The Countdown is On!

Every morning, we have had a countdown of the days remaining here at ODS. This morning, it was 3 days and a wake-up. Even at 0400, the day is considered done, so we counted Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The wake-up is Friday since we wake-up, eat for the last time at the galley, and get in our full dress blues for graduation. We are looking forward to it.

Today, we started with our final weigh in. From when I got here until now, I have gained something like 4.2 lbs. Go figure! Then we walked in the "wonderfully" cold weather down to gym 302, which is about 3/4 of a mile away. We have a yellow flag today, so we did not march. The yellow flag means that we are below 25 degrees, not including the ~20 mph winds. Once there, we did our last official PT for the course; our final PFA (Physical Fitness Assessment). I scored higher than I had in the previous two and moved up to the next level on the PFA chart. Yay! I did have one little mishap on my 19th lap in the gym...someone cut right in front of me and it tripped and hit the deck. I was up in about 3-5 seconds and when the instructors asked if I was ok, all I could say is that I bruised my pride. Still, I shaved about 5 seconds or so off my last time even with the fall. Now my right wrist is hurting quite a bit, but as long as we don't have to do push-ups, it will feel better soon. After that, it was chow time. Oh, one quick little bonus...since we are done with the PFA and weigh in, now we are authorized to eat deserts and talk during meals. Since we had over 3 1/2 hours until the next evolution (our next agenda item), we took our time at breakfast and enjoyed 20 mins or so to eat rather than the standard 15. It was so nice!

We went back to the house (our rooms) and changed into our khakis...and then back to PT gear since half of our group was headed to the pool for abandon ship/night swim training. We had to jump off the 10' platform (in the mostly dark), then swim together in a group for 200 yards (8 laps). At each end, we took a head count and then would keep swimming. Basically, if a ship goes down, you have 13 minutes to get 200 yards from the ship; otherwise, when it goes down, the vaccume will pull you down too. We made it and didn't loose anyone. During this time, the staff folks were splashing water in our face, a strobe light was simulating lightning, and there were noises of a ship breaking up. Our group linked arms and kept singing, "just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming swimming swimming." We all got a good laugh. After that, we climbed into a life raft and discussed how to survive in it for several days. It was great.

Other than that, this week will be full of drill practice for graduation. We were supposed to head to gym 302 for an hour, but it was occupied, so we only spent about 20-30 mins in our p-way on drill. Tomorrow and pretty much the rest of the week we will have 3.5 hours of drill each day. That's 3.5 hours of standing at attention or parade rest in very uncomfortable shoes. No biggie though. On Wednesday night, we have the company dinner, the roast on Thursday morning, and the reception on Thrusday night. Then 0845 and we will be at parade rest in the gym watching everyone come in for graduation. 0900 graduation begins, and at approximately 1000, we will give our first official salute to the Sr. Chief, and we are free. Can't wait! I am so excited to see my wife and kids after 5 weeks!

The next ODS class started today. Last night, a few of us came in and helped with their initial weigh in and paperwork. We also answered a few questions, but were instructed not to give too much away. On that note, I have given way too much information on this blog! Oh well. :)

Well, I have to run. We had the BOC (Basic Officer Course) review this morning just before the abandon ship training and we have the FOC (Fleet Officer Course) review at 1430. Since it is in another building, we will be leaving in about 15 mins or so to walk down there. It is amazing how much walking we do and it seems like nothing now. Same with the stairs. We are not allowed to use elevators, and the stairs now are just a normal part of life. It is great. :)