<p>What was the interview like towards the end??
Interview was fine. Just you and your cadet sergeant basically hanging out and talking about West Point - why you want to go, do you know what Beast is, stuff like that.</p>
<p>What was the 30min graduation thing like?
What happens is first the band comes out and plays (which is amazing), and then amazing grace, then some speeches, then awards are given out to candidates who earned them in class.I'll challenge orangejp8 on this one - I liked the ceremony, but that's just cuz I was one of the ones getting awards. :D</p>
<p>What was going to Camp Buckner like? What do you do there?
When I went to Camp Buckner during SLS 2006 Session 1, we got to talk to the Airborne guys that were training there. They let us fire off a howitzer, showed us mortars, and also showed how a fire control center looks like and operates. Because of the rain, we weren't allowed to go onto the Leadership Reaction Course and so we went to another building where they had a bunch of stations we could visit- some were weapon stations, one was a night vision goggle testing station, one was a combat engineer station. All in all, it was pretty fun. Get used to saying "AIRBORNE!" because those airborne guys don't like the standard "HOOAH!" yell.</p>
<p>What was going to Camp Buckner like? What do you do there?</p>
<p>Camp Buckner = BEST. DAY. EVER. You get up at like, 5, or some other miserable hour of the morning, pile on a bus, and drive over to Buckner. Then you put on camo and it's all uphill from there. We went to the artillery range and go to shoot a howitzer and talked to some of the artillery guys - Captains and 1st Sergeants down to Privates. They showed us some mortars and some equipment they use out in the field, it was pretty cool. After that, you talk to a bunch of active duty guys from the 82nd - infantrymen, combat engineers, it's awesome. At session 2, we had better weather so we could do the outdoors rotations - fire blanks out of guns, do some basic navigation, get taught about IED's, and (my personal fav) watched some Rangers clear a room in real time, then got to ask them some one-on-one questions. Lunch was an MRE (which was far better than I expected), and then it was onto the LRC. </p>
<p>All in all, a fun day. Makes me wanna shout "KING OF BATTLE!" just thinkin' about it. :D</p>
<p>Before I read the other posts about SLS, Ill answer the question posted above:</p>
<p>What was it like playing America's Army at SLS? What did you play it on? How long did you play it? --</p>
<p>It was fun! It was cool being the squad leader for the group and kind of leading them through it... It was a fun game, really helped everyone bond a little more. We played it on a big group of desktops in a very large room. We played for I'd say 2 hours? We had a little instruction time before hand, but we played a good majority of the time.</p>
<p>Were the sports activities intense or laidback? Was it exciting?</p>
<p>Sports were laidback. It was serious time, but it wasn't anything too bad. It was very exciting, and a good time to relax.</p>
<p>Was there and dirty dancing (grinding) at the opener or was it mainly just guys goofin off doin little dance imitation?</p>
<p>Personally, I did both. I was grinding a good majority of it - but I goofed off with some friends that I still talk to today (that's how we met and became friends haha).
Did you get to do the obstacle course? If so what was it like?
We didn't get to go! It was raining or something...that sucked -/</p>
<p>Did you sleep in the barracks? What was that like?
Yup! Barracks were pretty big..I was very impressed. I like them.</p>
<p>How was the food? Did it fill you up?</p>
<p>GREAT FOOD. I remember I asked EVERY cadre during session 1 how was the food...and everytime they said it was good. I couldn't agree more.</p>
<p>I applied at the beginning of January (the 4th, I think) and I had a selection letter by the 13th. I plan on going, so I had some questions for you SLS veterans. What exactly did you guys do when you did the PT? Pushups, pullups, running? Anything else? What should I do to prepare? I'm not really worried, but it would be nice to have a heads-up (I play lacrosse in the spring and I am in pretty decent shape). And how about the atmosphere of the camp: was it extremely competitive or more relaxed? I realize that once you get to WP it is pretty competitive, but how about the SLS? And was Camp Buckner really all it's cracked up to be? My dad (class of '75) always tells me how terrible Buckner was while he was there but afterwards he remembered it fondly. Thanks.</p>
<p>What exactly did you guys do when you did the PT?</p>
<p>It was mainly stuff you see in military movies - pushups (triangle, bouncing betty's, clappers, regular...), leg lifts, scissor kicks, stabilizers, stuff like that. One day we did outdoor, obstacle style workouts - bear crawls, rolls, military crawls, those kinds of things. I personally wasn't in great shape (I'd say a bit below average, actually), and I got through it OK, although I was horribly sore after day 2, haha. Oh, you go on a run based on skill level one of the days. My group just went on a 2-mile run, I think the other, higher, skill level, went on a longer run, followed by a series of sprints or somesuch. </p>
<p>Honestly, don't worry about the PT at SLS - you get to like it, it's a really great bonding experience, and from what I hear, it's nowhere near what Beast is like anyway. </p>
<p>Oh, and see above for what I wrote about Camp Buckner.</p>