I'm putting together a series of articles on the Military for my Hubpages (check here: http://hubpages.com/profile/Melissa+McClain for these articles as I get them published). In so doing it's given me the opportunity to reflect a lot on my days in the Military. I still think that some of my worst moments were basic training. Some people actually liked basic training though...go figure. AIT (Advanced Individual Training) was a lot more fun in my opinion. Then again, I'm not a big Hooah Army!, go-shoot-or-yell-at-something-or-someone type of person. If you like guns, getting yelled at, aggressive behavior, getting very little sleep, anal-retentive behavior, and rolling around in the mud (or snow or mosquito invested swamp...depends on the place and season you are going in) then you'll absolutely love it. If you don't love those things....then you'll be like the rest of us that just got through it so we could move on to the "real Army". (Just so you know, there's a lot of talk about this "real Army" thing...it's like the Yeti in that it's existence can't be verified).
Basic Training is meant to break you down so that you can be rebuilt in the Army's image. There are certainly a lot of people that need to be broken down. You wonder how some of these people ever thought they'd be good Army material, but I suppose everyone deserves a chance. For those of us who do what we're told already, Basic Training can seem like an exercise in futility. You receive contradictory instructions and information just to see how you'll handle it, and be given nonsense instructions to see how well you'll do whatever someone tells you to do. This part of the process isn't trying to make a leader out of you, it's trying to make a good follower out of you. The leader training comes later.
I don't remember too many particulars about Basic Training, but I do remember the suck factor. I must have said "Are they serious?" either to myself or out-loud multiple times a day. You get to the point where you don't care about sleep or food or your physical appearance or anything like that. You just care about getting through it and not making a royal a$$ of yourself. You sure do learn a lot about yourself though. I had no idea that I was such a slow moving individual...and I don't mean in running. It takes me a long time to get ready to do anything and to actually get things done....I cannot be rushed. The Army is not made for people like that so I had to do a lot of prioritizing to make sure I got the important stuff done. Now that I'm out, I take it to the extreme and take enormous amounts of time to do even the most mundane task....because I can (thanks Army).
If you ask current or previous members of the Military about Basic Training, you'll likely get a wide variety of responses. Some loved it, some hated it, and some are just apathetic. It all depends on the person really, and you can't predict how you'll react to it either. Some people went in thinking they would love it, but they ended up hating it and vice versa. There is one good thing about Basic Training that I think everyone can agree on; it makes any subsequent training seem easier by comparison (unless you are a super-soldier and go for Ranger school or Special Forces or something). Looking back on that experience, I'm sure glad I made it through, but I'd never want to do that again.
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