My son is wanting to enlist in the Army.

He's taken the ASVAB or whatever it's called now, got a 98 or something and can choose whatever MOS he wants.
He's smart ( smarter than me )but he's not in good shape. Not fat just out of shape pretty bad.

The recruiter he initially talked to wasn't there when he took his test, just the office NCO in charge.  
After the test the NCOIC told him the test was only good for 30 days.
He could go to MEPS nad would then leave for Basics within 2 months.

Not enough time for him to get in the shape I want him to be in when he goes.
I want him to at least be able to do the minimum standards on the PT test.
I've seen when I was a lot of people get discharged due to poor performance while in basics and don't want my son to experience that.

Question is , does the Army still have the Delayed Entry Program ?

When I enlisted in the Mid-80's, I was automatically put in it because they didn't run Basics through Christmas which would be close to my start date.
I left in mid January.
You used to could wait up to a year, he doesn't need that long but he does need several months of training.

Thanks

If I remember correctly, the first few APFTs were just diagnostic ones. The one(s) that count are toward the end, before OSUT/AIT. It obviously helps to do the work before he goes in, especially to put him in a spot where he's competitive for the handful of airborne/rasp slots the DS can hand out. I went in at 24 in meh shape and the first couple months the 18 year old recent high school athletes ran circles around me. By the end of everything, I was smoking them on runs and the APFT.

The line about ASVAB only being good for 30 days smells like recruiter horseshit. In 2009, I took mine at MEPs in Dec, signed the paperwork in March, then signed the real paperwork and shipped in May.

Maybe sign him up for a month or two of crossfit/hiit gyms. I wouldn't worry too much about it though. A few months at Benning does wonders

I was part of the delayed entry program. But, that was due to me enlisting when I was 17 so I still had to finish my senior year prior to shipping. That was 2007-2008 timeframe.  I’m not sure what other reasons qualify for that program.

Can your son pass the minimum standards now? Should be 42 push-ups and 52 sit-ups in 2 minutes and then a 15:54 two mile run.

I was thinking it was fishy too.
Gave my son a line of , " why would the Army pay for your physical and then have to wait on you to leave, and your mos might not be available for you if you waited ".

I told my son that's what contracts are for, your mos slot is there for you once you sign that contract.

We've already been working on the PT.
Walking, starting to run a little now, and our first hike last week, was 8.5 miles . He had a 15lb bag of rocks plus water bladder. He's carrying my old med.alice.

He's probably not going 11b. He's thinking Intelligence right now but not completely decided.

I thought the ASVAB part was complete B.S. but I couldn't remember what it was when I took it, and things could of changed since my time.
We're working on the PT  already.
Today we are doing a 5 - 6 mile hike ( wife going also so we'll see " and tomorrow we'll do at least 5 miles, carrying weighted rucks. I even have him carrying a 9lb barbell to simulate the rifle.

His feet are not conditioned at all so trying to get that done along with his shoulders for ruck marches.

He's working on his pushups and situps and doing walk/runs building up to straight runs.

He'll get there, motivation is pretty high right now.
I'm doing everything with him as much as time permits to help keep his motivation up. Except the barbell part.

My recruiters used to do PT a couple times a week. That might be a question for him to ask them. Typical "morning PT" stuff, along with some D&C. That helped.

My feet fell apart on me, bad on the 8, 10 & 12 milers. Ball/heels coming off bad. I remember a couple days after the last march, we were marching around in our Class Bs for some reason, I was almost in tears and nearly falling out because my damn feet hurt so bad. Good times

On our 8 miler his feet got a few blisters, he was hurting a bit, but he got some bad leg cramps about 6 miles into it.
He stuck it out but be was grunting that last half mile.

Last year we went camping, did a 6 miler our day and a 12 miler the second.
Our packs were much heavier. Mine was like 28 lbs and his was around 22-23.

Which I'd like to ask another question.

When I went we were issued the old black leather combat boots with chevron tread. ( which wore out quick ) but the insoles just has a plastic type mesh thing.
Those sucked, got some insoles from the PX to help.

Are the issue boots now better ?
Would he need to take a good pair or two of insoles ?

The two sets I was initially issued were made by Altama, and they were not great, but not horrible. They weren't mesh though. I don't know if he's going to be able to use insoles if he brings them. Our bags and civ clothes stayed locked away until near the end. That may be something he could snag if he needs them,  if/when he gets a chance to run to the PX, or you could try to mail them to him after 3-4 weeks.

Thanks

I just remember the ones they issued us sucked balls.
Got some just plane flat insoles, best they had there at the time and placed those over the mesh ones.

Boots were ok once they were broke in but by the the tread was gone.

New ones sound a little better at least.
I heard the " Happy Feet " ones I think that's the name are good.
Pricey but good.

Hopefully his feet will harden up soon.
Our hike yesterday was only 5 miles with a 15lb ruck , not counting water.
He still got some decent blisters. Better now than later though.

I appreciate all the feed back.

I'd work something out with him to go to a Hiit (high intensity interval training) gym for at least a couple months prior, and make him go at least 4-5 days a week. You do so much random, different shit, and the classes are kind of structured like morning PT type/WOD things. It's not a lot of heavy weight, but a lot of body weight/ kettle bell/ pushup type stuff. I wish I would have even known that was a thing before/while I was in.

Push him to try to get jump school in his contract before he signs. I'm a little biased, but he'll end up being around better dudes in the long run, whether it's AK, NC, or Italy.

Just a little update to maybe help someone else in the future .

Learned after having to call another recruiter in another area.
Called the main recruiting command number but its just a switchboard, no help at all.

The ASVAB or whatever its called now is good for two years.

They don't really have the formal delayed entry program anymore but you can delay depending on your MOS and when the school for said MOS starts.

May be at a later date he can look at a Cross fit place. Right now his schedule isn't going to work.

He is kicking butt on his exercising.
He's working on his running, pushups and setups everyday and we've done several ruck hikes .
The last one was only 5 miles but his feet are still getting tore up.

To much time on his butt and not on his feet. He's realizing why I was always on him about staying off the games so much now.

Have some new boots coming in this week and we'll do a few 3-4 miles on our property to help break them in before we hit the hills and rocks of our state park trails.

Thanks again for all the help.

more importantly is what MOS does he want? this will play a big part of what level of fitness he needs to be in before shipping out.
I was in the DEP, signed in Nov 2011 and shipped in April 2012.

If you can get him into the 200-220ish apft range, his time in basic will take care of the rest, and he'll be in a good spot. My first one was about a 210, and my final one was a 285 before I left Benning.

We would usually have an hour or so of time each night we were left alone in the barracks. My buddy guilted me into doing pushup/situp routines routines with him for like 20-30 mins each night, and that helped so much.

This may be restating the obvious, since you've already been there, done that, but.. food for thought:
If he doesn't already, get him setup with a larger national bank checking account that isn't going to rake him over the coals in monthly fees, direct deposit, or debit fees. Send him with that account number & routing number, plus the card. At benning, if you didn't show up with an account, or didn't know, they set you up with a local shitty bank that was really expensive, with monthly fees and stupid debit fees. Plus it's a pain in the ass to switch over and close that old account later, (especially as a new PVT) so it's better to keep the same one throughout. I used BofA, and it's been good so far.

Along the same line, make sure he has at least $1000 in that account before he leaves. I don't know if he works, or if you want to work out a loan, or just give it to him. He's going to have an opportunity to spend a little money to make life a little more comfortable. One of the civ people fucked up typing in my routing number, and I didn't end up getting paid until about week 9. It was a clusterfuck to get that fixed. I went in at 24, so I had more than enough in savings to float that, but $1k is good "just in case" money.