First RSP Weekend

[Jacob Rhodes]

Hey everyone I just had my first RSP weekend last weekend. I figured I'd share what happened this last weekend.

Day 1

0745-First Formation
0800-PT
1030-Uniform Issue (PTs and ACUs)
1045-Class (Rank Structure, Soldiers Creed, General Orders, Military Time, etc)
1200-Lunch
1230-Clean (Lunch Room and Bathrooms)
1300-Class Again
1400-Gold Phase Ceremony and we saw a guy receive two bronze stars!
1500-Final Formation

Day 2
0730- Shark Attack Simulation
0745- First Formation
0800- Class Time
1045- Test over material to pass red phase
1115- Initial Counseling and AAR
1200- Grog Ceremony
0100- Final Formation

Overall, I really enjoyed this weekend. I know that BCT will be harder and more intense, but it does start to get you in the right mindset and gets you ahead of the curve. We did get "smoked" if we did something wrong. Usually was pushups, situps, mountain climbers, flutter kicks, jumping jacks or overhead arm claps. DON'T GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT YOUR BATTLE BUDDY!

So glad the Guard is doing this! HOOAH!

Motivated! Motivated! Down Right Motivated! You Can Check Us Out! You Can Check Us Out! HOOAH!

[Chris36]

The Shark Attack simulation sounds like it would be a hoot....we didn't get to do that at mine! :mad:

Congrats!

[fmcityslicker]

hmm first formation at 0745?? that is nice. But a final formation at 0100 or did you want to write 1300? because that is a very harsh final formation.

[Mr_Loki]

1400-Gold Phase Ceremony and we saw a guy receive two bronze stars!

... who and what for?

[HR NCO]

Gold Phase Ceremony and we saw a guy receive two bronze stars!

Are you sure about that one??? First off, anyone going through a gold phase ceremony would have just finished AIT and not be in any position to earn a bronze star. And secondly, even if they had someone that had just got back from overseas being awarded the medal, the chances of someone getting two is HIGHLY unlikely. I think you may be confused on that one.


Oh...and whats with only half day drills???? 1500 on Sat, 1300 on Sun??? Thats a whole lot of training time that is being wasted.

[Jacob Rhodes]

Sorry I accidentally put 0100 it is 1300...
No I am not mistaken it was 2 bronze stars. I probably should've explained that one. This guy's daughter is drilling there and got promoted to e-2 and they tricked him into coming to watch her and then they awarded with 2 bronze stars that he had lost (I think) since his service in Vietnam and a folded flag in memory of his fallen comrades. It was really cool to see his reaction.
I think that the reason for the last day was that we had gotten everything done that needed to be done that week. Not really sure why.
I really enjoyed this weekend though!

[HR NCO]

Ok...now that story makes more sense.

[Mr_Loki]

Oh...and whats with only half day drills???? 1500 on Sat, 1300 on Sun??? Thats a whole lot of training time that is being wasted.

Yeah, what the nuts!? Even Division HQ doesn't release until 1630 AT THE EARLIEST on sunday.

[Chris36]

Yeah, what the nuts!? Even Division HQ doesn't release until 1630 AT THE EARLIEST on sunday.

My RSP lets out at 14:30 on Sundays :p

[11Bang]

I''ve been at several drills that let out at 23:59 on Sunday, not very much fun for work the next day.

[ABurris92]

Wow. My last few RSP drills, we got out around 1200-1300. And that's been the consistent dismissal time on Sunday. I now like my RSP NCO's that much more for letting us out so early. Hopefully it stays that way while I'm in RSP (knock on wood).

[shanna]

What do you bring to your 1st RSP ? Mine is just overnight , not sure what all to bring !
My first, & last RSP before i get shipped out .

[Hanson]

Shanna - talk to your RSP cadre about what you need to bring. At a minimum, personal hygene stuff, sleeping equipment, PT clothes, and then your uniforms. However, as previously mentioned, talk to your cadre first, they should be able to get you a packing list.

[MMullins]

So what did you think of the shark attack simulation? My first RSP was March 19th and we had a shark attack on that Sunday as well, though I'm hessitant to call it a simulation...it was down right brutal though bumped my motivation through the roof HOOAH!

[PALINATHAS]

Just to throw my 2 cents in, I found the shark attack simulation rather laughable at my first RSP weekend. It's a little hard to believe that your own recruiter, and the really nice people you just spent all day Saturday learning from, are now mean nasty people, who yell at you for NO REASON, or make up a reason to yell at you, and have you do a few exercises so you learn not to make that mistake again. I am sure it will be much more serious at BCT when it happens, but at RSP it didn't work for me. We did bring that up at the AAR that weekend, and the next month the Cadre tried much harder and the experience was better, with a lot more exercise, and a lot more Sgts yelling at you, but it still had an aura of half-heartedness, I guess because we still knew that we were not really in any kind of trouble, and as soon as 0800 hit we would be in formation and everything would be normal.

[MMullins]

My recruiter is a 4 or 5 time DS...even though I knew he is a cool guy getting shark attacked by a pro at it was a nice introduction to what is coming. It helped that 2 or 3 of the other Cadres there are also past DS's and none of them did any of it half heartedly and I'll tell you its wonderfully motivating.

[HR NCO]

Just to throw my 2 cents in, I found the shark attack simulation rather laughable at my first RSP weekend. It's a little hard to believe that your own recruiter, and the really nice people you just spent all day Saturday learning from, are now mean nasty people, who yell at you for NO REASON, or make up a reason to yell at you, and have you do a few exercises so you learn not to make that mistake again. I am sure it will be much more serious at BCT when it happens, but at RSP it didn't work for me. We did bring that up at the AAR that weekend, and the next month the Cadre tried much harder and the experience was better, with a lot more exercise, and a lot more Sgts yelling at you, but it still had an aura of half-heartedness, I guess because we still knew that we were not really in any kind of trouble, and as soon as 0800 hit we would be in formation and everything would be normal.

Just curious, what state is that?

[PALINATHAS]

North Carolina. Again, I am not actually complaining about the experience, but just saying how I felt.

[Jacob Rhodes]

I thought the shark attack was okay. We were lined up and they asked us questions and if you got it wrong you went and got smoked and if you got it right you got into formation. I was all prepared for the questions that we learned (general orders, soldier creed, etc) so I walked up and they asked me what was the army birthday which I had no clue. So i got smoked, but oh well I got some PT since we actually didn't do it that day and learned the army's birthday so win/win I guess. Then they told us we had 20 seconds to line up with our stuff in formation, but when the sergeant started counting he went from 20 to like 16 and skipped so we had maybe 5 seconds. This happened at least 4 times. They explained afterwards that some tasks you are given at basic you are going to fail no matter what.

[MPThink]

Sounds like you've got a good attitude about things, Rhodes. Hold on to that!

And yeah, DS's are all bad at counting for some reason. :D