Up Next... BOLC (Basic Officer Leadership Course)

Fort Sill Holdover 

 Due to COVID, and the inability of the Army to pay to house 300 people for an extra 10 days in a hotel, we could not report to our next training location right after DCC was finished. So, we had 10 days of “free time” at Fort Sill, OK…. Woohoo. We were allowed to leave base with a weekend pass if we desired, but this girl does not want the ‘rona. So, my roommates and I stayed pretty much in our barracks with the exception of the gym, meals, and a few shopping trips. However, we did investigate the nearby Wichita wildlife refuge, which was awesome! There’s a pretty little mini-mountain called Mount Scott where you can drive to the top and take lovely pictures like these!

There were also some lovely bison, longhorns, prairie dogs, and unseen elk that don’t like to be found out in the open (I don’t blame them in that heat). The refuge is HUGE and stunning, and the wildlife are all able to freely roam wherever they please on the refuge.

Here I am on a dam along the bison trail… sweating my butt off! Oklahoma is hot hot HOT in mid-July.

These are the barracks we were moved to during our holdover, so the new class coming in could be placed in the barracks provided for the course.

Waco! Hello, Joanna. 

I was thrilled to discover that my driving route to the next training installation, Fort Sam Houston, went straight through Waco, TX! For those of you who have ever watched any HGTV or wandered through Target, you’ll understand my excitement about being able to stop by this wonderful domain and have a cupcake. For those of you who have never heard of Magnolia Homes or Joanna Gaines… please Google and appreciate. I took about an hour to walk through the buildings, and grabbed some souvenirs for family and myself (a mug for my hot tea). Then, I was back on the road for my 6 hour drive.

Reporting to Fort Sam Houston

On the orders the military sends you, it tells you exactly where and when to report for training. I stayed at an Airbnb overnight just outside of San Antonio in order to report early enough the next day (after picking up my roommate from the airport). The orders will give you a timeframe to report, which for us was 0900-1500. Immediately upon arrival, everyone goes through a COVID screening station (they do not test you for the virus here). They take your temperature, ask you about any symptoms, and send you on your way. The inprocessing takes place outside under a pavilion, which gets pretty crowded when you pack 300 people under it and ask them to stand 6 feet away from others. After about an hour, they verify your information and give you a packet of paperwork, and then ask you to go check into your room! 

There are 4 different hotels on the base that the Army pays for, but are run by civilian entities. I was placed at the Holiday Inn, which had a lovely room with a fridge/microwave. Others were luckily placed in the more expensive hotel with a full kitchen, but I was simply grateful to be able to cool and heat my food (unlike the barracks). No roommates! We were instructed to quarantine for 14 days after being tested the second day, but we were told it’s okay to run and exercise outside and go to PX/commissary if necessary. Masks and social distancing were key! Luckily, those from DCC knew they were already negative unless they picked something up during travel. Fingers crossed about that! Pools are a plus here, but I cannot find a two piece suit to save my life, and my stomach is 12 shades lighter than my arms. I’m dying to fix it. Online clothing orders never work out for me so I”ll have to figure that out later. 

Here is my room for the next few months!

Now, we wait for instructions! We are expected to wait in our rooms until we are divided up into platoons and then squads, and receive further instructions about online classes and video meetings during the first 14 days. Wish me luck! I’m missing my family dearly, and my chest aches a bit when I think of home. Talk about mental toughness… being away this long is straight torture! Luckily, I have a trusty and dependable husband at home taking care of the kiddos and furbabies while I’m here and he deserves a little blurb here about how awesome he is. Send him some prayers of patience! My next blog will briefly skip over the online classes and let you know what our hands on training is like! As always, thank you for reading.