I have a school date of Jan. 11^th 2009.  I don’t want to get there and find out I could have made things easier.  I know they have changed a bit after sending the reservist to OTS and being guard-only now.  Has anybody been through after they changed?  I want to know if we can bring a few things if anybody recalls.

 1)  Can we bring Chlorofram shoes for our blues?  If not how big are they on the shine?  Just got them and have not shined them up yet.

 2)  Can we where the new boots with the BDUs being that this is authorized by AF regulation or do they want you to stay in black boots with BDUs?

 3)  Did anybody take an I-pod for the down time or for their personal PT?

 4)  Is it practical to take your own Lap-top, now that flash drives are not allowed on military computers?

 5)  Did any Guard members show up with just the two issued BDU uniforms?  It would seem that with only two you would never have one in your locker for inspection.  This could be good or bad, so I wanted to know if anyone has done that.

 6)  Can you get away with just one ribbon rack and blue with white letter name tag?  It says to have two.

Well I went a year ago, so I don't know how valid any of this will be. I went January of last year and they weren't sending reservists back then either, so that isn't any different. Corfram shoes are fine, but they'll keep you from getting a "sharp" during an inspection. This is meaningless bullshit. Bring them. I didn't and ended up buying some there. I don't know anything about the current boot uniform combinations. We had to wear black boots but we had no ABUs. You can take your ipod and keep it in your security drawer I guess but you probably won't ever use it. There really isn't much down time until the very end and I don't think they let you PT with it on anyhow. Laptop is a big thumbs up. Almost everyone had one and they saw a lot of use. Very handy when your roommate is bogarting the damn computer to work on a memo or presentation. I think I was issued 3 sets of BDU's. Whatever my unit gave me is what I brought. I only had one ribbon rack but two nametags. I never needed two.

Good luck. Its an obnoxious waste of 6 weeks but it’s really no big deal. Get through it and move on to the next step.

 What is the ribbon rack? Thought I had everything but wasn't given one of those by clothing issue at my unit.  Can they be purchased at Mcghee-Tyson? Unfortunately I don't have another drill weekend in Montgomery before driving up to Knoxville, kind of out of the way for something so small.  Anybody else have 16 March AMS date?

The ribbon rack is all the ribbons you wear on your service dress. If you just enetered the military as a civilian and AMS is basically the first thing youve done in the military, you don't have any ribbons right now so you don't have to worry about it. You'll wear the ribbons when you commission.

your unit is required to give you a new initial issue for officers so you should get everything brand new.

Just graduated friday.  If you have any questions let me know.

You can pick up your key on Saturday and stay in your room.  I got my entire room set up and then read the operating instructions all day Sunday.

Just got the March 16th class date this afternoon, planning on arriving Saturday.