A glimpse into the high-stress world of Planet OCS: from Marine to law student

No joke, stepping off that bus was like stepping into another dimension. Behind you was the world you knew: you were familiar with this world, you had a pretty good idea how it worked and you thought you were pretty badass for it. But once your foot left the bus and landed on that hot asphalt known as Brown Field — also known as Officer Candidate School (OCS) for the United States Marine Corps — you knew you were no longer in the world that you knew and loved.

Indeed, OCS is an environment unique unto itself, kinda like its own planet. Planet OCS – yeah that works. On Planet OCS there are no smiling faces and no one to help you find your way; instead it is populated by stern faces that have an inability to understand the idea of patience, or excuses. They’re basically the exact opposite of Walmart greeters. By the end of the first day you’ve been assigned to a platoon with 40 or so other dudes who are going to be more or less joined at your hip for the next 10 weeks.

The first few days of OCS consisted mainly of standing in line, getting gear issued, medical exams, and filling out mountains of paperwork; it wasn’t grueling by any means, just boring. As boring as it was, I remember looking back fondly on those days, mainly because as soon as your “in-processing” was finished your training could properly begin. This event is known as pick-up day. Pick-up day is when you meet your Platoon Staff for the first time; these are the men that will be responsible for molding you into Marine Officers. They lack any sense of sympathy or compassion for you; in fact they want you to fail, they try and make you fail, and the only way to communicate with them is by yelling at the top of your lungs.

A quick word on yelling: We’re not talking about yelling like you would at a football game or at a rock concert.  No, no, my friend. Yelling in the Marine sense means yelling as if your life depended on it, yelling so hard you feel like your veins in your neck are going to burst.

So after your cordial introduction to your platoon staff you start training. The main purpose of OCS is to train, screen, and evaluate each candidate for the potential to lead Marines. This is accomplished by constantly putting candidates in high stress situations. From the moment the lights come on at zero-five hundred till they go out at twenty-one hundred you are under a microscope.  Everything you do during the day is being observed and recorded in some way. Let me put it to you this way: Everything you do, literally every-frickin-thing is done a certain way: how your gear is stored, your posture in the chow hall, the way your rack is made, and so on. If you’re not doing it the right way, you are promptly called out and “counseled” by a member of your platoon staff.

The first few weeks can be surmised as living in a state of chaos. The easiest way to create chaos was to give your platoon a lot of tasks and not nearly enough time to complete them. Being under a “time-hack” creates a lot of stress especially when you know that there’s a drill instructor just waiting for you to fail. Basically you have no idea what’s going on. There were mornings where I would get chewed out so bad that I would have spittle on my face from being “counseled,” and I’d only been awake for three minutes. It seems like no matter what you do, it’s never right and you end up paying for it.

The surprising thing is that you actually get used to living on Planet OCS. You learn the routine, you learn from your mistakes and you figure stuff out. Once you start to see how OCS works, you realize that everything is done at OCS for a very specific purpose. The lack of sleep, the long hikes, the brutal physical workouts — it’s all done for a reason: to see if you can lead when you are completely worn out physically, mentally, and perhaps even emotionally. That’s what being a Marine is all about.

In the final weeks of OCS, I began to notice the change in myself and those around me. Without a doubt, OCS was the hardest thing that I had ever gone through, and to make it to the other side in one piece as a Second Lieutenant is a very empowering feeling. Not only that, but now I have a job waiting for me when I graduate. That’s a pretty good feeling to have as a 2L.

There’s a lot to this story that I left out. Some of it was intentional (there’s a lot that goes on at OCS, so if you really want to know you’re gonna have to go there yourself to find out), but it’s mostly because I have spent enough time on this blog and need to get back to working on things that I am going to get graded on.

So anyway, take it easy and I’ll probably see you around Green.

‘Rah, — Zak

— Zak Beasley, a second-year law student, is a KU Law Student Ambassador. Reach out to him at mckibbon@ku.edu.

Student org spotlight: Environmental Law Society

Environmental Law Society members plant a redbud tree on Jayhawk Boulevard during the Replant Mount Oread event in March 2012.

The Environmental Law Society welcomes its new members and supporters for 2012-13! The ELS hosted its kick-off meeting Tuesday, Sept. 18 and introduced this year’s officers, faculty supporters, and upcoming events.

After a brief hiatus, the ELS came back full force last year, hosting a Career Options Panel, a nature walk, an Earth Day celebration, a talk by EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks, and participating in the Center for International Trade and Agriculture conference and the University’s Replant Mount Oread initiative. The KU Environmental Law Society was founded to gather KU Law students interested in environmentalism to learn about the practice of environmental law, to network with practicing environmental law attorneys and other professionals in related fields, and to contribute to our community through service projects that benefit the environment. To accomplish these missions, the organization is comprised of three committees: education, networking, and service, with each committee hosting events throughout the year.

This year’s events include the annual Career Options Panel on Oct. 16, fall and spring nature walks, an educational speaker in the spring, and participation in a conference on climate change and tribal nations on March 1 and Replant Mount Oread in the spring.

Environmental issues are relevant to us all personally, and will be relevant to most of us professionally. The ELS provides the perfect opportunity to prepare for a legal career in a world of ever-increasing environmental concerns. So get involved! For more information, visit KU Environmental Law Society on Facebook or email aazad89@hotmail.com.

— Ava Azad, president, Environmental Law Society

No sleeping on the job: Courtroom testimony provides pivotal personal moment for law student

Did you know that a billionaire is secretly building a small town near Paonia, Colo., called Bear Creek?

You can’t drive up and look at it. There is a gate that you won’t get past without proper identification. If you run into one of the construction workers at a bar, you better hope he or she is plowed if you want to get any information. Each worker signs a confidentiality agreement as part of the employment contract.

Here’s what I know for sure about the billionaire behind this secret multi-million project: “The only thing he can’t control is time.”

That’s a quote from a plaintiff witness testifying as to why additional crews were required for the subcontractor my firm was representing in a breach of contract lawsuit brought by the general contractor.

I was sitting behind the associate, who ably represented the subcontractor during the two-day bench trial, leaning on the bar and pinching my thigh to keep from falling asleep. (Dear 1L reader, no matter what anyone tells you, unless you are at the table, trials are deadly dull. Just don’t let the judge catch you snoozing.) But when I heard that particular statement come from the stand, my ears perked up like a Great Dane.

In my previous life, I used to cover the occasional trial for the little newspaper in my hometown. If I heard that kind of quote, I would bend over backwards to get it into a story. There are only 10 people on earth someone could say that about and really mean it, and I could tell by the look on his face that he was serious.

Maybe later on down the road I’ll be able to point to that moment as the one when I realized that I definitely wanted to be an attorney. By a month into law school, I knew that I liked being a law student. But that’s different than being a lawyer, isn’t it?

The thrill I felt at that moment was that the questioning attorney – who I don’t mind telling you I’ve known since I was in 7th grade and is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met – got someone to say something he’d rather he hadn’t.

Anything can happen at trial. As an attorney, your job is to anticipate the unexpected and be ready for it.

After the trial, I googled Bear Creek and busted my tail to find any other information out there about it. I even looked up the Delta County website, where I hoped to find some plans for the project. Instead, I discovered that Delta County spent $204,145 on its Meth Task Force in 2010. That’s a lotta dimp.

We wound up getting something of a 50/50 decision. Technically, we lost because we lost on the breach of contract claim, but we managed to avoid paying the other side’s attorney’s fees, which was a hell of a lot since they brought out the big guns, as you can imagine.

Meanwhile, maybe by the time you read this that mysterious billionaire may be enjoying the fruits of his labor. I can imagine someone like Conrad Hilton somewhere in Colorado, standing behind the bar of his saloon knocking back shots of whiskey, wiping the drips from his waxy mustache in total privacy.

— Matthew Moriarty is a KU Law 2L and worked as a summer associate at Balcomb & Green in Glenwood Springs, Colo.

Extra, extra! Kansas Law Free Press to publish first issue of academic year

The Kansas Law Free Press is a news publication written by students at KU Law. KLFP is about news things, big ideas, awkwardness, intellectual diversity, refinement, and getting to the point. It’s dedicated to informing, inspiring, and entertaining the students, faculty, and administration at KU Law as well as the community at large.

KLFP was founded two years ago by alumnus Slade Bond, L’11. Since its founding, KLFP has had more than 75,000 visitors. Recently, KLFP has appeared in the ABA Journal and Dime Magazine, and blogs like Deadspin, Above the Law, the Pitch, and USLaw.com.

Be sure to check out the KLFP website this coming Monday for this year’s first issue!

— TC DeBacco is editor-in-chief of the Kansas Law Free Press.

Student organization spotlight: Law Students for Reproductive Justice

KU’s chapter of Law Students for Reproductive Justice is part of a nationwide organization that believes reproductive justice will exist when all people can exercise the rights and access the resources they need to thrive and to decide whether, when and how to have and parent children with dignity, free from discrimination, coercion or violence.

The goals of this group are to advance understanding of reproductive justice and encourage multi-issue conversations and activism. Each fall, we have three webinars about why you should care about reproductive justice. Our main events last year focused on legislation having to do with reproductive rights. This year we are planning an event on domestic violence, a trivia night and an event on Roe v. Wade.

If you are interested in joining or learning more about Law Students for Reproductive Justice, you can join the KU Law Students for Reproductive Justice Facebook group. We will also be at the Welcome Picnic on Friday!

— Emily Warr, president, Law Students for Reproductive Justice

Student whistling new tune after summer internship at big law firm

novak

I never planned on working at a law firm. I started law school not knowing if I even wanted to be a lawyer. I didn’t know any attorneys growing up, and I was considerably unfamiliar with the practice of law. As I settled into my life as a law student and began to absorb all of the new subject matter, I realized being a lawyer might not be so bad—but I certainly was NOT going to work at a big law firm.  Not one of those cold, unfriendly detached places with demanding, workaholic attorneys. 
In early January, a friend talked me into attending Martin Pringle’s recruitment event, a Q&A; session about summer clerkships. I reluctantly agreed because I was absolutely NOT interested in working for a law firm.
I walked into the room a few minutes before it started. I was surprised to see four friendly faces at the front of the room, eager to answer all of our questions. I left that evening thinking, “If this is what working in a law firm is like, count me in!”
Sure enough, four months later I found myself living in Wichita, beginning my summer clerkship at Martin Pringle.
I sat down in the conference room on the first day facing two large portraits of the firm’s founders. As I nervously waited for the commencement of the orientation meeting, the official kick-off to the summer, I wondered, “Am I what they had in mind? Am I the kind of lawyer, the kind of person they would want representing their clients and the firm they worked so hard to build?” The thought only made me more nervous. Although I was a rookie at lawyering, I decided in that moment to tackle the summer head on and do everything possible to learn all I could in order to make them proud.
Soon after we finished our orientation, we were handed our first summer assignments. I was terrified. The short paragraph described a simple legal issue to research for one of the partners. It also contained words I had never seen in my life. I felt in over my head. I was drowning in a sea of legal terms and protocol that my first year of law school had not prepared me for.
The summer proved to be one new experience after another. Although I felt that I had learned so much in my first year of law school, I was quickly reminded I was but a legal novice. However, each assignment I was given was an amazing opportunity to research something new, a chance to immerse myself in an area of law I had never imagined I would encounter. After just a few weeks, I felt I had learned more than in my entire 1L year. I was now familiar with bankruptcy, employment law, medical malpractice and adoption law.
My new experiences didn’t stop with my legal research adventures in Westlaw. The summer’s extracurricular activities provided me with opportunities to add to my life’s resume. I went skeet shooting, played my first round of golf, and contributed to the Lawyer League summer softball championship victory. I tried cuisine from all over the world without leaving downtown Wichita. I met Chris Mann of “The Voice” fame, experienced the 4th of July in Andover (where fireworks are legal, and very popular) and participated in “burger week,” eating five of the greasiest burgers in Wichita in five days.
As the summer winds down, I can’t begin to explain how glad I am that I went to that Martin Pringle recruitment event. I am so glad I kept an open mind and gave this whole “law firm thing” a chance.  Thanks to my amazing opportunity at Martin Pringle, I have gained an incredible amount of knowledge, insight and skills that carry me confidently into my 2L year. I am now inspired to become the next U.S. Olympic skeet shooter, and I am now an expert in Wichita’s best burgers. Most of all, I am so honored I was able to meet and work with some of the state’s most talented, honest, passionate and hardworking lawyers.

— Whitney Novak is a second-year law student and a KU Law Student Ambassador.