Ma’am Rock!!!
September 6th, 2008 by rsm
The order of the day at an accelerated Officer Candidate School is utter chaos. Confuse, humiliate, exhaust, apply as much pressure as possible. They can’t shoot at us, so to measure how we will be under pressure, they do everything else they can.
Attention to detail is the key. Every flippin’ little detail. Everything you do is scrutinized. In our handbook was over 2 pages of small type on how we were to go to eat food in the dining hall. (pages 9-10. Trust me, I know everything on all 54 pages of that handbook.)
Basic Drill Sergeants have nothing on the TACs of OCS. I still have dreams of what a bad TAC-attack looked like. I went through a few but managed to come out with positive reports on how I handled myself.
One of our TACs, a female captain from Wisconsin, was one of the worst. She would screech and rage at any, and I mean ANY misstep, slight error, anything. But I knew she liked me. It’s very difficult to tell in OCS if a TAC likes you, but there is something in the tone of his/her voice when they are yelling that sets it apart.
Naturally, as the TACs are all officers, one had to address them with “sir” or “ma’am” as appropriate. This one Captain, however, was one of the only females on the cadre for a long time. During a TAC attack where they are all screaming in your face, you have to respond appropriately. They are trying to mess you up. Woe be to anyone who called her “sir.”
“MA’AM ROCK!!!” she would scream and everyone around had to start echoing that same scream until the person who last messed up showed up with the “Ma’am Rock.” This was a hefty piece of granite one was required to treat as a “sensitive item.” That meant it was equivalent to a rifle or ammo… always inspectable… must be carried at all times in your hands… never touched the ground. This made the constant dropping to do pushups an extra challenge. One-armed was about the only way to safely keep the Ma’am Rock out of the dirt. If the Ma’am Rock were in the dirt, so were you, face down, crawling, pushing it forward, for a good long while. At least 30 yards.
I held the ma’am rock for all of 5 seconds in my career in OCS since someone screwed up in formation MOMENTS after I did, and I only screwed up by calling her “sir” once.
HOWEVER…
One day we were in a massive, sudden evacuation of an area due to a combination of snow and tornadoes. (Alabama is one MESSED UP state)
Our Officer Candidate platoon sergeant that day was completely shaken up, as was the OC commander (Both washed out of the program within the week. We each had to take leadership roles and they changed on a daily basis, adding to further confusion.) Piled into the darkness of the bus, there was no seat for me so the Captain told me to sit in front of her on the floor.
“Ma’am, Officer Candidate RSM, yes, ma’am” First Four Words. Every statement or question had to start with those first four words.
I took accountability of all my platoon rapidly, wrote it down on an index card with names of the missing and handed it to the OC platoon sergeant, whispered in her ear what it was. Within moments TACs were yelling at her for accountability of her soldiers. She was able to reply with the information completely, if not calmly.
I sat down. Behind me I felt the captain lean forward and growl in my ear, “Excellent…” I made a slight nod. “Have you served in combat already?” she asked.
Mixing up EVERYTHING from the previous 8 months of my life, I replied over my shoulder, “Drill Sergeant, Officer Cand…” sigh, dropping my head “no, ma’am.” I knew I was in for it. I braced.
She snorted. She snickered. She whispered, “Alright, I’m going to have to think of a really good punishment for that one, candidate RSM.”
But she never did. She only growled at me once in a while with the barest hint of a smile.
Oh those golden days.