Last week was the end of what seems like a long journey. “Graduation week” was a relatively uneventful period. Monday started off with PT for most folks. I say most folks because there were two-dozen class members who went to the Medical Clinic to have their injuries evaluated and recorded. As two-thirds of the class is from the Reserve Component, any injury sustained during active service must be documented as a “line of duty” injury or the...read more

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This week was “Patrolling Week”. It is the one chance we get to truly taste the life of an infantryman. Monday started with PT for those that had already been through the convoy simulator. For those that had not, we made our way over to complete the simulation. The simulator was an interesting experience. Basically, 20 people mounted 5 Humvees and conducted a four truck route clearing mission. A driver, truck commander, two dismounts and a gunner...read more

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This week was Land Navigation week at DCC. The goal is a “go” on the examination. The journey began Monday with PT. The remainder of the day was spent receiving classroom instruction on the way to read a military map. Contour lines, azimuths, back-azimuths, man-made structures, roads, bodies of water; we learned it all. Tuesday was spent in the field. We took a bus ride out for 45 minutes to Red Diamond Range and spent the morning in fire teams...read more

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Class 01-12 at DCC threw approximately 30K rounds down range this week. When the firing had stopped, 100% of the class was qualified with the M4 and Close Combat Optic. What a week! Monday started with PT and the remainder of the day was spent at the EST2000 – a weapons simulator. The day went well, though it did start with an issue. The buses that took us to the simulator building dropped us at the wrong facility. So, in true Army style, the class...read more

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The class reassembled after a nice long 4 day weekend and started training again this week. Most everyone seems rested and recharged – though not exactly happy to be back in our barracks. The week included two days of PT – on Tuesday and Thursday. One day was 30-60-90 second running drills and the other day was all the new PRT exercises or push-ups, sit-ups, etc. – depending on your PT group. The class was issued weapons this week, and we spent one day...read more

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The 185th JAOBC (and elements of former classes) reported into Fort Benning for DCC on Sunday. Fort Benning is not Fort Lee. It is bigger, busier, and is full of Infantry, Cavalry and Armor personnel. It also means no more post lodging, and no more hotel living. We reported in to our new home – Building 2838. Building 2838 is an older barracks. Most people are assigned two or three to a room. One person (the first to arrive) typically gets a...read more

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The 185th JAOBC graduated. Arguably the finest collection of men and women to complete the Judge Advocate’s Basic Course in years finished up on Wednesday. The week was a short one. Monday was a great day. It started with ultimate Frisbee and ultimate Football (for lack of a better term). The CG came out as well as some other staff, to play with our class. We had a couple of final classes and completed some administrative work as well. Monday...read more

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And so we have finished the substantive, and more importantly the testable, portion of our instruction for the 185thJAOBC. It’s been 12 weeks since we reported to Fort Lee – and we are now down to 3 days of administrative wrap-up, equipment turn-in, the dining-in and graduation. The Air Assault group started their week on Sunday night with a 12 mile ruck march. The standard is 3 hours, but most were done in 2 and ½. The whole class did PT every other...read more

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The 185thJAOBC class finished Admin Law – Client Services this week and began our last block of instruction – International and Operational Law. The class started off the week with a PT test. As I have written before, passing the PT test (and the accompanying height/weight/tape testing) is a requirement to meet course standards. Failure to do so causes the class member to have their Academic Evaluation Report noted with “marginally achieved course...read more

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The 185thJAOBC returned after our first long weekend to continue our Admin Law – Client Services instruction this week. This block of instruction makes up the second half of our Admin Law grade. The instruction is divided between Tax, Estate Planning, Family Law and Consumer Law. There is a ton on information. There are also quite a few assignments that must be completed. As busy as this week was in the classroom, it was equally slow in PT. The weather...read more

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