Ever Had Trouble Staying Awake In Class Or Boring Meetings?

The hardest time I’ve ever had staying awake in class was while I was at Ft. Benning, Georgia, in the summer of 1982 for Army Officer Candidate School (OCS). We would do some rigorous physical training very early in the morning and then go straight to our class sessions to receive instruction on various topics.

“The United States Army’s Officer Candidate School (OCS) is an officer candidate school located at Fort Benning, Georgia, that trains, assesses, and evaluates potential commissioned officers of the U.S. Army, U.S. Army Reserve, and Army National Guard. Officer candidates are former enlisted members (E-4 to E-7), warrant officers, inter-service transfers, or civilian college graduates who enlist for the “OCS Option” after they complete Basic Combat Training (BCT).

OCS is a 12-week course designed to train, assess, evaluate, and develop second lieutenants for the U.S. Army. It is the only commissioning source that can be responsive to the U.S. Army’s changing personnel requirements due to its short length, compared to other commissioning programs and their requirements, such as Reserve Officer Training Course (ROTC), West Point Military Academy, and other military academies.

The Army’s Officer Candidate School is programmed to teach basic leadership and soldier tasks, using the infantry battle drills found in Army Field Manual 3–21.8 as a framework for instruction and evaluation of leadership potential. A total of 71 tasks are taught and tested while at OCS.

A candidate should expect to be under constant observation and evaluation by their cadre. Mental and emotional stress is induced through a variety of controlled methods, to test problem-solving and moral resolve. Additionally, the course is meant to be physically demanding, with numerous tactical road marches, timed runs of varying distance from 2 miles to 5 miles, and Army Combatives training.”

— Wikipedia

After our intensive physical training, we were all exhausted and sweating like the proverbial pigs. Plus, the classroom became hot very fast with all those warm bodies inside it, making us incredibly sleepy. Staying awake for the duration of each class was a difficult challenge indeed.

To get caught sleeping in class was a huge no-no and could result in some form of punishment. So, of course, we all went to great lengths to pretend to be awake while we were actually dozing. By some miracle, I never got caught sleeping.

After attending class for a couple of hours, we would go back outside into Ft. Benning’s scorching summer heat and draining humidity and do military training activities, including 5-mile runs and long, 15-mile marches wearing 50-pound rucksacks on our backs. All of this went on for 14 weeks (it's 12 weeks these days).

Yes, that summer at Ft. Benning offered plenty of challenging “fun.” But despite being relatively old for an Officer Candidate at the age of 31, I managed to survive OCS. The Army commissioned me as a Second Lieutenant (O-1) in the Signal Corps Branch.

Twenty years later, I retired from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel (O-5). During those intervening 20 years, I attended many classes and meetings but managed to stay awake (or at least look like I was awake) in all of them.

And I credit this stellar record of non-sleeping success to what I learned in 1982 at OCS. By the way, this skill also proved valuable for me while attending numerous training sessions in classrooms, as well as during long, boring meetings, as a civilian defense contractor after I retired from the military.

What about you? Have you got a good story about sleeping in class or trying desperately to stay awake in class or meetings?

_________________

Thanks for reading. Copyright © Terry Mansfield. All Rights Reserved.