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Comment by Dawn on October 9, 2012 at 9:35pm

My sons was July 27 and they had it inside

Comment by momoffive on October 9, 2012 at 9:34pm

HI

Can anyone tell me if the graduation is always outside? My son's class graduates on Nov. 30 and I was wondering about the weather...we are Floridians!!

Comment by Anna on October 7, 2012 at 2:17pm

Jamesmom,

The orange belt means they haven't passed some part of their pt assessment.  They will be given extra training in order to pass the next time they are tested.  There is the In-PFA, the mid-PFA, and the out-PFA.  Usually anyone with an area to work on will have passed it by the mid assessment.  If they don't pass it by the out-PFA then they will be rolled back.

Do you use facebook?  There is a group page for friends and family of loved ones in class 04-13.  There are also groups for classes 16-12, 17-12, 01-13, 02-13, and 03-13.  It is good to join the older groups so you get a heads up of what is to come for your class.  16-12 and 17-12 graduated so those groups may not have current posts on there but you can certainly read through the older posts and check out the pictures.  There are also many files of valuable information on these older class pages under the tabs "files".  It would be a wonderful source of information to join facebook and these group pages if for nothing else than the time your son is at OCS.  My daughter graduated in 17-12 and I really relied on these groups for knowing what was going on.  Also,
 Officer Candidate School Newport has a facebook page and they post class updates and photos of the classes as they are going through in important events and challenges.  Good luck to your son - - hope this helps!!!!

Comment by momoffive on October 7, 2012 at 2:09pm

Hi M's mon - yes, he  did, and now he has email so we have heard from him quite a bit this weekend. Thanks for asking!

Comment by M's mom on October 7, 2012 at 12:21pm

momoffive:  Has your son gotten any of your letters yet at OCS?

Comment by Anna on October 5, 2012 at 9:40pm

dmarie,

Thank you!!!  So funny - just before commissioning I helped my other daughter move from WA to PA.  I drove the UHaul!!!  I am glad OCS is over - now on to flight school!!

Comment by M's mom on October 1, 2012 at 8:37pm

momoffive:  Some of the OCS Drill Instructors, for whatever reason, do not allow the candidates to have their mail for the first few weeks,and then they get a pile all at once.  That's why I numbered my letters on the outside, #1, etc. Our son's DI was not as strict as some and they were allowed to have mail right away.  But some of the DI's are very strict, and their word is law.  The whole idea is to keep the candidates isolated and focused on their training. For instance they have no access to TV, radios, or newspapers. Our son had no idea of any national news going on, other than the news clippings we sent, because even when they get computer access, all they can do is email and get to .mil (military) sites.  They cannot get to the rest of the internet--Facebook, news pages, etc.   The DI's are weaning the candidates (and their loved ones!) off of constant communication with each other.  When they go out on sea duty, you will not be able to talk or text to them all the time.  If they are on a sub, it may be weeks (or months!) without hearing from them!    Your son will get his mail eventually.  He just may have a really strict DI.  They don't have any free time to write back either, except when they could be sleeping, so we were surprised that our son actually handwrote about 6-7 letters!    Once they got email, our son was able to check it daily, but again, SOME of the DI's only allowed them to email on weekends.  They have weekend phone privileges after the fourth week also. 

Comment by momoffive on October 1, 2012 at 6:17pm

Thanks M's mom...I didn't expect him to write but it does not seem as if he has gotten the many letters and cards that have been written to him...if there are many to be delivered maybe there is a delay? I hope he gets them soon!

Comment by M's mom on September 30, 2012 at 11:51pm

momoffive:  My son was the "Mail Body" (mail deliverer) for OCS class 16-12.  He was given a big pile of letters from the mail room every day Mon-Fri (but not on weekends) to distribute to his classmates.  However, he was not allowed to pick up OUTGOING mail. There isn't an outgoing mailbox in their barracks.  The closest one is several blocks away, and they are not allowed to just walk around freely in the early weeks of OCS, except maybe on Sunday during chapel time.  This is why you may not get any letters from your LO for a time, and then get 3 in one day!  It's just not easy for them to get to a mailbox.  It's much better when they get email privileges after four weeks. Those handwritten letters usually stop then!  The young folks today don't DO snail mail.  But they still like receiving mail FROM home.  We sent photocopies of cartoons and local newspaper clippings of interest.  They also look forward to when they become Candidate Officers (Candios) at nine weeks, and then they can receive "Candio Boxes" of treats from home!  But don't send anything edible until then.

Comment by momoffive on September 30, 2012 at 8:08pm

HI everyone...my son is in class 03-13 and we just got an email from him today! He said he looked forward to hearing from us snail mail or  email...we have sent a number of letters and so have several other family members. Does anyone know how the mail is distributed when they are there? The letters should have definitely gotten there by now.

Thanks for any input!

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