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OCS Week 4

June 14th, 2009 | 1 Comment | Posted in Army, OCS
During Week 4 we studied tactics and operations. We were taught primarily by a Sergeant Major from the Australian Army, which was very interesting. He has 24 years of Infantry experience, and has spent the last year and a half teaching at OCS and the Captain’s Career Course. On Wednesday we went out to Bush Hill, near Camp Darby (where the Ranger Course is held), in order to conduct a TEWT (Tactical Exercise Without Troops). We walked the terrain and examined it through the lenses of offensive and defensive operations. We also had a class on operational graphics, using military symbols on map overlays to depict unites, equipment, movements, etc.

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OCS Week 3

June 14th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Army, OCS

During this week we spent the majority of everyday in classes. We had classes on Leadership, Ethics, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the Law of Warfare, the Geneva Convention, and planning. The classes were a bit repetitive, and the Leadership classes tended to the filled with a lot of fluffy terms and platitudes. We also received a class on counseling, which was actually full of good information and very interesting. We completed our second foot march, a five mile march that we conducted at roughly a 16 minute pace. I added two body armor plates to my ruck to make it heavier which brought the weight to about 50 pounds.

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OCS Week 2

June 14th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Army, OCS

We spent the second week going over Warrior Tasks & Battle Drills (WTBD). This included field stripping an M4 rifle, an M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon), and the M240B machine gun. We also reviewed land navigation, individual movement techniques (IMT), radio usage, and field medical procedures. The field medical class was particularly interesting as it was taught by a Special Forces medic and a medic from the 75th Ranger Regiment, both of whom are in our company. More »

OCS Week 1

June 14th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Army, OCS
This week was painfully boring as we spent the majority of the time in-processing (briefs on the OCS Standard Operating Procedures [OCSOP], Equal Opportunity [EO], Sexual Harassment, finances etc.). We also took a PT test to cut the class to 172 people – I easily made the cut with a score of 267 placing about in the middle of the class. At the end of the week we did the Bolton obstacle course and a combat water survival test (CWST). Someone forgot to bring his running shoes (you were boots during the test and change into shoes after), and so we were forced to run back in soaking wet boots, which was a bit annoying. We had a land navigation class on Saturday and received a six hour on-post pass on Sunday afternoon.

OCS Week 0

June 14th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Army, OCS

After reporting from Fort Jackson, I was placed in a Headquarters Holding Company (HHC). They released us immediately for the remainder of the weekend and I spent the night in a hotel in Columbus. The next day was spent burning through the money accrued during basic at Ranger Joe’s and Commando’s in order to purchase all the OCS packing list items.

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A Hello from Zach

July 20th, 2008 | 1 Comment | Posted in Listen, Look

Greetings from the Windy City, where sunshine is plentiful and the Cubs are seeking their first World Series in 100 years (it’s gonna happen!).

Some of you may have heard of me. For those who haven’t, what an empty life you must lead.

Not much to report, really, other than my indebtedness to Paul for providing an outlet for my pretentious ramblings. Oh, and here’s a cool video. Watch it.

Grizzly Bear – While You Wait For The Others

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Earthships

July 18th, 2008 | 1 Comment | Posted in Do, Read

I have become obsessed with Earthships. I received three books on the subject last night and after reading roughly 1/4 of the first one, I am hooked. I’m not quite certain where something like this fits into our society, but I am certainly excited by the prosepcts. I would certainly love to build one of these as soon as possible and wonder what possibilities there are for this type of home in my current state (Oklahoma). Moreover, I can’t help but wonder how something like this could be used in a more urban setting or more fully integrated into our current society. At any rate, I’ve added a link to a YouTuve video giving more details. Stay tuned for further updates.

Eartships 101

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Gas Station Art

July 16th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in Do, Look

So there I am, standing outside of a local gas station waiting on a friend to finish buying a drink when it hits me – I’m staring out at twenty, yes twenty, seperate pumps. I decided a day-long time lapse video of this gas station from my current point-of-view would be pretty interesting, so I’m hoping to get one put together here in the next week or two. Obviously I can’t leave my camera sitting outside this gas station, so I’ll probably end up having to set up there for eight hours or so while I do it. I’ll keep you updated as to any plans/progress. Keep your eyes peeled for a finished product here in the near future.

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Five Albums

July 16th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in Listen

While Zach is getting up to speed, I thought I would post a list of five albums he recently recommended to me. In Zach’s eyes, these are some of the best albums that have been released so far in 2008. Look for reviews of each album in the near future. Here’s the list (in no particular order with Pitchfork rating):

Enjoy!

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Zed Squared

July 15th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in Site News

Just wanted to post a quick update for this morning. I invited my friend Zach Hale to be a guest writer on the site. Zach has a prolific music library and is constantly digging up new artists/albums and passing them along to me. I wanted to give him a place to exercise a little creative freedom and am hoping that he’ll write album reviews and maybe blog a little about shows and life in his new hometown, the Windy City, Chicago.

Also, if you’re nosy you might have stumbled upon the other corner of this site, called America. It’s a few pictures of my friend ‘Zuba’ taken for a photography class. The assignment called for the use of a flag in the shots, so we tried to capture a little piece of your typical John Wayne’s America attitude. Enjoy!

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