I know when I first decided I wanted to join the US Army I scoured the internet for any information as to what basic training would be like. Any inside info about drill sergeants, phone privileges, the PT we would do, ect. I had a lot of trouble finding out much from a female’s perspective too so I want to throw a little more information out into the void. Feel free to message me if you have any questions too.
I went to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma from January to March. I get migraines very easily in the heat and thought I could get around them in the winter. But let me tell you that Oklahoma in the winter was the WORST part about basic training. The wind made it colder than you could possibly imagine. We did a lot of standing outside in lines waiting for it to be our turn to do whatever training we had that day. There is no escaping the wind or activity to keep us warm. We even had people from Michigan who couldn’t handle it. But I was also informed that the flat, mostly treeless terrain was also especially terrible in the summer. So. Oklahoma is just a terrible place all around.
The beginning is the worst. The week you spend at reception is going to be long and tiring. Don’t be caught falling asleep even though you’ll lose the most sleep the first couple of days. I only had two hours on my first night. Also, DRINK WATER. You’d be surprised how crappy you feel without drinking a ton of it. And no, you can’t bring aspirin or any medication at all so that headache you have from being dehydrated is yours to deal with.
As far as meeting the real drill sergeants (not the ones that supervise reception) expect a show. We learned in later weeks they call it the “Shark Attack” when they first meet us. You will do nothing right, and even when you do, you’re still wrong. You won’t be fast enough, you wont do it correctly, your push ups will need more push ups. Just keep your head down and push though it. Even if you can’t do a single push up you get props for giving 100%. Don’t be the person who stops or gives up. I promise, they will turn your platoon against you. We were out doing push ups for an additional half hour just because one guy stopped. Don’t be a buddy fucker. These fuck fuck games will last the first couple weeks (we had to wear colored jerseys until the DS learned our names.) This was a giant “look at me” to all other drill sergeants in other companies. They will also mess with you. Don’t say anything other than “Yes Drill Sergeant” or “No Drill Sergeant” and for the love of god don’t call anyone “sir” or “ma’am.”
Just keep your head down, don’t try to stand out in either a good or bad way. There were some who wanted to show off their super leadership skills, and that’s cool, just know if you fuck up even a little bit (and you will) you are going to be destroyed and your super leadership skills are going to be insulted and dragged through the mud. Do yourself a favor and save that crap for the real army.
Are there shower drills? For some yes, for some no. Each company is different. My company DID have them because we had open showers. These are necessary because when you are being screamed at while trying to shower nobody has time to look at anybody else. After doing that a few days nobody cares about anyone seeing them naked. We were told in blue phase these drills were there to ensure people showered because they’ve had people not shower because they were shy. Gross.
As for phones. Every company and even platoon is different. 1st platoon had their phones every sunday for 2 hours once they got to white phase. I got my phone twice for 40 minutes the whole ten weeks I was there. One platoon got a 5 minute phone call to inform family of their mailing address. And that was it. There is no set rule.
Don’t expect every drill sergeant to be the same. My two drill sergeants were very quiet, they never yelled at all. But they were also the strictest out of the whole company, if you fucked up, they would fuck you up. Other platoons had drill sergeants who lived to play fuck fuck games. They enjoyed messing with you. The DS that ran the female bay was one off those DS’s. He made us move all of our shit outside. Legit all of it. We had to take down our beds, our mattresses, our belongings, all of it. We set it up outside. He evicted us all day and made us set up tents with a guarded perimeter. If we had to change or go to the bathroom we had to walk a quarter of a mile to the two port-o-potties at the PT field. The males thought it was pretty funny and made some joking comments when they passed by and they were also promptly evicted just for laughing. At the end of the day we had 90 minutes to pack up our tents, shit, and beds and get it all back inside the bay. We did this three days in a row. How did we do all this in 90 minutes? We didn’t. And we were smoked.
You’ll qualify with your weapon. I PROMISE you that you will. My weapon jammed and i missed every single one of my targets. But “dirt” must have popped up and knocked those targets down. Its ridiculous and infuriating for those who wanted more time to actually try to qualify.
For the females, I didn’t get my period once while I was there. Other girls were on their period the entire time. Stock up on black underwear and tampons just in case.
Tell your family to address you by your rank on your letters. NO first names first. As in “PVT Doe, John” is the only acceptable format. And don’t send big or colored envelopes. They can smell birthday cards. And you don’t want them to know it’s your birthday.
As for PT we didn’t do much of it at all. We had it almost every morning at 5am except on Sundays. It was incredibly easy and we went on runs maybe 3 times the whole ten weeks. So if you aren’t a strong runner, you should brush up on it before you come or you’ll fail your PT tests.
I wasn’t a strong runner and I would barely pass my run when I came, we walked everywhere we went so that helped me shave off some time. But not much. Just enough to push me over 60 percent which is required to pass BCT.
Although if you’re going to BCT after October 2015 you’ll most likely get way more PT opportunities because they are changing the whole program to focus a lot more on PT. So I can’t give much more info there.
The gas chamber sucked. Not much else to say about it other than that. It only lasts like 20 seconds. If you have a runny nose, it will clear you right up.
The tower was fun and scary. Just don’t look down and enjoy it. You won’t fall, you are very safe.
Our FTX was cut short by a day. We stayed outside in our tents in the freezing cold, nobody slept much more than an hour or two that night. Even in full clothes and three layers of sleeping bags. We finished up the training that day and were taken back to the company because the weather called for heavy snow. Some were bummed, others were excited. If you like playing “soldier” then you’ll enjoy FTX. If you’re not as outdoorsy, then you’ll probably rather it over sooner. haha.
As for the ruck marches, the 4k, 8k, and 12k were the worst. I especially had a hard time on the 8k because my boots were still new and it was a much longer ruck. It is also a very fast pace for these three rucks. They will put the shortest people up front with the guise that we will be going “their pace” but that is crap and you will pushed to go slightly faster than what is comfortable with all the heavy gear. A lot of people dumped out their canteens on the walk to lessen the weight. Just don’t dump your camelbak. If you pass out and they find out you dumped all your water, it won’t end well for you.
You will be happy to know though that the 16k is the easiest ruck of them all. I read this on a blog before I went and did not believe them when they said that it would be easy, but they were completely right. The pace was slow, almost leisurely. It was also the last requirement for basic training. All of us had huge smiles on our face the whole time. The chaplain walked with us and he told us this ruck was always the easiest because we “were walking home.” And it was so true. My company walked back to our bays and the moon was full and low in the sky. It was a deep orange. We immediately proceeded to go to the personal graduation ceremony the drill sergeants put on for us. It’s where we first were told we were soldiers. I’m not sure if all companies do it, but I won’t tell you details because its an amazing experience and there wasn’t a dry eye during the whole ceremony. Just know that it will be something you’ll never forget or completely be able to describe to anyone else who didn’t experience it with you. The feeling of pride is just hard to communicate.
I wish you so much luck as a future soldier. The military has many ups and downs but you’ll make it through if you have the mental strength to do it. BCT is only a mind game and if you can play it, you’ll be just fine. If anything gets to overwhelming (and it will) just go away in your head. You’ll make it through. Hooah.
-Leave all scented items at home. And only bring small travel sizes of shampoo and soaps. You can buy full bottles when you get there. You’ll be supplied with the money to do so.
-Take quite a bit of nude, black, or white underwear. They have some at the PX, but they won’t fit you and they only have them in white. Leave the lacy or colorful stuff at home, they’ll throw it away. Males are issued underwear.
-I slept in my sleeping bag at night. That way I only had to fluff my pillow and pack it away rather than make my bed every morning. It let me sleep a little longer.
-Buy yourself a black, sturdy watch. There are no clocks and you’ll never want to be late for anything. It’s also good to have an alarm on it. I would wake up 5 minutes before lights on because I preferred to wake up in the dark rather than have a blinding light wake me up.
-Living with other people was perhaps one of the worst things to deal with. There were a few fights and arguments that happened in both female and male bays. Don’t get involved, let them yell at each other, stay Switzerland in everything. You don’t want the aggravation. But with all the crap you’ll deal with, you’ll also make amazing friends and have a lot of fun with them.
-There is no one way to act around a drill sergeant, just stay respectful and they’ll let you know what they expect out of you.
-Shower. Nobody likes you if you smell, you get sick more if you’re dirty, and wash your hands because I bet you a million bucks someone is going to get pink eye. And oh my god, COUGH INTO YOUR ELBOW. Not your hands, not on the back of your battle’s neck, IN YOUR ELBOW. Some people did not understand this at all and it got everyone sick. Don’t be disgusting.
-Store some napkins in the back of your camelbak. Not all ranges have toilet paper out there and nobody cares.
-Be prepared for the MRE farts. Those disgusting packs of dehydrated food will give everyone a type of gas that cannot be described.
-Go for the vegetarian MRE’s. The Cheese Tortellini was pretty good but most of the main meals are gross. It’s the sides you want. Vegetarian’s almost always have candy in them. If you get vanilla pudding, it looks gross, but try it. It tastes like cake batter and I’m so mad it took me 7 weeks to finally try one. Stay away from anything that says “sausage” on the label. They have the worst food and sides. Maple sausage and sausage and gravy in particular. Food is everything at BCT.
-You won’t survive if you’re vegan. There is literally nothing vegan to eat. You’ll manage if you’re vegetarian. Just get used to a lot of PB&J.
- You’ll live for DFAC breakfasts. Eat as much as you can, you’ll need the energy. If you’re worried about gaining weight, you know your body more than I would. I gain weight at the drop of a hat and I ate a ton. We just walked so much that even though I ate a ton of food I still lost 15 pounds being there. Just make sure you don’t keep the habit up once you leave BCT. You’ll gain it all back. haha.
-There will be shit bags there that have no business being there. Usually it’s the guys who says “I joined because I want to shoot people in the face legally” or the super sassy girls who “don’t give a fuck.”
-The people who bleed red, white, and hooah are JUST as annoying as the shit bags. They will suck up to the DS’s and will be labeled Drill Privates. Just ignore them. It drives them crazy when nobody acknowledges their greatness.
-Get your hair to its natural color or the DS’s will do it. You don’t want them doing it.
-Make friends, they make life so much more enjoyable and they will push you to succeed. Having that support can make all the difference when you feel like you can’t make it anymore. I had one battle that was a PT buff. He always finished his PT test then came and ran with me for the rest of my run. It made a big difference for me.
-If you’re married, it’s going to be harder on you. Especially if you have kids. You’ll get picked on for all the mail you get. But you’ll live for those letters from home.
-Enjoy the little things. It keeps you going. Enjoy good weather, the snow, the ability to sleep in until 7am on Sundays or holidays, the cheeseburgers served on Sundays, having the showers to yourself, ect. Little things.
-Good luck future battles! If you need anymore information or have questions just message me.
I’ll be doing another entry later for those who have the MOS 35P. I had a hard time learning anything about my MOS and this may help you out a little!
