It's two months of cleaning and making your own bed. Marching and singing. Having some adults yell at you. And then you completely forget about it. Idk what branch or job you're trying to get or anyone else's military experience here is but I'm sure they can agree that 2 months of bootcamp is super short compared to the four year contract as a whole let alone a 20-40 year career. There's still schooling after bootcamp for your specific job. How hard that is and how long it takes depends on the job. As for the mental part, it's easy. If you have an attitude problem and a smart mouth and always have to say something it's not for you.
@raven sums it up. Different services are all a little different. You generally get some lessons in “esprit de corps” of some sort like history and values and traditions of your service. Mostly you do basic shit. Hence “basic training.” When to wear your hat or not, who to salute and how, making beds, how to clean, how to dress, keep a straight gig line, where your hands go when you stand and what commands like attention and at ease mean, etiquette and what not. You’ll do some physical conditioning but it’s basic training not special operations. Pushups, running, stuff that isn’t too crazy in general. You’re meant to learn the basic manners of the service, and to get acclimated to waking up on time, following a dress code, and just listen and follow directions. That’s the gist of it. It’s basic adult shit. Follow the rules and listen to your boss. Present yourself like a professional and fit in. Don’t be a fool or an ass or a slob. Pay attention and put in effort.
Auto type. And appreciated. I’ll go fix it. For posterity- the original comment said “spirit de corps.” My phone has been doing some weird corrections lately. Thank you @strongsad.
Every person is different , I thought boot camp was easy. My secondary training was quite difficult and you see good people break and washout. The first few weeks of bootcamp are wierd because you see people getting removed for diffrent reasons , like you're wanted for armed robbery was a pretty good one. I figured the guy must have robbed somebody after his back ground check. There's a few places I would never care to return to but overall I had a pretty good experience . Grew up a lot. Got my life in focus. Good for teaching responsiblity for the most part.
That's up to you. In hindsight it isn't all that bad, but in the moment it feels intense.
Some guys came from hard backgrounds or broken homes and reacted to the structure very well. To others, it was the first time in their life they've been uncomfortable.
The big thing is teamwork, beyond that just focus on mastering the skills being taught to you. Whether you're a machine gunner in the Marine Corps or a POG in some Airforce office, all of the training is meant to make you the man for the job.
But the training doesn't stop after Basic. To get the most out of your contract, don't ever let the training stop.
These days I look back with nostalgia. I don't dwell too much on the bad (try not to anyway). I grew up poor, in a drug infested nieghborhood . I thought the chow was great in bootcamp, and I heard a lot of people complaining about it. Two things in the military that I can't wrap my head around is 1. Who started the whole Motrin cures everything mentality, and 2. How is it, everything can be a clusterfuck but Kraft cream cheese can make it to the most isolated place on the planet. Seriously , we might not have, milk ,coffee, comms iffy but always cream cheese was available . I always loved it so I did like having it, until the day I read the ingredients.lol. About as health as lard.
Some guys came from hard backgrounds or broken homes and reacted to the structure very well. To others, it was the first time in their life they've been uncomfortable.
The big thing is teamwork, beyond that just focus on mastering the skills being taught to you. Whether you're a machine gunner in the Marine Corps or a POG in some Airforce office, all of the training is meant to make you the man for the job.
But the training doesn't stop after Basic. To get the most out of your contract, don't ever let the training stop.