Posted on Aug 22, 2019
Updated Army OCS Packing List and Protocols around Transport from BCT to OCS?
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CONTEXT --
My son is currently in Week 1 of BCT at Fort Jackson (Columbia, SC). He graduates on Oct. 24 and will need to report for OCS at Fort Benning shortly after.
I do not know what his orders say yet so I'm not sure of the exact date and time he will be expected.
As such, I'm not sure how much time we will have to help him purchase the things he will need for OCS.
QUESTIONS:
1) I found an OCS Packing List online dated 08 FEB 2018. Is that list still considered "current"?
2) I have seen in many places that there is usually 10 days between BCT graduation and the start of OCS, but other sources say he may have to report the next day or the Monday after. What is that typical?
3) If I am able to contact his recruiter, is his recruiter allowed to tell me what his orders say?
4) What is the best and fastest way to acquire the items on the 3-page list of things he will apparently need for OCS?
5) Are we allowed to drive him from BCT Graduation to his car (POV) here in Atlanta, and then let him drive himself the rest of the way down to OCS? Or do we have to accompany him the entire way to OCS? I know that students going to AIT are not allowed to have a POV but that the rules are different for OCS, just not sure of the details?
Thank you!
My son is currently in Week 1 of BCT at Fort Jackson (Columbia, SC). He graduates on Oct. 24 and will need to report for OCS at Fort Benning shortly after.
I do not know what his orders say yet so I'm not sure of the exact date and time he will be expected.
As such, I'm not sure how much time we will have to help him purchase the things he will need for OCS.
QUESTIONS:
1) I found an OCS Packing List online dated 08 FEB 2018. Is that list still considered "current"?
2) I have seen in many places that there is usually 10 days between BCT graduation and the start of OCS, but other sources say he may have to report the next day or the Monday after. What is that typical?
3) If I am able to contact his recruiter, is his recruiter allowed to tell me what his orders say?
4) What is the best and fastest way to acquire the items on the 3-page list of things he will apparently need for OCS?
5) Are we allowed to drive him from BCT Graduation to his car (POV) here in Atlanta, and then let him drive himself the rest of the way down to OCS? Or do we have to accompany him the entire way to OCS? I know that students going to AIT are not allowed to have a POV but that the rules are different for OCS, just not sure of the details?
Thank you!
Officer Candidate School (OCS) (Army)
Recruiter
Basic Combat Training (BCT)
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 10
Why don't you wait for him to go through the process?? 99.9% of your questions will be answered as part of the process. Sometimes the best thing you can do as a parent is let your child go and learn as they go. I get it, you're trying to be supportive but you're also putting the cart before the horse here. Let the process do it's thing.
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SGT Ben Keen
CW4 Craig Urban - Trust me, I know the feeling. My mom was and still is very proud of me. However, I feel that this particular mother just needs to let the system run. Questions about gear for OCS and everything else, as you know, will be asked. I would hate to see her waste resources to get something that her son will be better briefed on at a later date.
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Patricia McIntosh-Mize
Y'all don't know what it's like in these Army Mom groups. There are stories about candidates getting in trouble for not having this or that that make it sound like there was some memo about all this that he (and we) did not get. You don't know what you don't know. So I ask. It seemed like a reasonable and responsible thing to do.
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SGT Ben Keen
Patricia McIntosh-Mize - Ma'am, I get where you're coming from but again 99.99% of your questions will be answered as time goes on! Right now, you should be focused on supporting him through BCT, not worried about if he can have a POV while at OCS. Every recruit, and their family ha e these same questions but things change all the time. You mentioned you found a packing list from 2018, that means it is outdated. That can result in several things. One, you can find yourself wasting both time and money on stuff he doesn't need. Before I left for basic in 1999, I too had the same thoughts as you. I found a packing list, if ignored my recruiter's advice and went out and purchased new running shoes and stuff only to find myseld buying new shoes when I got to Ft Jackson because that was part of the process. You can also find purchasing things that are no longer required. He WILL get an updated list when it's time wait on that.
His recruiter will NOT have access to his orders. Once a recruite ships, that recruiter's job is finished with him/her. The only access to your son's orders that the recruiter will have is if/when your son shows the recruiter his orders.
Ship dates to any school following basic is based on several factors. Factors that no one really knows until your son is closer to graduation. All of this is explained to recruited during the last few weeks of basic. He'll be able to share that information with you when he knows it.
Trust me, I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything. I'm just trying to be honest with you. The military is a process, it's a fight for survival that all of us here have won. RallyPoint is a collective group with hundreds of years of experience. Countless deployments, worried families, millions of questions. Sometimes the best answer to these questions is exactly what I told you; trust the process. The worst thing anyone can do is try to guess what will happen. That sort of thinking can sometimes get you in some hot water. However, if you trust the process, get all the briefings, and listen to those with more experience, you will find yourself doing better. This goes for a recruite's time in BCT, Advance School, going to his/her first duty assignment and yes, even deployments where the stacks of rushing the process can and will cost a service member more then just being yelled at.
So like I said, right now, focus on this phase of his training. Send your send letters of encouragement and support, he will need it. Then as the process continues be there to help once he has the right information.
His recruiter will NOT have access to his orders. Once a recruite ships, that recruiter's job is finished with him/her. The only access to your son's orders that the recruiter will have is if/when your son shows the recruiter his orders.
Ship dates to any school following basic is based on several factors. Factors that no one really knows until your son is closer to graduation. All of this is explained to recruited during the last few weeks of basic. He'll be able to share that information with you when he knows it.
Trust me, I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything. I'm just trying to be honest with you. The military is a process, it's a fight for survival that all of us here have won. RallyPoint is a collective group with hundreds of years of experience. Countless deployments, worried families, millions of questions. Sometimes the best answer to these questions is exactly what I told you; trust the process. The worst thing anyone can do is try to guess what will happen. That sort of thinking can sometimes get you in some hot water. However, if you trust the process, get all the briefings, and listen to those with more experience, you will find yourself doing better. This goes for a recruite's time in BCT, Advance School, going to his/her first duty assignment and yes, even deployments where the stacks of rushing the process can and will cost a service member more then just being yelled at.
So like I said, right now, focus on this phase of his training. Send your send letters of encouragement and support, he will need it. Then as the process continues be there to help once he has the right information.
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Patricia McIntosh-Mize
Okay, thanks. And rest assured -- I literally write to him every single day and let him know I'm cheering him on!
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Just let the Army process run its course. Your son will be provided with all required information he will need when he needs it. Also, if your son is going straight to Officer Candidate School right from Basic Training....now is the best time to allow him to take charge of his life and accomplish (or fail) tasks on his own. He isn't going to learn if others do his tasks for him.
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Patricia McIntosh-Mize
To clarify -- my son has been living on his own and supporting himself since college graduation. I am not a helicopter parent. But this is the first thing he's ever done in his life that he is super excited about, worked hard to prepare for, and feels he was called to do. I'm just trying to support him in achieving what he has already started on his own, and this is all new to me. Please don't make people sorry to ask questions here by assuming things about them when, the truth is, you know little or nothing about them.
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MSG (Join to see)
Patricia McIntosh-Mize as you stated he is in Week 1 of Basic. He is, as of right now, getting the crap scared out of him and stressed out of him. What info you're asking....literally....can't be provided right now. I applaud your eagerness to help your son, but you are doing the stereotypical helicopter parent stuff. Week 1 of Basic is filled with so much basic Army info getting crammed I to his head that I doubt he even knows what day of the week it is. I'm not trying to make you feel bad for asking questions, I'm just answering in an honest fashion.
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Your Son is in the process of becoming an Army Officer. He needs to figure this stuff out himself. There is a process where all this will work itself out. Let him focus on BCT.
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