hello digital land I wanted to create a little bit of a synopsis of ODS I know that there's a lot of videos and blogs out there that already sort of do this but when I Was preparing for ODS the more information that I could get the better so I just wanted to give an updated account or just a different account of some of the information that's already out there so first to start out I'll give you the date um right now it is July of 2023 so I attended ODS during the summer months um uh personally I like the cold a little bit better um I will tell you if you attend during the summer um prepare to be a little hot and sticky cuz unfortunately you will stay inside of King Hall which is it's probably something that's 60 70 80 year old building and there unfortunately is no AC and as of right now the only fans that you will get are the ones that uh you happen to find in Davey Jones's Locker or ones that you uh buy or bring with you so um prepared for hot and humid weather if you come during the summer months and I've been told that the winter months can also get quite Frosty so uh just be prepared for that um let's see this one was week zero so or week one I guess and um it was certainly eye opening um I can show you that uh you know for how busy it is right now it's uh uh 2355 or uh 11:55 um personally I never been a big fan of 24-hour time clock but uh I guess that's something I'll just have to get used to um you know I got really nervous about ODS and it's still a little bit stressful but but uh doing just a little bit of prep work uh will definitely set your mind at ease and will definitely set you up S for Success so for one definitely look at the packing list go to Google and just type in the words ODS packing list and you'll see a list that'll pop up it will give you essentially everything that you need to bring with you to ODS um you know look through that list and yes they'll sell pretty much everything that you want while you're here um especially like uniform wise but um I like to order a lot of things ahead of time just because you can kind of shop around and maybe get a little bit of a better deal for instance a Black Backpack is on there and if you buy the one that they have it is I think it was something like1 $10 if you get their Black Backpack versus you know I got this gem off of Amazon and I probably paid $ 20 $30 for it so you can definitely save yourself some money doing that um and then you'll be ahead of the game in a bit right now the Navy is going through a big shortage of these PT shirts and unfortunately you have to wear right now uh this PT shirt uh specific color uh also with the um prescribed shorts and uh everybody's only allowed two and during week one this is all you can wear um nothing else so there are some people that are doing laundry literally every single day um now I happen to get on the necks early and I talked to some service members who still had them so I showed up with about seven of them in my bag so I was a little ahead of the game there um anything else on the list I have it up I'm sort of looking at it right now um there is something that is called uh Davey Jones's Locker um if you've done any re search you've probably heard about it um it definitely is a resource uh if you want to utilize it I would definitely say get here early because people do pull from it pretty quickly and there are some items that will disappear rapidly like the fans that I mentioned uh if you get here um and check in right at you know right now it was uh you know 600 p.m. on uh the Saturday then chances are you'll probably find something um if you get here late Saturday or almost anytime on Sunday chances are all the the fans will be gone uh and people really pick through there so uh even things like ironing boards and irons um really became kind of slim pickings um so yes there are things that you can grab from there that will probably be left over like laundry detergent and soap um there are a lot of irons and ironing boards um even blankets it's sort of weird some people are leaving things behind like gummy vitamins um I've seen shower shoes um in there some of the stuff's a little gross I'm like why did you leave that behind who wants to use your halfus Chapstick uh but people left it so um personally I would say if there's something you really want I would probably just bring it with you um plan to show up as early as you can you know I aim to get here at 6 6:30 um p.m. so Civ regular civilian time um 1,800 uh 24-hour time um just to give yourself that first day you don't really have to worry about anything nobody's going to bug you uh just check in um go unpack your room get it set up um get your things squared away as much as possible nobody's going to be inspecting your room um until about um Thursday Friday of that week so um you know and it's just nice to sort of settle in and uh get that initial you know sort of nerves and stress down um and then plus you can also still leave base so if you need to go out if you need to uh if you want to buy anything if you wanted to go to the uh commissary on base or the NEX on base or go out into town and buy something uh at a local store then you can still do that so that can be a time to get your uh you know if you didn't get it your laundry detergent uh if you need drier sheets or you know anything else that's on that list that you may think you uh may need and uh I'll I'll try to talk about some of those things I I don't want this to be too long um you know I'm hoping for it to maybe um 10 15 minutes at most uh so let's see day one um or day Zero however you want to call it Saturday uh that for me was largely it was travel it was checkin uh show up uh at the airport you got to get a taxi um you know make sure to ask them specifically can you go on base we're going to Newport we need to get on the Navy base we need to go go to King Hall so make sure that they say yes chances are they're going to take a group of people our guy tried to shove um like four or five people into one vehicle and we were just like H that's a little tight um but you know they'll shove you in there they'll take you on the base um you know uh if you have your cat card bring it with you otherwise just bring your orders and uh an ID and you should be able to get through the gate no problem um you can uh in the central hallway they'll a lot of times they'll call it the the ckz or the Kill Zone even um uh there'll be a table set up so look read what's on that table they'll have um instructions for you'll have to have like these room cards with your your rank and your name on it and your company as well um they'll also have all the uh positions I sort of printed them out ahead of time and was a reading over them like the um division officer the company commanders the Master at Arms the mes Treasurer Etc um so read those over beforehand they should send you a collateral Duty sheet so read that over um see if there's anything that interests you I will tell you ODS you're going to be busy um so you know personally I tip my hat off to the roles especially like the uh you know the class division officer the dvo the assistant division officer Ado the company commanders the wing commanders uh because they've they've got a fair amount of extra work to do um a lot of people advise you to not sign up for anything because you're already so busy um but at the same point it is an opportunity to practice leadership and to grow yourself so if it's something you're really interested in especially if you're a prior then um you know consider it but uh just know that you're signing up for a fair amount of extra work um you know that not everybody else has to do um drill officer is um you're not going to be super busy but uh you know just be comfortable you're going to be making mistakes in front of the entire company but the uh the Chiefs the rdc's they're they're they're pretty good at working with you and giving you instructions um you know they they may kind of uh make you a little uncomfortable at times with how they talk to you but uh they're they're doing it to to teach you um ultimately they're they're here to help you learn and to help you grow um trying to think of any roles that are specifically a little bit easier um mesh Treasurer isn't anything too bad uh you just sort of go inside and figure out where we're sitting um we don't even have a guide on yet um you sort of have to earn that uh so we won't probably get that till week two let's see um remedial swim that's probably one of the easiest ones because you actually don't even teach them how to swim um you just sort of they teach them the Chiefs in the pool and you basically sort of walk them over as almost like battle buddies and encourage them so that one's not going to be too bad information officer um you know there there's a lot of them aren't as busy but if you sign up for you know dvo AO company Commander Wing Commander um or even some of the admin positions uh like admin o uh you you know just be ready for some extra work um that's uh you know depending on what you want um let's see um for the next day Sunday we all had to be here by uh 1300 or uh 1:00 um to check in or or that's when we officially had to be here you know in PT gear um we all had to go to mardet which is a big Auditorium that's just right across the street that is the last time you will be allowed to walk anywhere on your own by yourself um so enjoy that um we went over there we met the class officers um very lowkey not stressful at all they sort of give you a brief of ODS what you're going to be doing they introduce themselves uh you go through and they sort of take an attendance of everybody um and start to lay out the expectations of what you're going to be going through that evening we did get to uh meet the Chiefs as it is uh largely it's going to be Chiefs and Senior Chiefs uh they are your your rdc's um or a lot of people hear the drill instructors in ODS you actually don't have drill instructors you have Chiefs uh that that teach you and uh they do have operational authority over you so even though you are an officer and out in the fleet you will outrank them um here they do have operational authority over over you so yes they can tell you what to do and you better do it um they do come in you know pretty hot and heavy um you need to get used to um you know hearing raised voices uh hearing them shout hearing them give commands um maybe if it's helpful maybe practice that and have maybe some people yell around you just so that you get used to those raised voices if you're not used to that um but keep in mind it's all for training purposes they're never going to hit you um they should always treat you with dignity and respect but they are going to yell sometimes they will single you out and they may yell directly at you but it is to correct the deficiency it is to help you train and grow that is their ultimate goal uh so you know just be prep prepared for that um they're going to teach you to speak up to shout to you have to respond if a chief asks you a question or if they give you a command you need to get used to saying yes Chief no Chief yes Senior Chief no Senior Chief um II Chief um or if it's an officer yes sir no sir I I ma'am I I sir Etc um and saying it loud with you know speed volume and intensity speed volume and intensity that's something they' say over and over again um and if you don't do it then they will say that requires a response so you're not allowed to just not say anything they're going to make sure that you do respond to them so uh be prepared for that um we also had box dinner that first night it was like turkey sandwiches or something um called the finest box chow in the Navy that's um a little bit of an overstatement but uh you know what doesn't kill you so uh that first day wasn't too bad um you know got to send us all to bed um told us to be up and ready by uh 0500 um which uh um I don't know how much I necessarily want to give away for some of these things but I'll tell you uh that was a little bit of a lie um that first morning was um rather interesting uh they came in maybe just a little bit earlier than that and uh there's there was some shouting there were people that weren't ready um I might say maybe plann to be up maybe a little earlier and prepped and ready to go um and and that was the first time that it really got fun they really got everybody's heart rate going um you know they were shouting at people they were giving commands people they don't know military bearing military etiquette and the Chiefs know this as well uh but you're going to be under pressure and they're going to be getting you into lines and trying to get you to count off and um get into height lines and things like that and people aren't going to be responding and there's uh gosh there had to be like five six seven Chiefs out there so that was definitely a something that raised everybody's blood pressure uh but it does stop it does end eventually and they do uh you know talk about the purpose of that and get you to sort of like calm your heart rate down so even that is a training tool so even that yelling and that shouting is still a training tool because you may go out to the fleet and uh you know there may be those things that do happen that are going to get your blood pressure higher and you need to know what to do so um uh we had that that first day we had Box breakfast and lunch the Box breakfast was just awful uh Jimmy Dean sandwiches um sorry to say that is not my favorite it was a little gross personally but um uh we we had those boxed in the beginning and then um we did our first Chow haul uh that that evening in uh nah Hall and there's a whole procedure behind cow it's a good um you'll have this odr manual that is sort of your ODS Bible as it were and you are expected to read it and you're expected to know what's in it um and even cow is a good I think it's four pages of instructions of you know what you do what you have to say at certain procedures um even how your plate has to look uh where you line up your food um uh keep your little gou sheet as they call it you should receive this print it off um bring bring 10 copies with you okay um you're going to need to know this information ideally study it beforehand um almost nobody does so everybody shows up not knowing almost anything but uh if you can study it beforehand you will be ahead of the game but when you're in cow you're just and you're waiting for your table to fill up you're just going to hold out how out in front of you and sit here and read it and have to try to study it while you wait for the table to go up um the food so far after week one has been pretty decent in the channel Hall um you do have to stand attention and uh you're not you know big thing when you're in formation and uh they will talk about how to stand in attention and how to do you things like left face and right face and about face and a lot of drill movements um but it's supposed to be the thousand yard stair you're not allowed to look around and see what's going on just look right in front of you you could get yelled at if if you if you look off um you know keeping your hands down by your side they'll teach you those things um but the food's been the food's been pretty decent um you do have to earn certain privileges so when you first come here you're not allowed things like um coffee or tea or desserts um but uh you do start to slowly earn things back we actually I'm jumping ahead of myself a bit but for the first weekend of Liberty we actually got coffee and tea um given back to us which uh I'd never heard of anybody getting it that early but we got it for the first weekend um so that was that was pretty um exciting um let's see um I'm not trying to go over everything but um you'll have a lot of initial admin stuff the first week you'll sit and uh we were all in mardet cuz our class is about 180 190 people so there aren't a lot of buildings that can handle that um so you'll be in the mardet it's like the Marine building that's right next to us um so you'll be in there a lot uh for lectures there was just a lot of sort of like admin initial information on medical filling out paperwork uh um it's a very administrative week um they'll do they'll eventually I think it was on Wednesday they'll do a blood draw they'll take somewhere between six to about 11 vials of blood um I hate needles personally but um uh you know I got through it so you will have to do a blood draw you will do a urine analysis as well early in the week um I don't remember if that was like Monday or Tuesday or maybe Wednesday they kind of blur together after a bit um but don't be dumb and take it anything stupid before you come here um you will take a UA and I've been told multiple times they will kick you out if you fail it so um um let's see what else uh blood draw they'll take you over eventually to buy uniform so anything you have not purchased um they will take you over and they will have you buy personally I brought most of everything with me when I came uh cuz I wanted to try to cut down on cost uh but uh read over that list make sure you get what's uh if you buy anything make sure it is required CU they will make you buy the proper thing um black boots for instance my group the CC CBS we don't wear black boots but I had to buy them anyway so that was a couple hundred dollar that um I guess it's just going to sit in my closet uh but it's required for ODS so uh expect to spend easily a couple thousand um or more um probably not over 3,000 they do have something something this uh sort of star gift card that they will if you need you can use and it'll have something like a $1,500 on it that you just have to pay back at the end of ODS so you can get um you know like two or so paychecks and at the end you do have to pay that off um and it would be zero interest so there there is an option for that um but like I said you can try to get some of the things ahead of time um the nwus um I got mine at a time cuz I drilled for I'm a reservist I drilled for a few months prior and I could at least get my name tapes on um I had a patch I had put on cuz um week two will wear our nwus from what we've been told but they don't have time to do all of the um like the Stitch you to put everything on so you just won't have those things on um for that that second week um let's see um you'll go to the pool um really your first physical thing you do have to be cleared from medical for what they call high-risk activities I know I've gone over 15 minutes sorry um but you will go to the pool you will take the swim test uh that was something like a 50 yard swim you can do the front stroke the breast stroke the side stroke or the elementary backstroke to do it um so you'll just do that 50 yard swim along the side of the pool um let's see there was the tower jump you jump from about 10 ft up and they tell you specifically how you have to jump It's it's like pinch your nose and it's a sort of abandoned ship position cross your legs as you go down in um a few people get a little nervous about it but nobody's ever been hurt or drowned or anything like that um for it so um yeah you will have to do that to pass um but you know they'll they'll help you they'll encourage you and if you need help swimming don't worry about that they are good instructors this is what they do there were Chiefs there um they're all lifeguard certified and uh you know if you need need help swimming if you're not the strongest swimmer if you're a little nervous let them know and they will work with you um you know they were very nice they're not there to shout at you or yell at you um largely only the rdcs will do that um so that wasn't bad um what else oh you have to float for five minutes either like on your back or prone so um we all we we did that um and then it's the filling the coveralls with water so they'll teach you what to do to put the coveralls on and how you sort of slap water into it and get your back to fill up with water so that was actually kind of cool um that part itself I like that um officer etiquette they'll teach you don't worry if you know nothing if you show up and you can't even spell military um then you know they'll teach you how to standard attention they'll teach you the drilling movements um they'll teach you how you address officers and enlisted they'll teach you the ranks they'll uh it's just pretty much everything um so many people here we do have prior enlisted which is great um they are resources but a lot of people came in knowing absolutely nothing and that is okay that is what they are assuming is that you don't know anything um so and that's part of what this is It's indoctrination so they are teaching you the customs and courtesies um of uh we specifically here of the Navy so um you'll learn those things how to salute and who you salute and um we haven't even done that yet week one we haven't even really done too much cuz you you don't this is is not a saludable uniform so you have to actually get into like an nwu or your khakis or your whites and those are ones where you actually have to actually start rendering salutes so in your um here you you pts you don't have to worry about doing that um company commanders by about Wednesday or Thursday um actually started getting together they want to hand things over to the student leadership so they need to be the ones stepping up and taking charge and really starting to run the students um so you know again if you to sign up for those roles you need to be ready to do that it will be extra work um you will be in the chain of command and uh you know ultimately you will need to be taking those Reigns over from from them they're not it's not like being in school and the teacher runs everything this is definitely is not summer camp um you are expected to lead yourselves to be adults to be officers to be leaders so be ready for that um let's see the what else uh the Chiefs gave a couple demonstrations such as how to uh Shine Your Shoes properly so that was something that was done the the room makeup oh my gosh room makeup that's another one where um there's just pages in this book on exactly how you have to uh if you what you can have out how your books have to be aligned um definitely how your rack your bed right has to be made that one I I hate bed making I think it's just the dumbest activity in human history uh but you'll have to do it um and you'll have to have the sheet so far from the headboard and your fold has to be 6 in and they'll come in with the ruler and if they don't like it they'll tear your sheets up um or like rip them off your bed um they don't really go into um it probably won't go into your desk drawer or there's little drawers under your um bed um usually they don't go into those um they as far as I know they really don't ever go into your locker you are supposed to keep it locked at all times when you're not in there and combination set to zero so um you know they don't really ever go into that so you can you know sort of stuff in your expect to sort of stuff your extra things in there um now some people will use it to let's just say put in some things that they're not necessarily supposed to have I mean nothing awful but uh you're only supposed to have healthy snacks here um now that's not say you couldn't show up with a you know industrial sized box of Snickers bars um but if you get caught with it uh prepare for the consequences of said Snickers bars you'd probably just have a whole lot of demerits that you'd have to deal with but um uh yeah in general they they don't expect them to go into your lockers um unless they have a reason to if they some health and safety issue or um but in general no they won't go into your lockers um let's see um the oh training time out that is a thing so um it's only supposed to be used for emergencies um but we've actually already had a couple happen um one was it was like the first or second day when we were doing drill um I don't know what that one was if it was um yeah I don't know if it was a heat it wasn't too horrible bad but we had one person um and it's it's something that's necessary some people will laugh about it but it's you know somebody really they they can't stand up anymore they're about to pass out um in our first PT session um which was uh Friday um you know we had somebody that it was really hot it was really humid um they are really pushing you it's another time they're going to be shouting at you they're going to be yelling at you um you know it's probably going to be a little stressful and somebody pushed themselves too hard to the point that they pretty much almost collapsed um and like passed out um they were ultimately fine but still we all had to call a training time out you turn around you look away and the staff rushes over to assist that person so so um it does happen um and they are prepared to deal with it but it is a real thing there are training timeouts um you'll get your intro to PT they really won't do that until Friday they'll take you into um you know for us it was in the hall that they do graduation and they go up on stage and then we're all in columns and they show us the different movements they tell us how to respond um you're going to make mistakes you're going to respond improperly um sometimes they'll shout at you for it uh but they they know you're learning so um but they do expect you to get the basics the rule is um generally they're not going to hold you accountable for something that they haven't taught you so once they've taught it to you though they do expect you to know it now you'll probably get a couple reminders um we haven't had any demerits yet so the demerit system is basically if you get a demerit you have to work it off um it's supposed to be something that um sort of like a training reinforcement tool something that you should have known uh but you've made this mistake several times or maybe it was a larger mistake um and you'll get a Dem Merit for it and you have to work it off it's generally something like 10 minutes of extra PT that you have to do with a chief and then you work off that demerit um you can do something like five demerits a day if Liberty comes uh by the Liberty brief on Friday um that you know late afternoon if you still have any demerits you don't get Liberty um nobody's had to do that yet but essentially I think you won't be allowed to leave King Hall and you'll have to check in like every 4 hours with the Master at Arms um but you don't want to do that you want to be able to have Liberty it's nice to get a break from here so if you get any demerits you know work them off uh try not to get them if you can but um but yeah that's the demerit system and that's how they transfer ownership back to you of your mistakes as they like to say it um I'm trying to see if there's anything um you won't do any watches for the first couple weeks but they will teach you how to do watch um how to Rove the building and how to check the building um how to check people in how to fill out the log um how to man the quarter deck and what you have to do the procedure of coming into the building and leaving the building and uh how you have to salute the flag and request permission to though as an officer it's more I have permission to come aboard or I have permission to go ashore I'm just looking real quick to see what else I may want to talk about um I think I hit a lot of the stuff so um yeah rack makeup rooms um fans I said If either bring a fan or um get here early it's going to be hot well if you get here in the summertime the winter time probably won't be as bad um let's see rulers yeah buy the backpack early um PT I liked getting my CAG early cuz the CAG that I got from the next was higher quality than the ones they sold us here um they did start letting our class I think we were the first or second class that got to use these so when we go to different classes we can put all of our stuff in the Black Backpack uh like our notes and our binders and they even gave us you saw this earlier they issue us these tablets that have the presentations actually on them so we can follow along with the slides um I've always been a note writer so I bring this along to take notes on um let's see anything else no they went over GI Bill they talk about um various mental health um commands that they'll teach you ears open is a big one where they yell ears and you say open and then listen to them um they'll teach you how to use a couple uniforms the first week so a big one is the Navy PT uniform we also went over the Navy working uniform the cams right the camo uniform so they went over the components of that how you wear it how you tie your sleep or if you roll your sleeves um how uh where your patches go Etc how you wear your they call it a cover your hat right they'll call a hat there's a lot of terminology in the Navy it's not a hat it's a cover um it's not a door it's a hatch um it's not a floor it's a deck it's not a wall it's a bulkhead um so they'll teach you that terminology um you know I think kind of um uh oh Liberty and then my own advice um so our first Liberty um weekend one it's pretty routine if you study a lot of these weekend one you're not going to be allowed off um largely it is um CU in part you can only go where the uniform allows you so you can't really go you can't go off base um with this um or even do a lot of places on base so you can only stay in training country which is like King Hall um out to the the football field that's called nits field um you can you know sort of like walk around the sidewalks and such on training country and then outside of training country there's things like the um the necks and the Comm commissary and the uniform store so that'll be in your training brief uh it'll be something like three four pages it'll tell you exactly what you can do exactly where you can go um that's what told us that we could get tea and coffee um let's see uh it authorized us to wear um like headphones or earbuds when we were either at the gym or at the track um yeah it's just basically the rules and regulations and follow those rules and regulations um you want to when you show them that you can handle the rules and the little things that they've given you like having to say attention on deck when an officer comes into your wing or chief on deck or seeing your chief on deck or you have to carry they call it your hydration tool when you go it's considered part of your uniform and you have to carry it with you at almost all times um you know at a modified position of attention um you know some of the things yes they're a little Annoying um but it's part of the indoctrination they expect you to do it part of it's getting you to follow orders um and if you do those things then you will gain privileges you will earn privileges and they will eventually also start to relax those things and won't necessarily make you do them anymore and you'll also avoid punishments uh so like having to have demerits um or you know eventually there's the dreaded sand pit I've been told every class goes there um we have not gone yet but it's only week one um so we'll we'll see I'm sure I'm I'm certain they're going to take us I'm I I will be shocked to all high heaven if they don't take us um okay and the last thing as far as I can think of that I will want to mention is um you know just come here a lot of this will be about your attitude so have a positive attitude you are here to learn they are here to develop you into a leader and um that's that's why you're here so yes they're going to yell at you yes it's going to be stressful yes you're going to be busy um you may not get to take a full shower after PT um so far we it hasn't been too stressed on that end um but it's easy to get stressed um I've seen a lot of people start to snip at each other um I've even had seen some you know some cursing which officers should not be doing anyway um how you you should always treat all um well one all people but especially within the military all Sailors um with dignity and respect at all times so mocking them making fun of them ridiculing them swearing at them is not appropriate and uh it's it's a Hallmark of a bad leader of a toxic leader um I've even confronted a couple people on it and unfortunately they they've pushed back and just literally said I'll do what I want to do um which is not a good response from an officer and that's not somebody that I would want to serve under and I would not want in my chain of command so come here with a positive attitude realize we are here to support each other help each other get through this we're all going to make mistakes we're all learning um I've made mistakes people next to me will make mistakes um but this is a training environment is it is a training country um so um come with that positive attitude in mind work hard to keep it and then um be humble um you know you're going to get shouted at you're going to get corrected but it's not to be mean the Chiefs don't go home and have your picture on a dartboard and you know throwing things at it um no all right they are here to develop you are here to treat you and you need to be able to take that feedback you need to be able to get corrected and realize you made a mistake or have somebody tell you you make a mistake and be able to acknowledge that and be able to say uh yes sir uh yes ma'am yes Chief yes Senior Chief uh and and move on um so yeah um that's all I can think about for this one sorry it ran over a little bit I'll try to do these about once a week um I'll post this up if you have any questions feel free to go ahead and post them I'll see what I can do to respond to them but uh ODS week one pretty much in the books so bye