You're in the Army now: At Benning, new recruits find out what that means

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 10/13/2001 | Michelle Hiskey

[Engine82]

The shaping of soft boys into hard men.

[cynicom]

Pokey....

Have to break them them first, then put them back together again as a man.....It works

[cactmh]

Teri Bost joined the Army on Sept. 12. "I wanted to go kill somebody," he said. On his family's ranch in Lubbock, Texas, Teri Bost rides bulls. One's horn punctured his leg. He got back on. "I'm not afraid to die," he said. "I want to jump out of airplanes and blow things up."

I wouldn't call all of them soft. LOL Go Texas!

[RightOnline]

"A chaplain conducts a weekly stress management class."

Strange. In my day, chaplains did the same thing every week........only they called it "church".

[riley1992]

"Now I really regret it," Schoolcraft said. "I realize they're just making an example of me. That's just their job. I don't think they mean it."

Ha. I wouldn't be so sure about that.

[6ppc]

"Before this, I was tired of my mom telling me what to do," he said. "Now I'd tell her, 'Sorry, Mom. I made a mistake!' "

Amazing what a dose of the real world can do.

[thescourged1]

Sand Hill made a permanent impression on me for life. I went there in the summer of '98 as an slightly overweight 31 year old re-tread from the Gulf War days. I was an MP back then, but had to be an 11B to return to the Army. So I took up the challenge and never regretted it. At 31, I left there in the best physical shape of my life. Well...that was until I got to Ft Drum, then I had to become superman. 10th Mountain is one hard charging division.

"Right of The Line", sir!

[IronJack]

Fond memories of Basic Training, vets?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Go get em.

[11bravo]

maintain 5 yards!

[Alas Babylon!]

This brings back a lot of fond memories (not fond then, of course) of events in my life 25 years ago. For those of you at the age one can join up (18-27{?}) but haven't, you're actually missing out on an opportunity of a lifetime. As the old saying goes, nobody lives forever. Might as well take life by the horns and ride it.

I often wonder how my life would have turned out had I not enlisted (or re-enlisted all those times--I spent 22 years on active duty). I suspect I'd still be the punk I once was in the summer of '76. I owe my success and my courage in life to those events in basic training 25 years ago. I don't mean my finances, either, though the retirement check helps a lot. No, I mean the spiritual sense of self, the I CAN MAKE IT/I MADE IT that going through basic training taught me. The knowledge that teamwork, without thinking about it--letting it happen, learning discipline and following orders with others, has truly made me a better man.

[11th Earl of Mar]

"Before this, I was tired of my mom telling me what to do..."

"...so I joined the Army. Now I can be my own man. And nobody will ever tell me what to do again."

HA! LOL

[11th Earl of Mar]

To continue in basic, a trainee must do 13 push-ups and 17 sit-ups and run a mile in 8 minutes.

OMG!!!

If I recall we had to run a two mile in 15 minutes. THIRTEEN pushups? If the guys do 13 pushups, what do the ladies have to do? Eight? I'd hate to be sharing a foxhole with someone who could only do 13 pushups and run a mile in 8 minutes.

[Future Snake Eater]

That's not basic training they're describing--it's that hellhole called the 30th AG Reception Battalion. You're supposed to spend about 3-4 days there, but the lack of drill sergeants on Sand Hill keeps new recruits sitting on their butts there for 2-3 weeks. When I was there, there were quite a few people who wore those "Suicide Vests," exactly for the same reason--"I heard that they'd let me go if I told them I was suicidal." Maybe someday they'll learn...

[BelieveNFreedom]

You have to pay for your own haircut?

[bubbafree]

I think this is the minimum to get them out of the Reception Station and into Basic.

[eternity]

I remember back in bootcamp on Sundays. The Catholics got in one line and the Congregationalists in another line. That was our stress management.

[strela]

To protect the freedoms of all Americans, soldiers must give up theirs. The cellphone. The computer. The munchies. The car. The tattoo, if it's in the wrong spot.

D'they have one of those laser surgery places on post?

[Walkin Man]

"And nobody will ever tell me what to do again."

LOL!

"Give your soul to Jesus, because your ass belongs TO ME!!"

heh heh Basic Training, gotta love it.