Posted: 9/16/2006 7:54:34 AM EDT
| Would anyone mind sharing their experience with the National Guard basic training? My brother has already joined and is going to basic in October, and I'm thinking of joining. I'm interested to hear (read) what other people thought of it and if anyone has any advice. |
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Getting smoked for 3 weeks straight to the point where you used to be able to do 70 pushups straight and then you can only do six is a very interesting ordeal hallenge5) Attention to detail 6) Team work is key 7) Help out people who are struggling, unless they refuse to train then segregate and ignore 8) Always Always lock up your shizzle 9) Never lose track of your rifle 10) Practice eating like a dog, real fast and not tasting the food 11) Get in the best shape you can before going 12) Its only 9 weeks so keep that in mind, don't ever quit. 13) If your in an OSUT program then its just straight "basic" with the same drill sergeants 14) People can and will steal everything, even underwear 15) Have a checking/savings account and bring at least one check or proof of account so they don't get you to use one of the areas banks. 16) Smart books will not make you smart 17) Gas masks suck when running uphill 18) Try not to fall asleep around the drill sergeants or in classes 19) The field is the funnest part 20) CS gas only sucks when in confined spaces like a gas chamber 21) If someone shows up in basic training and they don't speak any english then they are lying and might get you in deep shit |
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basic combat training is reumored to be pretty easy, and is frequently coed. (!) if you join with a combat arms MOS likeinfantry, armor, cavalry, combat engineer, etc. you will go to OSUT (one station unit training), which is hard. i was a cavalry scout, and the OSUT lasted 16 weeks at that particular time. |
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The only difference I can remember is that at about week 11 or 12 (infantry training) is that the NG/reserve guys went to seperate training for two days to learn riot control and some state law stuff. Us reg Army guys did armor friend/foe training those days. This was in 1984. I am sure it is different now. ETA this was for a Infantry 13 week OSUT cycle. |
Hey Chris! I was 11M '89 - '93. We did 16-week OSUT. Good to see another mech guy here. I stayed dismount, too - I hated mounted, though the 25 was fun to shoot. Nothing like the Bushmaster to give a guy a hard on. Let's see, in Basic we had a guy try to hang himself with a buffer cord from the barracks stairwell. Didn't work, and the DS caught him and smoked him 24/7 till his dishonorable came through. Doing the "sprinkler" sucks. Never break into a chorus of "Who built this mother fucker" on graduation day, even if the Senior DS tells you it is OK. Never get caught smoking when on KP. Never get caught writing, "24 and a wake-up" on a shitter wall. Never forget your third tent pole  when going to FTX.Never pack your toothpaste last in the duffel; when they throw your shit out of the cattle car, it tends to break open. Never say "OH! Fuck yeah!" when they use the ammo can filled with water for initial M-16 orientaton. Never forget the words, "Through explanation, demonstration, and practical application you will learn the procedures for the proper operation of <insert weapon or item here>." Never drop your dummy weapon when running out of the gas chamber. Never run out of the gas chamber. Never fall asleep leaning against a tree with your weapon next to you if a DS can grab it  Never use "Drill Instructor" or "Sir"!!!!!!!!!! It is DRILL SERGEANT!!!!!! Full Metal Jacket will NOT tell you what to call them. Never say "Sir, yes SIR!" See above. Never try and sneak brass off the range  Never trust a DS when they say, "Well sure you can have a cup of coffee!" when on FTX and you see they have their own line and container. Never answer if a DS asks you if you'll answer him if he asks you a personal question. Never do anything but push dirt if one DS tells you to take another DS's Brown Round off his head and step on it. Never forget your general orders. Never fart in the chow line, even if in the field. Never, ever, ever, say, "But I'm so tired!" Never, ever, ever ask a DS what he means by, "Grass Drill." Never score less than 270 on your PT test. Seriously. Don't! (That was the guy with the buffer and staircase from above )Never ask, "Don't we get grenades?" Never think they won't notice if you mix the left boot with the white-out dot with the right boot without the white out dot because you're too tired to shine both boots of one match. Ask me how I know this. No, a Butterbar will never fall for the entire squad saluting left handed, no matter how well you orchestrate it. Falling asleep on fireguard is a very, very bad thing. Yes, even in Battalion PT they notice slackers, so if you lay on your belly during pushups ("The PUSHUP!" The PUSHUP, HOOAH!") you WILL be smoked. Never confuse "smoking" with "smoking" in Basic. One is common, and one is forbidden. If a DS says "DROP!" never ask him why. Again, trust me on this. Not good. |
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RichardH247, That is 100% as I remember basic! Also, never, never every let your weapon slip out of your sweaty hand when the Captain is addressing the company! holy shit, I thought I was going to die from all the push ups. Almost made me want to tie a dummy cord from the rifle to my wrist! And you can NEVER run fast enough! |
wow never an issue in the Marines..we had name stamps issued to us and had to stamp everything.... 
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never, EVER, fall asleep unless it is time for lights out. never say thank you to the drills. drill sergeants are not "sergeants". never call drills "sir", they earn their money. learn the general orders and the warriors creed. if you take a nap on sunday, push your bunks up to hold the door shut, then claim you were waxing the floors. if you are ever doing anything you arent supposed to, send out an EWACs guy to patrol the hall and yell "at ease" at the first sight of a drill sgt. if they say you were wrong, never dispute it, even if you werent. never volunteer to be PG or bookman, as you will be both a bitch boy and the closest private whom the drill can vent frustrations on. if you hear the command "half right face", it is not a good thing. |
if its just push ups you can breathe a sigh of relief. there are things way worse than push ups. i finished a 5 mile BN run on friday, and right after we get into the quad and form up the commander tells us "extend to the left, MARCH!" we think we are going to be stretching out and he tells us "half right FACE!" man, i havent heard that shit since basic training. we got smoked after a five mile run just to be hooah. at least he got down with us.
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I swear that phrase sent a shiver down my spine whenever I heard it in OSUT all the way until....now Pushups were the least of the problem of being smoked, it was everything else. |
That wasn't to prevent thievery; they did it because they knew you Marines weren't capable of keeping track of your gear   .J/k. Thank you for your service, Marine. |
Ain't it the truth, bro. And who will EVER forget turning Blue? We had 6 in the Battalion pass out, and all of 'em were recycled. I told myself, "FUCK that! I've gone this long, I can go longer!" Man, that was some scary shit, though. I had NO idea how long I could keep my eyes open any longer, and I was the smallest guy so I was humping the Pig. Damn, that was the worst three hours of my life after the worst three hours of my life. Proudest day of my life when I Roped and Disked out. Yeah, it ain't the same as Blood Wings, but I'll never forget it. They all told me I never would, and I did. |
Half right face right after "Open Ranks..... March!" <shiver> |
You know it. May 92 Fort Sill, OK. RA. Memorable moments.... zero day having a Drill Sergeant jump in the cattle car(about 80 folks and ALL their gear), and scream we had 15 seconds to get to the drill pad which turned out to be 100 meters away. Guy breaking his arm getting out of the cattle car. Guy pissing his pants in front of a Drill Sergeant when were moving into the barracks. A week later, guy in front of me beating his head bloody on the concrete drill pad while doing push ups. He was gone not to long after that. Pulling KP, and being smoked on the chow hall loading dock. Doing mountain climbers, frog kicks, and flutter kicks till we puked. Fire Alarm being pulled by a Drill Sergeant at about 2 in the morning. Hispanic non English speaking Drill Sergeant screaming, "There are 150 fuckers of you--I'm going to PT all of you till you fucking die". Couple of jackasses fighting in the barracks. They spent 3 days tied to each other. Had a fuckup private in the platoon. Drill Sergeant made him smoke us. Drill Sergeant smacked a guy with a milk crate because he couldn't pass his push ups on a PT test. Me getting fucked with, and singled out the entire time because I was the ONLY trainee who didn't have a helmet cover(they issued me the wrong size). Drill Sergeants actually asking if I was OK after getting screwed up from a spider bite..sniff  .More stuff...fun times |
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cut your hair before you go, creative haircuts by the base barber are not pretty only take the bare necessity's to basic i swear we had guys bring multiple suitcases, if you go to fort Knox you will hate misery, agony and heartbreak never get caught smoking when not authorized. always remember 99% of it is mind games start running now and keep running everywhere maintain a very low profile set your watch alarm to go off 10 minutes before wake up, you can always be ahead of the game |
 
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My diary Almost six years old now, Basic has changed a fair bit, but I'm sure the fundamentals will remain the same. NTM |
heres some pics from my BCT cycle...     yeah, probably not the best one to show you..  whatever you do, dont sit on your bunks until its lights out. i was PG and had a little private bay on the other side of the hallway that nobody (even drills) would go into or even remember existed. this afforded us a few amenities.... |
Fort Knox! HooAH~!
we were allowed a disposable camera on the final FTX, the other pics are from the photo yearbook guy aafes sent out. my cycle was the first to get issued ACU's, i was pissed that the company following us got all the neat new TA50 stuff, like ACH helmets and molle vests. several months into my unit i still dont have any of that stuff. still friggin kpots and LBV's. |
Compared to my life since,basic(and Army)was super easy in comparison. Ft Knox,a female troop lost control of the 5-ton dump she was driving,on one of those hills,didn't have a prayer of getting out of it,the wreck sat in the state junkyard there at Knox for a long time. 
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That's an option in the Army? In the Air Force nobody has rank on their uniforms until the last week. Then from that point forward you are required to wear rank, a name badge or tape, Air Force tape in BDUs, and aviators wings if you have them. |
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Yeah Drill Sergeants usually don't try to remmember people's names or rank, unless you are a specialist coming in. Then you are screwed, its automatic responsibility on probably half of the platoon's mistakes. I don't remmember in Ft Leonardwood during OSUT being allowed to wear a unit patch |
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in my OSUT the NG guys were allowed to wear their state patch, basically because they knew for sure what unit they were going to. they got them sewed on their class a's as well. the active duty guys could have gone through 20 first duty station changes before we graduated, so there was no point. shit, my drill sergeant gave me a 3ID patch and unit crest for my beret when i left basic, i got to my duty station and they changed me from an armor BN to an infantry one at the last minute in base reception. the only people who were allowed to wear the ATB patch were the inserts, not even specialists coming in to basic. we did wear our ranks, but it really meant jack shit to anyone.. heres something funny i remember, i was talking to a buddy online on the boards about leaving for basic, he said his son was switching over from air force to army at the same time. i didnt really think much about it, then months later we got our inserts halfway through OSUT for gold phase. i was talking to one of the inserts (spc) assigned to my platoon coming back from a range and we were discussing guns. he told me his dad was into this and that, and whatnot. out of curiosity i asked where his dad was from. he told me and i blurted out his dads name. this guy was totally freaked out. he was the kid my buddy was talking about. he never even told me he was going into the same MOS as me, much less the odds of him coming to my company, then my platoon, then sitting next to me that day on the bus. small world. |