I just graduated from OCS, all I can say is this presentation is truly accurate to my experience there. Just a few things I’d like to add on: 1) Don’t just practice the PRT exercises over and over again to prepare. Do leg lifts, burpies, running planks, and others on the Navy’s list WITH PROPER FORM. I’ve seen real fit candidates roll for bad form, and I rolled myself for improper push-ups on the IST. That leads me into the next point… 2) H Class is not a bad place to be; it might even be a blessing in disguise. You learn a lot down there, and those that make it through typically make the best CandiO’s. But just like its said here, don’t get comfortable and get stuck in H! 3) 13th week is your fun/out-processing week. You’ll do your class trip, staff-student challenge, orders/medical pick up, and lots of graduation practice. Enjoy it, but don’t get too complacent w/ procedures!
Congratulations on ur commission In all honesty I’m a little worried about IST/PRT and inspections I know you get rolled into H class but I have also read that if you fail the event after 3 weeks in H class, you may get dis enrolled So do they keep u in H class or separate ? Apologies for being a bit anxious
@@emmanuelcoronado8567 Thanks! I am an SNA, now waiting and finding something to do while in A-Pool. It took me about a year before I got accepted into OCS. About 8 months to do testing, paperwork, and MEPS before submitting my package. Afterwards, about 4-5 months before I was ordered to go to Newport.
@@mawas6801 Thanks! When it comes to the PRT, focus on getting good form down and knowing your minimums for those events based on your age bracket. For inspections, attention to detail is key, and if you feel like you’re lacking in an area, seek out your classmates for help (trust me, you will definitely need it). And don’t worry about getting into H; I learned its best to focus on passing the event than worrying about rolling!! Nevertheless, its pretty rare to see people fail an event twice. They’ll stay in H, but will likely be sent to a review board due to that repeated failure.
@@RegaDega thanks for responding Yes I heard the review board as well Which makes the decision. Not sure if it’s normal but the fear of being kicked out overwhelms so much I have running for 4 months and barely met the bare minimum once or twice and now am being shipped.
Strange to say it but OCS was one of the best times of my life. Great path to a Commission. Good luck to everyone who chooses to take the leap. Read A Sea Story for the gouge on the experience before you go. And don't D.O.R.!
I got off Active Duty last year at the end of my 4-year contract. Honestly I thought I would never go back in, but after learning that I’m on track to earn my degree much earlier than expected, AND that my time served grants me an age waiver, OCS is now my goal. Thank you for this information. It has eased my mind quite a bit.
Thank you for the information! I am currently serving in the USMC and planning on leaving after 12 years of service, earning my bachelor's and joining the Navy as an officer!
good gouge ... went through one of the last Navy OCS classes in Pensacola during the summer; fondly remember the SUYA. 20 years later - now retired from active duty ... fun times.
As an enlisted petty officer, I am a candidate for the Naval Academy, if that falls out I plan on applying for STA-21 unless I get my degree in the next few years then apply for OCS unless I make LDO but great video and thank you for making this sir!
Very well presented. One point. I know services are acronym rich. However, “spell out” acronyms first time you use - “here’s what this means”. Just helps in clarity. Great job!
There are reasons I do this. One of the main ones is because going through the processes of becoming an officer, whoever has watched this will probably have a "oh, that's what he was talking about" moment. The other is that I dont know how much info, if any, or how specific Im allowed to get with these types of subjects. So, keeping things in acronyms is more of a CYA type of deal for me so that Im not shown as giving too much advice.
Very informative video. A few questions regarding OCS: 1) Is there a swim qual? 2) Is there a weapons (rifle/pistol) qual? 3) Do you go on humps? If so, how often? 4) Are there o-courses to complete? If so, how often do you do them? 5) Do you get liberty while in OCS? 6) Is there a need to be familiar with tying knots? Thanks!
1. (Swim Qual) Yes, but you do not have to pass it. 2. (Pistol Qual)Yes, but you do not have to pass it. 3. (Humps)Nope 4. (O-Course)Nope 5. (Liberty)You do, but it is only during the last three weekends. 6. (Knots)Nope
Really great recap vid of Naval OCS. I commissioned with both the Air Force (pilot) and the Navy (pilot), and was picked-up by the Air Force’s national board first back in December 2019. Currently awaiting my orders to ship-out to [Air Force’s] Officer Training School (OTS) at Maxwell AFB. I‘ll honestly say that commissioning with the Navy (ASTB-E - and all) was much more straightforward than with the Air Force. It was also much smoother and quicker.
@FaithByFlight, I submitted my commissioning package first with the USAF, and was picked up first, as well. You go with the first board that picks you up if duo commissioning. I did appreciate how quick, clear cut, and seamless the USN process was though.
@FaithByFlight, another critical point to discuss, perhaps in a future video, are the important differences in the professional tracks and the varied nuances between rated (combat pilot) officers of both branches; Naval aviators v. USAF pilots. Both fly combat fighters, so why one over the other? One is born out of air supremacy; and the other, from naval dominance. It will be good to break down and discuss how the Air Force and Navy views its pilots and aviators as rated officers in light of professional career tracks. They are not the same.
How did you commission with both services? Did you transfer as an Officer from the Navy to the Air Force? As far as I know it is not possible to commission with two services at the same time. You can put in packets to each service/speak to recruiters, but commissioning doesnt happen until completion of OCS/OTS. As far as comparisons go, I dont know how the Air Force operates it's pilot training or overseas mission. If there are other people you could direct me to that would be willing to discuss differences in training, I would be more than happy to have that discussion. I cant speak in detail on how the Navy operates it's pilots in regards to overseas missions because I have not experienced it yet and feel unqualified to do so. Once I reach that point, I will gladly discuss what I am allowed.
Wow...came across this vid by accident...reminds me of a long ago lost dream. Recent college graduate, 100 hours flight time, Private Pilots Certificate, excellent physical conditioning, excellent grades, excellent eyesight, a huge love of my country, etc. A former girlfriend in San Diego who loved the movie "An Officer and a gentleman" decided to get on my team with an "Oops I forgot my pills" excuse and as they say, "That's all she wrote." Still hurts all these years later...LOL LOL LOL Oh well. Did become the father to a great now 36 year old daughter. Thanks for reading.
@@daniellindsay5039 I understand now that in one area I was not officer material. I did not understand the great, great importance of Christian morality. But like I said, it all worked out and I have lived a good life.
@@daniellindsay5039 God has such a sense of humor. I am retired now and live across the street from where the Blue Angels practice in the winter time. OH THE PAIN!!! LOL LOL LOL Have a nice evening.
@@cw5894 Study Appendix Bravo for RLP and that your in good physical shape. The more studying you can do for the Appendixs the better you'll be for RLP. Alot of ppl roll from that event alone and injuries throughoutthe program. Everything else gets easier after that. While your there stretch everything out after each day. If you can get everything down and still need stuff to study, I would highly advise looking at Appendix C which is ships, aircraft, weapons and etc. PS: Please try to hit a good medium before leaving, I've seen quite a few great candidates get rolled or injured and some having to get attrited because of injuries alone.
Do men and women have identical physical training standards in OCS? What specifically are the standards? Are females allowed longer times in the run, fewer pushups, chin-ups, weight carried in their backpacks, etc? How about the weight/body fat standards? Are they the same for both men and women?
@@FaithByFlight My recruiter’s seeing if he can get me into an earlier class, so I don’t have to combat the cold in addition to all the other OCS activities haha!
My Son Shipped out to OCS Friday September 24th . Yesterday October 1st was first Friday for him . Appreciate your video . Very informative. My Son got a Pilot Slot so He wants Naval Aviation bad . Thanks again
Still... AOCS at NAS Pensacola ✈ was unique and distinct when it was separate from today's "general" OCS. You can ask this to any old timers, they will all agree 👍
When I went to OCS in Pensacola, I failed the in-PRT even though I passed it for my recruiter. The difference was that at OCS, we preceded the in-PRT with twenty jumping jacks and over 5 minutes of stretches, which sapped me of my arm strength. I passed the sit-ups and run but failed the push-ups. I was held back, but I joined the next class and stuck with it to the end.
I'm currently a freshmen in college, and I'm trying to figure out if I can chose my job field instead of being assigned. I don't want my flight time and degree to be a waste.
Applying to an Officer field is just that; an application. Your degree is mandatory to be able to submit an application to any Officer field, your flight time will make you competitive in the aviation field; Pilot or Flight Officer. Some communities you can apply as early as your second semester sophomore year (engineering types). Most have to be within 12 months of graduation. In the Navy, and I can only speak for the Navy, you'll apply to an Officer community, up to five communities on a single application, that you are eligible for and interested in. If all five say yes, it's up to you. If only one says yes, pretty easy. If all of the communities say no, there is no obligation. You can resubmit at the next application window, or not. It's totally up to you. Once you are selected for a community, Pilot for instance, that is your job. The professional recommendation that comes back means the US Navy has a seat reserved for you in Officer Training and Flight School; barring any extenuating circumstances. Officers can transfer communities later, but it is easier to do once you have a little time and have your qualification device. Hope this helps.
When did they get rid of the high ropes? On one hand, I had a childhood nightmare about eternally falling after stepping between two stairs following a visit to my dead grandfather in heaven. On the other hand, the ropes course at a nearby mall looks pretty fun and it may look somewhat appealing.
@@aycc-nbh7289 I know for sure the Marine DI's are worse than a ropes course. Cause a ropes course, you go through it, youre done. Marine DI's are always around ready to wreck your world.
FaithByFlight Even after OCS? Would one ever give me an order to do PT at his place (or wherever he is stationed) after my commissioning? (Probably not, but the fear of not living up to his standards could still linger.) And have there ever been any cases of “Sgt. Hulka”-like events, where the DI was made to do the course himself in front of his company?
@@aycc-nbh7289 That would not happen. After completing OCS, you will have minimal contact with enlisted until reaching the fleet. Marine DI's dont have any control over you after you leave Newport, RI. You will never have to push again for making a mistake.
You can go straight to OCS after graduating college and become an active duty officer. No need to do the enlisted side of things or become a reservist unless you want to.
Thanks for the video! Q: How hard is the DIVO test? No H class if failing the DIVO? and will there be alot of physical training involved in the SOC phase while studying? Thanks very much.
Thanks for the video. Got any brief tips for what you did to prepare physically before leaving? Been working on it, but not sure if it’ll be enough in time
I didnt do as much as I should have, but here is what I do currently to keep my numbers up. Do pushups and situps. After this next PT cycle (July) itll swap to planks. Do at least 4 sets of pushups and situps a day. Whatever your current max is, say 60, do 35-40 a set. I usually take 15-20 off my max and do that for sets that way when I get to the point where I want to rest in the up position, I'm further ahead each time I try. Do some running to get your mile and a half time down. Try to run at least 6 miles a week. Whether that's two 3 mile sessions or 4 1.5 mile sessions is up to you. Try to incorporate some HIIT training where youre doing constant exercise for 15-20 minutes at least once a week or once every other week. When doing the actual PRT, do 35-40 pushups, rest in the UP position for 3-5 seconds, then do another 3-5 pushups. Keep doing that until you reach your max. It's a lot easier than blasting out 60-70 pushups in a row. If you can, more props to you. Same concept with the situps, but go to 50 or 60 and then blast out 10 at a time. Bump up reps by 5 every two-three weeks. When I got there, I barely passed the initial PRT cause I just didn't come prepared. But, I did "prison workouts" in my room before bed and got to where I could pass it no problem on the other one's we did. If you are not prepared, ask to wait another 3 weeks to get in. It's better to show up in shape rather than going to H-Class cause you neglected to get in shape beforehand.
FaithByFlight I’ll keep those tips in mind. That’s a good idea with the pushups, I can’t crank out 60 in a row unfortunately haha. I’m looking forward to the planks too. Thanks for paying it forward with all this information, in comments and the videos
Informative Question though 5:36 you talk about H class when someone fails an event. You said either you improve and move up or stay there. What I have read or heard is that once u don’t pass ur event e.g. PRT ,RLP after the 3 weeks of H class You may be disenrolled from OCS.?
That is a possibility. The ones that got attrited from the program did not improve once they got to H class or DOR'd (drop on request). It is kind of subjective as to whether or not someone stays or goes from what those in my class said.
If you fail too many events you go to review board but you need to really be in bad shape physically to fail events. If you can hit a good medium with proper form on the PRT comfortably, it shouldn't be a problem.
I’m looking into OCS in the next few months. My one question is, how important is college GPA? Life happened, my grades sunk a bit and I’m worried that will affect me being accepted.
Depends on what you’re going for. I went in with a 3.14 and had no issues. Plus manning is down so they’re going to take all the bodies they can get. I wouldn’t worry too hard about it. Submit the package and see what they say.
Good video, quick question, do you know the requirement is for ocs right now? Like GPA requirement from college and stuff like that! Please let me know
I dont know the specific requirement. I had a 3.1 going in, but also 600+ hours of flight time. Im sure if youre over 3.0 then youll be fine. I know we had a guy with a 2.8 in our class.
2.5 from what iM SEEING im trying to go enlisted and then OCS, but heard its going to be Hard with school and enlisted work but My situation is causing me to hurry go test and hopefully leave soon
Terrible answer, but it depends. If you are willing and able to redesignate, you will probably be redesignated, but the contract will be significantly shorter. If you are further along in the pipeline and fail out of a certain area (advanced or the FRS) there is a possibility to be redesignated to a different platform. But it is HIGHLY situational. Best quote I've heard "Someone dumber and weaker has made it through the same program." If others can do it, you can too. If youre already set on failing, you will not succeed.
Thanks for the quick response. Also, is the initial strength test everyone is talking about just the normal PRT? What scores do I have to get to not get rolled? Was a lineman in college and just had surgery and am supposed to go late august but recruiter only wants to push to September. I hit good-low on prt right now but am still pretty heavy. 245ish.
Depends on your college grades and how your time was as an enlisted member. We had two Green-side Corpsmen in my OCS class that both got slots and are actually in the advanced jet syllabus currently. We had two prior Marines as well that ended up getting pilot slots, but went helos (1 out of choice, the other based on grades).
I can understand curriculum and B,C,D courses. I'll do my own best. I appreciate kindly explanation. I want to study Navigational leadership and new frigate engineering knowledge. Yes,Sir. Anchor a weigh 🎶
I was commissioned through OCS in 1972. Since I was almost certainly to be drafted as soon as I graduated college I opted to go navy and two weeks after I graduated, I was at Newport. It was one of the best decisions of my life. I served as a Surface Warfare Officer and attained the rank of LCDR. OCS was 19 weeks when I went through. It was not easy but anyone who is determined should have no problems. You do need to study (at least I did) and I spent more than one weekend hitting the books. It is apparent watching this video that there are a lot of new wrinkles and training methods (we certainly did not have Power Point) so I will not opine on what one should or should not expect other than not to expect it to be easy. But I certainly believe it will be rewarding for many young men and women. I did see the world that is for sure.
Push verb (poosh) 1. 2-10 minutes of extra military instruction with your favorite DI after failing a task, embarrassing yourself, or simply being in the wrong spot at the wrong time. A push consists of any exercise deemed fit by the DI of choice (pushups, situps, burpees, jumping jacks (side straddle hops), etc.
is it true that if I only put aviation down as what I want to do after ocs, and if I fail ocs or flight school then I'm just dropped and I'm not obligated to do anything else?
If you have aviation down as your option for OCS, if you do not make it through OCS, you do not have any commitment. If you make it through OCS and continue into flight school and fail out there, you will more than likely be redesignated and placed in as a SWO or Supply Officer. Best bet is to not fail OCS (very difficult to do anyways) and dont fail out of API (still difficult to fail). Worst thing that can happen is once you get to flight school you dont pass anything, which honestly takes a miracle unless you legit lose all motivation to get through it, and get redesignated. Or your NSS is super low and you go Helos
Another question: any specific type of person I should pick for my references for ocs? I have two past actual managers and I could pick another manager from a school position I had but I wasn’t sure if her young age or the fact that she was a student also would hurt credibility in some kind. If I picked an assistant manager from the same location as another reference would that not be as good a pick either?
@@chrisjohnson1416 You want someone who knows a lot about you that isnt a relative or a close friend. Managers that are around the same age as you may not bode well, but I'd give it a shot. If she can speak about your work ethic and abilities then it shouldnt be an issue. I would try to find someone that is a mentor and definitely get a recommendation from the Dean of your school. They typically have you write out things about yourself and they will put it into their own words if they dont know you all that well.
Hey i have a question 1) do you pick your job prior to OCS? 2 )How do you know if you got the job? Will the officer recruiter tells you? 3) kinda similar with 1 do you apply for the job you want with a officer recruiter? Thanks for your time :>
1) Yes, you pick what you want before you go in. If you dont see the appropriate designator, dont sign the paper. 2) You know when you sign the paper. 3) Theres really no application other than putting in an officer package. The package consists of grades, letters of recommendation, MEPS medical info and ASTB scores.
@@deuz9849 You will go to your recruiter and say what you want to do (become a pilot I presume). They will start to put together a package. You will have to go to MEPS and do the ASTB-E to be qualified to become a Student Naval Aviator (SNA). Upon graduating OCS, granted you do not med out of SNA at OCS, you will be designated an SNA and proceed to go through API and then Primary.
You know you made my day i've been lookin for answers and you YES YOUUUUU damn bro THANK YOU Btw i subscribed! Keep it up i'm gonna watch your future vids!
There’s some practice days leading up to it that you can take advantage of. Otherwise you’re just put into testing day. Doesn’t matter if you fail because you will get your official qual when you reach your final destination.
@@FaithByFlight oh right on. I am going to the ENLISTED route first and I might go to OCS. I am just sick and tired of being in my home town for 24 years and ready to move on.
It’s easier. And harder. As a civilian you go in with a clean slate. As an enlisted sailor you need to have all of your service record squared away (awards, PRT scores, ribbons/medals, etc.) make sure it’s tight. Find a smart YNC to help you review your record. Best of luck!
Marine Corps Boot Camp Jan 1970, Viet Nam June 1970.Navy Aviation Officer Candidate school 1980. There was No H class. And no equivalent either. All of my AOCS classmates with prior service enlisted and most with advanced science and engineering degrees and one guy who was an Army enlisted pilot with air medals all ready. You failed a test, you were gone. My greatest fear was boxing class, I was a terrible boxer. The instructors fixed that. They let my opponent beat the crap out of me, and then that was all over.
By the time I retired, using NVG, GPS, FLIR, precision munitions, current jets no faster then then, some even slower, and stealth was actively being used by the AF. And we had over 500 ships in the Navy.
Nope. Women are treated the same as men in regards to mental/attitude evaluation during OCS. Physical standards are different though. From what I saw, women were under the same scrutiny as men the entire time. Get your grip and shoulder strength up for drill. The women tended to have a harder time gripping the rifle and holding it out for long periods of time.
@@crystalh5342 From what I've heard recently, the Academy is testing the planks, but they will be coming to a PT Test near you. I'd get your planks and situps good just to be safe.
I was wondering what your thoughts are on the selection board for OCS (Pilot Option). It’s my first time submitting my application for the current cycle that just convened this week, was just wondering if you were selected first time up, and any lessons learned if any. Also what’s the turn around time from the board convening, to results being posted, to receipt of orders and ship out date?
It all depends on your ASTB-E score. If you're an "auto-select" or "green-lighted" then youwill tend to get picked up quicker than others. I went through 4 boards before I got picked up. The results are posted within 24-48hrs after the board convenes. The NRD will get the list before your recruiter. I knew the day after the board met that I got in and when I would be going to OCS. I waited for just over a month to ship out. Made the last March board and shipped in May. Really not any lessons to learn from it. Just sit and wait until your name gets called. And by sit and wait, I mean workout and study your Bravo knowledge.