Army OCS

In this week’s blog, I will be giving you in detail one of the ways to become an officer in the United States Army. Officer Candidate School (OCS) is one of the common options where soldiers upon completing the basic training course moves on to this course, assuming they already have a bachelor’s degree from a certified university/college. But to recap, basically it is a 14-week program which graduates commissioned officers in the United States Army.

OCS candidates come through a variety of screens. Only college graduates, enlisted, and lawyers/doctors/chaplains get the opportunity to attend this training. On top of that, the selection is very selective due to the limit they have. They can only have a certain number of slots open for each different cycle. You can get unlucky and not be able to get a spot even if you are qualified to do so. It varies on the Army’s needs and whether if the Department of Defense (DoD) actually needs more.

The benefits of going to OCS is because it is a faster way to commission as compared to Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), which I will explain in future posts. After the 14-weeks of training, you are commissioned rather then ROTC taking up four years. But as I was saying, after basic training, officer candidates go through OCS, then from OCS, they go to their branch training, in which they train for their job. After that, they get stationed at a unit and do their duty as an officer in the United States Army.

Only the most qualified will have the ability to go active duty (full-time), and the rest will be put to Reserves or National Guard (part-time). So doing the best they can at OCS can decide their future and where they will stand in their military career.

101st Airborne

In relation to the previous post of 82^nd Airborne division unit, I thought I’d post about the 101^st Airborne division unit. 101^st Airborne division just as the 82^nd division has similar qualities of history. They are well known by the people in the military, but even so at Fort. Campbell. Fort. Campbell is basically their home and its headquarters. Many modern members of the 101st are graduates of the U.S Army Air Assault School, and wear the Air Assault Badge, but it is not a prerequisite for assignment to the division. As you have already known from my previous post about the air assault school, you should be aware that obtaining such a badge is hard. Thus getting into this division or even so deploying with them is very hard.

Though they are part of the “airborne” unit, they are usually not paratroopers, so they do not jump out of planes with parachutes. They however, get the opportunity to jump out of the helicopters in which they get assigned to. With its proud tradition and history of deployments, they currently operate in Iraq and Afghanistan because of the war on terrorism happening today. They were heavily engaged in the operation Desert Storm by seeing many military movies, you should be aware that many of them where from this division because helicopters were used to hover over villages.

The "Screaming Eagles" is also the nickname for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Command Parachute Demonstration Team. This is done by group of parachute riggers doing sets of jumps as part of ceremonies or practices. Most of the helicopters the unit occupies currently are the Black Hawk aircraft since it has the most affective use in transporting large group of 101^st airborne soldiers.

82nd Airborne

Last post was about deployment for Soldiers. So therefore I decided to post something in relation to deployment. Another important fact for deployment is the unit that is deploying. There are several of unique units who play different part from each other. One particular unit I would like to focus this time is the famously known 82^nd Airborne Division. They deploy part of the deployment rotations quite often compared to other units. That is because they have the capability of being dropped by a plane using the parachute as opposed to the plane actually landing and dropping off the soldiers. It is more efficient and time saving method.

The division is based in Ft. Bragg in the state of North Carolina. The nickname of this unit is actually “All-American” because the symbol of the unit patch has the double A’s to represent those words. They are the center attention to paratrooper infantry but many get detached to this unit in order to deploy. The other airborne unit that this division partakes is the 101^st Airborne Division, but that is to be discussed further down in future posts.

Otherwise, this unit is most notable for its recent deployment in Afghanistan because they have executed many missions that successfully lead to the decrease in afghan insurgents.

They are also traditionally known for its airborne jumps conducted yearly around. Mass members of the unit jump out of planes in hundred increments to display their proficiently of successful parachuting. Becoming a part of this unit does take some effort over other units, but once you become a part of this unit, you partake in the history of this unit.

Deployment

Because Halloween is approaching, I would like to make a blog post that is a bit spooky.

Today’s blog as you can see from the title will be about American Soldiers deploying over seas. Now, in Afghanistan, deployments are constantly made to end the war. Soldiers train and prepare for this day ever since they sign up to be a soldier. But when your commander comes up to you telling you that you will be deploying in a month, it gives you the chills like ever before.

Thinking of deployment and getting deployed is a scary thought to any soldier, especially if you have not already been deployed before. Your life is put on the front lines when you go off to war, particularly if you know that much danger is out there trying to kill you. But for this, soldiers get trained mentally and emotionally to overcome any fear of getting deployed. If they constantly worry about dying or getting shot, it would probably happen because they are not focused in the mission that they need to carry out.

Nonetheless, though I personally have not been deployed, I have heard many stories from the peers around me. From their stories, deployment is actually scarier than any Halloween decorated zombies and ghosts. It is an actual thing, it is it. You are there in the battle grounds getting ready to fight off the enemies and thoughts rush into your head to make good decisions. Especially if you are put into a leadership position, you are responsible for a team, squad, or even platoon sized manpower. You basically have their lives in your hands. But with great training the Army has these days, this does not come into any conflict or any difficulties. They’re been trained to do what they do best, and that is it. But beware; Halloween can be a bit scary even to soldiers that have been deployed. So therefore, do not try and scare soldiers too much this Halloween!

Enjoy.

Army Rank Structure

Welcome to yet another post!

Today I am in the mood to blog about something rather than the different schools you can attend as an American Soldier. This blog will be about the rank structure in the United States Army. Rank is an important matter in the Army, matter in fact, military as a whole. It is what gives authority and privilege to do such actions. But with higher rank comes higher responsibilities, just like in the civilian world. In the civilian world, we have managers, CEOs, directors, etc. In the Army world, they have Generals, Lieutenants, Sergeants, Privates and the list goes on forever. I will give you a more in depth detail of how the rank system works in the military.

First off, the ranks are subdivided into two different groups: Officers and Enlisted. The officers are the ones who command and give orders while enlisted soldiers are the ones who execute them. In easier terms, officers are managers and enlisted soldiers are the workers underneath them.

The rank structure is important in having an organized and successful Army because you got to have leaders and followers. You have to have somebody planning out what to do and somebody actually doing what it planned out to do. The military rank structure works in sync with the local police ranks as well. The police departments these days use corporals, sergeants, lieutenants, captains, and so on to differentiate who is in charge and who has certain experience. It goes same as the Army.

Moving up in ranks is yet another difficult situation. It takes much effort and dedication to move up in the ranks (the ladder) especially in the officer side. That is because they are the commanders and leaders who direct the enlisted. Their decisions can kill or save their soldiers and they play a vital role in keeping the Army rolling around.

US Army Rank Structure (The ladder)/from highest to lowest

Officer Enlisted

General Command/Sergeant Major

Lt. General First/Master Sergeant

Major General Sergeant First Class

Brigadier General Staff Sergeant

Colonel Sergeant

Lt. Colonel Corporal/Specialist

Major Private First Class

Captain 1/2 Private

1/2 Lieutenant

Special Forces

This blog pertains to the last post in which I have talked about Ranger School. Ranger School was training of soldiers to become a Ranger. They are operated under special operations forces and in today’s blog, I will be talking about yet another special operations candidate school.

It is the Special Forces everyone. Special Forces have long and proud tradition in defending our country and provide important intelligence and training to aid other countries. The only you can become part of the Special Forces detachment is to be qualified as “Special Forces”. There are only two routes to enter this field of expertise: One is to become an Infantryman and apply for candidate school and the other is to be an Officer and branch into Special Forces after Infantry school. This school is believed to be more physically and mentally demanding then the Ranger School because not only is it longer, you get deployed every 6 months during your duty.

Just like the other schools I’ve mentioned, you do get the privilege to obtain a special tab. The Special Forces Tab: A tab that signifies completion of the school and showing others that you are part of the division. Because of the nature of the work, Special Forces is top secret working field and very secretive from society. They are kind of the “men in black” type of workers in which they technically have no identity in the real world. But nonetheless, it is a very interesting field to get into if you would like to be single forever and like to travel almost everywhere.

As for the Special Forces school, it consists of yearly long training in different weather conditions from hot to cold. With very minimal sleep or food and therefore require you to pass every task they give you. It is a tough and challenging task and only those that are fit will survive. But all in all, they get so much respect from anyone that is in the military and who know about their legacy.

Ranger School

Hello,
Today I will be posting a blog on one of the toughest training a Soldier can go through: Ranger School. First of all, you have to be a Ranger School candidate in order to participate in this program. It is an ultimate prize even just to get a slot because finishing this school is the toughest thing in the world. It consists of several weeks of tough training with little or no sleep, food, or medical attention. It breaks down a Soldier both mentally and physically.

They go through rope bridging, rifle marksmanship, ruck-marching, recon, missions, land navigation, and all sorts of things regular soldiers do not do on a regular basis. The statistics show that more than half the soldiers who go through this training graduate because many either quit or get too injured up to continue. This training is not a joke and can even put soldiers to death.

I believe I can get a slot for this training in the future and hopefully complete it. Getting the tab would be a great asset during my Army career and would gain me much respect. Soldiers would drool all over you just because of your tab. There is much hidden power behind the tab because you can access things other soldiers can not. Such as being able to get into the legendary 75^th Ranger Battalion in which has much history behind it that built America the nation it is today.

When you get to finish Ranger School, you earn the title “Ranger”. You get the Ranger tab on your right shoulder on your uniform and you gain the greatest respect among peer soldiers. They know you went through something many soldiers can not go through and nobody messes with you. Soldiers say it gives a person of a lower rank get respected more then somebody with a higher rank. That is in fact true because though rank means power, the tab means respect.