Graduated cot on friday!!!

[carolinapooh]

YAY! I made it - I graduated from COT yesterday and am now on my way to my first duty station, Lackland AFB/Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio, TX!

I was going to post a nice "column", if you would, on my experience, and I still might - but feel free to post any questions you have here and I'll answer what I can.

It's not so bad (but remember, I'm prior enlisted), but I won't say it's easy. Compared to BOT (the regular officer's training that lasts 13 weeks) and compared to what the Army does to get the same direct commission, it's a cakewalk - but it's not "knife and fork" school, so don't let your recruiter fool you. Some of the civilians experienced a bit of culture shock - but trust me when I say it was nothing like BMT.

So if you have any questions, post away.

[rghbsn, BSN, RN]

The sock bun is ingenius...one of the women I work with is prior enlisted AF and uses it at work all the time. I saw her demonstrate it for some of the ladies and was impressed.

Thanks for all of the details...they are very helpful. They pay issues make me a bit concerned, but it's nice to know about DEERS and the ID stuff. Were you able to get your husband's ID at Johnson also?

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

I got my husband's ID at SJAFB, but they screwed up and didn't save any changes. It's a reservist dependent ID anyway, so he'll be getting a new one tomorrow.

The nice thing about that card was if he needed to get on base, he could, quite easily by showing his ID at the gate.

Sock bun - I can't do pics right now, so here's the verbal. I have average thickness hair past my shoulders, but a captain in my flight did this with hair that just brushed her shoulders.

(1) cut off the elastic end of a regular tube sock and roll it into a donut-looking circle.

(2) put your hair in a ponytail.

(3) put your hair through the hole in the sock-donut.

(4) bend over at the waist and spread your hair over the donut so it covers the donut. DO NOT STAND UP!!

(5) take another ponytail elastic and put it around the donut so it holds your hair in place. You can stand up now!!

(6) now take the loose ends of your hair, twist them up, and anchor them around the donut. Your finished hair looks like this (this is me - I was Madame Vice for our class Dining Out):

You can SLEEP in this thing; I did it many a night. It works better if your hair isn't quite dry and a little damp on the ends. Use GOOD bobby pins from a place like Sally's; I wore my hair like this every day and I had very little breakage. (Invest in some good shampoo to take with you as well; it will definitely help.)

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

Help - I can't post a pic!!

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

Still no luck with pictures....

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

Does it matter what color the sock is? My hair is fairly fine...

[rghbsn, BSN, RN]

Nice write up on ye olde sock bun, lol.

Thanks for the info on the dependent ID's. I am a reservist, so my wife will have a reservist ID anyway. I'll most likely just get it done at LeJeune, it's closer than SJAFB or Pope anyway. Thanks for the regulation number on uniforms, too. Did you go by the list on the COT website when you went shopping for uniforms, or did you get your "basic issue" list elsewhere? Did you have enough of everything while you were there, or would another pair of ABU's have been helpful? The boots are a good idea. Extra cover? Show shine gear for dress uniform shoes, or are they patent leather?

Thanks for the updates and info!

There is an attachment window on the reply if you go to the advanced section. You'll have to scale down the size of the image. You can use several programs to do it.

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

You can't buy AF uniforms at a Marine Corps base. They're completely different.

Shoes for the blues are what's called Corafram - they're essentially patent leather. I had five uniforms, so I never had a shortage of stuff, and it really made my life a whole lot easier. Always always ALWAYS have two covers - two ABU caps and two flight caps. If you can find them, get the Under Armor uniform socks - my feet didn't sweat like my roommate's did! (I got mine at uniform clothing sales; they cost a few bucks more but they're well worth it.) Be sure you put insoles in your boots - GOOD insoles; I bought the memory gel ones and never had foot problems, either.

[rghbsn, BSN, RN]

Cool. Thanks for the advice. I wasn't planning on buying uniforms there, just getting ID's done at LeJeune.

Corafram is the patent leather I was talking about. In the Marine Corps, we were allowed to wear coraframs after Boot Camp, but while there, we had leather dress shoes we had to spit shine...along with our boots. I knew the boots were changed to no-shine suede, but I wasn't sure if they had coraframs or not. My cousin graduated med school in uniform and wore some brand new leather shoes...I asked him if he planned on shining them, and he said they were shiny enough, lol.

Thanks again!

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

OK - see if this pic works. This is me as Madame Vice - it's a good shot of the back of my head!

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

Cool. Thanks for the advice. I wasn't planning on buying uniforms there, just getting ID's done at LeJeune.

Corafram is the patent leather I was talking about. In the Marine Corps, we were allowed to wear coraframs after Boot Camp, but while there, we had leather dress shoes we had to spit shine...along with our boots. I knew the boots were changed to no-shine suede, but I wasn't sure if they had coraframs or not. My cousin graduated med school in uniform and wore some brand new leather shoes...I asked him if he planned on shining them, and he said they were shiny enough, lol.

Thanks again!

Awesome. Sorry about the uniform thing; I misread your post and you never know what people might have been told.

A TI busted one of the people in my flight for not having Coraframs. His shoes did look like poo, though!

Thanks for the pic tip; I got it to work!!

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

Oh, yeah - get your rank SEWN on your ABU cap. (Officers had to use the pin on stuff when I was enlisted; I'd never heard of sewn on rank on caps until COT. The studs on the pin on stuff dug into some folks' heads!) Don't use the pin-on stuff at ALL if you get your uniforms ahead of time; my flightmates had a time remembering to put rank back on after they washed them and they're a pain to place besides.

[USAFhopeful]

Thanks for the picture and information on the sock bun. I never knew a sock could make a great hair piece lol! I noticed in your picture you are speaking into a microphone - did you have to do a lot of public speaking at COT?

It's not a strong skill for me!

Thanks again!