Room/Locker/Personnel (RLP)
I guess it’s what people want to hear about, it’s RLP week. To be in short: it’s a test day when you need to do PE, being inspected, shouting your knowledge, sweating, stop eyeballing etc. all at the same time.
To describe what it is: An RLP inspection evaluates a candidate officer’s attention to detail with respect to military education, uniform and room inspection requirements, and physical fitness effort during reinforced physical training. OCS educates civilians and fleet Sailors morally, psychologically, and physically into newly commissioned officers and instills them with the highest principles of honor, courage, and dedication for service in the fleet as Naval officers.
Focusing on the finer points and keeping us cool under pressure are two skills that I learned from RLP. Learn how to fold the clothing neatly, construct a rack with hospital corners, and raise the voice to a deafening pitch in the weeks leading up to the big event. Confidence and composure, in addition to a presentable appearance, are what the DIs (Drill instructors) value most. If you show up to the “interview” looking like garbage and don’t make a good first impression, they will automatically assume the worst about you and look for ways to penalize you. They would want to get rid of you quickly if you come across as confident and assertive.
My roommate and I slept on the floor with a mat since we knew we would be graded on how well we had arranged our belongings and the rack. In RLP, a failure can be caused by something as small as a single hair. We also quizzed one another and prepared for our oral exams by discussing the contents of the Appendix. We all went to bed that night feeling both confident and frightened, but no one slept particularly well.
And now it is morning; after breakfast we had about a minute to get ready in our room before we had to line up outside. My advice: do not eat much, eat as little as you can, or you have to watch and cleanup your breakfast on the floor. I forgot to add that this is a team effort, so you and your roommates will need to assist one another. Therefore, if you need some guidance, go ahead and ask them “You might also fail if I do. If I do well, you will do well “. On occasion, while waiting in line for the DIs to arrive, it was necessary to double-check everyone’s appearance and help them. I found that hurting myself (by pitching my arm, hand, or whatever) helped settle my nerves.
The DIs and chiefs descended upon the area like a tornado, shouting at the top of their almost-gone-forever lungs. It was clear that all hell had just broken free. It was on us initially, and we endured it. It began when they stopped in front of me and yelled, “I will make you fail,” that I realized my life was miserable. When they started asking questions about my uniform, I temporarily lost my bearings, but eventually I came to. Despite my ranting about the Navy’s missions and the identity of the Chief of the Navy nonstop, the DI kept measuring every inch and centimeter of my belt line, shoes, and socks. After a minute, they ordered me back inside my room.
We called the preparation the “Origami exercise” when we needed to lint-rolling the floor, ironing and folding on the clothes.
As the DIs checked my belongings and tossed them around in my room, the agony continued. I was asked to do push-ups incessantly while shouting out the general orders. To be honest, I could not even finish 10 pushups as I could not breathe while doing PT and yelling. While I was still shouting appendix facts, the DI had me turn to the jumping jack. The truth is that at this point, you may forget about using your brain if you haven’t memorized the relevant information by heart. I’m glad the DI was done with me because I literally couldn’t breathe and he told me to go get the canteen and line up outside again. If you’re finished and holding a canteen, you’re done. Those 5 minutes were the worst of my life.
My roommate also had the DI quiz him, but he was too shaken up to give the right answers. In addition, he did not fasten a button on his shirt in the rack. At the end, I recalled the DI shouting “You pass” into my face while saying “You fail” to my roommate. He had to start afresh as he transferred to the H class (rollover).
Everyone’s questions and answers were loud enough for me to hear well while waiting outside. Correct answers being given wrongly or when people became disoriented were both audible to me. Keep in mind that failing RLP is rather frequent; over 45 percent of my class did.
I was unable to complete even the remaining tasks for the day. After shouting at the top of my lungs, I felt like I had a terrible ache in my brain. We might finally have access to a phone by the weekend, allowing us to finally get in touch with our loved ones back home. That’s how my RLP went.
1. If you're new here, I suggest jumping right into Part 1 of my Navy OCS series.
2. I went to OCS back in the 2010s, so it's possible that a lot has changed since then. This information is being shared with you solely for your own education.
Photo credits: Navy OCS Page (Remember that we are not allowed to use phone/electronic devices during OCS so there was no way any candidate can take any picture during OCS)
