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For those getting ready for BOLC this summer. This is what it was like for us last summer. This is long, but gives a detailed breakdown of what to expect:
We had about 440 total soldiers in training at BOLC with us. (dental, medical, veterinarians)
A few words of advice:
You will not be paid for a couple months after dental school graduation if you just finished school. The army takes a while to process things and so don't plan to be paid any income until July from the army. You can take an advance of pay after the first couple of days of BOLC where they will pay you either up to $1000 or $2000 (I can't remember) dollars early and then take it incrementally from your future pay checks. But that being said, save some money so you're not broke for those couple of months between receiving your stipend from dental school and starting to receive active duty pay.
Having a car at BOLC is the best thing. If you can swing it to have a car there easily, you will be very grateful. When you have free time you can leave post and do whatever you want. I didn't have a car, but one of my close friends did and we left post all of the time during BOLC and enjoyed our free time WAY more than we would have.
Morning report times. Speak up even if it's not popular if you want your life to be easier. The sergeants and captains in charge of the course are great. The fellow BOLC leadership that come from your platoons have the potential to be aggravating if they take themselves too seriously. I learned a lot from those in my platoon who were prior service, but a few of them will want to treat you like enlisted privates who haven't grown up enough to show up on time to things. They may ask you to report much too early sometimes because they are worried about being yelled at if you're not there. 10 minutes before accountability reports is normal. 50-60 minutes is not. When new leadership comes in, if they ask you to be there 10-15 minutes before accountability, that will be plenty of time to make sure everyone is there in your platoon. Have open communication with your peers, who are your temporary weekly leadership, about it if they are being unreasonable. They won't like it, but everyone else is thinking the same things, but are likely too scared to speak up and make sure your time is not being wasted.
Get all of your military uniform you can before you come. It's a huge pain for people if they have to get things during those first few days. You don't need to get your blue formal ASU's for BOLC. It was on our list of uniforms we need, but we found out once we got there that they haven't had any use for them during BOLC for the last couple of years.
They will tell you to bring 10 copies of your orders and a bunch of other copies of other documents. You will need all of them because they will all go to different offices.
Expect to be patient with how much time you stand and do nothing and how inefficiently run BOLC can be. Our TAC leaders have been awesome. They are very respectful and helpful. But we didnt receive any schedule for what we would be doing for BOLC for the entire first week, so no one knew what is going on the next moment or the next day. Expect to stand and do nothing while leadership and student leadership try to talk about the next step of things. Expect to do nothing for hours at a time occasionally. It's laughable, and it's how things are just done. Any time we spent time with just the dental corps things were ran really well. It was a breath of fresh air. But the entire BOLC course is run in an extremely inefficient manner when the dental corps is not in charge.
Here's the schedule for what each day was like for us at BOLC - 6 week course - 2015
Day 1 (Friday) - check into the military hotel in civilian clothes. The earlier you get there, the shorter you have to wait. People who got there after about 14:00 had to stand in line for about two and half hours just to check in. But that is all we did today. Everyone had there own hotel room to themselves which was really nice. Checking in with your friends will likely get your rooms close to each other, but not necessarily right next to one another. The people who checked in last actually ended up getting put in the nicest hotel. Not sure that will be the case each year but that's how it worked for us.
Day 2 - reported to the helicopter pad in PT uniform at 07:00. They then split us up into groups and squads. We did some paperwork as a group for about an hour. Half the people then went to get any parts of the ACU uniform they were missing, the other half had their height and weight taken and got some things registered on the computer.
Day 3 - reported to the helicopter pad at 08:00. We had lectures (briefings) on customs and courtesies, military uniforms, leave and information on the PT test.
Day 4 (Monday)- half the people take the PT test at 04:15. They other half will take it tomorrow. They got to sleep in today. First day wearing ACUs. The previous days we were all wearing PT uniforms all day. Reported at 08:00. Those going onto active duty got sworn in as captains and did the financial paperwork to start getting paid by the army. They told us today that some of us could get paid as early as July 1st, but they won't consider it late until we don't get paid on the July 15th. They will pay us whatever days they owe us, so we were told to expect a significant amount of pay in the first pay period or two. Finished with day full of more briefs and didn't end until after dinner at 19:00.
Day 5 - 2nd half of class took PT test at 04:15. Those who failed any part of it will have to take another PT test and pass it before leaving BOLC. (Edit: that is what they told us but no one ever had to take another PT test again, even if they failed the diagnostic test) We had presentations on sexual harassment, medical insurance (tri-care), had the chaplain present to us and some of us received folders for our dental appointments we would have next week. Didn't finish the day until 18:30.
Day 6/7
Best days of BOLC so far! We broke off info just the dental corps for these two days and had two Colonels give us instruction on army dentistry. We were done by 15:00 each day. But the first day we actually had an induction into the army dental corps that kept is there until around 17:00 started both days having formation at 8:30.
Day 8 (Friday)
We broke off into classes with just our platoons today. Boring classes. Most of the lectures for the next few days will be classes on organization of the army and how career military members, who are now captains, will have involvement being in charge of enlisted members promotions, maintenance of vehicles. Memorizing what forms need to be tuned in for what things and other non applicable information to your career as a dentist. But you gotta suck it up. Our day started with formation at 8:00 and we finished at 1530.
Our year seems to be more intense than other people I've talked to that have done BOLC in previous years.
Day 9 (Saturday)
Yeah. We have more training on a Saturday. As well as next Saturday. Day started with formation at 7:20. Finished at 15:30 after an AMEDD museum tour. We all felt like today was literally planned so people wouldn't party too hard on the weekends. They will probably say at least once a day how important not getting in trouble while drinking is. As well as not committing adultery.
Day 10 (Sunday)
Day off.
Day 11 (Monday)
First day we had PT. formation at 5:15. If you don't know much about the army's PRT, prepare to be doing exercises you'd do at a physical therapists office. It's all about range of motion movements and stabilization exercises. Download the PRT app if you want to learn more. If you came to BOLC in really good shape, you will have to work out on your own limited extra time, otherwise you will leave BOLC in much worse shape than what you showed up in. Each platoon advisor (a captain who has been a career military person) can do what they want for each day for workouts in the morning, but if you're in a platoon who's advisor wants to follow everything by the book, your workouts probably won't be too tough.
We finished with PT at 06:30. We were given time to go shower and eat breakfast, and report back for formation at 08:15
Day 12,13,14- PT at 05:15 again. Class all day done at 17:00.
We had optometry and dental appointments these mornings if people needed them. And we also had a generals reception on Thursday night.
Day 15 (Friday)
Report time at 07:15 took a Mid term exam this morning that was very easy if you studied for 1 hour of time. Good lectures in the afternoon. Done by 16:00.
Even though it is Friday, we still have class tomorrow.
Day 16 (Saturday)
Report time 7:40 class all day. Good lectures. Done at 16:00
Day 17 (Sunday)
Day off.
Day 18 (Monday)
Went to SRP - soldier readiness processing. Basically just making sure people's medical readiness is getting taken care of. They take blood, give shots, etc. took an hour for some people and took all day for others. Finished at 16:00. They don't take you in waves. So if you're at the end of the alphabet, you're waiting all day.
Day 19,20,21
Pt at 05:15. Class all day. Finished at 17:00.
Friday July 3- Sunday July 5
3 days off for the holiday weekend!
START OF FIELD TRAINING
You'll have 1 MRE a day for your meals typically. Sometimes 2. The rest of the meals are hot meals prepared that aren't bad, but they will make you excited for the weekend when you get to go out to better restaurants.
You will be at camp bullis all week but they will bus you come back to fort Sam Houston on the weekend where you will be free to do what you want.
Recommendations for field
Ear plugs for sleeping.
Bug spray,
lots of sunscreen
I bought gloves but only needed them once
Headlamp with white and red light (cost about 9 bucks at a hardware store like lowes)
Camelback if you think it will make life easier on you to stay hydrated. I loved having mine.
The "assault packs" they issue you actually have a slot for a camelback bladder to slide into if you want to combine your things together.
Some people had books to read, but they were told to not read them during the training days, hopefully the next class is allowed to read books when there is nothing for them to do.
Day 25 (Monday)
No PT this morning. We took our final written exam for the lectures they'd been going over, had lectures on field navigation, ate lunch and took busses out to the camp bullis
Day 26 (Tuesday)
04:25 report time.
4 mile ruck march with your gear on. Includes your Kevlar helmet, assault pack full, vest with canteens and magazine holders, gas mask strapped to your leg, a lot of people used head lights strapped to their helmet which made seeing the uneven ground a lot better. Probably somewhere 30-50 extra pounds on you for this early march that needs to be completed in 60 minutes. It was the most physically demanding thing we've done so far, but a hardcore welcome to the field training side of things.
We had classes the rest of the day which included assembling and disassembling your M16 rifle and M9 pistol as well as classes on radios, gas masks and aiming your rifle. Finished the day around 17:00
Note: they said you needed to complete the 4 mile Ruck march in 60 minutes. They even took down names of who finished in that time, but there was no reward or consequence ever given for people that did/didn't finish on time.
Day 27 (Wednesday)
We got to shoot our weapons today. Reported at 04:25. Waited for an hour before breakfast. So dumb. Just standing around. Went to the firing range and people were able to start shooting at around 9:00. Lots of down time on these days. But we zeroed in with our M16 and were able to get instruction and shoot our M9 pistol as well. Some people had to do the pistol tomorrow. Got classes on medevac from helicopter pilots and crew and loaded classmates into it on a stretcher. Finished the day around 17:00
Day 28 (Thursday)
Reported at 5:00. Went and qualified on the M16 rifle and did nothing else all day. We could practice with disassembling the M9 pistol and with the radio as well. We were there until around 17:00 again. So this means we did 10 minutes of activity (shooting) and were at the range for around 11 hours.
Day 29 (Friday)
Reported at 04:30. Stood around until 5:15 when breakfast started. Went to the M9 range and got tested on setting up a radio for 5 minutes, waited for 4 hours, and then shot the M9 for 10 minutes at pop up targets, which was an absolute blast. Waited for another 3 hours. Went back to camp, waited for 30 minutes to get our weekend briefing, and then people got on the bus to go home around 16:20. People got back to their hotels and a few were walking in uniform and talking on their cell phone so our BOLC commander called an emergency meeting at 18:30 to chew us out for that. So our Friday night started around 19:20.
Day 30 (Saturday)
Dental Corps had a meeting and everyone else had the Saturday off. Reported at 07:45. We just had a few lectures in the morning on structure of clinic and job duties of each position as well as pay for dentists and specialists and the layout of the dental corps for all 1000 dentists who are currently active duet in the army. We finished at lunch and were assigned to do some online trainings.
Day 31 - off
Day 32 (Monday)
Reported at 5:05 to get on the bus to go back to camp Bullis. Got some understanding of field first aid Tested on taking apart and putting back together the M16, M9 and medevac calls. Finished at 16:00
Day 33 (Tuesday)
4:30 report time for another 4-mile run in all your gear again in the morning, this time carrying your m16 rifle with you on the run. We also walked around a lot learning land navigation further until lunch. We walked a total of around 10 miles in the morning (including the 4 mile March). More classes on handling of patients in mass causality situations in the afternoon. We were done around 16:00.
Day 34 (Wednesday)
4:20 report time. Land navigation on a small course in the morning in teams of 4. That was actually really enjoyable for me.
Day 35 - can't remember. I think we did the gas chambers today. Tear gas. It really does burn. Hahaha. Good luck.
Day 36 (Friday)
04:20 report time. They did a combo night/day land navigation by starting us early in the morning. You need a red flashlight for land nav. Or a white flashlight with a red filter on it. We then had a MRE for lunch We wasted the rest of the afternoon trying to clean the TTB (tactical training base) which took about a half hour. And then we waited around for the busses.
Saturday and Sunday - off
Days 39-43 Monday-Thursday/Friday
Last week of field training. We did some mock casualty trainings that were very thorough and took a lot of time. The cadre (military and civilian leaders at BOLC) definitely put a lot of effort and time into it to try to make it worthwhile. A lot of it was really good. This video is a pretty awesome rendition of what the three weeks of field training were like and include a lot of the mass casualty scenarios we did. The guy who put it together did a phenomenal job.
Cleaning up the camp. Going back to turn in all of our gear we used during field trading. Graduation practice (yes. 2 hours to make the graduation ceremony look good and polished) and then the graduation ceremony. Finished with BOLC
They released everyone to fly home after graduation that Thursday I believe. Most flew out on Friday.
That was long. But if you're going to BOLC and curious what it will be like, this was our experience.
We had about 440 total soldiers in training at BOLC with us. (dental, medical, veterinarians)
A few words of advice:
You will not be paid for a couple months after dental school graduation if you just finished school. The army takes a while to process things and so don't plan to be paid any income until July from the army. You can take an advance of pay after the first couple of days of BOLC where they will pay you either up to $1000 or $2000 (I can't remember) dollars early and then take it incrementally from your future pay checks. But that being said, save some money so you're not broke for those couple of months between receiving your stipend from dental school and starting to receive active duty pay.
Having a car at BOLC is the best thing. If you can swing it to have a car there easily, you will be very grateful. When you have free time you can leave post and do whatever you want. I didn't have a car, but one of my close friends did and we left post all of the time during BOLC and enjoyed our free time WAY more than we would have.
Morning report times. Speak up even if it's not popular if you want your life to be easier. The sergeants and captains in charge of the course are great. The fellow BOLC leadership that come from your platoons have the potential to be aggravating if they take themselves too seriously. I learned a lot from those in my platoon who were prior service, but a few of them will want to treat you like enlisted privates who haven't grown up enough to show up on time to things. They may ask you to report much too early sometimes because they are worried about being yelled at if you're not there. 10 minutes before accountability reports is normal. 50-60 minutes is not. When new leadership comes in, if they ask you to be there 10-15 minutes before accountability, that will be plenty of time to make sure everyone is there in your platoon. Have open communication with your peers, who are your temporary weekly leadership, about it if they are being unreasonable. They won't like it, but everyone else is thinking the same things, but are likely too scared to speak up and make sure your time is not being wasted.
Get all of your military uniform you can before you come. It's a huge pain for people if they have to get things during those first few days. You don't need to get your blue formal ASU's for BOLC. It was on our list of uniforms we need, but we found out once we got there that they haven't had any use for them during BOLC for the last couple of years.
They will tell you to bring 10 copies of your orders and a bunch of other copies of other documents. You will need all of them because they will all go to different offices.
Expect to be patient with how much time you stand and do nothing and how inefficiently run BOLC can be. Our TAC leaders have been awesome. They are very respectful and helpful. But we didnt receive any schedule for what we would be doing for BOLC for the entire first week, so no one knew what is going on the next moment or the next day. Expect to stand and do nothing while leadership and student leadership try to talk about the next step of things. Expect to do nothing for hours at a time occasionally. It's laughable, and it's how things are just done. Any time we spent time with just the dental corps things were ran really well. It was a breath of fresh air. But the entire BOLC course is run in an extremely inefficient manner when the dental corps is not in charge.
Here's the schedule for what each day was like for us at BOLC - 6 week course - 2015
Day 1 (Friday) - check into the military hotel in civilian clothes. The earlier you get there, the shorter you have to wait. People who got there after about 14:00 had to stand in line for about two and half hours just to check in. But that is all we did today. Everyone had there own hotel room to themselves which was really nice. Checking in with your friends will likely get your rooms close to each other, but not necessarily right next to one another. The people who checked in last actually ended up getting put in the nicest hotel. Not sure that will be the case each year but that's how it worked for us.
Day 2 - reported to the helicopter pad in PT uniform at 07:00. They then split us up into groups and squads. We did some paperwork as a group for about an hour. Half the people then went to get any parts of the ACU uniform they were missing, the other half had their height and weight taken and got some things registered on the computer.
Day 3 - reported to the helicopter pad at 08:00. We had lectures (briefings) on customs and courtesies, military uniforms, leave and information on the PT test.
Day 4 (Monday)- half the people take the PT test at 04:15. They other half will take it tomorrow. They got to sleep in today. First day wearing ACUs. The previous days we were all wearing PT uniforms all day. Reported at 08:00. Those going onto active duty got sworn in as captains and did the financial paperwork to start getting paid by the army. They told us today that some of us could get paid as early as July 1st, but they won't consider it late until we don't get paid on the July 15th. They will pay us whatever days they owe us, so we were told to expect a significant amount of pay in the first pay period or two. Finished with day full of more briefs and didn't end until after dinner at 19:00.
Day 5 - 2nd half of class took PT test at 04:15. Those who failed any part of it will have to take another PT test and pass it before leaving BOLC. (Edit: that is what they told us but no one ever had to take another PT test again, even if they failed the diagnostic test) We had presentations on sexual harassment, medical insurance (tri-care), had the chaplain present to us and some of us received folders for our dental appointments we would have next week. Didn't finish the day until 18:30.
Day 6/7
Best days of BOLC so far! We broke off info just the dental corps for these two days and had two Colonels give us instruction on army dentistry. We were done by 15:00 each day. But the first day we actually had an induction into the army dental corps that kept is there until around 17:00 started both days having formation at 8:30.
Day 8 (Friday)
We broke off into classes with just our platoons today. Boring classes. Most of the lectures for the next few days will be classes on organization of the army and how career military members, who are now captains, will have involvement being in charge of enlisted members promotions, maintenance of vehicles. Memorizing what forms need to be tuned in for what things and other non applicable information to your career as a dentist. But you gotta suck it up. Our day started with formation at 8:00 and we finished at 1530.
Our year seems to be more intense than other people I've talked to that have done BOLC in previous years.
Day 9 (Saturday)
Yeah. We have more training on a Saturday. As well as next Saturday. Day started with formation at 7:20. Finished at 15:30 after an AMEDD museum tour. We all felt like today was literally planned so people wouldn't party too hard on the weekends. They will probably say at least once a day how important not getting in trouble while drinking is. As well as not committing adultery.
Day 10 (Sunday)
Day off.
Day 11 (Monday)
First day we had PT. formation at 5:15. If you don't know much about the army's PRT, prepare to be doing exercises you'd do at a physical therapists office. It's all about range of motion movements and stabilization exercises. Download the PRT app if you want to learn more. If you came to BOLC in really good shape, you will have to work out on your own limited extra time, otherwise you will leave BOLC in much worse shape than what you showed up in. Each platoon advisor (a captain who has been a career military person) can do what they want for each day for workouts in the morning, but if you're in a platoon who's advisor wants to follow everything by the book, your workouts probably won't be too tough.
We finished with PT at 06:30. We were given time to go shower and eat breakfast, and report back for formation at 08:15
Day 12,13,14- PT at 05:15 again. Class all day done at 17:00.
We had optometry and dental appointments these mornings if people needed them. And we also had a generals reception on Thursday night.
Day 15 (Friday)
Report time at 07:15 took a Mid term exam this morning that was very easy if you studied for 1 hour of time. Good lectures in the afternoon. Done by 16:00.
Even though it is Friday, we still have class tomorrow.
Day 16 (Saturday)
Report time 7:40 class all day. Good lectures. Done at 16:00
Day 17 (Sunday)
Day off.
Day 18 (Monday)
Went to SRP - soldier readiness processing. Basically just making sure people's medical readiness is getting taken care of. They take blood, give shots, etc. took an hour for some people and took all day for others. Finished at 16:00. They don't take you in waves. So if you're at the end of the alphabet, you're waiting all day.
Day 19,20,21
Pt at 05:15. Class all day. Finished at 17:00.
Friday July 3- Sunday July 5
3 days off for the holiday weekend!
START OF FIELD TRAINING
You'll have 1 MRE a day for your meals typically. Sometimes 2. The rest of the meals are hot meals prepared that aren't bad, but they will make you excited for the weekend when you get to go out to better restaurants.
You will be at camp bullis all week but they will bus you come back to fort Sam Houston on the weekend where you will be free to do what you want.
Recommendations for field
Ear plugs for sleeping.
Bug spray,
lots of sunscreen
I bought gloves but only needed them once
Headlamp with white and red light (cost about 9 bucks at a hardware store like lowes)
Camelback if you think it will make life easier on you to stay hydrated. I loved having mine.
The "assault packs" they issue you actually have a slot for a camelback bladder to slide into if you want to combine your things together.
Some people had books to read, but they were told to not read them during the training days, hopefully the next class is allowed to read books when there is nothing for them to do.
Day 25 (Monday)
No PT this morning. We took our final written exam for the lectures they'd been going over, had lectures on field navigation, ate lunch and took busses out to the camp bullis
Day 26 (Tuesday)
04:25 report time.
4 mile ruck march with your gear on. Includes your Kevlar helmet, assault pack full, vest with canteens and magazine holders, gas mask strapped to your leg, a lot of people used head lights strapped to their helmet which made seeing the uneven ground a lot better. Probably somewhere 30-50 extra pounds on you for this early march that needs to be completed in 60 minutes. It was the most physically demanding thing we've done so far, but a hardcore welcome to the field training side of things.
We had classes the rest of the day which included assembling and disassembling your M16 rifle and M9 pistol as well as classes on radios, gas masks and aiming your rifle. Finished the day around 17:00
Note: they said you needed to complete the 4 mile Ruck march in 60 minutes. They even took down names of who finished in that time, but there was no reward or consequence ever given for people that did/didn't finish on time.
Day 27 (Wednesday)
We got to shoot our weapons today. Reported at 04:25. Waited for an hour before breakfast. So dumb. Just standing around. Went to the firing range and people were able to start shooting at around 9:00. Lots of down time on these days. But we zeroed in with our M16 and were able to get instruction and shoot our M9 pistol as well. Some people had to do the pistol tomorrow. Got classes on medevac from helicopter pilots and crew and loaded classmates into it on a stretcher. Finished the day around 17:00
Day 28 (Thursday)
Reported at 5:00. Went and qualified on the M16 rifle and did nothing else all day. We could practice with disassembling the M9 pistol and with the radio as well. We were there until around 17:00 again. So this means we did 10 minutes of activity (shooting) and were at the range for around 11 hours.
Day 29 (Friday)
Reported at 04:30. Stood around until 5:15 when breakfast started. Went to the M9 range and got tested on setting up a radio for 5 minutes, waited for 4 hours, and then shot the M9 for 10 minutes at pop up targets, which was an absolute blast. Waited for another 3 hours. Went back to camp, waited for 30 minutes to get our weekend briefing, and then people got on the bus to go home around 16:20. People got back to their hotels and a few were walking in uniform and talking on their cell phone so our BOLC commander called an emergency meeting at 18:30 to chew us out for that. So our Friday night started around 19:20.
Day 30 (Saturday)
Dental Corps had a meeting and everyone else had the Saturday off. Reported at 07:45. We just had a few lectures in the morning on structure of clinic and job duties of each position as well as pay for dentists and specialists and the layout of the dental corps for all 1000 dentists who are currently active duet in the army. We finished at lunch and were assigned to do some online trainings.
Day 31 - off
Day 32 (Monday)
Reported at 5:05 to get on the bus to go back to camp Bullis. Got some understanding of field first aid Tested on taking apart and putting back together the M16, M9 and medevac calls. Finished at 16:00
Day 33 (Tuesday)
4:30 report time for another 4-mile run in all your gear again in the morning, this time carrying your m16 rifle with you on the run. We also walked around a lot learning land navigation further until lunch. We walked a total of around 10 miles in the morning (including the 4 mile March). More classes on handling of patients in mass causality situations in the afternoon. We were done around 16:00.
Day 34 (Wednesday)
4:20 report time. Land navigation on a small course in the morning in teams of 4. That was actually really enjoyable for me.
Day 35 - can't remember. I think we did the gas chambers today. Tear gas. It really does burn. Hahaha. Good luck.
Day 36 (Friday)
04:20 report time. They did a combo night/day land navigation by starting us early in the morning. You need a red flashlight for land nav. Or a white flashlight with a red filter on it. We then had a MRE for lunch We wasted the rest of the afternoon trying to clean the TTB (tactical training base) which took about a half hour. And then we waited around for the busses.
Saturday and Sunday - off
Days 39-43 Monday-Thursday/Friday
Last week of field training. We did some mock casualty trainings that were very thorough and took a lot of time. The cadre (military and civilian leaders at BOLC) definitely put a lot of effort and time into it to try to make it worthwhile. A lot of it was really good. This video is a pretty awesome rendition of what the three weeks of field training were like and include a lot of the mass casualty scenarios we did. The guy who put it together did a phenomenal job.
Cleaning up the camp. Going back to turn in all of our gear we used during field trading. Graduation practice (yes. 2 hours to make the graduation ceremony look good and polished) and then the graduation ceremony. Finished with BOLC
They released everyone to fly home after graduation that Thursday I believe. Most flew out on Friday.
That was long. But if you're going to BOLC and curious what it will be like, this was our experience.
