Recollections of Basic Combat Training

I have had a request for some recollections of my time spent at Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training. Since I did say in a post a long while back that I would be taking requests, I guess I am obligated to do this then.

An experienced and older recruit said "I've been to prison and I've been to Basic, and prison is much better."

Before one even gets to Basic, one first has to go through Reception. Much to my chagrin, I've come to find out that whenever one goes to any new post in the Army, you still have to go to a Reception Battalion. Well, I spent my first 5 or 6 days on Ft Jackson in the Reception BN, and all I did was march back and forth between the Dining Facility (henceforth to be called the DFAC), sleep, and occasionally listen to Briefs in an auditorium. And the march back and forth was less than a quarter of a mile. So my first week in the Army, I gained about 10 lbs. The most traumatic part of Reception was the lost of the hair, which btw the Army makes you pay for your own haircut. Granted, it's only $4.60, but still, there's a principle somewhere that is being violated or something. There's a cadence that goes "They say that in the Army, the pay is mighty fine (they lied), they give you a hundred dollars, and take back ninety-nine." But back to the hair bit, it was a bit traumatic, going from all that hair to no hair at all. On the plus side, I did lose a couple of lbs when it happened.

Oh, and it was here in Reception that I realized what I had actually signed up to be in the Army. My Military Occupation Speciality (MOS) is 68W, Health Care Specialists. Cool, I'll be in a hospital or something. During a Reception brief, a sergeant asked for all 68 Whiskeys to stand up. He asked one of the females if she knew what she was, and she replied she was a Combat Medic. He then told all the other recruits to look at the people that were standing up and to carry them on their shoulders in combat if they have to, because they're going to be the ones to save your lives. He then told us to drop and give him 25. All this time I could only think of the words "Combat" and "Medic" being put together to describe my new lot in life. Excellent! My life expectancy is getting shorter and shorter as the days go by.

My first day in actual Basic training was rather memorable. They loaded us onto buses, and then took us out to a forested area. We moved (not going to call it a march 'cause at the time we were more of a gaggle) to the start of a "confidence" course. After a run through the course, I by this time have the biggest freakin' blisters ever on both of my freakin' heels. We then are marched to our barracks (about a mile or so). I thought that was the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life, but the pain was just beginning.

Just a quick glimpse into what I went through half a year ago. Still another 9 weeks of Basic and 17 weeks of AIT to recollect, so please stand by. If asked if I knew then what I know now, would I still go do Basic, I'd have to say "Yes." Without the lows in your life, how will you ever know about the highs?