Reporting for DCC

Travel to DCC
   On your orders it will tell you somewhere "report to (insert training location) on (day) between the hours of (0900-1700)" and that's the most official information you'll get so don't worry about reading a different time somewhere else (unless your instructor emails you a modification, that's the only exception). *side note - PLEASE study military time if you've never used it before*  I left home with one large suit case, my lapotop, a duffle bag, and a backpack. It was an 11.5 hour trip from home, so I chose to drive about 10 hours one day and grab a hotel over night so I could eat a good breakfast in the morning and show up at the beginning of the day to report. I used the miles on my airlines card to book a room for no charge to me! SAVE ALL RECEIPTS FOR GAS/HOTEL/FLIGHT that you paid for out of pocket, as it will be reimbursed eventually. 
               
             -COVID changes- Due to COVID, our class, and probably most of the future classes, had to undergo 14 day quarantine on arrival. for this reason they changed the packing list to include a lot more civilian clothes. During quarantine you cannot leave the room/building until it's over... which means no inprocessing/pay/shopping for 2 weeks. Plan. Accordingly. The first two weeks are class online, and we had a HUGE issue with wifi and connection for 300 people, so they were pretty lenient about turning things in on time. Bring your own laptop, you don't want to be stuck with the ones they issue to you if needed. 

    Since you most likely won't have an ID/CAC card before arrival (some national guard/reserve/etc will have one), report to visitors center first, always. Bring in your ID and orders, and they'll issue you a visitors pass to get through the gate. Then you can report to the building number listed on your orders. There are huge numbers on each building, and when in doubt, plug the address of your report location into maps. We were instructed to park in a designated lot after unloading baggage, and then underwent temperature checks and COVID questions before being assigned a room. IMPORTANT: we were given envelopes with all of our in-processing documents inside and you should NOT fill them out before instructed to do so. We were given a slideshow with instructions, but we all still had questions at the end. This also means you will not be paid for a lonnnnnng time. It takes 30-45 days to get pay after turning in those forms (yikes). The key to survival before you finish DCC is having money set aside to pay bills back home. 

    Once I got into my room, I thought that we'd all be quarantined alone. I saw the 3 beds and thought "Oh cool, I can stretch out", and started unpacking all my stuff all over the room. Little did I know, 300 students were coming to this course. My roommate walked in and I immediately had to move all my crap to make room for her and the third roommate. DO NOT choose the top bunk if you can avoid it... making your bed is so hard to do with your arms above your head. There is a student manual for every student that outlines expectations for the room appearance and maintenance... keep in mind this is like your "boot camp" and you'll be expected to be very thorough and follow all the rules. For the first 2 weeks they did not check anything in our rooms, but when quarantine is over you'd better have your floors clean, socks rolled, and all your stuff put away NEATLY in your drawers. 

    The next two weeks were all online class, workouts in our room, and volunteering to take the trash to the dumpster just to get a little sunshine. Hot meals are provided outside buffet-style for breakfast and dinner, and MREs (Meal Ready-to-Eat) are provided for every lunch through quarantine. Here is what they look like, and I have a video somewhere of a room tour and MRE cookin' as soon as I figure out uploading to You-tube. More on that later :) 



Here's a picture of the breakfast food we are given (those are fake eggs, yes).


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