Mid-Course Feedback
Mid-Course Feedback happens this week. This is the time when you meet with your flight commander one-on-one so they can discuss how you have been doing up to that point. Very similar to the peer feedback, but your flight commander can provide very good advice as well as how your skills will transfer over to the “real” Air Force (outside the training environment).
Academic Assessment 3
As long as your last two tests went well, this should be a cakewalk. I think I calculated that I only need to get 9/20 correct to pass.
Warrior Expeditionary Leadership Problem Solving (WELPS)
WELPS occurs this week, and this will take you off base into the woods to again put your expeditionary skills to the test. These will be some of the first Graded Leadership Positions (GLP) for cadets, but all the same rules apply as for Individual Leadership Opportunities (ILO). By this point you should have a fair amount of practice and should have a general idea of how to approach the problems.
Warrior Course
At the end of the day following the completion of WELPS, you will take on the assault course. This is about a mile long obstacle course (if that), and for most people won’t be anything too challenging. Have fun with it, attack the obstacles, and good luck grabbing the rope swing.
M-9 Firing
This week you will also be trained on the M-9, as well as have the chance to qualify. You start by sitting through a fairly detailed brief on safety, stance, how to fire, etc. before getting the chance to shoot. Once the brief is over, you will be given a practice round followed by a qualifying round. They are both done the exact same way, so whether you’re trying to qualifying or shooting for marksman, the practice round should provide you with enough shots to get used to the gun and get assistance if you’re not aiming well. I believe out of the roughly 60 people in our squadron, 14 earned the marksman ribbon so don’t be discouraged if you’re having trouble. This is the one opportunity they will give you to shoot, I believe you can go back later on your own but I’m unsure. If you can go back I don’t think you can try for marksman or try to qualify.
Air Force Expeditionary Exercise (AFEX)
AFEX was the final activity we did for the week (minus a few leadership exercises thrown in there. I’d go into detail but by this point you’ll understand the drill and should have no problems). AFEX is a wargaming simulation that again will be a GLP for someone. The important thing for this is to practice. You will be assigned roles and it’s important to take the time to learn how to play the game and how to react to different situations. These GLP’s can be fairly difficult, so be sure to work together as a flight to help out the person leading it.
In my OTS Weeks 2015 posts I referred to AFEX as wargames.
– airforceotsguy
Academic Paper 2
Paper 2 is also due this week. This time it is an advocacy paper so you will be supporting your case on a specific topic. As before, formatting is key. If you fail this paper there is a makeup paper that can be done, but if a cadet fails that one then they are sent home. We had two people in our flight fail the second paper, but both were able to get points back in order to pass.
Zach Roberts
When it comes to shooting, do you have any suggestions for practicing before OTS? I have a handgun, and would love to practice. But I don’t have the knowledge of the proper stance and technique. Thanks!
airforceotsguy
Honestly the biggest thing which will help you is throwing some rounds downrange. Practice at 7 and 15 meters, and just work on hitting what you are pointing out. The stance really doesn’t matter, it is a matter of just being comfortable. Typically you stand with one leg slightly behind the other and shoulders squared on target. Don’t jerk the trigger, ease it back and let the weapon fire when it is ready. The biggest surprise for people is the recoil so just being used to that by firing your own weapon leading up to OTS (and right before) will give you an edge when it is finally game time.