Photo By 1st Lt. Tracci Dorgan | Soldiers participate in Phase One of Officer Candidate School (OCS) held by the...... read more read more
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EASTOVER, S.C.— Cultivating leaders is a critical aspect to the success of the U.S. military.
To fulfill that mission, every year Army National Guard Officer Candidate Soldiers from the southern region of the U.S. participate in Phase One of Officer Candidate School (OCS) held by the South Carolina National Guard’s Regional Training Institute at McCrady Training Center in Eastover, S.C.
Phase One begins at the end of May and lasts for 15 days. It is the beginning of a 14-month journey for Soldiers wishing to become commissioned officers in the Army National Guard.
Beginning with these two weeks of the National Guard’s annual training requirement, officer candidates from North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Puerto Rico, and South Carolina join together to complete physical and mental challenges, which is just an introduction to the demands of being a commissioned officer.
Officer Candidate Phillip Davis, a native of South Carolina and a bioengineering student at Clemson University, said, “Phase One is all about teamwork. Being a leader and delegating is only part of it. We had to learn each individuals strengths and weaknesses and how to put them all together and make the mission happen. When you work together, you can accomplish a lot.”
OCS Phase One is a collection of classes deemed as a foundation to the basic knowledge every commissioned officer must understand. Officer Candidates learn troop leading procedures, military history, and how to read and prepare operations orders, which are the framework for every military mission, just to name a few things taught during these two weeks.
And for the more physically demanding activities, Officer Candidates are expected to complete several land navigation courses, ruck marches, and infantry tactical maneuvers.
“The most difficult part of the past two weeks has been the lack of sleep, but that is only a small part in preparing us for battle situations,” Davis said. “The lack of sleep is just an added stress to situations that demand attention and critical thinking.”
As a final graded event at the end of Phase One, officer candidates must complete the Leadership Reaction Course. This is an obstacle course meant to use teamwork to get a task done. Each candidate leads the team through an obstacle and is graded on his or her use of information learned during Phase One.
Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Milne, an OCS instructor from Georgia said, “I really like working at the Leadership Reaction Course at the end of Phase One. This is where we see if they can utilize the key skills about leadership we have taught them in the past two weeks.”
Maj. Gene Hindman, the senior cadre at SCNG OCS said, “Phase One is designed to induce mental and physical stress on these future leaders to allow them to demonstrate that they have the endurance to lead. For many of the candidates this was this first time that they have had this type of training in which they have to lead their fellow candidates, while at the same time succeed as a student. They have to perform in an environment where once a task/lesson is instructed, zero defects are tolerated. This reinforces concise and precise mission orders production and the utilization/empowerment of the team leaders.”
“Each of these officer candidates that graduate from Phase One has been deemed competent in the basic fundamentals of becoming an officer,” said Lt. Col. Byron Williams, commander of the SCNG OCS program. “The next step is for these Soldiers to complete Phase Two over the next 12 months; to really hone in their skills and sharpen their knowledge of officer requirements and then to prove their understanding during the final Phase Three of training.”
Williams added, “As a fellow OCS graduate from Palmetto Military Academy (PMA) Class 44, PMA is a life changing opportunity that will present many challenges and opportunities to each officer candidate that will help them as they progress thorough their careers. I would encourage all National Guard commanders to take a closer look at their personnel; to find those Soldiers that meet the qualifications to attend OCS. These officer candidates are the future leaders of our communities and our National Guard.”
| Date Taken: | 06.11.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 06.18.2015 09:47 |
| Story ID: | 167109 |
| Location: | EASTOVER, SC, US |
| Web Views: | 187 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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