SLE Questions

[wish_tree]

Hello! I was recently accepted to the 2018 SLE program, and I have some questions. Any thoughts from previous attendees would be greatly appreciated!

1. I've done a reasonable amount of weight training and gotten substantially stronger, but I'm not a runner. As in, I'm really not a runner. What's the cardio situation at camp?

2. What's a brief rundown of the daily schedule?

3. What do you think was the hardest part of SLE, and what was the best part?

4. Any other things to know, advice, and/or comments?

Thank you so much!

 

[BornintheUSA]

I haven’t been to SLE yet so I don’t know the answers to 1, 3, and 4 and someone else can respond to those, but the daily schedule is in the pdf on your USMA portal saying “SLE instructions”.

 

[usmajy]

1. You do the CFA the second day you get there, which requires running. But there was only one morning where the PT was strictly running. You also play sports every night, which are pretty chill, but are cardio I guess. If your squad/platoon is late to something, your leaders will likely yell "double-time!" which means you gotta run. I've heard NASS is much harder physically. You'll be fine
2.

I haven’t been to SLE yet so I don’t know the answers to 1, 3, and 4 and someone else can respond to those, but the daily schedule is in the pdf on your USMA portal saying “SLE instructions”.

3. Hardest part... if you're female and you're on your period that week, thoughts and prayers to you. That sucked, big-time.
CFA is never fun.
On the last day (I think it's called challenge day or something), you go out to Buckner and do a bunch of obstacle courses. Those are fun, but after that, there's an activity where you're in a pretend mission. I was crawling on the ground, carrying a (fake) gun, which was fine, but the people running the drill were dicks and randomly decided when my teammates "died," which meant me and one other person had to literally pick up 3 people and their guns and haul their a$$es to the finish line because they were "dead." I don't know if that made sense, but you'll see what I mean. Those guys also made a lot of racist remarks, unfortunately (not USMA people).
Best part? Everything. Especially once you become friends with your squadmates and friend-ly with your squad leader, nothing seems as hard. Camaraderie will get you through those 5 AM wakeups. Cherish it!
4. I have no military background and neither does anyone in my family. I didn't even know you had to address the cadets as "Sergeant ____" or "Lieutenant ____." Know basic terms and vocabulary, like plebe, firstie, beast, etc.
Move fast. Don't look at or speak to anyone unless you've been told to on R-Day. I wish I'd taken more pictures/videos, but stay off your phone for the most part. You won't get another experience like this, so enjoy it!

 

[wish_tree]

1. You do the CFA the second day you get there, which requires running. But there was only one morning where the PT was strictly running. You also play sports every night, which are pretty chill, but are cardio I guess. If your squad/platoon is late to something, your leaders will likely yell "double-time!" which means you gotta run. I've heard NASS is much harder physically. You'll be fine
2.

I haven’t been to SLE yet so I don’t know the answers to 1, 3, and 4 and someone else can respond to those, but the daily schedule is in the pdf on your USMA portal saying “SLE instructions”.

3. Hardest part... if you're female and you're on your period that week, thoughts and prayers to you. That sucked, big-time.
CFA is never fun.
On the last day (I think it's called challenge day or something), you go out to Buckner and do a bunch of obstacle courses. Those are fun, but after that, there's an activity where you're in a pretend mission. I was crawling on the ground, carrying a (fake) gun, which was fine, but the people running the drill were dicks and randomly decided when my teammates "died," which meant me and one other person had to literally pick up 3 people and their guns and haul their a$$es to the finish line because they were "dead." I don't know if that made sense, but you'll see what I mean. Those guys also made a lot of racist remarks, unfortunately (not USMA people).
Best part? Everything. Especially once you become friends with your squadmates and friend-ly with your squad leader, nothing seems as hard. Camaraderie will get you through those 5 AM wakeups. Cherish it!
4. I have no military background and neither does anyone in my family. I didn't even know you had to address the cadets as "Sergeant ____" or "Lieutenant ____." Know basic terms and vocabulary, like plebe, firstie, beast, etc.
Move fast. Don't look at or speak to anyone unless you've been told to on R-Day. I wish I'd taken more pictures/videos, but stay off your phone for the most part. You won't get another experience like this, so enjoy it!

Thank you!

 

[Fortune]

It is so interesting!

 

[wish_tree]

A few more questions:

1. What do "evening activities" entail?

2. Is it possible to change workshop preferences now, or is it too late?

 

[QWE123]

A few more questions:

1. What do "evening activities" entail?

2. Is it possible to change workshop preferences now, or is it too late?

I'm sure it's not. Just email your SLE rep.

My DS went to SLE and NASS, just received an appointment to USMAPS and waiting to hear from USNA. I can have him try to answer your questions when he gets home from school. I know he really enjoyed it and breezed through the physical part because he is a runner and is naturally insanely strong and he's not a big kid. Broke his high school record for pull ups in the 8th grade without any training.

Running is an absolute necessity if you plan to join the military, but you can do other things like HIIT training to improve your cardiovascular fitness if you absolutely despise running. I shaved a minute off of my mile time from doing crossfit. You'll still have to run, but you can crosstrain and that will translate into better running times.