For those who've been to Army Basic..

I just hit 20 years in the Army. Having said that, I am in no way an expert on current BT goings-on. However, JangoWes and Womo have it right...it's all mental. Don't let anything get to you personally, but don't giggle when they scream at you in a high-pitched voice (ok, you can laugh on the inside.)

If you're going to make a career of it, be an officer. I'm a Major now and miss being a platoon leader daily. You can't beat the pay for an officer.

Most importantly...don't go in planning on getting out of deployment. You may be sorely disappointed. Don't try to plan your short term life on not going overseas. When I first joined, that was possible. I never planned on getting deployed, but I hoped for it all the time. I even missed Desert Storm. I've been to Bosnia and Iraq and, now, I have no desire to go back. However, you MUST realize that it is your JOB to go to war. If you have any preconceived notions of somehow, someway getting out of it, don't sign on that dotted line. You're only deceiving yourself and insulting everyone to your left and your right as you're taking the oath.

Good luck

p.s. If I had it do all over again, I'd go Air Force...but that's just me. They have better food and better housing.

Peace, out.
 
You wont be dissapointed in this book. ill guarantee your purchase! Send it to me for a full refund (because someone is always ' borrowing' mine and i have to buy new ones, so might as well have a bunch:).

I mean, can you beat a third party guarentee?
 
I just hit 20 years in the Army. Having said that, I am in no way an expert on current BT goings-on. However, JangoWes and Womo have it right...it's all mental. Don't let anything get to you personally, but don't giggle when they scream at you in a high-pitched voice (ok, you can laugh on the inside.)

If you're going to make a career of it, be an officer. I'm a Major now and miss being a platoon leader daily. You can't beat the pay for an officer.

Most importantly...don't go in planning on getting out of deployment. You may be sorely disappointed. Don't try to plan your short term life on not going overseas. When I first joined, that was possible. I never planned on getting deployed, but I hoped for it all the time. I even missed Desert Storm. I've been to Bosnia and Iraq and, now, I have no desire to go back. However, you MUST realize that it is your JOB to go to war. If you have any preconceived notions of somehow, someway getting out of it, don't sign on that dotted line. You're only deceiving yourself and insulting everyone to your left and your right as you're taking the oath.

Good luck

p.s. If I had it do all over again, I'd go Air Force...but that's just me. They have better food and better housing.

Peace, out.

Well as for deployment, I am very well aware of that, and I accept that fact. Its just the way its sopposed to work out for me is that I sign with a national guard unit, who will not be getting deployed anytime around the time I would complete basic. What that will alow me to do once I return from basic, is I go back to tally, and contract with the army rotc. Once I do that, I will be listed as non-deployable, and be able to finish college, and then graduate/recieve my comission as an officer in the army
 
hahahah tinstar you are correct sir, got the joy of being deployed to ramstien afb back in 01 for support of enduring freedom, man do they have the best chow,land the barracks are really nice. was a bit of a culture shock when i didnt have to take my own tray up to the cleaning window after eating, they have contractors for that. ( and the marines say the army gets all the money )

as for choosing an mos, try to think of it like this: what do you like to do in your off time, if your a gear head like myself, maybe you'd want to go into a 63B field ( light/ heavey wheeled mechanic) and we're just about any where, or think of it like this, what do you want to do when you get out?

also found this for you Tuba, http://www.txsg.state.tx.us i believe that is the texas national guards website, im sure that you can find a contact info of some units close by and what they do.
 
A mini-hijack... Thanks for all those who have and still serve our country! I do not have the guts to do such a thing, I'm really glad others do.
 
hahahah tinstar you are correct sir, got the joy of being deployed to ramstien afb back in 01 for support of enduring freedom, man do they have the best chow,land the barracks are really nice. was a bit of a culture shock when i didnt have to take my own tray up to the cleaning window after eating, they have contractors for that. ( and the marines say the army gets all the money )

as for choosing an mos, try to think of it like this: what do you like to do in your off time, if your a gear head like myself, maybe you'd want to go into a 63B field ( light/ heavey wheeled mechanic) and we're just about any where, or think of it like this, what do you want to do when you get out?

also found this for you Tuba, http://www.txsg.state.tx.us i believe that is the texas national guards website, im sure that you can find a contact info of some units close by and what they do.

For the MOS, I will most likely just have to choose it based on time :facepalm
Only because of my college courses and whatnot will be affected, and I dont want to take a semester off. So I may have to go infantry or transportation, because those are the two shortest ones available. But I'll look at the others before I decide. Thanks for the link too!
 
Might I suggest something to do with a machine shop...that way, you can offer all sorts of goodies to us TDH monkeys. Does the military do anything with fiberglass or vacuumforming? I'll be the AIR FORCE DOES!!!! Sorry, that was uncalled for. :)
 
Im in the Army but never went to any Army basic but im going to guess its like any other boot. Looks like most was covered already.
 
Hey Tubachris,

As far picking an MOS, you'd want to pick something that you really want to do both in the Army and when you get out back into the civilian world. When I was active duty, I chose to be a jet engine specialist and worked on flat tops and fight decks on fast frigates, destroyers and cruisers. It was a great experience within my 9 yrs. active duty and 6 yrs. reserves but I got tired of getting dirty and smelling of grease and JP5 aircraft fuel that I decided to go into the IT field before I separated from my 9 yrs active duty tour.

Basic training to echo everyone else whose been through it, is all a mind game. Do what is required of you and do the best you can. It'll breeze through before you know it and being institutionalized is not so bad...you'll get used to it. You'll find that BT is not at all what it's like in the real military day to day life. So, with that said, I hope that you find the right MOS, good luck and thanks for your service to our country!

-Gene
 
For the MOS, I will most likely just have to choose it based on time :facepalm
Only because of my college courses and whatnot will be affected, and I dont want to take a semester off. So I may have to go infantry or transportation, because those are the two shortest ones available. But I'll look at the others before I decide. Thanks for the link too!

no prob tubachris and hell if you do choose infantry give me a yell when you get some down time in AIT, im right down the road in macon.
 
Here, coming from a guy who (like JangoWes right now as well) is over here in the sandbox right now... take it from me...

DONT JOIN THE INFANTRY!! OK?

I made the stupid mistake of thinking "Oh I want the biggest adrenaline rush and be a big bad A**"...EHHHHHHERHEHFHEHREHRHER!!! WRONG

Infantry Basic is one of the shortest Basic Training and AIT periods with only 15 Weeks. It was nice at Benning...I went in the dead of summer, it was nice and warm and I lost a bunch of weight, but it was a chore. 2,4,6,8,12 and 15 mile road marches, 7 day FTX periods, and lots and lots of PT. I love my job, but the honest to God fact about Infantry...YOU WILL SEE COMBAT...guaranteed. I am here and my first week in the middle east, I took hostile fire.

I'm National Guard in OK, so joining NG thinking you wont get deployed, big mistake. Now with ROTC...you will have to go to basic, and come out enlisted, and then go to ROTC which will make you a cadet. You will be under all officers and have maybe a LITTLE pull with your unit you are stationed to during your caDOT days. If you are already in college, and have been through basic, the minimum of ROTC you can do is 2 years...which will give you a 4 year contract as an officer. How ever many years of ROTC you do, double it and thats your officer contract.

Now you can go to basic, and look into getting to OCS where with atleast 60 college hours, you can direct commission in 2 1/2 months to 2LT. But ROTC, quite honestly is a joke. If you have questions man, let me know, I check this everday and I know alot of the legal and loopholes for the NG and Active Duty.
 
Here, coming from a guy who (like JangoWes right now as well) is over here in the sandbox right now... take it from me...

DONT JOIN THE INFANTRY!! OK?

I made the stupid mistake of thinking "Oh I want the biggest adrenaline rush and be a big bad A**"...EHHHHHHERHEHFHEHREHRHER!!! WRONG

Infantry Basic is one of the shortest Basic Training and AIT periods with only 15 Weeks. It was nice at Benning...I went in the dead of summer, it was nice and warm and I lost a bunch of weight, but it was a chore. 2,4,6,8,12 and 15 mile road marches, 7 day FTX periods, and lots and lots of PT. I love my job, but the honest to God fact about Infantry...YOU WILL SEE COMBAT...guaranteed. I am here and my first week in the middle east, I took hostile fire.

I'm National Guard in OK, so joining NG thinking you wont get deployed, big mistake. Now with ROTC...you will have to go to basic, and come out enlisted, and then go to ROTC which will make you a cadet. You will be under all officers and have maybe a LITTLE pull with your unit you are stationed to during your caDOT days. If you are already in college, and have been through basic, the minimum of ROTC you can do is 2 years...which will give you a 4 year contract as an officer. How ever many years of ROTC you do, double it and thats your officer contract.

Now you can go to basic, and look into getting to OCS where with atleast 60 college hours, you can direct commission in 2 1/2 months to 2LT. But ROTC, quite honestly is a joke. If you have questions man, let me know, I check this everday and I know alot of the legal and loopholes for the NG and Active Duty.


One of my main reasons for wanting to do basic throught the national guard is really to help me get into shape. Like I mentiond in my earlier post, I cannot contract the way I am with the body mass requirements. In fact, I remember when they first anounced it, I was training with coasties at the local station. Alot of them just got really angry, really fast, because most of them in their freetime just hit the station's gym and lift.

Back on topic. Another reason for doing this, is that I wouldnt be the first person doing this. In fact, a large portion of our ROTC battalion has already done the national guard/contract with ROTC thing. From what Ive been told, we had an instructor who was able to pull alot of strings in favor of the rotc program, with the national guard.

Its just a very common thing that the cadets up here do. Like I said, Im going to sit down with my instructors about this before I sign anything.

EDIT: High school Army JROTC is a joke....
 
I just have to reiterate what Gilmore said, DO NOT JOIN THE INFANTRY and expect to come out of the Army with a usable skill set. For some reason hitman and mercenary work isn’t the best of career choices after you getting out of the Army.
I was with 2nd Ranger Batt. out of FT. Lewis, WA and got to play in both sandboxes. Got hurt while in or I would probably still be in. I take what I said back, if you want to go career go infantry, because after you hit your 20 or 25, you’ll be more then happy to retire and take it easy someplace for the rest of your life.

But as for infantry basic training, as long as you’re going 11B, it’s only 14 weeks or so. Depending on when your cycle starts you might get stuck with an extra zero weeks or two. The DI’s soul purpose in life is to break you down mentally and physically, then build you back up. So just take it day to day, and if it really starts getting to you just tell yourself “you’ll quit tomorrow”. Tell yourself that every morning and eventually you’ll be at graduation day and not need it anymore. Oh and don’t worry about being in great shape before you go off to BT, in fact you don’t want to stick out in anyway if you can avoid it. (Hope for a bunch of tall guys in your group Chris :lol:) The more you stand out, in good and bad ways, the more attention you’ll get from the DI’s. Attention is not good. Also the faster you can learn to shovel food into your mouth the better, and I hope you like grits. But besides all that stuff it’s only three months and a life time of memories.

On the subject of deployment, they suck and you’ll be bored a lot. Yes when you’re deployed in theater there will be those moments of absolute terror, but 99% of the time you’ll be bored out of your mind. Oh and a pet peeve of mine, KEEP YOUR –edit- ing RIFLE AND ARMOR WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES. Saw more soldiers then I cared too with out one or the other. Don’t care if your just walking down to the make shift PX, have the **** on, it will improve your chances out there.

Well I’ll rap this up by saying I never regretted a moment of being in (well except for the whole accident thing), but I do regretted not being able to still be in. So good luck with what ever you chose Chris.

Have a good one,
James
 
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