BOLC Courses/Learning

 Hello everyone! I last left you with some pictures of my new hotel room (so grateful for that mattress after DCC), and I was just starting my 14 day quarantine here at Fort Sam. I'll briefly go over the difference between this training and my first assignment. 

DCC (direct commission course) teaches you the very basic aspects of being a soldier such as marching, the Army values/Warrior Ethos, land navigation basics, and some shooting basics. There is of course some coursework in there that gets a bit more specific about things, but you get the idea. In Contrast, BOLC is a leadership course that teaches soldiers how to handle leadership positions that go along with holding a degree. BOLC at Fort Sam mainly handles medical training, so this class usually has dentists, physician assistants, nurses, NPs, and a few others. This training is NOT meant to teach you anything medical that coincides with your job-type. Instead, you learn techniques to lead and they familiarize you with how the Army works in the medical field. 

We were all broken into platoons (large groups of about 45-50) that had one Platoon Leader and one Platoon Sergeant. These positions remained the same person throughout training for continuity and ease of communication... if you volunteer for this job you need to be aware that it's a large responsibility and you must be organized and thorough. After that, each platoon is broken into 4 squads of about 10-12 people each, and each squad has a Squad Leader who will be rotated out to give others a chance to practice a leadership position. Each week we had a new one, except for our field training. 

During quarantine, we had virtual classes due to COVID and we had to be in uniform during the class hours, even though it was just in our rooms (fine by me, no complaints). Class consisted of materials that taught us a multitude of different topics. These ranged from infantry movement formations and hand signals to receiving an order and planning a brief for your soldiers based on the mission. Over the whole course we covered a ton of specific materials that are difficult for a prior civilian to grasp. If you're heading to BOLC, please remember to familiarize yourself with the prior-service folks. They will save your BUTT when you are lost or you forget to put the stupid buffer in your rifle and it gets stuck (TWICE). We were allowed to workout outside and then go to the gym after the first 14 days, eat at the dfac (dining facility), go to the PX and commissary (general store and grocery store) while under quarantine, they just didn't want us all congregating together or with other soldiers from other courses. The food isn't too bad, and it's free! For example :

Dominos, Jimmy Johns, BK, Popeyes, and subway are all readily available for the days you don't feel like the dfac! And Definitely try the food trucks! I heard that Gruhub would deliver food to the gate if you met them to pick it up, but I never tried it. 

After quarantine, we go to class in small groups for social distancing. This is where it's easier to ask questions and absorb the material, but it also gets a little more intense. The cadre (instructors) are all very knowledgeable and kind, don't be afraid to ask them to slow down or repeat things! This is us learning land navigation again with our beloved Mr. Pena! I enjoyed practicing the briefs and learning the structure of healthcare on the battlefield. 




There is a leadership award at the end of class that is rated based on exam scores, leadership ability and attitude, and technical skills such as your range qualification. If you just want to pass and move on, don't worry about it. If you're the competitive type, keep this in mind when you're studying and thinking that you'd rather be partying with your classmates. This is our Lynch Leader, a prior service Army Ranger who was the vision of calm-cool-collected during the entire course. He was gifted a Sabre! Hooah! 

    


Most days of class we were done shortly after lunch. There is a mid-term and final, which both require studying on your part. However, you only need a 70% to pass. Our class attended BOLC during the middle of the COVID pandemic that hit San Antonio pretty hard. We were not allowed to leave base whatsoever, and in the class prior to ours a soldier was discharged due to her failure to follow the general order, so DO AS YOU'RE TOLD. It sucked, but it's not the end of the world. San Antonio is beautiful, but we weren't able to see it.

Next post, I'll dive into our field training! That's where all the interesting stuff happens, and you actually put together everything you learned. Stay tuned, I may finish that post today as well! Thank you for reading <3

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