The time between holiday weekends has been five weeks. That is the amount of time I have been attending Warrant Officer Basic Course (WOBC). It is very easy to lose track of time here since we are moving through the course at a rapid rate. Some of us have joked that it feels like we have been here for three months (that was two weeks ago!). We are just taking it one day, one event, one week at a time.
Week five included a guest speaker, learning about our weapons systems, orienting through the endurance course, and a swim qualification. The rate at which we move causes me to forget which week we did what. For example, something cool we did last week (week four) was our Lamp Lighting ceremony. This event is a tradition which officially announces the presence of the Warrant Officers at The Basic School (TBS). The lamp will always be lit inside the “Hawk” (Officer’s Club) when a Warrant Officer is present. The ceremony itself included the passing of the lamp between all Warrant Officers until we arrived at the Hawk (the lamp’s home) to celebrate and socialize.
Yesterday (Friday) we were supposed to run our endurance course for score. However, there was heavy rain which prevented us from running it. I know, I know. . . If it ain’t raining, we ain’t training. We are also not trying to break ankles and break people off. We are all just trying to survive at this point. Instead of the endurance course, we ended up doing a swim qualification at the pool. Easy day for me being a MCIWS.
Once we have closed out the holiday weekend, we will immediately make a foot movement (hike) out to the range for two days. Pray for safety, favorable weather, and good shooting for all. I don’t have the schedule in front of me, so I’m not sure what we are doing toward the end of the week. We have a couple of big field events coming up in week eight and sometime in April. Again, pray for safety and favorable weather.
At the conclusion of WOBC I will be attending a follow-on school. Remember when I was in my initial training and ended up at Ammo school? I’m headed back to Ammo school! This school is called Ammunition Warrant Officer Course (AWOC), so the curriculum will be different from the last time I was there. Looking forward to it!
Well, that’s it for now. Until next time: Be strong. Love God. Love others.
rejoice.always
The Wild Ride 