Oregon National Guard

Hello, My name is Cadet Patrone and I recently just graduated from OYCP in June '09.*





I was in Platoon 1 (male platoon) and I can tell you what goes on, The 1st 2 weeks are called "Pre-Challenge" its basically just 2 weeks of hell.. after pre-challenge the program gets easier cause you get adapted to the enviorment and the daily routine.*



Around 6:20 am we would wake up go to the bathroom then go outside and salute the flag, then we would go back inside eat breakfast.. after that we would clean the bay (giant room where we live) for about an hour to have it ready for inspection, then we would go to school untill 3 pm then after school we would go back to the bay get changed over into our PT clothes (physical training) and go do physical training untill about 5 pm then we would go salute the flag again then go eat dinner then after dinner we would go into the class room and have about 1-2 hours of silent reading/working on home work.. then we would go shower brush our teeth and all that.. then after that we would go back to the bay get changed over into our sleep gear and then we would go have snack, after that we would go back to the bay and read letters/write letters then we would go to sleep about 9:30 p.m * *







weekend schedule is pretty much the same except that we don't have school friday/sat/sunday and we would usually have community service projects during that time or work around the facility. The days go by pretty fast and sometimes I still can't belive I don't have to go back to OYCP and I have been out of their for about a month now.



Congragulations on your cadet! *

Thank you for your information. It really helps to know what their schedules are like. Any words of advice RE: how to handle visits home?

My advice would to be is to make their time home the best time they had in a long time and try to connect with your cadet as close as possible. The time home on breaks go by REALLY FAST.. so try to spend as much time with them as possible. When I came home for my breaks I was really relaxed and kind of got lazy cuz it felt good being away from OYCP lol!

I wish your cadets the best of luck and I pray they make it through the program I can feel the excitement going through their heads about 1st break I still remember the day when I got to go home for break.. my reccomendation would be to take them to a good resteraunt!*

Cadet Patrone,
Thank you for the wonderful information on how they spend their day. I often wonder what my daughter is doing during the day. Since pre-challenge is almost over I am glad it will get easier. I am counting the days for the first home visit.

i miss him so much i just want him to know i love u and you will get though it

Thank you so much for keeping in touch with us and I wish you lots of success. I have received only two letters but the second was much longer than the first and in both letters my son apologized which is something he never would of done before!!! He seems to be adjusting well and he did mention in his last letter that he wanted me to make him a big salad ??? and he couldn't wait for "fast food - taco bell, pizza, and burger king." He made me smile. Thank you again for helping to inform us moms.

your very welcome! But I forgot to mention all the IT sessions we have a day IT (Intensive Training) *where if we get in trouble we'd do like 30 pushups and all these exercises on the drill floor and we'd sweat really bad lol.. it was pretty bad we got used to it though and theres alot of other games they play when we got in trouble there!

Congratulations Cadet's
You have made it through Pre-Challenge! Way to go!
I am very proud of my daughter for making it this far and I am sure your parents are very proud as well. Keep up the good work.

Well I have only received one letter. In it was just some basics, I am hopeful for an apology or some mature insight in the coming ones. I did hear from OYCP last week, that my son was thinking of quitting. But after talking with the Platoon Leader (wonderful guy) I feel much better and have not heard another word. My son's mentor heard from the program this week regarding his training and such on mentoring and OYCP mentioned that already 9 people have quit and that this class is doing well, usually by this time they have twice as many quitting. I am so proud of him for graduating through Pre-Challenge today. I know that going to school on Monday will really help him and his situation.
So appreciative for this board to post our thoughts and such, it's so comforting knowing that other Mom's are feeling the same anxiousness as I am.

I was so happy to take the time and go through the images. I found 3 pictures of him, not looking half as destitute as I had envisioned!