Today's OSO Meeting Notes

Today, 8 JAN 2011, I met with Captain Kline, Officer Selection Officer, USMC in Warsaw, IN. Here is a summary of what we discussed.


June OCS Out, October OCS In
I will not be able to make the 2JUN OCS class. He did not realize I was as close to ready as I am, so he had me in a different stack of names. But, we are starting the process now for me to be in the next class, which starts in October.

Initial Physical - DoDMERB
The first step is to complete an initial physical examination. All military personnel must go through either MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station | Wikipedia link) or the alternative DoDMERB (Department of Defense Medical Examination Review Board | Wikipedia link); this applies to all branches of the US Armed Forces, enlisted and officer. As an Indiana resident, I would go through MEPS in Indianapolis, but taking the DoDMERB route allows me to go to civilian doctors in Fort Wayne, so I will be doing that instead. (Only certain doctors are certified for this evaluation, so I may or may not be able to use our family doctor for it, depending on if he is on the list.)

Captain Kline has sent me a document that I need to complete and return to him. With the information I provide, he will have an account set up for me so that I can log in to the DoDMERB website and schedule my appointment with a Fort Wayne doctor. He recommended scheduling it for either 25 or 26 JAN, after my return from NSTM (the trip to Orlando with Zimmer).

I am to take with me to that appointment all the forms related to my knee surgery, my eye surgery, and my nose surgery. These are not required, but it will definitely slow me down if I do not have them already there to include with my DoDMERB file right off the bat. (The fact that some of these papers are already at the OSO station is not relevant at this point.) If I do not take them with me, I may have to wait a couple weeks extra to get the papers together or have further examinations completed. Thus, it behooves me to have them with me.

The appointment will last about 3 hours, and at the time that I leave, they will have an idea of whether or not I will be certified "fit for duty". My files will still be sent to Colorado Springs, CO to be reviewed by Air Force personnel (they do all the DoDMERB reviews). They have 2-6 weeks to make the final determination, but my OSO will be able to call out there after a couple days and talk to a corpsman who can see my file and give a preliminary answer as to whether I am expected to be approved or not.

Going Under Contract
Once Captain Kline has that preliminary green light, I will go down to the OSO station in Indianapolis to be put under contract. This means that I will have to take, and pass, the PFT and complete some paperwork. I will be putting pen to paper and committing to go to OCS if I am selected. I will not be a Marine, but I will be obligated to attend OCS and will be acknowledging that I will have the option of accepting or declining a commission as a United States Marine Officer at the completion of OCS. I will also be specifying that I am on the Aviation track.

Being on the aviation track is a very good thing at this point because there is much less competition than there is for infantry. While those going for infantry will need a PFT score of 290-295 (out of 300) to be competitive on their application to OCS, those who are going for aviation only need a score of 270-275. When I go to Indy to sign the contract, I will only have to beat the minimum score of 225, and I will have until August to bring my score up for my application.

Flight Physical
Once I am under contract, they will schedule me to get my flight physical at Naval Air Station Pensacola (NAS Pensacola). Specifically, this procedure is carried out by NOMI Pensacola (Naval Operational Medical Institute | Official website). (Side note, Captain Kline called it NAMI, but I my research shows NOMI seems to be the correct acronym, although NAMI also seems to be used, too.) For more information on what happens during the 4-day physical examination, check out this blog documenting one man's experience there: Journal of a Marine Officer Candidate: Flight Physical Part 2.

The results of the flight physical typically take about 4 months to get back. From the time I complete the physical, my only goal is to continue improving my PFT score for the final OCS application submission. And then the next step will be to report to OCS, provided my flight physical comes back with positive results.

Anticipated Leaves
At the end of OCS, I may have up to 10 days leave before TBS starts. It really varies, but he said don't count on more than 10 days, tops. At the end of TBS, I may have some leave, but he said not to count on it. The reason that the aviation track had been closed down for some time (it had only JUST been reopened when I called Captain Kline when I moved back from Terre Haute at the end of the summer) was that there were so many lieutenants who were finishing TBS and then they would report to flight school at NAS Pensacola and there would be nothing for them to do because they couldn't start the next class yet. That was why they gave some of them more leave. After closing down the aviation track, so that no more candidates were being accepted, Pensacola was able to work through that backlog, so there is a very small chance I will have a month off between TBS and flight school. There is no way to know at this time how much leave, if any, I will actually have between OCS and TBS and between TBS and flight school.

Things OSO Liked

• That I'm a Rose-Hulman graduate.
  "It's a tough school, so even though your GPA isn't super high, it still looks really good on your application."
  

• That I was packing heat.
  "You know, Warsaw isn't that dangerous of a place. Why are you packin' heat?"
  "I always carry."
  "Alright. I like that. Smart and a fighter. Sounds like you belong in the Marines."
  I smiled.

• That I've made good progress so far.
  I need to do more, of course. I've got a little over two weeks until my DoDMERB physical, and then after that I need to pass the PFT so I can go under contract and keep the process moving. I need to get down to a 23-minute 3-mile run and up to 14-15 pullups by that time. I'm currently just above 24 minutes on the run and can do 8-9 pullups. Big improvements, yes, but I'm not there yet. For the final PFT that will go on my OCS application, I'll need to be up around 16-18 pullups and 19-21 minutes on the run. (Always assume that all 100 crunches are completed in the two minute time limit, not the official 70-crunch minimum. That's apparently a given.)

Other Notes
Captain Kline encouraged me to keep up the hard work and to remember that there ARE other people trying to do what I'm doing, fighting for my spot at OCS.

I mentioned how Dad is always trying to get me to give up and just join the Navy to go through their flight program. Captain Kline noted that, yes, you can do the same flight program, but you don't do the same job. Being a Marine Officer first, then a pilot, means that we have more responsibility than Navy pilots. While it is possible to be the kind of guy who only wants to fly and do nothing else in the Navy, that is not an option in the Corps. People understand that a Marine pilot has earned more respect than a Naval pilot because he is a Marine first, and so he carries a heavier burden with more responsibility and more skill. Also, he pointed out that I would probably not be able to join the Navy and go on the payroll immediately since I'm no longer in college; one might say that that ship has already sailed. (Hah!)

Incidentally, Captain Kline was in aviation before his OSO assignment, so he is familiar with the process and can answer any questions I may have about it better than Captain Blaine, the OSO with whom I started this process two and a half years ago.