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Just graduated BCT from Ft Jackson and I go to AIT "soon".
Purpose of the post? For those interested in enlisting in the ARMY.
It will depend on your MOS, if you're going to Benning all I can say is have fun *thumbs up*. But say your BCT station is Ft Jackson, you will have the most fun you'll ever have in your life. That's sarcasm btw. Honestly people told me that it's mostly mental than physical, that's partly true. Red phase is going to be rough if you're way out of shape and even if you're in shape, you'll get into more shape. I did 30 push-ups on my first PT test and whipped out triple that on my EOC PT test. I lost 28 lbs in 10 weeks, that's pretty impressive. By white phase you'll be used to the physical part of BCT (if you don'y half "effort" anything) that it doesn't even matter anymore. Trust me, you'll be surprised with how much you'll improve in physical shape by the time you graduate.
There's nothing really hard about BCT. Some of the training you'll be doing are kinda hard but not really. Expect a lot of suck while you're in the first 3 weeks. I seriously wanted to quit during the first 3 weeks. I was sucking so hard that I was legitimately depressed. That's the breakdown phase. No matter how well off of a person/soldier you are, you will have it hard for red phase. Here's what caught me off guard in BCT, everything, and I MEAN EVERYTHING, you do in BCT will always be with a "battle buddy". The term individualism is non-existent in BCT. So guess what, it doesn't matter how high speed you are, if everyone else in your team isn't then you're just as bad as they are. That's what made BCT a little challenging, if it wasn't for that BCT would be a joke. Expect a lot of "corrective training", and A LOT of it because you got F'd over by that one guy in your platoon. Here's a tip, throw individualism out the window and help that guy out no matter how much you hate them. And rumors of white phase where they start concentrating on the bad individuals, nope guess what? It's always the same. My Platoon DS is from the 160th (Night Stalkers) so guess how that went for us. Not good, mass punished all the way til we graduated. And expect a lot of mistakes and hard times. Even you will have your dumb dumb moments where you will mess up real bad. I know I did even though I was squared away.
As far as the high speed training, you don't get that much. Red phase is mostly classroom training, white phase is mostly concentrated on your primary weapon (M16A2). For the most part, you don't really get to shoot much ammo at all and guess what you can't have fun shooting at all. You don't really get to do cool stuff til late blue phase where we shot with NVGs, did patrols in Humvees, assessed IED threats, played OPFOR for Battle Drills (Yes, we got to play OPFOR), and do really accurate simulated CLS that really give you a good experience when you do get a casualty while in combat. The last FTX you'll do is pretty fun. Don't expect much from issued gear, the stuff you wear in airsoft is better than what you'll be given in BCT. And if you think that hauling your airsoft gear around is rough, try hauling it around in BCT.
As far as everything, it wasn't really that bad. It was kinda fun, we did goof off and had a lot of stories out of BCT. If you work with other people, you'll get some fun moments with them. Honestly if you ask me about joining, I would say "Do it only if you're really committed". Don't do it coz you want to do something cool that you saw on Youtube or in the movies otherwise you'd hate it. It's not all high speed, you deal with SOPs, Illogical leadership, And trust me you'll have no word in anything at all. You are always wrong unless you have rank. I sat down doing stuff that has nothing to do with being a better soldier 70% of the time I was in BCT. So just say "Roger that" and execute no matter how stupid or unmotivated you are.
If you do go to BCT and you're going to Ft Jackson, Reception sucks coz they process you in 3-4 days when the recruiter say it's a week, so guess what? You're up for 2 days straight, I actually slept while walking in line (trust me you'll learn to fall asleep standing up). And if you ever get assigned to C co, 2nd Bn, 13th Inf Rgt, you are going to have fun *thumbs up*. Great memories.
Purpose of the post? For those interested in enlisting in the ARMY.
It will depend on your MOS, if you're going to Benning all I can say is have fun *thumbs up*. But say your BCT station is Ft Jackson, you will have the most fun you'll ever have in your life. That's sarcasm btw. Honestly people told me that it's mostly mental than physical, that's partly true. Red phase is going to be rough if you're way out of shape and even if you're in shape, you'll get into more shape. I did 30 push-ups on my first PT test and whipped out triple that on my EOC PT test. I lost 28 lbs in 10 weeks, that's pretty impressive. By white phase you'll be used to the physical part of BCT (if you don'y half "effort" anything) that it doesn't even matter anymore. Trust me, you'll be surprised with how much you'll improve in physical shape by the time you graduate.
There's nothing really hard about BCT. Some of the training you'll be doing are kinda hard but not really. Expect a lot of suck while you're in the first 3 weeks. I seriously wanted to quit during the first 3 weeks. I was sucking so hard that I was legitimately depressed. That's the breakdown phase. No matter how well off of a person/soldier you are, you will have it hard for red phase. Here's what caught me off guard in BCT, everything, and I MEAN EVERYTHING, you do in BCT will always be with a "battle buddy". The term individualism is non-existent in BCT. So guess what, it doesn't matter how high speed you are, if everyone else in your team isn't then you're just as bad as they are. That's what made BCT a little challenging, if it wasn't for that BCT would be a joke. Expect a lot of "corrective training", and A LOT of it because you got F'd over by that one guy in your platoon. Here's a tip, throw individualism out the window and help that guy out no matter how much you hate them. And rumors of white phase where they start concentrating on the bad individuals, nope guess what? It's always the same. My Platoon DS is from the 160th (Night Stalkers) so guess how that went for us. Not good, mass punished all the way til we graduated. And expect a lot of mistakes and hard times. Even you will have your dumb dumb moments where you will mess up real bad. I know I did even though I was squared away.
As far as the high speed training, you don't get that much. Red phase is mostly classroom training, white phase is mostly concentrated on your primary weapon (M16A2). For the most part, you don't really get to shoot much ammo at all and guess what you can't have fun shooting at all. You don't really get to do cool stuff til late blue phase where we shot with NVGs, did patrols in Humvees, assessed IED threats, played OPFOR for Battle Drills (Yes, we got to play OPFOR), and do really accurate simulated CLS that really give you a good experience when you do get a casualty while in combat. The last FTX you'll do is pretty fun. Don't expect much from issued gear, the stuff you wear in airsoft is better than what you'll be given in BCT. And if you think that hauling your airsoft gear around is rough, try hauling it around in BCT.
As far as everything, it wasn't really that bad. It was kinda fun, we did goof off and had a lot of stories out of BCT. If you work with other people, you'll get some fun moments with them. Honestly if you ask me about joining, I would say "Do it only if you're really committed". Don't do it coz you want to do something cool that you saw on Youtube or in the movies otherwise you'd hate it. It's not all high speed, you deal with SOPs, Illogical leadership, And trust me you'll have no word in anything at all. You are always wrong unless you have rank. I sat down doing stuff that has nothing to do with being a better soldier 70% of the time I was in BCT. So just say "Roger that" and execute no matter how stupid or unmotivated you are.
If you do go to BCT and you're going to Ft Jackson, Reception sucks coz they process you in 3-4 days when the recruiter say it's a week, so guess what? You're up for 2 days straight, I actually slept while walking in line (trust me you'll learn to fall asleep standing up). And if you ever get assigned to C co, 2nd Bn, 13th Inf Rgt, you are going to have fun *thumbs up*. Great memories.
