Passed POC - 23rd - 25th February - My Diary!

[willgoodman]

Passed my POC!!!!

I'm gonna put you under no illusions here guys, the POC will be the hardest 3 days of your life, but trust me, you look back on it and think "Yeh that wasn't so bad!" It really is a life changing experience.

I was reading on here before i went and got some good tips, but one thing i found was that, i couldn't find a run through of exactly what happened so here goes:

Day 1:

After having the briefing with Captain Dean on what the course would entail, we got into our PT kit, and were given a short lesson by Colour Sgt on how to march properly (which you have to do at CTC all the time) before we went down to the gym.
We started the gym tests with the warm ups, sprinting on the spot, then jogging, before doing some punches in the air before stretches. Our PT for this was a tiny scottish fellow who (i say tiny) was about 5.7 tall and about 5,7 wide and could shout a hole in your ear drums. One thing our Course supervisor (Colour Sgt Sykes, an enourmous Scouser chap) said was "all i ask is that you give 110% and a little bit more and then we'll get along fine" truer words have never been spoken, if you gave it everything, you escaped the push ups and squat thrusts which by the way are a bitch just before the bleep test!
We did the bleep test and 2 guys wrapped on that, when they should never have done! One tip though guys, the floor in that gym is polished so you can see your face in it so you need either a pair of tennis shoes or badminton trainers to do it in, trust me! After doing the other gym tests on which we didnt loose anybody we went off for our essays and interviews, for which you have to do to reasonable standard, and knowledge of where the units are based is advisable. After this we went for scran then bed! Anbother tip, monday night shovel as much food down your throat as possible, even if someone else has to force it down, you will need it for the next day!

Day 2:

After morning scran, again take the opportunity to eat a horse, it was bottom field.
First is was a brisk warm up. RULE 1 on bottom field your either sprinting or marking time (jogging on the spot) if you dont do this you'll be doing squat thrusts and press-ups for a week. Piggy backs up the hill and down again next, you only do 2-3 of these.
after this we were shown the assault course 3 obstacles at a time before doing them.
After that there were the telegraph pole exercises. Teams of 5 or six, shoulder pressing a telegraph pole up in the air repeatedly is not easy and this logs section was the hardest part of the whole POC, so make sure you work as a team cos if someone wraps on this its even harder.
you then do three log pushes up the hill 1. with feet 2. backs to the log with hands 3. leopard crawl, with hands. If you get through this then your easily capable of doing the rest. After this you do a few hill sprints, again put max effort in and you will end up doing only 10 or so. The rest, i.e the log race (done with much lighter logs) the firemans carry (57 secs to beat on the 200m run lads) and the rope hang (just hold on for 45secs) are all pretty simple after this, then the timed run on the assalut course isn't hard. The net jump after this is a bit of a piss around really, and a really good laugh.

After lectures and lunch we got to the endurance course. This really is where you see what you are made of! the first 2 1/2 miles, keeps as close to the PTI as possible, because when he stops to wait for the straglers you get a rest, which you will need. the tunnels bruise your knees up, but don't complain or you'll be doing push ups an one lad found out. The crocodile pit is a half mud half water pit, which is f@#k horrible but a great laugh. You'll know it when you get to it, it's the light brown muddly pool with a 4ft mud cliff to climb out of at the end (team work lads) you do abotu 10 laps of this pool before moving on.
After a couple more tunnelas and about another half mile you get a water break before you start the hare and hounds. This i found was the easiest part of the endurance course, you drop you jackets in the van and after a light incline on slighty rough ground, its all down hill all the way home.
The 3 miles speed march is done at 7 min mile pace, but just keep your eyes on the PT's feet and you'll drift in to semi - hypnotic state and 2/12 miles is gone in no time. You come onto the main road with about 1/2 mile to go before taking a left turn down another track, just down here theres a sign on a tree that says "its only pain 500m to go!" this is where we lost 2 people and i almost wrapped myself because your brain thinks youve finished so your legs start to give, but just round the corner from that sign you'll see the flood lights of the hockey pitches and the entrance to the car park ( you dont go right to the gates of CTC). Put it this way, if you not in the van by the time you get to the car park gates you've pretty much guaranteed you've passed. They take you through a light cool down, which you should do!!

There were so many times on that day when i came close to giving up, and so did so many others, the key really is teamwork guys, because everybody have different breaking points, and the key is to get through that point, and when your through that, believe me your the prodest man alive and you feel like nothing can touch you, even after all that, we walked back to CTC with our heads held high knowing we were good enough and we had pushed ourselves to our limits and beyond. All the officers and the Colour Sgt were top guys, if it hadn't been for them, shouting at you to keep going, i don't think any of us would have passed and i have the upmost respect for them.

So just think about that guys, if your close to wrapping, just think about people at home, whatever motivates you and as tfor the phrase "pain is temporary, pride is forever", i always thought it was cheesy, but i've never heard a truer word spoken. Put simply it was the best and worst 3 days of my life.

Will

BTW: if anybody ahs any questions let me know, i'll be happy to help!

[robj]

congratulations mate

[braywick]

Well done mate

[mick_1]

nice 1 mate well done 4 passing when do you start your training?

[Maverick00]

congrats mate...can completely empathise with everything you went through as I did mine and failed at the start of the month. Colour Sgt Sykes is a beast of man!!!

Your diary gives an accurate representation of what to expect altho people be warned you will not do exactly what was just described...in particular my beasting on bottom field was slightly different. It all depends on how your course is performing. Apart from that its all good...pay particular attention to the points about wanting to give up...you will definitely get to this point no matter how fit you are. Be prepared for it and realise its all in your head. This is one key thing i didnt quite understand before i went and consequently learnt a harsh lesson. I even recommend beasting yourself a few times and try and find your breaking point and see if you can work through it, will work better if you have someone working with you I would think.

Anyway well done again and good luck on your AIB

[Jon]

[joethejudge]

What quilifications have you got?

[willgoodman]

I've got 3 A levels, there were a real mixture of guys there tho, we had to guys still in school doing A2's, bout 4 with degrees, the rest in the same position as me, oh and a teacher.

Maverick? Did you have the tiny little scottish PT for your gym test? Cannonball we nicknamed him. You're right about Sykes tho, he was some kind of Cyborg, turned out to be a really nice, reasonable guy tho, i partially tore a hamstring 200m from the end of the endurance course, and if it wasnt for him grabbing me by the scruff of my neck and telling me to sprint to the end, i never would have made it.

So where abouts did you get to Maverick? Did you have a strong or weak group? Dyu reckon you will have another go???

Will

[El Prez]

Well done Will. Nothing to it!

[Maverick00]

Definitley have another go, already in process of sorting it out. I wrapped right at the end of the bottom field beasting. I wasnt really fit enough plus (as I find out after) I was suffering from the after effects of a chest infection which was limiting my ability to breathe ( i was wheezing after the RMFA and felt unusually breathless throughout the whole thing). I think the most important factor was that I didnt realise exactly what it would be like and the beasting on bottom field came as a bit of a shock to me. Like you said, going on the poc really changed me, even my girlfriend has noticed it. I feel like I understand more now about what the RM is all about and what 'strength of mind' really means.

Our group was small and in hindsight probably fairly weak. I think Csgt Sykes saw this and really put us through our paces on bottom field. At one point I remember feeling like he was just waiting for me to wrap and that made me dig even deeper but in the end i coudnt carry on - plus now i think even if i somehow did carry on a narrow pass would be no good.. To get into the batch I need to pass well.

We didnt have the scottish PTI we had some really cocky guy who always looked really pissed off - acted as if our course was the source of all his life's misery and relished the opportunity to have a go at us whenever he got a chance. NICE!

Overall I realy enjoyed the course and it was a massive eye opener. Im looking forward to going back again and absolutely nailing it.

[El Prez]

We didnt have the scottish PTI we had some really cocky guy who always looked really pissed off - acted as if our course was the source of all his life's misery and relished the opportunity to have a go at us whenever he got a chance. NICE!

You obviously had one of the newbies, they learn that on the first afternoon of the PTI course. You will probably discover that there was a piss up somewhere and he was dipping out.

[saffer]

a boring question.
but how fit were you, and what scores did you get?
what kind of training did you do?
i find it hard beasting myself, but i try. i can run 7.5 miles in 59 mins. do 7 chin ups, havnt really counted on my press ups or sit ups, but i think they wopuld let me down.
iv only got 11 weeks left, you think this will be enough time to graft and get fit enough?

oh yeah, and can any one tell me, im going for a POC brief week on monday, and i was just thinking about what it entails - is it an interveiw which they can fail me for, or is it a breifing on my garnteed place?

[El Prez]

Saffer, great that you are going for POC. They will expect you to produce handwritten essays etc. Do yourself a favour, read your post and find the errors, then think about your presentation skills. It isn't difficult just takes a bit of application. (Clue i before e after c)
All the info you need is available within the 'sticky' posts. Have a scan through them.

[Maverick00]

brief is just advice about POC so no worries there.

in terms of prep for POC have a search for my threads and others about it - theres loads of info about now on POC's so theres no excuse for not being informed (Prez - not worth amalgamating some of the posts into a sticky? or are there too many already?).

my advice is to dont worry so much about long runs, stick to 3-6 mile distances and work on repeated sprints before during and/or after your runs. do them over at least 50m if not more, good if done up a hill. with the amount of time you have left you should be well prepared. just keep in mind that no matter how fit you are you will feel so f***** that you want to quit - go through it and remember it wont last forever.

[El Prez]

There are so many stickys now at the start of the Forum we may have to do some housekeeping. I'll let you know asap.