OFFICER CANDIDATE SCHOOL (OCS)
United States Air Force
I arrived in San Antonio, Texas by train in December
1957.
I arrive a day before we were required to report.
The morning that I was required to report in, I arose bright and early
and took a taxi from downtown San Antonio to Lackland AFB.
This was my second visit to Lackland and it was very different in ALL
respects from my first visit in January 1951.
The weather was normal for Texas for this time of year and my training was
a lot different than I had expected. This
experience is one that you would not want to repeat for a million dollars, but
you would not take anything for have gone through the program the first time.
My first mistake, the first day, was reporting in around 8
AM, when my orders read to report in between 8 AM and midnight.
All the Gentlemen of the First Class were waiting for us poor Gentlemen
of the Second Class. I was among the very first to report in and every one of the
First Class had a joyful time entertaining me until 10 PM that night.
I had planned every detail of my attendance to Officer
Candidate School (OCS). I figured
that I would need twenty-one sets of underwear.
Seven sets in my clothes chest , seven sets at the laundry, and seven
sets in transit. The idea was that I would
not be in a panic for clean cloths. This
same thinking applied to socks, shirts, etc.
So when I reported in I was carrying a packed duffel bag, a packed B-4
bag and a medium size travel bag. I
had more than I could carry at one time, but I was ordered to pick up my bags
and move out. I finally got
everything on my shoulders and under my arms and we started MARCHING, just me
and one Gentlemen of the First Class. We
marched for about three blocks, I really didn’t think I was going to make it
but I did. I was given the halt
command at the front door of the barracks that would be my home for the next six
months. The Gentlemen of the First
Class informed me that when I walked through that door that I would no longer be
known as Sergeant Ollis. I would be
an Officer Candidate, and that I had better not forget it.
I responded “Yes Sir!”.
I had taken no more than three or four steps into the
barracks, still lugging all my bags, when someone yelled Sergeant Ollis.
I stopped and turned around. All
hell broke lose, the Gentlemen of the First Class reminded me that it had not
been more than one minute when he informed me that I was no longer a Sergeant,
but an Officer Candidate. If I
could not remember my orders or anything else for more than two minutes I was in
the wrong place and that I would never graduate from OCS.
Things went down hill from this point on until 10 AM that night,
I might should say downhill for the next ninety days.
If I held on for ninety days I would become a Gentlemen of the First
Class.
I finally found a room that had my name tag by the door.
I entered and dropped my bags and almost dropped myself.
At that moment a Gentlemen of the First Class entered and gave me the following instructions:
1. When a Gentlemen of the First Class entered my room I was
to stop whatever I was doing and if I was holding anything I was to put it on the
table. But never, never lay
anything on the bed.
2. After I had put what I may be holding on the table I was
to get myself to the foot of my bed and be six inches out from the edge.
I was to bring myself to Attention!, and stare straight ahead.
3. I should get busy and cut all the stripes off of my
uniforms, since I was no longer a Sergeant I would not be needing them.
Well the Gentlemen of the First Class finally left my
room. I got a razor blade and sit
in the chair between the table and my bed, and started removing the stripes from
my uniforms. I had cut one stitch
when there was a knock on the door and a Gentlemen of the First Class entered.
I immediately
threw my uniform and razor blade on the bed and scrambled for the foot of my
bed. You have never heard such
yelling. There must have been four
or five Gentlemen of the First Class in my room all yelling at the same time.
They had never met anyone as dumb as I was.
I could not remember that I was an Officer Candidate,
I placed things on my bed, which I had been specifically told that was a
no no. I had no idea what six
inches was, since I was at least ten to twelve inches from the edge of my bed.
At this time I was told that I should make my bed where it would be ready
for bed at 10 PM when the lights would go out.
They left my room. I
placed my uniform and razor blade on the table and started making my bed.
At that very moment, there was what was fast becoming the loud knock
which meant that a Gentlemen of the First Class was entering a lowly Gentlemen
of the Second Class’s Room. Naturally
I could not find the foot of my bed and locate the six inch out position.
They wanted to know what I was doing.
“Making my bed Sir!” Mr.
Ollis what are you making your bed first for?
Don’t you have any concern for your fellow man, more specifically your
room mate. One yelled that I should make my room mates bed first.
My room mate might arrive after lights out that night and would have
trouble getting his bed made. Besides
“You have to cooperate to graduate.” I
should never forget that “You have to cooperate to graduate”, and that I
should get busy and make my room mates bed.
Every one left and I started making my room mates bed.
The famous knock, Mr. Ollis what are you doing?
Mr. Ollis you now don’t even know where your bed is located, what are
you doing at the foot of your roommates bed? Secondly,
why are you making your roommates bed? He may not even show up and here you are
wasting precious time.
The knock. Mr.
Ollis, where do you think you are going to put all those cloths you have?
For your information you are only authorized to have three of each piece of
clothing you are authorized. Mr.
Ollis that means you can have three pair of under shorts, three T-shirts, three
pair of socks, etc., etc. Do you
understand that Mr. Ollis? Yes Sir!
Mr. Ollis you may find some space in the basement to store your surplus
clothing. Mr. Ollis what are you? A
program beater? Get with it Mr.
Ollis. You are authorized to have
one set of clothing on your body, one set of clothing displayed, and one
set of dirty clothes in your dirty laundry bag.
Do you understand that Mr. Ollis? All this and it was not even 10 AM.
Needless to say I never got the stripes off one uniform the
first day. I never got my roommate's bed made, much less mine.
Finally, a couple more of my Classmates arrived
and took a little pressure off. Gentlemen of the First Class were constantly
entering my room. They asked many question, which obviously I did not know
any of the answers. I was a very stupid individual and they would never
know how I was selected to attend OCS. Mr. Ollis, who is your roommate?
Sir I do not know. Mr. Ollis your roommate's name is displayed on the left side
of the door as you enter the room, you had better be more observant of your
surroundings. I made movements to learn the name of my roommate, that was
a bad move since I DID NOT have permission to make movements. As soon as I
was left alone for a moment I went outside my room to see the name of my
roommate, a Mr. Ricky, Donald B. That was not a good idea either, I had been
told that I could not leave my room without the specific permission of a
Gentlemen of the First Class. Again they could not see how anyone so stupid
could every graduate from OCS.
An announcement was made for all Second Class "fallout of lunch". I thought,
thankfully, finally a moment of rest and peace. However, this was not to be.
On our way to the dinning hall it was found that I could not march in a
formation, I could not stay in step, and I bounced higher than basket ball.
Upon our arrival at the dinning hall I soon
learned what eating a "square meal" was like, among many other routines while
dinning. If I recall correctly the tables were arranged so that ten people
could be seated at each. The head of the table was reserved for a
Gentlemen of the First Class, for the purpose of supervising the ignorant and
lowly Gentlemen of the Second Class. The other end of the table, opposite the
Gentlemen of the First, was designated the position of the "table gunner".
After you had gone through the serving and with your tray of food in hand you
located a table that had an empty place and you marched up to that position and
made a request to the Gentlemen of the First Class: "Sir, may I join your
table?" The response would be "join" or "no". If join you would be seated at
that position, if no you would proceed to another table until you were allowed
to join. Sometimes you may be told to join as the "table gunner" or if the
table gunners position was the only opening at that table you would position
yourself at that location and say; "Sir, permission to join your table as table
gunner?" Again the answer would be join or no.
Upon joining the table you positioned yourself
by placing one fist between your front and the table, a second fist behind your
back so that the fist was touching your back and the back of the chair.
From this position you held you head up and could only move your eyes. Your
eating utensils had very specific locations to be placed, for example the knife
had to be placed at a 45 degree angle on the left or right (depending which hand
you used.) outer edge of the plate with the blade turned toward you. The knife
could not be turned so that the blade was facing someone else. From this ridged
position you placed food on your fork or spoon and brought it straight up to the
level of your mouth and then at a 90 degree angle straight to your mouth.
You learned to take small bites, because if you were asked a question by the
Gentlemen of the First Class you could only take two chews and then swallow,
otherwise you got a demerit (loss of a "white one"--More later on this.).
At each meal you had better have "a little known fact". For example, if the
Gentlemen of the First Class asked: "Mr. Ollis do you have a little know fact? I
would respond for example that the average annual snowfall for Crater Lake,
Oregon is 533 inches. If I did not have a little know fact, when asked, I again
would receive a demerit.
The table gunner's position was an interesting
and learning experience. Once all the positions at your table were filled you
would asked the Gentlemen of the First Class: "Sir, permission to make the table
gunners announcement?" The response would be make the announcement Mr. Ollis.
Then the table gunners would state aloud: "Gentlemen, the beverages for the noon
(morning, evening) meal are coffee, tea, milk, water, juice (state all kinds
available), may I have your order?" You had to say this very loud, the Gentlemen
of the First Class was always hard of hearing. You could get a sore throat
before many announcements. Then starting with the Gentlemen to your
immediate right he would state his preference of beverage, then the next
gentlemen all away around the table until you had received all nine orders.
You committed this to memory, no pencil and paper. Then you would asked: "Sir,
permission to leave the table for the purpose of obtaining the noon beverages."
Reply was granted. Upon your return to the table with the beverages you
would state: "Gentlemen, one glass of tea placed in the pattern for Officer
Candidate Wilson, one glass of milk placed in the patter for Officer Candidate
Jefferson and so on. You passed everything to your right although Officer
Candidate Wilson maybe sitting to your immediate left, all beverages had to be
placed in the pattern stating in Officer Candidate name and the name of the
beverage. If you made an error, you would receive a demerit. For example
if Officer Candidate Reddish had ordered coffee and you provide water, that was
a bad move. I think the Gentlemen of the First Class wrote the orders down
so that he would know what was what. We being very bright Gentlemen of the
Second Class soon learned how to beat this program. No matter what the
Gentlemen on your right order for his beverage every Gentlemen of the Second
Class ordered the same. Therefore, the table gunner only had to remember
two beverages, the one for all of the Second Class and the one that the
Gentlemen of the First Class ordered. All of the Condiments were placed in
front of the table gunners position. After the beverages had been place in the
pattern, the table gunner had to make further announcements. For example:
"Gentlemen, the salt has been placed in the pattern." Then the pepper, catsup,
mustard, etc. Then out of the blue the Gentlemen of the First Class would ask
the table gunner: "What was the temperature of the coffee?" You had better know
or there goes another demerit.
After this ordeal with my first meal at OCS and
marching back to the barracks, I thought that they must be kidding, I cannot eat
every meal in this fashion. Boy, was I wrong!!! Every bite in the dinning hall
for the next 90 days were exactly the same. Marching back to the barracks
after lunch I still had not learned to march, I had not listened to the
instructions when we marched to the dinning hall. There was no way that I
would ever graduate from OCS.
I mentioned deme
rits
and "white-ones". You received demerits for breaking rules that you may not even
know about. For example, while standing in formation there may be a building
across in front of you and a Gentlemen of the First Class may come up and ask
you: "Mr. Ollis, how many windows are there in the front of the building
across the way?" You glance in that direction and see 15-20 windows, but do not
have time to count them before the Gentlemen of the First Class says: "Mr. Ollis
give me a white-one." You carried the "white-ones" in your shirt pocket
and when one thump with a finger on the pocket you tell by the sound that there
was paper inside of the pocket. While he was asking for a white one he
would thump on your pocket and god forbid if the sound was not right. You
were allowed to carry a total of three at any given time. If you lost all
of them before returning to the barracks and were out you had to report to the
Gentlemen of the First Class in his quarters that night and present the white
one. As you can see by this copy of a white-one there were numbered (in
this copy it is number 3). Generally, the lost of each white-one resulted
in one hour on the "ramp" on Sunday afternoons, for example if you gave up five
white one during the week, on Sunday you spent 5 hours walking the ramp. This
could be in form of marching in a group or it could be doing what was called the
twelve-step waltz. This is were you would take twelve steps forward and do
an about-face then twelve steps forward and another about-face and so on.
You had to maintain a count of 120 steps per minutes, if you did not those steps
did not count and you had to make them up later.
Since I had mention demerits and white-ones I
thought I should explain.
Now back to my first day at OCS. After we
arrived back at the barracks I was really being harassed by all sorts of
Gentlemen of the First Class. I did not know any of the ranks on the
insignia boards being wore by my visitors. I had better learn fast so I
would know whom to salute. Failing to salute could result in a couple of hours
on ramp Sunday. Also, I had not got my roommates, nor my bed made as
directed. My uniforms still had the stripes on. There were "cables"
(sewing thread from my removal of my Sergeant stripes.) all over the floor and
bed. My shoes were not properly aligned. I still had surplus clothing in my
room. One shouted: "Mr. Ollis did you know that we just washout one of your
classmates down the hall for being about as stupid as you??? He had not been
here two hours yet. I think you might be the next to go!" I prayed for my
roommate, Mr. Ricky, to show up so that he could share in the excitement and
fun. But I would not hear from Mr. Ricky until about ten minutes to midnight,
after light were out. He just made it. At midnight he would have been
Absent With Out Leave (AWOL).
The harassment went on all day, until lights
were out at 10 PM. The evening meal went about the same as my meal at
noon. I was permitted to go to the bathroom and shower at ten minutes to
10 PM, which gave me exactly 10 minutes before lights were out and I had to be
in bed for bed count. I remember after lights were out being visited by several
Gentlemen of the First Class giving me very specific advice on how to cooperate
and graduate.
The morning after my first day got off to a real
great start. The Gentlemen of the First Class arrived in good form. They
noticed that I now had a roommate. I was vigorously interrogated about my
roommate. Where was he from? What was his parents name? Was he married? Where
had he been stationed? What was his middle name? How old was he? Of course I did
not know any of the answers. Recognizing that we could not talk after lights
were out and that Mr. Ricky arrived at 10 minutes midnight.
-morning routine. —chaplain—white
ones— joe mccourt—Mr. Agee my room mate--
bib wac—class room studies—
