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My unit is helping me with drill and ceremony on weekends, but other than PT, what else should I focus on? Thank you!
Military Career
SPC
Basic Leaders Course (BLC formerly WLC PLDC)
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 24
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Troop Leading Procedures. Learn it. Live it.
Know when to be a teammate and when to be a leader. Everyone gets evaluated for being in a leadership position, but it is not a competition against one another. Be the Soldier that you would want in your squad when it is not your turn to lead, and be the example when it is.
Land Navigation trips up more than a few Soldiers, so invest some time there. If you can get out on a course between now and then, do it.
The classroom stuff isn't too difficult. You just need to pay attention in class, actually read your read-ahead material, and be able to reference and you'll be fine.
Good luck.
Know when to be a teammate and when to be a leader. Everyone gets evaluated for being in a leadership position, but it is not a competition against one another. Be the Soldier that you would want in your squad when it is not your turn to lead, and be the example when it is.
Land Navigation trips up more than a few Soldiers, so invest some time there. If you can get out on a course between now and then, do it.
The classroom stuff isn't too difficult. You just need to pay attention in class, actually read your read-ahead material, and be able to reference and you'll be fine.
Good luck.
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SSG Jerry Chlarson
I saw the 1SG reply with a bit of Land Nav Prep. I taught PLDC and WLC (same thing just a different name) so I have to guess BLC is along the same lines. Same course, different name. So here is my advice for land nav. First and foremost, and I mean the number one priority is Map reading, I say again Map Reading!!! It is the foundation of the whole process. Get the FM 3-25-26 (last one I knew of), a map, protractor, thin lead (.07) pencils, straight edge ruler, and a quality eraser. Go through the FM and learn it step by step. Practice until you know it. When you get to BLC listen to the instructors, they will give you more tips and techniques, and more importantly, hints for the area you will be training in. YOU CAN PASS the Land Nav portion using a Mechanical approach to it so if you can't quite get the theory down, just go back to your FOUNDATION of map reading and go step by step. There is plenty of time to make mistakes and go back to your last known point and start over from there. It was 3 hours and 4 points over a course of about 3800 meters. Don't panic, and self doubt, but keep some humble pie in your pocket too. The biggest thing you can get though once you hit the Land Nav course is to listen and learn the key elements of what the instructor is telling you about the course you will be on. Remember he/she has been out there possibly hundreds of times, and they will give you plenty of hints and tricks to be successful.
As a side note, I loved going to the field with my students and watching them progress from theory to skills set. I was always a great joy to see the light come on after teaching a crap load of information in a classroom to an understanding of how to put it all together in the field.
As a side note, I loved going to the field with my students and watching them progress from theory to skills set. I was always a great joy to see the light come on after teaching a crap load of information in a classroom to an understanding of how to put it all together in the field.
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PRT is a big part of it. Make sure you know how to lead PRT. It'll make it easier and save some time. For Land Nav, make sure you use terrain association. Don't shoot a straight azimuth and walk through crap to get to your point. Use major terrain features, such as dirt roads, hills, and hardballs to get to where you're going. I went to Ft. McCoy where everything was blanketed in about three feet of snow so doing that helped me a lot. Practice D&C with people in your squad when you get released. D&C was the easiest part. The tests are open notes, so you should be okay. Ctrl + F will be your friend during those. If you go to McCoy, be warned that the APFT is graded extremely stringently. I had more pushups count at Airborne School than at WLC. Keep your eyes forward and make sure you hear your grader count the rep instead of knocking out all of them and finding out only half counted.
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SGT Dave Tracy
You are correct about how stringent they are at McCoy regarding the APFT. I have a guy there who told me last week, they are extremely strict, and were sending home PT failures. No fudge factor regarding proper form at McCoy BLC.
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SGT (Join to see)
SGT Dave Tracy - One of the SGLs showed me that each lane had a tripod with a HD camcorder set up. All those videos from each person on each event get archived and sent to the Sergeant Majors' Academy. There's actually a whole appeal form you can fill out if you think you scored higher, and they'll go back and look up your footage according to the number on your little jersey. A little overboard, but it's a good NCO Academy. I actually learned a whole lot and I've retained it while my peers just went through the motions in their courses.
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SGT Dave Tracy
SGT (Join to see) - Damn!
I went to WLC at Ft. Bliss under the direct supervision of the Sergeant Major Academy, and, while it wasn't super easy, it wasn't that hardcore!
I went to WLC at Ft. Bliss under the direct supervision of the Sergeant Major Academy, and, while it wasn't super easy, it wasn't that hardcore!
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SSG Jerry Chlarson
We did the same at my Academy, PT was done right or you failed. Physical fitness is a corner stone to good leadership. We didn't fudge HT/WT either. You passed or you didn't. Simple as that.
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Dig into ADRP 6-22 for Leadership and Counseling, get a start on learning about, understanding and writing NCOERs and awards, brush up on Map Reading and Land Nav skills; as long as you pay attention when you are there, you will do fine!!
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SSG Dan Willmont
SFC, they do not do anything with writing NCOERs in BLC anymore. They will go over them to show you what everything is, but you will not write them.
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SFC Robert Guinther
SFC William Swartz Jr - Wow, what do they teach anymore. Back in the early 90's they taught report writing with an emphasis on NCO'ers, also know how to conduct morning PT, how to give an Op Order and if you're not infantry brush up on some of your basic infantry movement formations and infantry tactics. Good Luck to you
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SFC William Swartz Jr
SFC Robert Guinther those were the same subjects we taught when I was an SGL/Sr SGL at the NCO Academy at Ft. Stewart '00-'02; they have gone through a few changes in the POI since then as the course was shortened to about a 15-day course when we were on a war footing, not exactly sure what the emphasis is nowadays......
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