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Driving to ARMY OBLC
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You are not authorized to drive. The Army will only allow you to drive if the distance is 350 miles or less. If you choose to ignore your orders, your reimbursement for other incidental expenses will be withheld.
Three of my classmates and I split a car rental for the duration of OBLC. You may want to look into that.
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wow. This is the first i'd heard of this. I spoke with MAJ Coffin, the OBLC course advisor last night and was told that she recommended I drive. I'll look into the car rental.
I think what USArmyHPSP means is that you will not be reimbursed for gas, per diem, etc. You'll pay for all of it, so your travel voucher that you will fill out when you're at OBLC will not be paid out to you.
Gotcha. From what I hear, it'd still be worth it and make life a lot easier while at Ft. Sam.
I plan on driving for a couple reasons... I live in southern california and I'm being stationed in Virginia. From everything I've heard the Army will not ship my car across country. So I am thinking I'll drive to Ft. Sam (about half way to Virginia) and drive the rest of the way after OBLC. Bonus that it will be nice to have a car there. Anyone know if they'll reimburse my travel to OBLC since it is part of my larger scale travel to VA. Or maybe it would be better for me to have them reimburse flight expenses for my family from LA to Virginia. This is getting complicated...
I went two years ago, and although I was frequently "used" for my automobile, I enjoyed exploring San Antonio in my free time. The reimbursement depends on what your orders say. If you are going TDY in route to your permanent duty location, then they should reimburse for mileage and lodging. Good Luck!
Stryder,
You are going to want to do a partial DITY move (Do It Yourself move). This way, a mover will come pick up all your large items. I suggest you reserve all small heavy items for your car. (i.e. dumbell weights) Basically, the Army pays the mover to move all your stuff up to a certain amount of weight. If you are below that level and you move your own stuff, they pay you as if you were the mover. I believe they only pay a percentage of what they would pay a mover though. Regardless, it ends up lining your pockets pretty nicely. Also, you will get paid to move that amount of weight from LA to San Antonio, and then from San Antonio to Virginia.
FYI---when you report to OBC, the later in the day you arrive, the more likely you are to not get a room in Army Lodging. In the event this happens they will put you and all the others up in a nice hotel. I was one of the first to arrive, had a roommate, and wished I was more of a procrastinator. Those that came later in the day, were placed at the Holiday Inn Select near the airport which is right accross the street from a nice mall.
The downside of being at the hotel was that you needed to wake up a little earlier everyday to catch the bus to Fort Sam---small price to pay, for a nice pool, hot tub, no roommate, and turn down service.
The downside of being at the hotel was that you needed to wake up a little earlier everyday to catch the bus to Fort Sam---small price to pay, for a nice pool, hot tub, no roommate, and turn down service.
Allow me to clarify.
My initial statement was for those who are attending OBLC as an HPSP student who has not graduated, you are authorized one day of travel to the ADT site (OBLC). The Joint Travel Regulation will only allow you to travel 350 miles in one day.
If you are going to OBLC after graduation TDY enroute to your first duty station, then your orders will allow for the extra days of travel and you are certainly welcome to bring your car.
Thank you both! I will be driving for sure now. I'm gonna try to take my sweet time making it over there. I have a feeling I wont be using the hot tub much though 🙂 I could really use that turn-down service though.
yeah, the riverwalk, the quarry and that mall across from the holiday inn will get tiresome after awhile... having a car is good, allows you to explore a little bit further out.
This was for the navy so it probably is different. My buddy went to ODS this summer and he drove. They already had a airline ticket and everything made out for him, he just ignored it and drove. He's a pretty last minute guy. Someone from navy otsg was emailing him trying to get him to submit his travel stuff (for the >350 mile drive). He did it and for some reason they paid him the full 350 miles + per diem.
Maybe he just lucked out?
Maybe he just lucked out?
Where are you going to in Virginia? I have been stationed at 2/6 bases here (currently still in VA) and visited all the rest several times.
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I would advise shipping your household goods as early as you can. If you are single ship before you leave, if you are married your family can go live with grandma/grandpa while you are gone. This is good for several reasons:
1) you will beat the summer rush of moves which means you will be able to schedule someone sooner, and it will make it to your final destination quicker.
2) you will get your things sooner rather then shipping after you are done with OBLC and then having to wait for it to go to the final destination.
This is particularly beneficial if you are going overseas since the transit time is about 2 months (Europe, Pacific, Alaska).
OBLC is not difficult, but you will be required to pass the fitness test (you will still graduate if you can't, but you will be flagged until you can pass it). I would begin doing the core fitness things - pushups, situps, and running. It will be better for you now then if you try to suddenly start when you are down there in the heat.
Family can come down and visit you - particularly on some of the weekends, but I would wait until you are down there to schedule it. When I was there we did things on a couple of weekends (not all of them), it would suck if you booked tickets for one of the weekends you were going out in the field. Maybe someone who has gone through more recently can comment on whether that is still the case.
If you are able to drive to Ft. Sam, and then on to your first duty assignment - try to load your car with as much of your stuff that you can (especially heavy stuff like books). You can do a partial DITY move (google it) and make some money. The only down side is that you will have to keep all those items with you while you are in Texas. You can also try to move everything yourself - a full DITY (google search) - basically the Army will pay you for the move, and you will make some money. Particularly good if you don't have a lot of items.
Having a vehicle at Ft. Sam is nice, but not necessary. A lot of people will have one there so you will be able to get around.
Otherwise enjoy OBLC. You will be in the classroom a lot, make a lot of new friends, and get an introduction to your way of life for the next 3+ yrs.
First off, I would definitely take a car to OBLC because you will have tons of free time to explore the city. If you don't have one, like I did, you will have to bum a ride off people all the time and that got really old in my opinion.
Move your household goods early. I actually had to get new orders so I could move my family to Fort Lewis just prior to OBLC. We moved early because my wife was 8 months pregnant and actually had our 1st child the weekend just prior to me graduating. So if you want to do this, make sure you everything lined up and possible amended orders.
You will have to take a PT test when you first arrive and just prior to graduating OBLC. The first one is a diagnostic test and allows the instructors to place you in PT groups with your same abilities. You fail the diagnostic they will be all over your ass the whole time as I saw my buddy get hell the entire time.
My personal opinion is that OBLC is 10 weeks of useless crap that could have been downsized to a couple of weeks. You will be in class all day learning about troop movement, Army codes, and things that most likely will never apply to your job as a US Army Dental Corps officer.
All graduating dental students will do the condensed 6 week OBLC unless they do not graduate on time. In that case they will do the regular 10-12 weeks course.
Well all be damn. It was 10 weeks for everyone in 2002.
6 weeks is still a little too long in my opinion for OBLC. I did more silly presentations in Army career at OBLC than I have ever did in my life. I vividly remember doing a presentation about troop movements, flanking the enemy. Come on man!
Oh, and my OBLC was called OBC. I guess without the leadership part? 🙂
I did OBLC four years ago. I would definitely recommend bringing a car, you don't want to be stuck on post any more than you have to be. Plus you can get paid for "in and around mileage" while there, so you might as well take advantage of it. San Antonio has a lot of good restaurants and shopping, unfortunately none of which are near Ft Sam. You can also go to Sea World for free. A big group of us drove to South Padre for the 4th of July, I think we had 3 days off for the holiday.
When I was there we only took one diagnostic PT test, there was no retribution against those that failed. Out PT groups were our platoons, so PT was pretty easy because there were a lot of very out of shape people to slow the platoon down on runs.
We didn't have to do any presentations when I was there. We did have a test at the end, but I don't remember it being difficult.
Overall OBLC was a good time. You will get really annoyed at the inefficiency of everything and the "hurry up and wait" motto of the Army, but it's pretty similar once you are on active duty, so it's just something you have to get used to and put up with.
When I was there we only took one diagnostic PT test, there was no retribution against those that failed. Out PT groups were our platoons, so PT was pretty easy because there were a lot of very out of shape people to slow the platoon down on runs.
We didn't have to do any presentations when I was there. We did have a test at the end, but I don't remember it being difficult.
Overall OBLC was a good time. You will get really annoyed at the inefficiency of everything and the "hurry up and wait" motto of the Army, but it's pretty similar once you are on active duty, so it's just something you have to get used to and put up with.
You get $5 a day for taxi (with receipts - not a blank check). I heard from some folks who went last summer, it wasn't much of a hassle not to have a car. Would have been nice but you should pack the cabs and get blank receipts.
Eat on post weekdays, get per diem weekends (generally).
Eat on post weekdays, get per diem weekends (generally).
Yes, the Army lodging rooms have TVs.
I would highly recommend having a car there, whether it be bringing your own car or renting one. It is a good walk from lodging to the lecture room/PT field, and it's especially uncomfortable with full ACUs in the San Antonio heat. It was 100+ almost everyday I was there. Plus, it's nice to have a car to explore the city during after-hours.
As it was mentioned before, start running if you haven't already! If you're not a runner it's especially challenging in that crazy heat. It felt like it was 80+ early in the morning! And, get a Camelbak, you'll need it.
