CIET - Short report from 1st Regiment

DS left for CIET yesterday morning. Here are a few things he shared, for those of you going in later regiments:
1. He was authorized to check 2 bags on the plane. At least on United, they could be 72 pounds and 115 inches. His were not that big-they fit the regular standards for checked bags. He took the green duffle , his own duffle and a backpack as a carryon. Put brightly colored duct tape all over the OUTSIDE of your bags so you can find them easily on the baggage carousel and also in the pile of them at Ft Knox. Also put a name tag on them, or you have to fill out the ones at the airport to put on them.

2. Upon checking in at the Louisville airport they were issued MRE, but not told when to eat it....as his plane arrived there at noon, we are not sure if he ate it for lunch or if that was their dinner for the day.

3. He was able to text around 10:30 PM. Says they get their phones for 48 hours, to be used during personal time (I am assuming perhaps the time he was texting), but that his was about to die and there are no outlets in his barracks room.

4. He did not have any belongings taken away. Not sure about food, as he had a few snacks for travelling.

5. Make sure you bring that sleeping system that is on the list because you will be sleeping on it in barracks as they are not issuing sheets this year. There are 8 people in his room.

6. I had heard that there is no Laundry Service this year, that there are machines available to wash, but DS didn't know that detail yet.

7. He said there is very little PT on the schedule, that they can PT on their own - IF they have time.

8. As of last night they had not been issued any gear - I am assuming that will be today.

He is supposed to be sending a DETAILED letter telling us about everything....but something tells me it will only be 4 sentences long - that is what he considers a long letter!

Thanks for update!

Thanks for the info! I will pass it along to DS, who is spending July there.
Updates are most welcome!

thanks for the info. interesting. son is flying straight from his CULP assignment where they were given an extensive packing list but limited luggage space as it is, so I wonder how this will play out. (especially the no laundry part)

Laundry detergent pods were on the packing list so maybe we will be able to do laundry on our own. Thanks for the update!

Weather forecast looks real good for the next two weeks. Those in later groups start hydrating now!

The barracks in the USACC area on Knox are much different than North Fort on JBLM and, if I remember correctly, they have a washer and dryer in the latrines or nearby (the ones at JBLM I think did too but weren't really useable). So they will probably get to do laundry in their barracks rather than it being sent off to be washed. Sounds like a better option, but it will be its own challenge getting everyone's stuff washed during the hours available.

OK, tonight's report (and most likely our last until we get a letter):
1. There is laundry service, but it supposedly takes forever. And, yes, there are washers and dryers on their floor, and they can wash at night, but as Bull said - not sure how they would all do that.
2. There is an outlet in his room, but he can't get to it right now as it is lights out and someone is sleeping there.
3. Food is ok but very watered down.
4. PT starts tomorrow, and he gets to do Fire Guard Duty tonight for an hour.
5. One girl from his school is in his platoon (she was on the plane with him - is that how they assign platoons?), and he has seen a few others from his school once.
6. Issued lots of gear, including 3 more sets of ACU's but he is not sure if those get turned back in or if they are to keep.

There are pictures on the armyrotc.smugmug page and the Facebook ROTC summer training page has updates about the summer and posted a youtube video about the CIET arrival (my DS is in that....).

soccmomer said:

OK, tonight's report (and most likely our last until we get a letter):
1. There is laundry service, but it supposedly takes forever. And, yes, there are washers and dryers on their floor, and they can wash at night, but as Bull said - not sure how they would all do that.
2. There is an outlet in his room, but he can't get to it right now as it is lights out and someone is sleeping there.
3. Food is ok but very watered down.
4. PT starts tomorrow, and he gets to do Fire Guard Duty tonight for an hour.
5. One girl from his school is in his platoon (she was on the plane with him - is that how they assign platoons?), and he has seen a few others from his school once.
6. Issued lots of gear, including 3 more sets of ACU's but he is not sure if those get turned back in or if they are to keep.

There are pictures on the armyrotc.smugmug page and the Facebook ROTC summer training page has updates about the summer and posted a youtube video about the CIET arrival (my DS is in that....).

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Fire Guard = laundry time. Problem solved. I always used fire guard to make sure I had everything ready for the next day, so he should be able to sneak in some laundry during that time.

He'll have to turn those ACU's back in and the other gear he drew from CIF, but one thing he should think about is turning in his "worst" sets of ACU's at the end and only using those sets during training so he goes home with some good sets. Same thing goes for Camelbak's and other things if he has his own set, but was issued another. I may or may not have left LDAC a few years ago with better uniforms than I went with...

They don't assign platoons by plane, but since so many cadets report at once they are bound to be on the same connecting flights as each other. My final flight to Seattle when I was going to LDAC was atleast half cadets. It is a rarity that someone from his school is in his platoon, they try to avoid that.

He was on the plane (original and final) with the girl from his school, which is why I was wondering if they assign as they come in, etc).
Do they have fire guard duty often? Since he just got there, and only has an hour, it doesn't seem like he would have any dirty laundry yet, or enough time in the hour to do the laundry - I had told him before that he could combine laundry with someone else - that is what they did at school to wash their uniform shirts and ACU's. So maybe they can wash when someone else has Fireguard Duty.
Great idea about the ACU's and gear as far as turning in the worst. His ACU's from school were brand new with tags, but I will have to tell him.

I'm curious what sort of restrictions the ROTC cadets are under during CIET. Do they have days off? Are they permitted off-base? Is the day scheduled from reveille to taps, a-la boot camp, or is it less restrictive? I gather they are not permitted cell phones. Is that for the entire time?

JMS said:

I'm curious what sort of restrictions the ROTC cadets are under during CIET. Do they have days off? Are they permitted off-base? Is the day scheduled from reveille to taps, a-la boot camp, or is it less restrictive? I gather they are not permitted cell phones. Is that for the entire time?

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Very restrictive. No days off, they can't leave the USACC cantonment area except for training and being escorted by cadre. They will pretty much only go where their training takes them, there won't be any roaming around post in the evenings. They usually only have their phones for a few days at the beginning and end of camp. I think it's somewhat absurd, but you just play the game and carry on. It gets much better after that circus.

soccmomer said:

He was on the plane (original and final) with the girl from his school, which is why I was wondering if they assign as they come in, etc).
Do they have fire guard duty often? Since he just got there, and only has an hour, it doesn't seem like he would have any dirty laundry yet, or enough time in the hour to do the laundry - I had told him before that he could combine laundry with someone else - that is what they did at school to wash their uniform shirts and ACU's. So maybe they can wash when someone else has Fireguard Duty.
Great idea about the ACU's and gear as far as turning in the worst. His ACU's from school were brand new with tags, but I will have to tell him.

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Fire guard is usually a rotation, so it depends on where they're at (barracks or in the field) and what ridiculous ideas the cadet leadership has going through their heads at the time. Security (similar to fire guard, but in the field) in the field is a different beast, but he'll probably do that too.

DS texted again tonight, said they were told they would take their phones today (day 3), but they didn't. He has Fire Guard Duty every other night for an hour, and there are 4 of them per floor. Can't use the laundry on their floor as the drain is backed up or something. They have to get up at 0415 tomorrow for formation before going to do the Confidence Course.

soccmomer said:

DS texted again tonight, said they were told they would take their phones today (day 3), but they didn't. He has Fire Guard Duty every other night for an hour, and there are 4 of them per floor. Can't use the laundry on their floor as the drain is backed up or something. They have to get up at 0415 tomorrow for formation before going to do the Confidence Course.

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0415 formation = urinalysis. Sadly some will fail despite knowing it's coming.

Anywho, it'll be over soon enough and they'll never have to deal with it as a cadet ever again, that will be the best feeling (and to stop hearing "Cadet" in its derogatory form). To anybody reading who will be going to any CST, soak it all up and make the best of it. You'll see a lot of great examples and a lot of bad examples, both are great to learn from. Don't burn bridges, it's a small Army and you will run into these people later on as officers, and some you'll find will be good friends for a long time. I still talk to people from LDAC on a regular basis and it's been multiple years since I went.

He has not had any complaints, at least none that he tells me! He said other than the Drill Sargeant being in "full drill sargent" mode, his other cadre are pretty nice. I think he looks forward to doing the things he has never done before, starting with that Confidence Course today!

Day 6 for CIET Regiment 1 dawns with the promise of being hot and sunny! As of last night, DS still had his phone. He reports:
Food is not bad with a decent selection.
No urinalysis.
It is becoming more interesting as they get into the active parts like the Confidence Course and the Squad Leader Reaction Course, and they get to shoot today.
Attitude is good in his squad, with very few complaints.
Even though we taped and packed all his liquid supplies in zip locks, he said "somebody's something" managed to leak into his bag most likely when being transported from the airport in the truck - due to most of his stuff being in ziplocks, the only thing that really got wet that was effected was the book he took, which he said is still readable, but he has not had time to read it anyhow.

CIET, Reg 1, Day 8: They got to shoot yesterday, after being trained the day before. Today they did grenades, then an obstacle course. This afternoon/evening they had a choice to pay for a concert/dinner or stay back. DS stayed back(he didn't want to pay!), got some laundry done, and then one of the Drill Sargents got a shuttle and took some of them to the big PX. Most of them raced to the pillow section and bought the rest of the $3 pillows! They also bought a few snacks. After a tasty MRE dinner, they were heading out to watch a movie in one of the auds. Oh, and they got to wear civilian clothes to all of this "day off" stuff. They do still have their phones, but can only use them during personal time, which is after final formation.
Tomorrow is the gas chamber, which he is excited about....will see how excited he is after he does it!
Weather has been "warm" but decent, however, the forecast for the next week is thunderstorms pretty much every day - of course about the time they go live in the tents!
Tips: if you can stuff a pillow in your bags - go for it, and if you have or can get, more than the required 2 PT shirts, take those, as they do not issue more. They sleep in them plus wear them for PT and for some other things if the weather is hot.

Received a letter and phone call from my son today. He's also in the 1st reg. In his letter written Tues. he says that he feels he was well prepared by his training in school and that he has also learned a lot while there. He's enjoyed meeting cadets from all over the country and is surprised at how quickly they have bonded. Next week they are going into the field for 8 days and he's looking forward to that experience lol. Only complaint is that it's hot at night with no AC. Later this afternoon he called ( not with his phone but I didn't think to ask why) and said he was doing well and was exited to go to the Phillip Phillips concert this evening. Sounds like he's having a positive experience and I think he's actually having fun.

have they revealed the new merit badge they're awarding for attending this circus yet?