As submitted by Dave
When did you attend? July 19th-Sept 7th.
Where were you stationed? Ft. Rucker
How long was this school? 6 weeks if you have not attended PLDC, 4 if you have.
What was training like? Normal schedule? Did you train on weekends? Late at night? Classroom or field based? Training is 6 days a week with Sunday being used for church and not much else. Wake up is at 05:15 and PT is at 05:25. PT is not very hard as long as you show up in shape. After PT is classroom training most days until 17:30. There about 5 tests through the course. If you fail you can take a retest but two failures gets you recycled. We had about 30 failures between all the tests. You’ll have more than enough time to study. There is a 1 week FLX where you stay in the field and will not have any showers or hot meals.
Did you get to see family/friends during the school? There is no visitation at all except for the 1 on-post pass during week 3(which my class lost 4 hours of cause our barracks were dirty) and an 8 hour off post pass (which we lost completely) .
How often were you able to communicate with family/friends? By phone? Email? There is no phone or internet during the first phase. (weeks 1-3 for the 6 weeks and 1-2 for the 4 week class) When the class get these rights the will only be from 1930-2000 every night.
Describe the graduation ceremony. The night before graduation is a reception. We had got a babysitter because children are not allowed. However, your spouse might as well skip the whole thing. It lasts about an hour and is really boring. After reception you are free to stay off post but will have to report at 05:30 the next day. Graduation is open to everyone and is held in the museum. The whole ceremony last about an hour. Anyone can pin your rank on. I had my kids do it or you could have an instructor do it.
Any other tips or information? My room was never actually inspected. It had to be neat but the inspections only focused on the common areas. There is not a lot of time for personal hygiene so I would suggest shaving at night. They never inspected us for anything like that. If you can’t pass a PT test don’t come. You will be held over for a long time. There were guys who failed the initial PT test and still had not started the course when we graduated.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey, thanks for this article. I do have a question though. Was this course similar to basic, or was it harder? The tests, you were saying that you can only have 2 failures, is that 2 per test or is it 2 period?
Thanks
Also can you have family with you? Meaning staying off base?
My husband is now in the school and I haven’t heard from him and have been concerned about that. I knew going into it I wouldn’t hear from him but I thought a week not 2 and I didn’t know that the time restriction would be so short. According to the calendar I don’t have much longer and than I should hear from him. This has put me a little at ease and informed me, thanks for the article!
You’re welcome!
This article was very informative, but it’s also outdated. Most of this information is accurate, but not all. Now, you may only call after the 3rd week and only on Sundays and Wednesdays. E-mail came after the car wash which family members may attend but they do not get to talk to any of their family members. You really just go to support the team. There is a pass on Sunday before graduation but it is only an on post pass. Your soldier will not be allowed in the car AT ALL! If he is seen in a car he will be kicked out. Graduation is ALWAYS on a Wednesday. The night before graduation is the reception and after the reception soldiers are granted an off post pass as long as they report back by 0500 the next day. Your family may live on or off base or stay wherever you were stationed before. I noticed that all of us flight school people were down here while all the walking warrants had kept their families at the previous duty station. Hope any of this can help someone! Good Luck!
Thanks for the updates!
Does anyone know how they have handled Christmas break if it falls in the middle of WOCS in the past?
Hello,
I am attending this course this upcoming NOV. I was curius as to the different information given. Seeing as how i have completed WLC. ..my course will only be 4 weeks… how many PT test do they give you? I was told three throughout the whole course..
HI, I LEAVE IN OCTOBER FOR THE 6 WEEK COURSE….IS THERE A BREAK IN THE COURSE FOR THOSE OF US WHO HAVENT HAD WLC OR IS IT 6 WEEKS STRAIGHT THRU?
ALSO…CAN I BRING AN ELECTRIC RAZOR ?
THANKS