Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Dorm living.
If it is like the US military, keep two sets of everything. One set to display and one to use. Dust off the display set regularly.
Also, before the first couple of inspections, clean/dust/wipe/wash, etc. Make it spotless so that they have nothing to find. If you are squared away in other areas, they will remember how clean your room was/is and are less likely to spend much time inspecting it in the future.
I remember my 1st sergeant in Germany. He'd see it was my room, poke his head in the door to take a quick look around and then go to the next room. If he didn't like you he'd pull you sleeping bag out of your gear and turn it inside out. There is always a little dirt to be found along the seams. Well, except for my sleeping bag.
Same goes for the armorer. When you turn your weapon in, make sure it is spotless. If he doesn't find anything he is less likely to look at it very hard in subsequent inspections.
Can't add anything to this. This is exactly what I did in Army Basic Training and Officer Candidate School. Just don't screw up and tell them this is what you are doing. One of my bunkmates once told our Sergeant Major that is what he did and he trashed his locker and bunk for "cheating".
Also, to save yourself some time in the morning, don't actually sleep in your bed. Get an extra blanket and sleep on top of your made bed. That way, when you get up in the morning, you only have to put away a blanket and tighten up the bed covers from sleeping on it. You'll need to get under the bed and pull the blankets tight. It takes less than 2 minutes this way. If you actually sleep in the bed under the covers it will take a hell of a lot longer to make the bed correctly.
Also, what we did when we had to make our towels like 6 inches square or whatever is that we cut out pieces of cardboard 5 7/8" square and wrapped the towel around the cardboard then folded the towel behind the cardboard. We came up with this because my Basic Training drill sergeant would hold the ruler over the perfectly folded towel and say it looked good, but then he would press it down into the towel and it would expand to 6 1/2" or so and that gave him the reason to trash everything and throw it into the grass outside.
Like has been said, if they really want to keep you busy for a couple hours by making you re-do everything, they always will be able to find a speck of dirt or a piece of sand on the floor or something, so it is always a game. Keep a good attitude by knowing it's a game they are playing with you to break you down, and they will break you down.
One thing that actually made me feel better in OCS was knowing that the worst they could do is kill you and eat you, and they're not going to do that. All they can do is yell, cuss, maybe push you around, etc. If you can somehow get some No-Doz or other caffiene pills and keep them hidden, they will be benficial. I found that Afrin nose spray kept me buzzing sufficiently to keep me awake after going several days with little to no sleep, and if I was caught with it, it wasn't contraband. If you sleep, you die.
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