dehydration. Our uniforms are heavy and extremely hot and we have to wear our hydration system at all times as well as our backpacks. Our day begins at 4:30am and we usually do not go back to our rooms until 7-8pm. Then we have to study, shower, and prepare uniforms and other things for the next day. We also have meetings with our flight team. So as you can see I have very little free time.
My flight the Sierra flight met our Flight Commander on Wednesday. Needless to say he is one tough man. He used to be a Marine so you can imagine how is yelling sounds and he expects perfection. Our shoe laces need to be tied from left to right, we have to have our pens sitting on the desk in the correct position etc. It is so intense and I am so nervous for the next 5 weeks. As I stated earlier there are 15 people in my flight. Even with the personaility conflicts we are all very supportive of one another. My job in the flight is postal officer so yup you got it I get to drive and get the mail and distribute it to my fellow officers 2-3 times a week. I love giving my fellow officers mail from their loves ones :) I would have liked to take a more active role however I need to concentrate so much on the academic part of this training that I took an easier flight job.
On Thursday I had an emotional breakdown in the bathroom. I got yelled at by a group of 8 training instructors for not greeting properly. I was tired and had a headache and it was only 8am so the yelling just put me over the edge. When I got into the bathroom there were 2 other females crying as well. The yelling is hard but it is done to teach us to become leaders. I will have a flight of air force Social Workers under me when I reach my base and I have to learn from the ground up. I am learning so much about myself and what I am capable of. However I don't think I will ever be OK with the yelling :)
Did I mention we march everywhere.....12-14 hours in our boots. The only time we can walk without marching is in our dorm rooms. Even in our dorms we have to be in uniform or our PT gear unless sleeping. I have some skin missing from my heels which makes marching and running pretty difficult. I was sent to medical for treatment.
I have my first exam on Saturday. I am extremely nervous about the academic part of training. We have a lot of information to learn including drill techniques, lectures, flight classes etc and we are tested on all of it. My flight team is very supportive and is aware that academics for me is difficult. We have study groups however this week we have not had much time to study. A lot of my current stress is coming from the academic part of training. We have a lot of lectures, note taking, homework etc. It is like being in an intense internship for 5 week with the addition of having people yell at you LOL.
Some of you have asked for specific prayers requests for the next week. So here are a few:
1. Please pray for over all healing. I am still healing from my strep throat and I have a pretty bad cold right now. I have also had headaches every day since Monday. The lack of sleep, heat and lack of food is taking a toll on my immune system.
2. Academics.
Although it has been a tough week, I still remain confident that the Air Force is where I am meant to be. The staff is tearing me down in order to build me up to be the best Officer and leader in the Air Force. This is a constant reminder for me. God placed me at this training for a reason and I know that I will make it through the next 4 weeks. Yes it will be difficult, yes there will be tears. This training is one of the most difficult things I have ever experienced but when I look back I am confident I will be able to say "it was all worth it." 4 weeks from today is graduation....yay!!!!
Thank you again for the constant support and encouragement. I receive your text messages, emails and facebook messages but please understand that I have maybe 2-3 hours of personal time a night and I have to use that time to shower, study and prepare for the next day so I may not be able to respond to all of you. All of this does not go unnoticed and I appreciate it!
Miss you all!
xoxo
Megan
PS...I have pictures but I don't have access to upload them so I will post some on here when I get to my base in August and I will also post a folder on facebook :)
