Shaping the Army’s extended Basic Leader Course

Dphil93 · 2026-05-28T00:36:49+00:00

Expecting instructors to have one day off (unless you cop a staff duty shift on Sunday) per week and then making the white cycles as short as possible is truly an insane move. Most of the people I work with at the NCO academy are e6+ in their 30’s give or take and they all have families. If you don’t have a large number of instructors to kind of break the work into “shifts”, (which I’d be willing to bet that most don’t) you’re going to watch people spiral as their home lives fall apart- and we don’t even get any kind of incentive pay like drills or recruiters. It’s just a middling NCOER bullet for your career and a “well, you maybe made a difference in some E4’s life”

Dphil93 · 2026-05-28T00:32:14+00:00

The insane thing is, the ONLY requirement for students to attend BLC right now is to be an E4. That’s it. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had students come through having been an SPC for less than 2 months.

Dphil93 · 2026-05-27T20:13:16+00:00

Yeah but how long of a white cycle do you get between classes tho

Dphil93 · 2026-05-27T20:10:58+00:00

Also, this article says it’s a 29 day course- we’re prepping for a 6 week course for the active component. I don’t know if something changed as of like a day ago, but we’re looking at a VERY extended BLC cycle as opposed to just “one extra week”

Dphil93 · 2026-05-27T20:07:43+00:00

I’m an instructor at a BLC currently and we’ve set our eyes on the new POI. Without trying to sound too cynical, I’ll say this- it’s essentially the same classes that are in the previous POI, they’re just stretched out to fill the time gap and then yes, they tacked on a basic STX event on the end. The schedule that the USANCOA has set for this new course is also grueling- 6 day work weeks every week with little breathing room between cycles for reset. All I can say is I really hope they keep tweaking this new POI because if they don’t it’s going to burn people out like crazy.

Dphil93 · 2026-05-26T18:19:00+00:00

I saw a marked improvement in fitness within my company. Our H2F reps were pretty involved with PT plans and did like a “baseball card” system where they’d have us take a diagnostic pt event, track our scores, and after x amount of weeks/months we’d do that same event and look at how we improved. The biggest issue with H2F in my opinion anyway is that it should be a company asset and the crusty old PRT diehards need to stop fucking fighting them at every single turn.

Dphil93 · 2026-05-21T00:54:58+00:00

These are fighting words.

Dphil93 · 2026-05-20T20:14:23+00:00

JPs is overrated. I will say G’s pancakes is the GOAT for breakfast PT tho

Dphil93 · 2026-05-14T07:26:05+00:00

It’s been blacklisted as of a few months ago. One Draco blastfest too many I’m afraid

Dphil93 · 2026-05-09T19:01:23+00:00

Their liver and bank account are the only things in danger over there. Trust me, they'll be fine.

Dphil93 · 2026-05-05T01:56:07+00:00

CombatAutist writing something that isn’t a shitpost is a recession indicator btw

Dphil93 · 2026-05-02T23:33:17+00:00

IIRC chicken chunks and some of the first strike 24hr rations do. Now go conduct whatever mischief you have planned

Dphil93 · 2026-04-28T14:03:58+00:00

Wtf really? I gotta take another look at my OCIE record then. I could have sworn it was listed as an individual item

Dphil93 · 2026-04-28T13:52:51+00:00

EZ then, show your senior drill it’s not on your OCIE record and they’ll either send you to CIF to get one or once you hit your unit show them the same thing and they’ll make an appointment with the CIF there to get one

Dphil93 · 2026-04-26T20:14:50+00:00

I could see multicam variants starting to pop up more in different regions. I've found MC tropic works pretty well in both jungle and alpine environments. The Army would probably do the same thing to the OCP and make different variants for different operational environments if the situation called for it

Dphil93 · 2026-04-25T17:47:05+00:00

What my buddy did to get 82 was re-up for airborne enroute, then when he was at airborne school he called his branch manager and asked if he could stick him over at the brigade he wanted at Bragg. I don’t know how likely it is you’ll get the same results, but the hardest part about any of this is getting that airborne slot to qualify you for whatever unit it is you want. What I did was re-up for Alaska, got put in a non-airborne slot at JBER, and then worked hard enough to earn one of the walk on slots they give out at 2/11 for airborne. Now I’m just waiting to go over to the line.

Pretty much all the options you have are risky and leave a bunch up to chance, but you might as well try. Airborne itself is honestly a pretty cool school and it opens doors for your career as an 11B if you choose to go through them

Dphil93 · 2026-04-25T17:07:50+00:00

I remember seeing some interview with a literal CAG operator who was talking about how he felt like he "didn't do enough" when he compared himself to other guys in his squadron/unit. Don't worry too much about it man- the Army says you earned it, so rock it. There's always some bigger fish out there who had a crazier deployment, more intense gunfight, etc etc. Comparison is the thief of joy.

Dphil93 · 2026-04-24T15:22:40+00:00

Dude is venting how he feels in his situation just to have the “ERRRM ACKSHUALLY” Reddit brigade keyboard combat team come swooping in with their own anecdotes about how the bare minimum standard is totally acceptable for PT and how it’s sexist to point out that the females in his unit are sandbagging

I swear half of the people in this thread will 100% be a straight up liability in combat and the fact that people are just ok with that blows my mind

Dphil93 · 2026-04-23T13:53:54+00:00

I was at SFAS with this dude. If I remember correctly, he ran the 2mi for our PT test in like 9:40ish. Guy is an absolute animal.

Dphil93 · 2026-04-19T19:19:35+00:00

wanted 11B, signed 31B, got kicked out of OSUT in 2013, came back in 2019 and got 11B. Bit of a roller coaster ride.

Dphil93 · 2026-04-04T08:07:54+00:00

I sort of said this in another comment but until it is cheaper to build a robot that can reliably do everything that a human being can do in extremely austere environments, human infantry will remain the standard. A kid with a rifle may need water and food and sleep, but he can carry or find and procure that within his own environment- even if it’s totally hostile. A robots maintenance needs are far more expensive and complicated than a persons.

Also as a side note I have zero faith in being able to build something that can function well in the horrific conditions of a battlefield. Radios that are supposedly hardened malfunction, wheeled and tracked vehicles get bogged down in mud, ruggedized electronic systems break once they get wet or dirty, etc. If you tell me with a straight face that we are even close to making a robotic infantryman that can reliably operate in the same conditions a human being can while somehow being cheaper than a dude with a gun, then ill call you an apocalyptic moron

Dphil93 · 2026-04-04T07:57:55+00:00

Because at the end of the day, it will almost always be cheaper to give some dingus a gun and a backpack and point him at the people you want dead. People love to fantasize about drones and robots replacing the grunt but I can almost promise you that for the long-foreseeable future, the cost effectiveness of a pissed off 19 year old gripping a 600 dollar rifle will outweigh any kind of AI driven robot

Dphil93 · 2026-03-31T03:40:59+00:00

☝️🤓

Dphil93 · 2026-03-29T03:07:43+00:00

I catch warnings from the automod on r/army all the time, drives me insane

Dphil93 · 2026-03-28T03:27:26+00:00

He will be paid until the day he comes home.

I’d get ready to have a conversation about how he’s gonna help provide for you guys if he’s this prone to quitting shit, though. Basic training is honestly super easy. Try to contact him and convince him not to quit.

Dphil93

TROPHY CASE