COT Week 1

Week 1 of COT is complete and, to the best of my knowledge, everyone is still alive. This post will be short because I hope to get more than 3 hours of sleep tonight. BTW, for those of you who are curious, we cannot access our blogs while at COT (at least as of now). We can, however, send personal emails. There is a government computer in the room which we can use to email family and conduct official business. So, I sent the text of this post to my wife who actually did the posting. In any event, I just wanted to give a few first week tips while they were fresh in my mind. I’ll try to limit it for your sake and mine.

First, contact your sponsor. Mine was very helpful. He or she will help you out and give you good tips. The best tip my sponsor gave me (and I’ll pass it on to you) was to buy Corcoran Marauder combat boots BEFORE I arrived. The reason you have to buy them before is that you can’t buy them in the Officer Training School (OTS) Shoppette. If you don’t have them, you’ll have to buy the standard issue boots. The reason you should buy the Corcoran Marauder boots is that they shine up quickly and easily. The standard issue do not. These boots will save you precious time at night. They are, however, difficult to find. Do your best. I should also note that the uniform with which the boots are worn, the Battle Dress Uniform (BDU), is scheduled to change. The boot will change as well to a gray boot. (At least I think they’re gray – I’m colorblind). In any event, this advice may be obsolete soon, so be aware.

Second, there are some areas of the Operating Instructions (OIs), which are available on the COT website that you should know. You should do more than read these sections – you should practice them aloud with someone. You’ll have to do it under extreme pressure from military training instructors (MTIs) -- drill sergeants in USAF parlance. You should familiarize yourself with the following sections of the OIs:

1. Staff/Trainee Interaction;
2. Reporting Procedures;
3. Class Opening/Closing (note: unless you’re coming in at a grade of O-4 or above, don’t worry about the auditorium opening procedures – someone with a high rank, usually a doctor, will perform this at first); and
4. Dining Procedure – just the sections on how to sit at a tight meal (don’t let your back touch the back of the chair), how to arrange your tray, the table positions and the duties of each position.

As far as dining procedures, the table numbers will make sense once you are inside the dining hall. Unfortunately, no amount of studying can prepare you for chow hall. It will be terrifying and miserable the first few times. There are specific procedures that are not included in the OIs that must be followed. Expect to mess up and get yelled at. There is no way around it. If you memorize the above-mentioned sections of that chapter, you’ll be miles ahead and you’ll get fewer “corrections.” But you’ll be corrected. Loudly and directly. Just pay attention and do what the MTIs say. Get used to saying “Yes, sir,” and “No, sir.” Once you get the tight meals down, you’ll be much happier.

Get a black bag. The bag must be ALL BLACK. That means 100% black. It will be helpful to carry your stuff around. Otherwise, you’ll be fumbling along with all of your important documents all day long. Believe me. I did that. It was not fun.

When you arrive it is immediately SERIOUS. The MTIs will yell at you as soon as you walk up with your suitcase – even before you get to the COT dorm. DO NOT SMILE. The MTIs take it seriously and you’ll get picked on. You don’t want to be picked on. Just do what they tell you even if it conflicts with another instruction that you’ve been given. Even though you don’t have to report until the afternoon, the first training day is long, unpleasant, and exhausting. It doesn’t get better the next day. Be prepared.

It does, however, get better after your first few days. Then you just have an overwhelming amount of work and no time in which to do it. But with less yelling. And that’s a good thing.

I hope to write a bit on each week of training. Of course, my time is limited and I probably shouldn’t have spent time writing this. But I wanted to write what I could while it was fresh so that it would be helpful for future professional people who haven chosen to work at the USAF.

On a personal level, there are some amazing stories here. In my small group (called a flight), there is a Catholic priest, a psychiatrist who is in her 50s and has been practicing for 20+ years, a lawyer who was a transaction lawyer doing Cayman Island transactions in New York, and a former Navy enlisted member who just returned from deployment Iraq and just tonight was describing to me an incident where his convoy was attacked by small arms fire and rockets in the Sunni Triangle and how one of the trucks was struck by an IED.

Finally, even though COT is tough, the folks over at Basic Officer Training (BOT) have it much worse. It’s 12 weeks long and I can guarantee you that none of them is writing a blog post to his wife after 1 week. It’s about 12:41 a.m. (0041 military time) and they’re probably still being yelled at. So for that, I am thankful.

On the Verge

I left my comfortable job at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday and on Monday I'm reporting to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama for Day 0 (Day 1 is Tuesday) of Commissioned Officer Training ("COT"). A little background first. I'm a lawyer. I graduated from Temple Law School in Philadelphia. I've been working as a staff attorney at the 11th Circuit for the past 2 years. In September of last year, I decided to join the Air Force as a JAG officer. I applied, was chosen, passed the medical exam (with a waiver for my color-blindness), and was assigned to to Aviano Air Base in Aviano, Italy.

My wife and I couldn't believe that we had been so lucky as to get Aviano as our first base. We spent money like drunken sailors when we found out. We went out for Italian food. We bought the Rosetta Stone Italian language disks. We bought a Ferrari. OK, we thought about buying a Ferrari. I think I checked the AC Milan score for the day.

Anyway, I am now preparing to leave for COT. I'm pretty nervous. But at least the payoff is 3 years in Italy. The purpose of this blog is 2-fold:

1. to keep friends and family apprised of our Aviano Odyssey (hence the title); and
2. to help future military folks manage their training and overseas (or "OCONUS") permanent change of station ("PCS").

By the way, the military uses a lot of acronyms. I will try to define those whenever I can.

As for my specific schedule, I head to Montgomery for the 5-week COT course. After that, I have Saturday and Sunday off and report to Aviano, Italy on Monday. I have a direct flight from Atlanta to Marco Polo International in Venice. 2 weeks later, I report back to Montgomery for a 9-week Judge Advocate Staff Officer Course ("JASOC") in Montgomery. We will do the permanent move to Italy in mid-December.

Our main concern with the move is our 6-year-old dog, Niky. She gets sick in a car and I don't know if she can handle a 10-hour flight to Europe. We dealing with our vet to figure out if it's safe to fly her. If not, my parents have offered their home. What great folks!

Also great is my wife, who is, at the moment, packing my things. I'd be a disaster without her.

I plan on posting as often as possible from here on out. For the first few weeks of COT, my posts will be limited. I also will post pictures when I can. Below is the first batch.

Aviano-area pictures:

My wife and I at Mt. Baker, Washington:

Niky (the dog):