Not sure what the rule on AMA threads are now since I've been gone for 2 1/2 months, quarantined from the outside world. Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
I was told it was going to be "Relaxin' Jackson" however we got "Action Jackson"
We were the guinea pigs to test a new way of running everything and damn, did we get shit on every day. We didn't stay in those fancy Starships that Ft. Jackson is known for.
Nope. I stayed in the Trailer Park. Temporary barracks while the new Starships (no shit, they're actually called Starships) were being built.
The weather here in SC is a bit bipolar, but it's kind of predictable. It's usually freezing (30F). I say this because in early mornings (0430, 0500), we're wearing our PT uniforms for PT and they really like to fuck us over on the uniform. Sometimes they'd have us wear "summer PT's" when it's 40F and have us stand in formation for like 30 minutes doing jack shit while we freeze our asses off. Other times they do let us put on our winter uniform, but they don't let us wear gloves, even when it's in the low 30's. Never have I seen my hands turn blue before until I joined the Army.
Besides the torture, the time I spent in BCT was quite the learning experience. Sure I learned a bunch of cool shit I'd never learn anywhere else, but I'm speaking in terms about personal learning experience; i.e. learning about myself and my limits.
BCT is not as physical as one would think. Yes, it is extremely physically demanding, it is more mental. You have to belive in yourself 110 percent of the way. You learn your body can do a lot more than you ever thought it could as long as you put your mind to it. We did a 10 mile march with 60 lbs of extra crap (full battle rattle) while carrying our weapon (M16A2). I'm only 130 pounds on a 5'5 frame. I did it. It was hard as shit physically but I kept pushing through mentally. Females smaller than me also were able to do it.
Besides the mental aspect, there is also the discipline. We must always maintain a military bearing, which is a way of life I feel everyone should live by. It includes being respectful, humble, and responsible, amongst others.
Anyways, I can go on and on about what I did, but I rather be asked questions. I will try to answer them to the best I can. I'm not going to say anything that will violate OPSEC (operational security).
Would you say your fitness level has improved? Where there people that had to stay back because they didn't make it?
Did you go into the gas chamber?
Lol, army boot
[QUOTE=Dah-thla;33742179]Would you say your fitness level has improved? Where there people that had to stay back because they didn't make it?[/QUOTE]
Very much so. If I walked uphill for like 3 blocks, I would be huffing and puffing. My cardio conditioning was utter shit. It has improved to the point where I can power walk (range walk) for upwards of two miles on all sorts of terrain without even breaking a sweat.
There were two people in my platoon that did not make it, however both were for medical reasons. One's knee was pretty much destroyed. He has no cartilage left. It was pretty much bone on bone.
The other was a female who was roughly 4'11 and her hips just could not take the physical load of all the gear.
[QUOTE=TheJoker;33742264]Did you go into the gas chamber?[/QUOTE]
Haha, yes. Shit sucked so good. We stayed in the feild over night so in the morning I had to dry shave before. I get into the chamber and my face all around my mask was burning. Wasn't too bad.
They had us hold our breath, take our mask off for a second, put it back on then purge it. This was just to show us how it works.
Next they had us completely remove the mask. At first I was like, "bah, this aint so bad..." then I took a deep breath. Holy hell. It was like breathing lava. I immediately tried holding my breath, when a drill sergeant came and started prodding me in the stomach to get me to breath... ugh. I then started dry heaving. I was hunched over when another DS came, grabbed me by the collar, and was like "GET UP!" as he threw me back into the group. We were in the chamber for about 2 minutes before they let us out :P
[QUOTE=Master Kief-117;33742127]Not sure what the rule on AMA threads are now since I've been gone for 2 1/2 months, quarantined from the outside world. Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
I was told it was going to be "Relaxin' Jackson" however we got "Action Jackson"
We were the guinea pigs to test a new way of running everything and damn, did we get shit on every day. We didn't stay in those fancy Starships that Ft. Jackson is known for.
Nope. I stayed in the Trailer Park. Temporary barracks while the new Starships (no shit, they're actually called Starships) were being built.
The weather here in SC is a bit bipolar, but it's kind of predictable. It's usually freezing (30F). I say this because in early mornings (0430, 0500), we're wearing our PT uniforms for PT and they really like to fuck us over on the uniform. Sometimes they'd have us wear "summer PT's" when it's 40F and have us stand in formation for like 30 minutes doing jack shit while we freeze our asses off. Other times they do let us put on our winter uniform, but they don't let us wear gloves, even when it's in the low 30's. Never have I seen my hands turn blue before until I joined the Army.
Besides the torture, the time I spent in BCT was quite the learning experience. Sure I learned a bunch of cool shit I'd never learn anywhere else, but I'm speaking in terms about personal learning experience; i.e. learning about myself and my limits.
BCT is not as physical as one would think. Yes, it is extremely physically demanding, it is more mental. You have to belive in yourself 110 percent of the way. You learn your body can do a lot more than you ever thought it could as long as you put your mind to it. We did a 10 mile march with 60 lbs of extra crap (full battle rattle) while carrying our weapon (M16A2). I'm only 130 pounds on a 5'5 frame. I did it. It was hard as shit physically but I kept pushing through mentally. Females smaller than me also were able to do it.
Besides the mental aspect, there is also the discipline. We must always maintain a military bearing, which is a way of life I feel everyone should live by. It includes being respectful, humble, and responsible, amongst others.
Anyways, I can go on and on about what I did, but I rather be asked questions. I will try to answer them to the best I can. I'm not going to say anything that will violate OPSEC (operational security).[/QUOTE]
Did anyone find out they couldn't take it anymore?
[IMG]http://nighthawknews.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/full-metal-jacket-pdvd_00901.jpg[/IMG]
What's your MOS and where are you headed now?
Any funny stories? How'd you get on with the drill sergeants?
Is training as godawful as everyone says?
I'm leaving for BCT in March. I am looking forward to the experience, and I am entering as an E3, so I have somewhat of a head start.
How was bootcamp at the start? Did they start you out doing hundreds of push-ups at a time, or with a tough but doable routine.
Also, my lifeguard instructor from of few years back would tell us of his experiences in marine bootcamp and as an EMT. Pretty crazy shit.
Did you drop the soap?
I'm a 68W, which is a medic. I'm off to AIT eventually. Can't be specific on that due to OPSEC.
As for my personal interations, one of my DS ALWAYS was yelling at me, even for simple mistakes that everyone else made. Like if a few other people made the mistake around me, and I did to, he would yell at me first. At first I thought he hated me, but it was apparent that he was on my side as the weeks passed and he was only trying to get the best out of me. He got me out of doing a couple of marches that were required for graduation by "detailing" me on another task because he knew my knee was completely jacked up.
He also never gave me a negative counsoling statement even if I really jacked up something, whereas if someone else made the same mistake, he would write them up within a few minutes. I never quite understood it.
The only bonus of entering with rank is the extra pay. You're not more or less likely to get a leadership position based on rank. As far as the cadre are concerned, you're all "privates" and your rank means jack-shit.
As for leadership positions, they suck dick. Especially being the Platoon Guide. You get shit on a lot and are responsible for your platoon when the DS is not around. You also eat last in your platoon, meaning you might only get 5 minutes to eat :P
Food is one of the most valuable things during basic. For our company, the 4 most valuable things in order were cough-drops, peanut butter (from a MRE as a tradable item. you could trade peanut butter for the pastries in an MRE or even a main from the MRE to the right person), and toilet paper (we were always suppled with large quantities, like 70 rolls of two ply toilet paper every 3ish to 4 weeks... we just blew through it really fast though). Cough drops had a trade value for many other things, including cash and services. At desperate times, you could sell one cough drop for a dollar or more.
The only thing more valuable than cough drops was actual candy, which sold for 5 bucks a candy bar. Tobacco products, such as a tin of dip, if smuggled in, could sell for 100 bucks to the right person, but don't get any ideas. Candy is considered contraband, making cough drops the only analogue for candy. We were limited to two 30 unit bags per visit to the PX. We visited the PX maybe once every two to three weeks.
I did drop the soap. A few times, lol. It usually landed right near the person next to me. For a while a bunch of people in my platoon thought I was gay because of that (which I'm not) and the way I stood when I was idle (leaned more on one side because of my knee).
Anyways, to stop from dropping the soap, I decided to punch a hole in the bar of soap and tie 550 cord through it to make ghetto soap-on-a-rope, lol. I lost my soap though so I switched to body wash, lol.
If you're leaving in March, make sure you stay hydreated. DRINK WATER. Your goal is 12 quarts a day, or no more than 1 1/2 quarts an hr. I got by with drinking roughly 4-6 quarts a day since it was cold most of the time.
how many people did you kill
Is mayonnaise an instrument?
What was your K/D ratio?
[QUOTE=Master Kief-117;33761139]Cough drops had a trade value for many other things, including cash and [b]services[/b].[/QUOTE]
???
I've also heard stamps are valuable. IIRC, 68W goes to Fort Sam Houston for AIT. Did they actually tell you not to tell anyone due to OPSEC, or are you just being careful? Were any of the guys in your platoon 35F?
how many kills did u get?? :))
Did you get a killstreak?
Seriously though, was it like megafucking hardass almost death training or easy as making shit come out your bum?
I think he just said it was hard.
Did you unlock any new guns? Prestige?
Did you do any physical preparation before entering basic training? Regardless of your actual physical condition.
[QUOTE=Amerigo;33763141]???
I've also heard stamps are valuable. IIRC, 68W goes to Fort Sam Houston for AIT. Did they actually tell you not to tell anyone due to OPSEC, or are you just being careful? Were any of the guys in your platoon 35F?[/QUOTE]
It is true that every 68W goes to Ft. Sam for AIT, however I'm not going to mention my shipping date as that would violate OPSEC.
As for valuable items, I heard the same thing about stamps. I brought a bunch of stamps with me thinking I would be able to trade them all. In reality, I only heard like a few people ask for stamps during the entire cycle. Everyone will buy a bunch at their first visit to the PX and end the cycle with over a dozen left :P.
As for my K/D, this question would actually be approprate if we used our MILES gear. Most of ours didn't even work, so we just kept it on, but never used it. MILES gear is the shittiest thing ever. It's bulky and stupid and ancent technology.
For my qualification, I got "Sharpshooter" which is 35 targets out of 40. I ran out of ammo to shoot that last 50m target. I was soooooo angry. If I hit it, I would have qualified as "Expert."
Did you shoot the AQT? Or is that not actually used by the army? I ask because I shot the AQT a few weeks back and it was...difficult.
Was throwing a (dummy I think) grenade fun?
[QUOTE=TheJoker;33767143]Was throwing a (dummy I think) grenade fun?[/QUOTE]
I was terrified I was going to blow my hand off the entire time, especially when you had to cook them. Seriously. It's just the fuse, but those fuses still pack quite a punch, enough to blow all your fingers off.
We threw two live grenades and damn, it was intense. They tell you that once you pull the pin, you must have a death grip on that spoon. Hell, they didn't have to tell me twice. I held that grenade and the spoon down like I was trying to crush it.
It was awesome though.
[QUOTE=Master Kief-117;33769076]I was terrified I was going to blow my hand off the entire time, especially when you had to cook them. Seriously. It's just the fuse, but those fuses still pack quite a punch, enough to blow all your fingers off.
We threw two live grenades and damn, it was intense. They tell you that once you pull the pin, you must have a death grip on that spoon. Hell, they didn't have to tell me twice. I held that grenade and the spoon down like I was trying to crush it.
It was awesome though.[/QUOTE]
How much force is needed to keep the spoon in place?
Did anyone have any serious troubles with the training, and what condition (mentally, physically, etc.) were you in before you began training?
[QUOTE=Garik;33771743]How much force is needed to keep the spoon in place?[/QUOTE]
I think it's not all that much. I have an old, deactivated grenade I bought at a gun show, and, assuming it's more or less the same, you can hold down the spoon with about the same force it would take to crush an aluminum can. Maybe a bit less.
Have you 360 no scoped anybody yet?
Did you do oddjobs for cash(such as standing in for someone)? Just a little note, my brother did this, always taking over watch for people. He did it so much, his DS came to me and my dad, told us about the $300-$400 they found in his footlocker and jokingly asked if he sleeps at all. the DS also told us that he was proud of my brother for showing that he can work really hard and is determinable. earlier this year my brother was shot in Kunar Province, Afghanistan(i can't remember the outpost though). A DshK round hit him in the arm, although he was fucked up by the round, it had already been slowed to the point that it only tore his arm open and halved his bicep. he's fine now though.
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