Candidate Officer phase is what everyone looks forward to the moment they get to OCS. They have all the perks, everything from being able to yell at the new candidates to being able to actually leave the base for the first time. Candidate officers usually don't get beat and don't have to jump to attention when a drill instructor walks by. Probably the biggest exception is being able to use a cell phone, up until this point candidates should consider themselves lucky to get a five minute phone call every week. Candios are looked up to by the junior classes, and are expected to mentor those who are struggling to adapt to the OCS lifestyle. A good candidate officer can have a big impact on moral and class team building.
Not every aspect of being a candidate officer is rosy though, there are collateral duties that need to be filled. They are responsible for standing watches between several buildings on base. This usually isn't a big deal unless you stand a midnight watch and lose about four hours of sleep that night. A few of them will be duty drivers. These individuals pickup and drop off candidates anytime they need medical attention or supplies from the Navy Exchange (NEX).
Candidate officers have a busy schedule and will probably get less sleep than they did during the previous 9 weeks. They go to bed after the rest of the battalion and wake up earlier to set up morning PT. Screwing up morning PT is one of the few remaining ways to get beat. The junior classes need constant supervision until their drill instructor trusts them enough to function on their own. That supervision comes from the candidate officers working in shifts. Depending on the class and their drill instructor this can be a rewarding experience or a painful one.
There is one thing on the mind of most candidate officers at this point, graduation. Being able to see their families for the first time in months and show them just how much their efforts have paid off in the end.
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