<p>Hello all, I've posted here some in the past and it's been a while because I've been caught up without internet on the sunny banks of the Tigris. Anyways, now that I've been a PL in Baghdad for about 3 months, I'd say I have a decent feel about what post-USMA life is like, from schooling to Ranger School to Iraq, and just wanted to make myself available for any questions any of you who are applying to or currently serving at the Academy may have about "the afterlife." I'd be more than willing to answer whatever questions come to. Thanks</p>
<p>Screamingeagle - Welcome back, it's great to hear from you! Happy Holidays and stay safe.</p>
<p>ScreamingEagle,</p>
<p>It's great to hear from you. Thanks for posting again. I'm sure there will be lots of questions from cadets and cadet candidates. But also from parents - especially parents of cadets who will graduate soon. So, here goes:</p>
<p>How did your officer training school compare to West Point?
What about any branch training you did in comparison to WP?
How are the spirits in Iraq?
What have been the most valuable aspects of your West Point experience in preparing you for your current assignment?</p>
<p>And I'm with Ann. Stay safe!</p>
<p>Good to hear from you ScreamingEagle, I was wondering where you were. Momoftwins has some good questions and I can't think of any others right now.</p>
<p>Take care...You (and all service members) are in my prayers.</p>
<p>ok, I'll try to tackle these questions as best I can. First off, I'm in Baghdad, and the most suprising thing so far has been how relatively peaceful it is; I was quite shocked actually. My battalion has been operating for over 2 months with no casualties and little to no enemy contact. That being said, that's just how it is where we are, I know in other parts of the country, and even other parts of the city, the situation is not as good(a friend of mine had 7 soldiers wounded in a 3 day period). There are a lot of reasons for things being the way they are where I'm at, and I dont see the peace we have in this area transcending the whole nation, but from what I've gathered in my time over here, we are winning this thing at this point.
Ok, as far as the training questions. I went to IOBC, or IBOLC as they call it now, right when BOLC II first started, which really screwed up the training plan for IOBC because they had to take training out that was supposedley covered in BOLC II, but it wasnt. In my experience, BOLC II really was a worthless course, but understand that I was in the first class that had to go and they've had almost two years of classes to fix the glitches. The basic course was a much better use of time. I'm infantry, so they stuff we do in IOBC was, at least when I did Buckner, somewhat hit upon at WP, but that may have changed. Also understand that when I did CBT and CFT, the war wasnt really "on" and I know the entire Army has since changed its training focus to more accurately mirror the current area of operations. I know with other branches (say FA or QM), you know nothing of your job until the basic course, so its much more technical and skill oriented than the basic tactics you do at WP. Pretty much in OBC, you get the technicalities of your job, whereas the basics of officership are what you get at your pre commisioning source.<br>
Ranger School was a different story, but for the most part, WP LTs tend to do well or excell in that environment. That Ranger Course was also changed drasticaly the class before I started, so once again, I was in a course in transition and things might be different now. However, simply put, Ranger School made me realize who I am as a person and who I am as a leader more than any single other even I'd done to date in the Army. I'd recommend it to anyone at USMA, regardless of branch, if you have the chance to go.
As far as the most valuable aspect of WP, I would break it down to three basic things. 1. The friendships and ties you make not only with your peers, but also other classes and instructors, are something you'll come to see in a major way when you get to the Army. I ALWAYS bump into people over here, and it's kind of crazy. 2. The constant military environment USMA provides sets you up to think a bit differently than other LTs. You're used to doing the military stuff all the time, you interact with officers and NCOs, etc, and its part of your daily life for 4 years prior to becoming an LT, so that sets you up for success. The biggest component of this I think is the military ethics you get from the honor code, because in the Army, things are not always done the right way persay, and it helps to have that morale compass developed at USMA 3. The education you get allows you to see things in terms of a bigger picture. I look at this war and the Iraqis and see if much differently than my soldiers, partly because I think I have a very good understanding of the US relationship with the Middle East over the past half century and also because I understand warfare and insurgency and what it does to a people over time. More so than just knowledge I gained at USMA, however, is the importance of being able to think through problems and solve them in an 'outside the box' fashion. USMA's courseload makes you think, and more than anything else, it teaches you not so much what happened, but rather what questions to ask. That, I feel, is the biggest take away from USMA.
So that's my first in what I hope to be a long series of questions to answer. Please let me know if that works out.</p>
<p>What was your major?
What were some of your more valuable/useful/applicable classes at USMA?</p>
<p>I was a military history major, but focused most of my energy studying the cold war period, especially vietnam. Some of the better elective classes I had were History of Unconventional Warfare; Korea, Vietnam, and the American Military Experience; Cold War America; and my thesis course. Some of the core ciriculum courses that I found to be pretty good were History of the Military Art, American Politics, Sosh (social science of something, you have to take it your junior year), Cow English, and all of the Military Science Courses, especially the last one you take. Most of the course load I enjoyed except for any math and science, which was about all I had plebe and yuk year. The instructors you have also have a great deal in whather or not your classes are good; I was fourtunate enough to have some excellent instructors from D/History, so that made it all the more worthwhile.</p>
<p>Do you think that west point prepared you more/differently than say ROTC or OTS, other than the constant army lifestyle you mentioned above?</p>
<p>Thanks for taking time out of your day and answering our questions. :)</p>
<p>What was your reasoning behind wanting to attend West Point and seek a commission in the US Army? What did you do in your high school years?</p>
<p>Thank you for your service!</p>
<p>USMA definately prepares you differently than OCS or ROTC because the programs are inherently different. As far as being more prepared, I will say that USMA gives you more of an opportunity to be better prepared, but it is on the individual to take advantage of that and get the most out of it. I think the USMA advantage is that you deal with officers as role models and what not in all your classes instead of just in ROTC classes, and you have constant exposure to what's going on in the Army, vs. being in ROTC and essentially living a normal college life (with exceptions of schools that have corps, ie Virginia Tech, VMI, the Citadel, etc). OCS is a whole other ballgame because you have people with varying degrees of military experience (from E-7s with 17 years in to college kids who havent done a minute of military service until they graduated and decided they wanted to do the Army). So in all, it's on the individual to make the most of what USMA gives you; I've run across plenty of bad west point officers and plenty of exceptional ROTC/OCS officers, it's all in the individulal.
Hmmm, why did I go to West Point. Interesting, and I havent thought about that in like almost a decade now...As a freshman in High School, having a guidance counseller for the first tim and what not, I had to start thinking about what I wanted to do with my life. The military seemed really cool and for a while, I fell for the Hollywood propaganda and thought I wanted to be a Navy SEAL. So I started looking at USNA, but you have to have perfect eyesight or get a waiver, which would further diminish my chances, and I realized that A. the SEALs arent the one end-all-be-all military unit and B. if I didnt make SEALs, I would be stuck on a ship, which really wasnt interesting to me. So I started to look at the Army, and realized that Infantry stuff was what I wanted to do, and I could do that pretty much no matter what in the Army. I realized that I wanted to go to college, so therefore I would be wise to go the officer route, and my family isnt exactly rolling in the dough, so the free education at USMA, coupled with the fact that it is the best commisioning source the Army has, made sense. So pretty much from sophomore year on in high school, I worked to go to West Point. I was a 3 sport letter winner, captain of the track team, class president, NHS, all that good stuff, and did volunteer work and the whole 9 yards. During my junior year, I enlisted in the National Guard as an infantryman becuse A. I knew it was a way to get a nomintation, and B. I wanted to better prepare myself by gaining some military experience and also have a better idea of what soldiers go through. My SAT scores werent great, and I got put on the national waiting list for the class of 2005. The AOG offered me a civil prep scholarship the spring of my senior year, and I chose to attend NMMI. I stayed in the Guard there and after a year of hell, I got into USMA.<br>
That, my friends, is the long story of how I chose to go to West Point, thanks for asking, because I hadnt really thought about it in years. Its good from time to time to reflect upon the situation you find yourself in.</p>