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 stand-alone twin bed, while the other two get twin bunk-beds.  Each person has a wall locker and there are usually two desks in the room.  Each floor has two latrines with one half-dozen urinals and roughly the same number of sinks and toilet stalls.  There are also roughly three or four shower stalls.  The barracks rooms have windows (with no blinds) and either the air conditioning is running, the heat is running, or neither are running.

Chow is available in nearby DFACs, or the group gets MREs each day – depending on the schedule and tasks to be completed.  Parking is not a problem for us so most class members brought a POV.

Sunday was check-in where each class member was given a bag of bed linens, knee and elbow pads, and a muzzle cover for their weapon.  Each class member was assigned a room and a key.  Anyone who brought a POV was required to have the vehicle inspected by the Cadre.  After an accountability formation we were released for the evening.

Monday was a regular 0550 formation followed by a day of administrative briefings and process as well as equipment issue at CIF.  Be prepared to be patient.  This is the big Army and nothing gets done quickly.  There is a process for everything.  When all the tasks for the day were complete, we had a final accountability formation and were released for the evening.

Tuesday started with a PT test, a morning full of remarks and briefings, and the afternoon was consumed with the first quarter of Combat Life Saver training.  After a final formation we were released for the evening.

Wednesday started with Combat PT while the rest of the day was CLS training.  Again, we were released for the evening.

Thursday started with PT, and then we finished our CLS training.  After a little leadership training and a safety briefing we were released for the weekend.

The first weekend here is a four day weekend.  With Columbus Day on Monday, Friday is also a day off.  Just like at C’Ville, if you want to travel further than 125 miles you will need a pass approved by the Company Commander.

At C’Ville we had four cadre for the class.  At DCC we have roughly ten.  With the exception of the Commander all of the cadre are enlisted infantry soldiers.  All of them have combat deployments and are serious people.  That doesn’t mean they aren’t any fun – they can be – but it also means they take their training responsibilities seriously.  Expect to get corrected if you do something wrong.  Learn to take it without argument, excuse or explanation.  Just fix whatever is wrong.

One of the cadre put it this way; be in the right place, at the right time, in the right uniform, with something to write with, and something to write on, and that is 90% of the challenge.  The other 10% is effort and participation.

We march almost everywhere we go.  We utilize the battle buddy system for individual movement most of the other times.  That includes going to the DFAC, approaching cadre outside of the group, and especially during PT.

We also have to care for the barracks.  That means everyone has cleaning tasks for the common spaces every day.

The training at DCC will go quickly.  We are already done with 4 days of the 27 days on the training calendar (or 1 of the 6 weeks if you prefer).  The last 4 days (1 week) are administrative, re-testing (if necessary) and graduation.  That means 19 days of substance remain; including weapons, land navigation, patrolling, ruck marches, convoy operations, and squad movements.