Almost 2 months since I graduated Basic and here some tips I can give: - Don’t EVER say the DS NAME!!! (Call them Male or Female DS or to be more specific, DS Juliet, Sierra by the first letter of their name to phonetic alphabet instead. - Don’t let your DS catch you in incomplete uniform! Whether it be PT or OCP - Don’t be LAZY! (You’ll know what I mean once you get there) - ORGANIZE! Very important since you only get little time to prepare yourself until the next formation. - Don’t bring contrabands such as food.. no matter how much you hide it, they’re gonna find it! Unless you got lucky - Don’t let them take your weapon ... - Don’t SMILE during formation especially when your teeth is showing. I got smoke because of this. - Always show up with your CamelBak full - This is an obvious one but don’t bully or talk down on someone. The consequences can actually be really bad - Don’t put your hands on your pocket.. just don’t. - Don’t EVER SLEEP during Class! And bring a Notebook and pen with you to take notes! There’s still a lot more tips, but these ones are just what I thought of for now.
White Dragon "- Don’t let them take your weapon ..." After my first FTX was done, my platoon was the last to get our ruck sacks out the truck after the other three platoons had gone back to their bays. One guy in the platoon put his weapon (don't ever call it a "gun" and we don't even call it "rifle" like other branches) behind him. One of the drill sergeants grabbed it immediately. He ordered all of us to immediately stop and form up. The drill sergeant made that dude get in front of everyone and hold his weapon from one end to the other in a squat position.... and then the drill ordered the rest of us to "half right face, front leaning rest position, move, 1, 2, 3" We were like "what did WE do?"
Don’t call the drill instructor sarge. There are 3 kinds of sarge at BT. Massarge. Sausarge. And passarge. If you call them sarge, they will massarge their sausarge into your passarge.
My senior DS didn't know who I was until buddy team live fire when I yelled "cover me while I move, battle buddy!" with my raspy voice. I became known as "cigarette smoker" until the end of basic.
I’ll be at Fort Sill within 5 hours and this is my last video comment before I get there. Thanks for all the helpful tips and do’s and don’t Matt. #Salute#
My drill sergeants knew my name only because I never got in trouble lol, on cleaning detail I over heard them say they had to do something to discipline me lmao
The part about paying attention to your injuries is important. I didn’t make it through because I was afraid of being a sick call ranger. Fast forward and I had a non-displaced femur fracture and smaller fractures in my knees and ankles I didn’t make it through. Also yeah NEVER lose your rifle and make sure you clean it every chance you get. Make sure it’s on safe we had a guy who had it on full auto and it didn’t end well.
One of my drill Sargents had the same last name as me so that was a blast during red and while (one of my favorite ds he made me suffer but I never learned so much before )
I was platoon guide for about 2 weeks, obviously not by choice. Do what you can to make the Platoon Guides life easier, it is stressful to be put in that role. Not difficult, but just added things to do when you are already busy enough as a recruit. You may end up the Platoon Guide next so help the person out by listening and being where you are supposed to be when you are supposed to be there. Accountability is huge in basic. As far as making basic easier, open your ears and focus. So many problems during basic can be eliminated if you just pay attention to details. Another thing, don't fall out of a run, ever. Don't be that guy walking 500 feet behind the platoon during a run. Show up in shape and you will not stand out as an issue for the Drill Sergeants. Most importantly have fun. Sounds crazy, but as a 45 year old guy who went through basic 25 years ago, it was actually a good time if you want it to be.
I leave for basic training in less than two weeks, and I’m nervous but excited. Your videos have honestly helped me so much, so thank you so much for that !
I'm a HS student rn but I already swore in. I leave June 29th for BT at Fort Benning (11X). I've been looking to see what I should expect so thank you for these videos.
I graduate on December 4th from Fort Benning; I’m a 25U (My cycle is the last POG’s to come from Fort Benning) but for every other POG going to Sill or Jackson you are already going to have it easier than here but the best advice if you care to hear it is just be a part of the herd of cattle which will be your platoon. Be respectful, help out your battle buddies, and keep going no matter what. It will get easier I promise. The first week or so will suck and then you get used to it; you’ll be fine.
There was a time one of my battle buddies yelled at ease for a drill sergeant while a captain was already in the vicinity....boy that was a fun 3 hour smoke session while it is 110 outside under the breezeway
Best thing to do in basic: ask the DS his 1st name, tell your parents to send you cookies, miss your fire guard. Why is this the best thing to do you might ask? Well the extra PT duh!!! PT = positivity time
The first day of basic training, we were filling out forms and I put 2020 as my DOB. My DS: "Were you born this year?" He told me to sit up front next to him so he can keep an eye on me
Thanks for all your help!!! I'm about to go to the MEPS, and next summer I'll be going to Army Basic Training!!! I'm pretty excited but a little nervous too lol. I'm joining the Army National Guard.
Look either keep your head down and get done, or volunteer for every shitty detail. Oh and stay away from the Campaign hat. One time me and like 6 other people were in the CQ office and drill said "dont touch my hat" and threw that at us, we dove to get outta the way like it was a grenade.
Leaving the 29th, been watching a lot of your videos for a few tips and appreciate them! Can’t wait to spend 22 weeks at fort benning for OSUT and Airborne school after! Gonna make the most of it, thanks bro!
11B Fort Benning BCT awaits me next year on January 28th,2020... your videos are helping me a lot, giving me more confidence about what I'm going to be facing on this new Life/Career that I'm heading to 👍 Thanks Matt
The best advice, don’t sneak your electronics into the barracks after shakedown. You will get caught! And if someone has electronics that you know about don’t use them. My battle was told on for having a phone in the barracks thinking he wouldn’t get caught, he faced UCMJ action, everyone who knew about the phone got counseled, and everyone else who used the phone got an additional counseling and lost family day as well as their phone calls throughout the rest of basic. Have integrity and always do the right thing!
Eric Webster good advice. And dont forget that as much as things might suck in initial entry training (basic and AIT), it won't last forever, even if it seems like it does.
I’m a wife of a retired soldier. I used to go to chapel on post, at Fort Leonard Wood, before they shut down the services in my denomination. After services, there was a coffee hour, and we made cookies for everyone. And I lent all the trainees my phone, during that hour. I TOTALLY remembered how it was, when my husband was in BCT, and I wanted them just to be able to call home and say they were safe. I HOPE I DIDNT GET ANYONE IN TROUBLE!!! I didn’t think I did. Week after week, these same trainees were calling home, on my phone. Sometimes they’d leave messages, if no one answered, and then I would get calls back to my phone, that evening. I tried to fill their family members in, on what they were doing that morning. I usually remembered them enough to say ,”Oh yeah, THAT guy! He looked good. He was happy to be at church. He was happy to just leave a message, even if he didn’t reach you.” And the parents would cry, and thank me TO NO END. I felt like it was my tiny contribution to morale. My godfather happened to be the priest there, also a military chaplain, and he didn’t mind that I was doing it. So hopefully nobody got smoked.
Great video and good info, coming from someone who graduated Basic from fort Sill 3 weeks ago. One of the biggest things is don’t get in the wrong crowd and try to take leadership. Keep your head down otherwise
Wow. Kudos to you for graduating BT. My son is in Fort Jackson, his 2nd week. I read horror stories here and there. If you've survived BT, you're a man
Got sick with 103 degree fever. Put me in the hospital for three days. When I got out had to catch up on bayonet training. Stayed low, always arrived early for formation and weapon was always clean. Ft Dix 1967
Little heads up for you males and females about to head to basic i was at fort jackson get used to the words HALF RIGHT FACE, FRONT LEANING REST POSITION MOVE, IN CADENCE....EXORCISE 1...2...3...1 p.s get used to getting smoked at 2:30am and have your wall lockers tossed....dont be mistaken basic is NOT hard it just sucks especially those first 3days in overall once you make it to blue phase you will honestly look back and admit you had fun
Matt your videos are really interresting. I'm leaving for the BMQ this weekend and I watched your videos for about a year from now. I am going for the Canadian BMQ, but theres alot of similarities from the U.S one. I learned alot of usefull tips from you. Thank you and now it's my turn to work. *Sorry for my english
Played hide and sleep all the time at basic. 100% worth it. If you have a good sleeping spot use it. Just post a guard or two cause they yell at ease when a DS walks in anyways and itll wake you up
I am 28 years old man feels bad that I don't have a money I will soon take the asvab I took the protest very happy with this huge step I watch your videos trying to prepare myself the best I can
karlitron45 Here's a tip from someone who joined army at a much later age than 28: If you get a high score on your ASVAB, do yourself a favor and consider the Navy, Coast Guard or Air Force before just jumping into the Army. Believe me, while there's bullshit in all the military branches, the Army is *even more* of a "young mans game" ( *extra bullshit for absolutely no reason* ) than the other branches. Believe me.
Thanks for all these videos man. I’m supposed to leave November 4th, but at MEPS they found too much sugar in my urine so I’m just waiting for the results on my blood test. Hope all goes well though it’s always been a dream of mine to serve our country. ☹️
I just got finished with BCT at Ft. Jackson. Bravo company 3-60th 3rd plt. graduated on Oct. 24th. If you have any questions let me know and I will answer as best I can.
@@m8a7jetpacker4 You'll obviously be doing quite a lot of running in basic (aside from drill sergeants ordering you to get from here to there in a big hurry, or punishing you and the platoon/company by making your sprint back and forth) but most likely not as much and hard as you would be doing later on. As far as basic goes, things may vary from one Army basic training installation to another though. I assume since Benning is more infantry based that you would probably be doing even more hard running there than Jackson. When I was at Jackson we did plenty of "60/120's" for PT (where you walk for 120 seconds then run for 60 seconds), but the hardest running we did were a few company runs (all four platoons. never had a run with a platoon by itself) that progressed from three to five miles, and those were only less than a handful of times. One time it was a battalion run with the companies in the regiments that lasted five miles. I did a lot more hard running: three mile or longer group runs every other day, hard sprints on bridges, etc. during AIT than basic. And this being the Army (as opposed to the Navy and Air Force), *you'll most likely be doing even more brutal running at your duty station like running in body armor for several miles, or running with logs* (though that still depends on what kind of unit you get assigned to
All of yall that are getting to leave for basic are lucky I'm getting the run around about everything first it was gonna get 18x then the recruiter talked me into 11b with airborne then no airborne and then 11b spot was filled no bonus and having to go for 31 bravo if I want to leave soon
Ryan Gouger -if you have college, especially a bachelors degree, it might be a better idea to either join the air force or navy instead of the army, or if you do join the army, try to go officer instead of enlisting in the army- You might get literally sick with some kind of illness but just go to sick call. There really are no tips except just go with the flow with the bullshit. You will face mass punishments for things other people, especially the younger dumber trainees, did in your platoon or even another platoon in the company. Don't take anything too personal. As my chaplain in basic said in the first week, "it's not going to last forever."
FreedomMori Never ask the drill sergeant anything like that. I saw one of my company drill sergeants sneeze and some of the female trainees said "bless you, drill sergeant" The drill sergeant fussed at them about it and literally called himself an asshole. We had one drill of my platoon and some of the trainees would actually say "good morning drill sergeant!" that drill sergeant actually flipped them the middle finger. Don't ever even say anything like "thank you" to a drill sergeant either.
You'll be fine. When you get there, find a battle buddy who is with the National Guard. Those guys are really squared away because they have drills just before they go. But yeah, it's defiantly nerve wracking, but just push through and don't quit. It's only ten weeks, so it'll be over soon! I'll be stuck there for 21 weeks!
Good Really My platoon there was a guy that bragged about being in baseball. He thought throwing a grenade was easy (I mean it is but for some its somehow hard) and when he threw it, I don’t even think it reached 7 yards. DS called him babe ruth and thats his name now lol
Best of luck to all of you! My son graduated Jackson back in February. Remember to give everything 110%, be part of the team, and don't forget to write your mom! Good luck and thank you for your service! 🇺🇸🇺🇸
michelle carroll thank you for the reminder to letter our moms’ :) going in @17 on May 27th... here I am worrying about if a girl will letter me when my momma will be worrying about me. I’ll make sure to letter her
Facts. DS G knew my name like it was her favorite word. Grilled me about Dungeons and Dragons loudly enough that the whole range heard. She always made my life hell, but I graduated, and now I'm at AIT. Advice: "stay low, name unknown."
I have a freakin foreign first and last name... the drill sergeants are gonna bully me😭. At MEPS the doctors and workers started talking to me almost casually just because they couldn’t pronounce my name! One of the doctors started “venting” to me that the other people in the briefing room didn’t know how to follow directions😂😂
Become friends with the guy who’s bunk is in the corner and sleep under his bunk so if the DS comes in you can still make it out without getting caught
