Off to Ft. Benning on Tuesday

Well my time has come, seemed like so far away when I enlisted back in November. I am shipping to Ft. Benning on Tuesday. I am 11X with an option 40.

Any last words of wisdom/advice? I have a long road ahead of me(OSUT, BAT, RASP) and I am ready to get it started.

Ian

dont volunteer for shit.
watch where you lay to pull security on road marches. seen a poor fucker lay in an anthill.
sand hill is full of fire ants.
when on bivouac keep your rifle secured or you could spend a long time on 75 percent security
if you go back to the company from the field make sure YOU put your shit on the truck before leaving.
remember its all a mindfuck. they are there to tear you down and rebuild you
do shave in the barracks, shaving in the field or in formation sucks.
dont be a blue falcon

Be invisible, never be wrong.

Accept you'll always be wrong, don't fight it or try to explain your point of view, you're wrong. Your DI knows all and the sooner you realize that, the better you'll be. Blend in, let someone else get all the attention and do what you're told. You'll be F'ed with no matter what, but it's only bad for 3-4 weeks, than things ease up.

Good luck & have fun, you'll look back at your Basic days with great memories as you grow older.

Mmm, its going to be warm. Enjoy weeks of 30th AG.

Be safe and shoot well.

i think 30th ag was worse than down range lol

Shut the hell up.
Listen intensely.
Do what you are told. see also - don't volunteer (unless it's a HSLD school you are volunteering for.)
The time will go by faster than you think and you'll be looking at graduation day.

Basic and AIT are just the beginning......



RLTW,
Prib

Exactly what I was thinking...only thing worse would be going a month later...or the month after that.

I went through in June/July


...it sucks, but it's not to bad.

You might go from OSUT straight to pre RASP. The Army is changing it up a little bit, too many dudes taking RASP contracts just to get airborne and then drop RASP. I'm in pre RASP and am going to airborne after i graduate here.

The Army is 90% bullshit, but the other 10% makes up for it. There will be times where you want to quit. Find a straw and suck it the fuck up.

Find out your goals, find out what you want out of the Army, and do it before you get out. Don't spend your civilian life saying, "Man, I should have dropped a Warrant packet." Or, "Man, I should have went to Selection." There are so many options in the Army and your success or failure is up to you. Your military career is what you make of it.

There's an unwritten rule that says everyone who went to OSUT before you had it harder than you. When you get to your unit, no one wants to hear about your time in OSUT. There will come a time when you're the one yelling at dumbass privates. Until then, do what you're told, shut the hell up, and listen to your NCO's. NCO's don't want to hear your excuses. Say "Roger" and drive on. Find out what you like about your NCO's style of leadership and what you hate about their style of leadership. Adopt the things you like. If you don't like the way your NCO's operate, well then get more rank and take their job.

Don't volunteer for anything in OSUT. When you leave OSUT, you better fucking volunteer, especially if it's a shit detail.

Thanks for all of the advice guys.

If you end up with D 1/50 say Hi to my old DS's for me. I think one or two are still there.

I don't understand this part..

C 2/19 here. i wonder where mine went and if they are members here

I'm saying if 1SG needs 10 soldiers for a detail and you're standing right in front of him, it wouldn't be wise to look the other direction and pretend you didn't hear him. Especially if you're a new private with a fuzzy patch on your chest. If an NCO calls for you, you better run. Move with a sense of urgency.

I'm not trying to give you tips for OSUT, I think you guys will do just fine.

Always do the right thing, even when no one is looking. Take pride in your work and take pride in your uniform and you'll be just fine.

Dont be a bitch. Being physically weak is being a bitch. Its only gotten easier, but the one thing that hasnt changed is the head games you will experience. By the time you get to Airborne all you will want is to have a normal existence again. Suck it up, complete Airborne and get your head on right for RASP. Grab your nuts, be a man and suck it up because it wont last forever.

be it I'm not an Opt 40, this advice is still sound advice.

thanks guys.

Im on my 36 pass right now. Week 1-3 are just a bitch. Like other posts its a constant mind fuck. If the DS threatens to restart you or your platoon dont worry about it. JUST DO WHAT YOUR TOLD. NO MORE NO LESS. Dont do anything unless told to by a DS in red phase. White phase and blue phase are easy. The DS leave early and you get alot more free time. When in formation just do your self a favor and dont move or speak at all. It will save you alot of grief. Accept the fact that you are going to get "corrective training" every time some one does something wrong. Keep your head up and you will do fine. BTW learn the soldiers creed, infantryman's creed, army song, and the infantry song before you get to basic. you will have two weeks at 30th ag before starting osut. DO NOT CARRY OVER ANY THING YOU LEARN THERE TO BASIC!!! Just learn those four things and you will be ahead of the game. Also make sure you have plenty of paper to write 1000 word essays during red phase for when people act stupid. I promise after red phase it gets easier and actually i think white and blue phase are easy. Good luck!

Best to you Ian...good advice given so far nothing to add...

One more day. Man, I remember the countdown like it was yesterday.

When you pull up in the bus, see your first Drill Sgt walk out of the building to your bus......well, you will remember that forever.

Thanks for all the words guys!

Nervous yet

Oh yeah one more thing....don't be another one of those douchbags who says "Hooah" all the fucking time. Shit gets old quick.

WORD!!

The DS's at 30th wanted us to say it.

Downrange. Day 1, sitting in "classroom" that evening after getting smoked all day Senior DS said. "First time I hear one of you mother fuckers say Hooah. I swear on your mothers beat up pussy I will end every single one of you"

Later found out it was just that. He didn't want us being that douchebag that runs around saying hooah all the time.


I swear. Looking back on it. The way the DS's teach you things is pure genius. You learn without even knowing it.

Reading this made realize that is was 20 years ago yesterday I shipped off for Fort Benning - B/1-19 Inf.

Good luck

i leave at the beginning of may lol, gonna be a hot one

My report date was 1 June last year to Benning. Yes, very warm. Heat Cat 5 quite often, usually one heat casualty and day, and one field exercise gave us 8 heat casualties.

Drink Waaatteeer!

Water sucks, Gatorade is better!

It will be 20 years in December since I was at Benning 3/32nd 11H. I thought that place was the worst mistake I ever made but twenty years later I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Could only have Gatorade during chow and only if that was back at the DFAC. In the field it's water, water, water.

Oh and the water was either warm or hot. Sat in our camelbacks all day and we refilled from a water tank towed behing a duce.

you know why they call them water buffalo's right???

i ship out the end of May.

Went there for Jump school back in 1974...Had my 19th BD they in July.....HOT! You'll do just fine....

20yrs Guard
MOS 43E Rigger
11B
63B
Got out on a Med, 2004. Worst mistake I ever made

Ours was brand new, so it wasnt too bad. At least the Drills put a ton of ice in it before we went to the field.

Whoa. You got ice? Lucky bastard.

We thought they named them Water Buffalo's because well thats kinda what it tasted and smelled like.

The ice was probably to ward off death. The company graduating 2 weeks before us had a guy go down on the long ruck (stairway to heaven) with a 108 temp.
We probably took 25 heat casualties the whole time.

Georgia is hot

I have been thinking of joining the Army myself. Saw the recruiter at the Home Depot and he told me to stop by his office... No idea if I will, though. So hung up on the USAF, but maybe the Army would get me in sooner?

the part in red. Why, and what's the rush?

Ah that makes sense. Our Co only had maybe 2 during OSUT and even then they weren't that serious. It was hot but not 108 hot.

I think he means 108 core temp, which is bad enough to kill someone.

When I was in SFAS, they showed us some videos of the PA and the 18D's working on guys who went down with core temps above 104. They were seizing and could have died. They were stripped naked, dumped in an ice bath, and given rectal cool water enemas. The point was to get us to drink the Oral Rehydration Salts and to drink lots and lots of water.

I remember getting water from these like, hanging duffel bag things they'd fill with ice in the morning that would melt into the water. It was like all of the water we had was ice cold and totally refreshing. Fucking awesome, almost forgot all about them until I read this thread.

Lister bags. They coat the outside of the canvas with water, and it works like a convection airconditioner like you see in a turkey house. The air wicks across the wet bag, drawing heat out of the bag and cooling the contents, the same way your skin works.

Very good, simple, and efficient idea.

I did way to many man down drills with ice sheets on dudes at Benning. And yes, the guy went down with a 108 core temp. Its amazing he lived.

My friend went down with a 108 while I was in OSUT, and he didn't make it. Pneumonia and heat cat is a really bad mix. When they took his oral temp it read 97 degrees, but when the EMT's arrived and took a rectal a short while later it was 108. He was airlifted to another hospital and put on dialysis while he was in a coma. His family made the decision to pull the plug after two weeks when it was confirmed he was brain dead.

Found this a little late.

Hopefully you will be able to serve in the best company there - B 3/32.

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