Hello and good morning all. I will be posting (hopefully) weekly updates of my time here in DSS at Ft. Jackson in order to give insight for those who will be joining me soon enough. I am doing this because of the help I found here from SSGGunbunny and others.

First and foremost, things have changed. Using the same outcome based thought process that has transformed basic into what many perceive as a “kinder gentler basic” which now actually creates soldiers with more technical and tactical knowledge then ever before, the DSS has also transformed.

This is not to say any of the advice or study tips from those who experienced the older type of training is bad, it’s just that the emphasize on topics has been re-arranged.

Ok, enough talk so far. I’ll keep your attention for right now, here’s what I got for quick preparation tips:

1) Put down your module book.

There is much less focus on modules then as I have heard in the past. That dirty word is not even mentioned until around day 5-6. Knowing all of them before you get here would be great, but unnecessary. You will be tested on ONE module for each of the 3 methods of instruction and these will be tested on different days. You will be given an example of all modules in that MOI and will then do station training on those modules. Later that night the module you will pitch is randomly selected (dice or picked out of a hat, guess which type of hat…) and you will be given 1-1.5 days to prepare for that ONE module. The process is then repeated until all 3 MOI’s are tested. No shark attack on day 0 where you will have to recite up to 3 modules on command.

NOTE: It is highly, highly recommended that you know at least one module in order to memorize the format. Once you learn the format they are in you can just plug the new information in and go.

2) Pick up the DS creed and soldiers creed.

This would be obvious, or so it would seem if a candidate even tried to get prep tips, but you would be surprised how we sounded the first couple of days. We sounded like a pack of zombies groaning down the road. Failure at these creeds will result in many RBI’s (see below)

3) SPT. What’s that?

Standardized Physical Training. The new yoga PT some of you may have heard about. Throw out most of what you know about PT sessions. There are new warm ups, exercises, running warm ups, and cool downs that probably 85% of my class had not heard of or practiced. Even after 3 weeks people still yell when given “extend to the left, March”, yes you now remain silent for extend and re-assemble for some reason. Oh, and don’t forget to practice the straight arm pull on the pull up bars your current company has outside right now…

4) Study up on the basics of marching.

This was/is another huge reason RBI’s are handed out like candy (see below still). Knowing which arm/ where to turn your head when given cover, re-cover, dress right dress, column right/left (for squad leader), and counter column will save much time and ink.



Alright, back to my narrative.

As I said earlier, the recent use of the outcome based thought process has had a significant effect on DSS (December 07 was when changed from what I hear). To sum up this process I’ll use the question; “What creates an effective drill sergeant? Treating and teaching him like a private all over again, or allowing a seasoned NCO who has been selected above his peers to learn from others experiences and immerse him in a participative roll in BCT.”

What that means is you don’t get dropped, get yelled at (too much anyway), or are humiliated (which would be a big problem since you are surrounded by privates all day).

The major tool this process uses is embedment. Once you finish red phase and the drills sergeants have taught you the new PT, power pointed you to death on treatment of SIT’s (soldiers in training) and have reminded you how to act, march, and behave in a TRADOC environment, you get on a bus and dropped off in squads at a BCT company and are sort of Drill sergeants for the entire day under the watch of your drill sergeants and the DS’s of that company. Yes, not even 20 days into school you are working directly with privates (who has probably been in training as long as you have). I have yet to have my first embedment but from what I have been told by other classes it is a great and amazingly beneficial event. Nothing will prepare you for DS like being one. You will be the sergeant on the PT stand, you will be the sergeant forming and marching, you will be the sergeant coaching the soldier trying to zero, all in a controlled environment with your teachers there to help if necessary.

You will embed many days through out school, I don’t know the exact number yet but it should be over 20 days through out your class. This is so beneficial not only to the DS candidate who is not so much cherry anymore when he arrives to his first unit, but also to the beleaguered DS’s of the BCT company who will gladly accept 10-15 seasoned NCO’s to assist on range/ FTX days.

Ok, this is getting a bit long for now so let me end today’s log with:

The new push up; the Response Based Indorsement (RBI, yes it’s misspelled, I don’t know why either)

As I said before, you don’t get dropped much nowadays, you just get RBI’s like they are going out of style. You work 16+ hour days 6 days a week, but if you looked the wrong way during “COVER” you know have to HAND WRITE the module, forming and aligning the platoon in column formation. This is not short or easy and when the platoon gets 3-5 mass RBI’s a day to do after they get off, time and sleep get short and stress goes way up. The first few days are mass RBI’s, after that it’s individual based. One way or another there is a high level of stress produced by the task, not the drill sergeants, and in their effort to replicate the hours you will work on the trail, followed by hours of paperwork, they did a pretty good job.


FINNAL NOTE (disclaimer): Due to the very recent change of DSS it appears that there are significant variations of treatment between the different platoons (class dates). My opinion and advise are only based on my experiences and yours may be different.

Hope this helps and I will post more as I go through.

Good deal, they change the POI at least once a year. I think someone at DSP wants to keep their job.

DSS is something I am wanting to do when I return from deployment. BUT, my branch (MI, 96B/35F) said we no longer have a DS number to meet, and therefore, will become AIT PSGs. The requirement for that is SSG(P)-SFC. Does anyone know if just because they do not have a requirement, they will still let me go in the future (think 16 months)? How is it fair for career development and experience (and not to mention a break from deployment) to not let SGT and SSG(NP) not get the chance? Anyone have similar situation with their branch?

Good post. I would like to keep getting updated.

Screaming96B, did branch say there was no DS requirement for 35F period, or just Ft Huachuca AIT? The reason I ask is because about a year ago the 35F BM told me that there's few (by a few, I literally mean two or three) BCT DS positions for 35F. But this was a year ago and things change...

Indeed he did.

I actually inquired about DSS as a SPC(P) looking to do it when I pinned. He said it would be very possible, especially being female (Huachuca is all we can go to as 35F). I called him the day I got promoted (September) and he said there is no longer a requirement. So I don't know what to think now...

Thanks for the information ArmySarge72. I will be attending DSS in April and I could not find any information on anything about the schools new type of training. I had the basic training concept all over again set in my mind too. I look forward to all of your future entries. I do have a question about the living quarters. I see that we will be paying 31 dollars a day to stay there. How are they set up? Are they like hotels or like BNCOC two man room barracks? Please keep us posted on how the training is going and good luck to you.

I got an answer from my (35F) branch today. There is NO openings whatsoever. No exceptions.

Just a quick answer for platoondaddy30, the quarters here are whats called "transient living quarters" which translates to a 2man barracks room with a 19 inch tv, a mini fridge/ micro wave, and "room service" who must be getting paid below minimum wage. It's run by post lodgeing so you have no say who your roomate will be. They try to get DSS canadets together due to the crazy hours but some of my guys are roomed with recruiter/ Bncoc joes who are on totaly different hours and this leads to problems. NOTE: The rooms went up to $32 a night, the web site has yet to be updated. Make sure your orders reflect this.

Good night, gona go throw privates off the repel tower in the morning. This should be fun!!!

Thanks for the info Armysarge72. It sounds like the kind of room that I had in BNCOC. Not being roomed with another DSC would be a problem. I think that is going to cause alot of problems. But hey, throw one off for me. LOL

quote:

Originally posted by armysarge72:
Good night, gona go throw privates off the repel tower in the morning. This should be fun!!!

ArmySarge72,

Thanks for taking the time to create your post about DSS. I'm checking in often looking for your updates. The repel tower with privates actually does sound like fun, but I'm beyond the point where they would allow me to participate. I notice that your location seems to indicate Connecticut. Drop by West Point some time when you make it back to CT.

Continued success in DSS!!

Regards

Good evening again all,

Hello white phase.

This week my platoon entered white phase and we are quite happy about it. Privileges have begun to be allowed and the hours have eased up a bit. The sun was even still up at the end of the day a couple of times!!! The weeks began with another PT test which was student lead and if you made over 70 points per event you are no longer required to attend “enhancement” PT at the end of the day. Very few NCOs are still required to attend this since you should be fit before you get here, but many others realize their room to improve and voluntarily go.

We also had a class A inspection. Everything is scrutinized so make sure your good. Get your uniform to a dry cleaner the day before class starts or very soon there after because little to no time is afforded to get it pressed once school starts. I drove down from CT so mine were hung up in the back and were not too bad off, but many guys flew here and looked like wrinkle bombs went off.

Just as in BCT, white phase for us focuses on Rifle Marksmanship (RM, not BRM). So far we have just crept into the subject and been on the range for 1 day so I will not post much info on this for now, but just as with PT (now SPT) things have changed a bit. A lot of info from Army Marksmanship Unit and Asymmetrical Warfare Group is now incorporated, and we get lucky enough to get hands on instruction from the later (sweet!!!)

I have class in the morning so I will end this edition with my comments from our embedment experiences. As noted in my last entry embedment is when half to the whole day is spent with a BCT platoon/ company and you observe/ participate/ autonomously operate the training of privates. This has been the absolute best and most rewarding experience on my time thus far. First half day was at the grouping range with joes who were firing their first rounds out of a M-16. You can read 3-22.9 all day, but when you are coaching a civilian diagnosing his problems and finally getting a group , it’s a whole different thing. The next time was a full day where we went with a company at the repel tower/ rope climbs in the morning and hip pocket training that afternoon. There were few issues at the tower but those who were afraid of heights were fun to train, unfortunately no pushing privates off the tower (sorry Reedz). The afternoon my PLT did D and C with some pretty bad results. There I learned the advantage of squad and lower training vs plt and larger instruction.

Well good night all and please feel free to ask any questions.

Repeating theme:
FINNAL NOTE (disclaimer): Due to the very recent change of DSS it appears that there are significant variations of treatment between the different platoons (class dates). My opinions and advise are only based on my experiences and yours may be different.

I was wondering if you can get me a digital copy of the student guide? I have seen the one on the ft leonardwood web site but im sure the rules might be different. I want to get kind of a headstart on the do's and dont's. I really appreciate your post that you have been updating. I report in April and your information is very helpful. I asked you about the cost of the lodging before and you told me that it is 32 dollars a day now. My TDY Orders have already been done to reflect 31 dollars. Will they make a big deal about it even though the Ft Jackson DSS website has not been updated in 50/11 years? I also heard that the pt program is not too productive for someone that likes to maintain 290 or above? Is there ever anytime left at the end of the day to go and work out in the gym on your own? I was also wondering what time do yall usually finish for the day on saturdays?

Hey ArmySarge72....thanks so much for your blog. Guys like you are what makes it worth takin' the time to sift thru the other 99% of people that just look out for #1. I'm headin' down to DSS 13MAR. Good luck w/ the rest of your school brother....

"Adversity Breeds Character"

Hello and good evening again all,


Another week down. This week has been focusing on RM (the old BRM) and US weapons. For RM we focused on the basics in order to train the privates and then we got advanced a bit with some techniques from AWG (Asymmetric warfare group). We did some cool shooting with steel targets, team competitions, hostage targets, and using a 200/300 meter zero by placing the target at 100, 200, and 300 meters rather then the 25 meter zero for 300 meters. There is a new pilot presentation which started with the class behind me which focuses on minute of angles and is to set up to have the DS enable the privates to diagnose and adjust their groupings to achieve their zero. You may want to review MOA before you get here.


We did a regular rifle qualification which counts towards you GPA if your going for commandants list. We use some beat up M-16’s with iron sights and those from the high speed units that only use M-4’s with optics had to change gears a bit to go back to iron.

The last few days we had student led classes on US weapons and then tested out our proficiency in providing a class on clearing, loading, and malfunctions on each weapon. This is not difficult at all. If you know the weapon, great. If not, ask you buddy who taught the class the day before to give you some 1 on 1 for a few minutes.

Last but not least this week was the 10 k student led ruck march. Simple enough. Your most likely an E-6 getting here and have conducted a march before.

A couple of yall out there have asked for the study guide. The best thing I can give you is the SPT and module book. While there is a student hand out here, it is meant to follow along in the power point classes and will not do you much good to study ahead of time.

The easiest place to find SPT and modules is:

http://www.wood.army.mil/mncoa/dss/SPT.htm

As posted earlier, know SPT. You get hit on it early. As for the modules don’t kill yourself on them before you get here. Knowing the format of one will get you a good step ahead, knowing one from each method of instruction (step by step, by the numbers, and talk through) will get you leaps ahead.


Much earlier I was asked about the $32 a night for the “hotel” where as the DSS site says $31 and some peoples orders have $31 on em. Lodging raised the rate to $32 starting 08 and you have to pay it every month (they recommend on Gov credit card) . I’m not finance but if you don’t want to spend the extra 60 or so dollars over the course of your stay get your orders amended like several sergeants here had to.

Hope I have helped a bit more and feel free to ask anything else, SoldiersAreAtlas, thanks for the motivation.


Good night all!

Got a question for ya ArmySarge....

Been lookin' at the packing list and I see they have the 'ol Field Jacket and All-Weather Coat (trench coat) on there. B/F I go out and find/buy those things, can you tell me if we really need them? Mine went bye-bye a long time ago (no excuse really), but I'd hate to go scrounging if I don't have to. I remember "needing" those things for BNCOC and ended up keeping them in a drawer the whole time. Thanx for the help bro!