Super Confused. Where Is This Information/confirmation Coming From?

Super confused. Where is this information/confirmation coming from?

All I’m saying is that if Killian isn’t “special” to her in some way (*cough*TL*cough*), killing him is pointless, destroying them is pointless. And Rumple looked too happy at the prospect for it to be anything BUT killing Killian.

I mean, I know we asked for confirmation but SHIT NOT LIKE THIS

Insider's Guide to USAF COT: Things you will need

I don’t know about anyone else, but I was totally unprepared for COT. Like. A lot. I didn’t know what to bring, I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know what was expected of me. It sucked.

Pictured above: basically the first week

So, I’m going to share my perspective and experiences in hopes that those of you who attend COT will kick so much ass that bald eagles and American flags will follow behind you everywhere you go. Note: this may not apply to Army or Navy COT, and the Air Force likes to change things up. Hopefully my advice will be timeless.

Congratulations! You’ve commissioned! You held your right hand up around a flag and said some words and now you belong to the government. Part of the whole deal you just signed up for includes spending 5 weeks at commissioned officer training (COT) in Alabama. You sign up for the June or July class and get your orders and suddenly it’s all real and happening.

Before I begin, it is crucial to know if you are HPSP, reserve, or active duty. Active duty means you are going to work at a base somewhere immediately after COT and you have all kinds of paperwork and good stuff to do. HPSP and reserve do not and our lives are somewhat easier as far as paperwork goes.

When you show up make sure you have: - You are wearing tennis shoes and nice shorts and a tshirt because you will be stomping around outside and it will suck. Also you have to be wearing tennis shoes and white socks. The military loves white socks. - You legit need 20 copies of your orders. You’ll give a whole bunch of them away and you need to have a copy of them on you AT ALL TIMES. - The cyber awareness certificate (link here). - If you don’t have a valid military id, you need your driver’s license and your social security card. Keep these with you at all times, I recommend a small wallet with zipper compartments. - $40 cash to give them right away for MREs and boxed lunches. They might ask for $15-20 later on for more MREs. - At least $300 for your meals. You buy your meals and it’s $10 a day. Active duty qualify for a meal card that they will get later the first or second week (so have cash anyway), HPSP and reserve will have to pay cash the whole time. - at least $1000 for your uniforms. Even better yet, if you are near an AF base or an Air National Guard base, go get your ABUs and dress blues ahead of time. Make sure you have your name and Air Force tape on there and your rank on your collar and hat. Ladies, do not get the skirt. You have to get the pants and I recommend one pair of polyester and one pair of wool (because if you have on your jacket you have to wear the wool pants). You will also need at least two sets of PT uniform- I recommend having at least three PT shirts and at least 5 or 6 sand shirts because you will not be able to do laundry every two days. - MORE money in the bank. On top of your uniforms and meals, there will be lots of little things that come up (class gift, flight commander gift, off-base dinners, maybe you want an AF sweatshirt, etc). If you are HPSP and your direct deposit is already set up, you will get paid during COT and it will rule. If you are anything else (active duty, reserve, National Guard) you will probably not get paid while you are COT. It has to do with getting your orders signed and faxed and by the time they get that done it’s past the window to get paid and you are SOL. You might get an advance if the paperwork goes through in time. Make sure you have enough money in the bank to pay your real life expenses (rent/mortgage, bills, etc) while you are at COT.

- loads of white socks. You need them for PT, which you have every day. I also wore white socks under my combat boots because the olive green socks we were told to wear gave me horrific edema. I also didn’t wear blousing straps for the same reason- you can tuck your pants in your boots and it looks fine. - not neon running shoes in good condition. You will have PT every day, a mandatory 5k, and a 4 mile heritage/prop-and-wings run. Make sure your shoes are broken in, but not the ones you use to mow your lawn (a mistake I made). Also they need to be as neutral colored (white, grey, black) as possible- if you wanted to express yourself through your attire you came to the wrong place. - civilian clothes. Does not have to be business casual. You will hopefully earn higher phase privileges and be able to leave COT campus and eventually the base. Civilian clothes will make you feel like a normal person again. - a black watch with a stopwatch feature. Nothing fancy now, and the wristband has to be black. It will help you for knowing what time it is (aka- how long until the next meal) and timing things during PT. - a black backpack with no logo or a very very tiny one. You will have classes and books and stuff to tote around. Spare yourself the heartache of waiting for a new shipment of black backpacks to arrive at the troop store (spoiler: it never arrives). - a printer cable. Maybe IT will get its act together by the time you go, but when I went having a personal printer cable was a must. Possession of a printer cable will also make you very popular among those who do not have one. - a personal computer. Again with the whole IT clusterfuck. You will have a laptop in your room that is chained to your desk and is essentially useless. Just bring your own. iPads will work kind of, but will make more work for someone else when you have to email them everything you have to print. - loads of pens. Always have at least two pens on you at all times. Like, your job is to pass COT and have a pen. - a large plastic envelope to put your welcome packet/important documents in. You get a wussy little paper folder that disintegrates almost immediately. Plus it might get rained on. - a big notebook. You will have 4-8 hours of lecture almost every day. You will have to take notes because you can’t bring your laptop to the auditorium and possibly not the flight room if your flight commander doesn’t want you to. - a small digital camera if you have one. There is a position called photographic officer, who has to take a metric crapton of photos (guess what my job was). Do not lose your charger, your SD card, or the cable necessary to upload photos. No one else will have the same camera and you will be sad. - small scissors. For cutting strings off uniforms and various other tasks that require cutting things.

- laundry detergent and dryer sheets. You have to wash your clothes because they will not smell nice, I promise. - hand soap, and all your shower stuff. There are no little toiletries in the bathrooms, guys. This is not a hotel. They provide toilet paper and trash bags and that’s about it. Also make sure you have a lot of sunscreen, preferably in small pocket-sized containers. And bugspray. The bugs are awful there. - white bath towel and hand towel. They didn’t have room inspections for us, but in the event they do… it is really important that your stuff is plain white. No stripes. No monograms. No embroidered dinosaurs. Plain white like your socks. - an extra blanket. Because it’s so hot, the AC is generally kept way down. And maybe you get cold at night. They provide bedding for you, but the comforter is not very thick. - lysol wipes. Your PT mat will be disgusting. Santize that shit, a kid in my class got staph from his. - pictures of your family/funny/inspirational things. Every flight room has a ‘morale board’ on which you are supposed to put things that motivate you. I put a picture of the Cute Boy, a picture from the Florida trip I took last year with Babe Squad, and some cards I got in the mail. Also this:

Insider's Guide To USAF COT: Things You Will Need

Because it really spoke to me. - a metric crapton of granola bars and instant coffee. Otherwise you might die. Other large items you might want to bring but probably won’t: - a printer - a coffeemaker - an electric kettle - a sleeping bag Ta-da! Now you will be more prepared for COT than I was!