Posted: 12/21/2007 7:21:41 PM EDT
| Today i swore into the US Army, I am leaving for basic an Jan 15, Does anyone have any tips to help me get through basic? |
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I'm sure the basic principles haven't changed too much since I blogged my way through Basic. The Manic Diaries However, if it has to be summarised. Rule 1: Do what you're told. Rule 2: Do what you're told. Rule 3: Damnit, do what you're told. Otherwise, as long as you're in the right place, at the right time, in the right uniform, and with the right equipment, you're going to be sorted. Basic is unpleasant, but easy. You will be spoon-fed everything. 
I had one or two good gigs from volunteering. The catch is you never know in advance if it's something you want to volunteer for, or something you want to avoid. In my case, volunteering to be the Housemouse (book keeper for the platoon, really) got me out of more than a couple of pain sessions as I just quietly filed paperwork in the Drill Sergeants' office while I could hear the entire rest of the platoon doing sense-of-urgency drills racing up and down the building. What you want to avoid is volunteering for everything. But volunteering for nothing, ever, will also attract negative attention. NTM |
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The worst part of Basic Training is that it comes at you fast and hard and doesnt ever stop. It's like working for the Post Office as a mail sorter but having to sleep at work and never getting any time alone to unwind. The only thing to remember is that they will not get rid of you, you will have to quit. Just keep pushing and eventually it's over and you'll look back on it and realize that it wasnt actually hard, it was just stressful because there was no down time to relax and collect yourself. |
+1 Don't be too eager to volunteer, but NEVER make them ask twice. |
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It's been nearly 15 years since I went through, but here are a few words: -Never be the first or second in line to turn in your weapon after cleaning it. It won't matter if it's spotless. You'll get sent back. -Don't be a prissy about getting your hands dirty. You'll be cleaning the latrine, buffing floors, digging trenches, doing KP, etc. Do what needs to be done without complaining. -Pay attention in the sections of BRM that come before actual firing. Dime-washer drills, sight picture, grip, stance, trigger pull; they all make a big difference. -Treat the drill sergeants with respect. Never engage in discussions/bitching with another private about the drill sergeants, since they will inevitably overhear it. That ends poorly. -Pay attention to your muzzle at all times. Never sweep anybody with it except the enemy. -Start doing pushups, situps, pullups, and running now. Make sure you are using proper form. For a pushup, keep your back straight, facing forward, go down until your upper arms are parallel to the floor. Anything else and you're just wasting energy. One, one, one, one, two, two... -Counter-columns suck. More so if you're the squad leader. -They aren't putting saltpeter in your food. You just have no energy left for thinking about sex. -No private attempted to kill himself by throwing a floor buffer out the window. Most of all, you have my thanks. This nation needs young men and women to stand up and take responsibility for our freedom, and you've just shouldered that burden. You will always be a brother to our men in arms, and you shoud be proud of that.  |
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1. Forget about the outside world - Just pretend it's not there, you don't need distractions. If she's gonna cheat on you while you're gone, she's gonna eventually cheat on you while you're there. Don't act surprised and feign dismay when you get a Red Cross message from your overly-protective mommy either. Grandma was getting old, old people die, it's part of their job-description. No, you can't go home on emergency leave. 2. Set your personal/ financial affairs in order before you go - Have a good bank account with electronic access/ debit card access. Some folks think that the military is some sort of fucking social program, well... it sure as fuck isn't. Get your shit straight before you show up, it's not a convenient time to "explore" your identity or "get back to your roots" or "dry up from heroine". That shit gets wadded up tight and sent to the fucking house. 3. Be prepared to deal with dumbasses - There are a lot of dumbasses in this country, just like any other part of society... they've penetrated the military too. Some even vote democrat, it's that bad sometime. Some of the folks you have to work with, you won't like. Deal with it, it's called Life. 4. Don't be a dumbass - You know that part of society I was just commenting on? Don't get lumped into that group. Most Drill Sergeants are conservative, if not full-blown Republican. Don't paint yourself with a laser and act stupid, that includes contraband, riding sick call and shit like that. Yes, Drill Sergeants know where all the hiding spots are... Yes, some are bored enough to put an infrared-flash, low-light digital game camera mounted in a welded ammo can in some of those places. 5. Don't listen to PNN (the Private News Network) - Learn how to sift through bullshit. That guy that says he has a different colored Mustang and matching Rolex for every day of the week... yeah, he's lying. I think Nietzsche said it best: "Deal not with retards, lest ye become a fucking retard as well" 6. Follow the four rules of safe firearms handling - Unless you want to end up on the operating end of an 11W hate-powered Belleville. The second you're unsafe with a weapon you've volunteered to be a practice dummy for Modern Army Combatives. Keep in mind, Drill Sergeants are pack-hunters... it's never just one. Last piece of advice: if there's a really funny private that does a great impersonation of one of the Drill Sergeants, stay away from him. He's traveling with his very own, customized, personalized, totally-portable Blast Radius®. |
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Stressfull? Yes Hard? Hell No Get you PT down now, it will make it that much easier. However, no matter how hard you train before you ship, the first week or two every muscle in your body will be on fire. You simply can not get some of the muscles the Drill Sgts can get when they smoke you. MEPS and Reception are the two worst parts, once day one starts it's all downhill. Good luck! ESSAYONS! |
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It helps if you have the same last name as someone else in your plt. My brother and I enlisted at the same time and was assigned to the same plt in BCT. 
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I had no chance of that! I have one of those unique Polish names. There was no hiding for me. However, at week 10 I was talking to the Plt Sgt and he stopped me and said - "wait, who are you?" I said "Pvt CB1 Drill Sgt", he said "who?" I said, "Number 303 Drill Sgt", he said "oh, Ok, carry on". Now that is invisible!
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Don't post on a board about your DI's while in training or AIT, cause you just don't know who knows who.... It happened on another board I frequent, the trainee learned a hard lesson. Basic isn't that bad, do what you are told, don't ever quit, and don't be last. There will be days when you think your Di's are out to get you , but they are just tearing you down and building you back up. Good luck. |
I've talked to at least one of my graduates on this board before. Not talking about someone behind their back is always sound advice. By the way, sometimes we are out to get you. |
Happened on this board too, trainee at jump school.
I'm 6'5", fresh off the boat with authentic Irish accent, older than most, E-4, going to OCS afterwards and prior foreign military service w/ jump wings to put on the US uniform. About the only thing I didn't do was show up at Ft Knox wearing a kilt. NTM |
Hey, I didn't want to scare him too much. 
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I went to Ft. Knox OSUT in 2002, and Ft. Leonard Wood BCT in 2007. I graduated 02 Nov, and I'm at a long AIT now. The difference between the two courses is night and day. Combat arms basic was hard, but everything ran smoothy. There are no females and discipline problems are not allowed to survive. The BCT I went to was not that hard. It had lots of male/female drama, and the PNN was one of the primary tools used for putting out information to the company. The cadre lied all the time, about all sorts of things. I don't know why. I just remember that at Ft. Knox, everything that was said was meant. It was difficult to get issues resolved at FLW, such as finance or administrative problems. People with discipline problems screwed over the whole platoon until the very end. There was never any individual punishment. BCT pissed me off pretty badly, but there was one DS in particular that I think I was lucky to have. Whenever the rest of the company was doing half assed training events, he was there making sure all his soldiers were either doing it right or getting their asses chewed. Ft. Knox had floor waxing, hard locker inspections, bunks thrown down stairs, individual smoking, and they never bullshitted us. If we were told we were getting smoked, we were getting smoked. If we were told a formation time, it never changed. We were trained one way and expected to perfrom the same way, all the time. All this was not the case at the BCT cycle I went to. I remember getting my ass chewed at buddy live fire because I had been trained to one standard in practice, and the NCO evaluating my performance expected a different standard. I hope you're doing OSUT for combat arms. Some of the people I recently graduated with are not very high speed. If you go to BCT, expect to be pissed of on a daily basis. Do the right thing and hope the definition of "the right thing" doesn't change without warning. And don't buy the laundry service. |
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Listen close to instructions do exactly s your told- nothing more-nothing less. Don't make the mistake of thinking it'll get easier at AIT. There were a lot of guys pissed off because AIT was worse than basic at Fort Jackson. It got easier for me, I came from Fort Knox
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That must have sucked.
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Good times!!
We had a dumb ass private in AIT whose father was a Army General, if he had been on the ball, he could had a full ride at USMA WP.
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