Openbah / Journal of a Marine Officer Candidate

Author: Openbah

  • New Air Force uniforms?

    According to these photos, it appears the AF is getting some new uniforms.

    A little too similar to the Marine Corps Dress Blues?

    New AF uniform vs Marine Dress Blues (thanks gogators)

  • I love/hate going out

    Two weeks ago my sister informed me she was head of an auction committee at the school she teaches at and asked if I’d make their program book. Last Thursday, the 35-page program was finished, and on Friday, Adrienne and I went to Brighton High School’s 1st Annual Live & Silent Auction Extravaganza. The auction went very well and I managed to snag Red Sox tickets for the next day’s sold-out game.

    After the auction, we drove to see Waltham play at the Paradise. The show was really good, but exhausting, I could barely stand by the end (1AM). It was supposedly Waltham’s “last big show for a while” because they’re going into the studio to record a new album.

    For a couple reasons, I decided to crutch over to Fenway Park on Saturday. It wasn’t a very good idea, and I ended up burning a small triangle shape in my skin a few inches under my right armpit. Whatever. The game was great, our seats were awesome, and they beat the hell out of the Orioles.

    Since then I’ve been very unmotivated to do anything, I’ve just been sitting around the house trying to keep busy. It isn’t that I feel lazy, I just don’t feel like putting in the effort go outside, which is unfortunate because it’s supposed to rain the next the next 9 days in a row.

  • My name is Civilian-Candidate-2nd Lt-Sgt-Pvt-Openbah…

    Until I went to Quantico I was a civilian. For the 39 days I was at Officer Candidates School, I was referred to as Candidate. About 5 weeks into OCS we received our orders to TBS. I remember sitting in the classroom next to Candidate L. and seeing the words “Second Lieutenant” before my name. It was the first and last time I would see it printed that way.

    Only a few days later while being admitted to Bethesda Naval Hospital I was given a hospital bracelet which had Sergeant written on it. Apparently because we were receiving E-5 pay at OCS, I was thought to be a Sergeant.

    Since being discharged from the Hospital, I have been being paid “incapacitation pay” by the Marines. Unfortunately for my wallet, those that NPQ from OCS receive a Private’s pay. So now I am in the system as Private. Hopefully one day this civilian will once again read “Second Lieutenant” before his name.

  • Electrical stimulation

    I’ll be honest, I was a little freaked out when my physical therapist asked me if I’ve ever had electrical stimulation. Today my physical therapist was John. After introducing himself, John left the room and came back with what looked like an iPod in his hand.

    “Did Paul do this with you yesterday,” John asks.
    “No, what is it?”
    “It’s electrical stimulation. Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt, most people say it feels good.”
    “What does it do?”
    “It uses an electrical current to cause a muscle to contract,” John says as he sticks electrodes to different parts of my leg.

    After he finished placing the electrodes, John explained that soon I would feel the electrodes “grabbing” my muscles and to let him know if it was too strong. 30 seconds later I felt a tingling on my leg and John increased the wattage until I told him it was too much. He set the electrodes to pulse for 20 seconds, and rest for 10 seconds, and repeat.

    “How does it feel,” John asks.
    “Good. How long am I doing this for?”
    “About 12-15 minutes.”

    It felt pretty good, and I almost fell asleep. 15 minutes later John returned and disconnected me from the electrodes. We then did some hip strengthening, nothing too rigorous. After, John once again hooked up the electrodes, wrapped an ice pack around my leg, turned on the electrodes, and left. 15 minutes later Paul came in and disconnected the electrodes. Good times.

  • YMCA

    I’ve been to the YMCA down the street from my house twice, to vote. Yesterday I went to check out their gym. I’ve known about it for a few years, but never thought about joining. I’m starting to look around for a new gym to join. Not only is my old gym about a half miles walk from my apartment, the YMCA gym has an indoor track, pool, racquetball courts, basketball courts, and all the other regular gym stuff.

    I had my first appointment with my outpatient physical therapist today at his office in Brookline. I asked him to give some approximate dates as to when I’ll be able to walk, and when I’ll be able to return to OCS. He guessed walking unassisted can take up to 8 more weeks while a full recovery will probably take between 8 to 12 months. Just in time for OCC 195!

    He sounded excited to help get my leg back to it’s prior state, which was motivating. I’ll be spending a lot of time at his office, I have 3 appointments per week, and each appointment will last between 1 and 1.5 hours. I’m going back in tomorrow. Unfortunately, he recommended against my return to weight training. Looks like I’ll have to wait another 2-4 weeks before joining the YMCA.