Hello,

I'm in the process of joining the army, I am so exited and I can't wait. I had a weight problem, but I'm only a few pounds away from being at the right weight. my question is, what happens if I can't go through basic training?? if I can't keep up with the rest, do I get more help? do they keep me there til I can, or will I simply get kicked out??

Do not worry about getting kicked out! We want motivated soldiers like yourself to join our ranks and first off you need to get that “what if” attitude out of your head. In basic you will be given plenty of exercise and properly structured meals to get you where you need to be. If for what ever reason you do not progress as your drill sergeants expect you to they will spend additional time with you at the end of the day to get you there. And if for some absurd reason you are STILL not there at the end of basic you will be retained and trained until you get to standard.

Bottom line: don’t worry about it, work hard, and get it.

See you soon.

All I can say is if you have motivated yourself to lose the weight to be able to join the Army, why wouldn't you succeed in Basic/AIT? I think if you use the same motivation and determination that you used to lose weight for the Army you will have no issues in Basic.

Basic is structured for you to complete as long as you are motivated and determined.(and its really not hard) If you are putting forth your full effort I see no reason why you wouldn't keep up with other recruits. If you do have a problem with say PT, that will be identified early and you will receive the help you need.

The main thing is be motivated now...Workout and prepare yourself for the road ahead. Don't go in to Basic doubting yourself before you even get there. If you got the right attitude you WILL succeed.

oh! I'm very motivated!! today I had a good work out day...

thanks so much for your encouraging words, my recruiter is wonderful and encouraging as well, but when I asked what would happen if I failed, he didn't even want to talk about it, hehe... he said "if you think you're going to fail, you will" so I didn't want to say anything anymore, but I was still worried...

I have the physical on the 29th, and would like to loose about 8 pounds more by then so I don't have to do the arms (sp?) test... is that hard?

Vaneza,

Not sure what you mean by arms test. There's the tape test that determines body fat content but the standards are lower before you join than after you are already in. It's hard to fail basic training these days. Your weight won't be a problem, but you will be sleep deprived.

My advice from a female to a female, you don't need to be a hero and jump into the A or B running groups. Stick with the fully acceptable jogging pace of the C running group and save your energy.

Since you just lost a lot of weight, the last thing you need is injury in basic training. If you have the money, talk to a doctor about the proper footwear for your foot type and buy yourself a really good pair of running shoes. Bring with you a doctor's note for the footwear. You will be on your feet a lot and proper foot, ankle, and leg care is very important. And whatever you do, make sure you write your last name in multiple places where it can clearly be seen inside of the sides of the shoe. There is a lot of barracks theft in BCT.

What MOS are you enlisting for?

the arms test I think, it's what you do when you don't really meet the weight limit but aren't too overweight, and they want you to do some physical exercises to make sure you're fit to work out.

and that's wonderful advise!! I hadn't even thought about that, I'll make sure to do it.

I haven't decided what my MOS will be, I would love, LOVE to be in finance, or maybe admin, but I'm not sure yet.

Have you taken any college courses? If your background check is clean and your GT score is 100 or better, I suggest 27D - Paralegal Specialist. It's clear that you would pass the typing test with flying colors, as I can see you are posting just fine on here.

The job is not too physically demanding once you get to your duty assignment, and because 27D is short on junior soldiers, you could get a good size bonus. Hold out for it, and if you tell your recruiter you've been talking to the Air Force guy across the hall about your options he'll find a way to get you whatever you ask for

(Just a few tips I wish I knew about before I signed the dotted line.)

I appreciate that very much...

I actually have not taken any college courses, are those necessary for finance as well??

I guess I'm going to have to start writing these things down so that I can ask my recruiter later on...


Another question, is there a lot of female recruiters around? and is AIT different than BT? will you have more freedom there?

College courses are not necessary for any of those enlisted MOS mentioned going in (paralegal, finance, admin). They just give you higher paygrade going in, and quicker promotion to the paygrades of E5 and E6. Since you will be E3 or below for your first 18-24 months of active duty, and at least another 6 more months after that of E4, you have plenty of time to obtain some college during that timeframe. The Army has a lot of free tuition assistance benefits available for active duty.

Opt in for the Montgomery G.I. Bill. You can only do that when you first sign up and you will regret it later if you don't. A few of my buddies missed out on thousands of dollars because they chose not to do this when they first signed up.

There are not many female recruiters. Not to say it isn't possible, but it's rare. As far as AIT versus BCT, you will have more freedoms in AIT, but you will miss the camaraderie and variety of BCT. Once you get to AIT, you will be doing a lot of the same thing every day.

It looks like I'm going to be doing a little research on that Montgomery G.I. Bill, I was hoping there'd be a good amount of female recruits on BT, I think it'd make things a little easier. But I can't wait .

Are you allowed to visit your family at all while on AIT? is it a mon-fri thing? how long is AIT?

AIT is a Sun-Sat thing. You will enjoy yourself. Just remember just because you pass your physical fitness test in BCT and AIT, does not mean to take it easy when you go home on leave before your duty station. As a platoon sergeant I got a lot of failures on the dianostic PT test, because they did not do PT on their own. Do not stop running, pushups, situps, or workouts when your at home.

now, I've read that you take the fitness test in Boot Camp... but when do you do it? once you get there? during? or before graduating?

And I figured that after I joined, pt would be more of a lifestyle than anything else...

Hello again,

As of right now I’m in drill sergeant school surrounded by BCT and AIT soldiers.

From what I understand from your earlier post you were wondering if there will be other female recruits in BCT with you, not female recruiters.

Answer- Yes you will have female battle buddies. On average a BCT company of up to 240 recruits will have about one platoon of females (25-60). These numbers fluctuate due to time of year and also just who walks in the door, but you will be assigned another female who will be your battle buddy and you will be ordered to be inseparable.

For your choice of MOS, do what you want/ enjoy. You’re going to get trained in something and it will be a large part of your life for the next X years. Make it a good choice for you.

You will most likely have BCT at one post with a mixture of recruits going to other AIT’s, and after graduation you will be sent to another post for AIT. (a few MOS’s do BCT and AIT together without a break, MP is one of them)

Treatment is quite a bit different between BCT and AIT. In basic you are a civilian being transformed into a soldier, and thus need constant supervision, training, and reinforcement. Free time and privileges will be sparse, but that’s not your focus. Becoming an American Soldier is.

Once you arrive to AIT you are now considered a soldier, just not formally trained in your job. Treatment will be improved but not to the level you can expect to have when you get to your duty station. There has even been a recent change in AIT that removed drill sergeants as the leadership. (though right now and for the near future there are still DS’s working that job, they just had to take off their hats {note: they are not happy about that}) Depending on which MOS you pick, your AIT will have different lengths. For some of the longer ones, you get civilian cloths and passes that feel like a duty station.

G.I. bill is a great program that you get the chance to sign up for when you join up. Most recruits sign up just out of confusion but it’s good in the end. Basically you sign up to have $100 a month for the first 12 months of service drawn out. (You won’t even notice the deduction). Then AFTER you get out of the army and attend full time collage you will receive a $1000+ dollar (the rate goes up every year) for every month in a four year degree.

So $1200 = $36000+, sounds good?


Anything else please ask.

Ah, and your other question.

You will take many PT tests. Within the first couple of days in basis you will have the 1-1-1 test. That is 1 minute of push up's, 1 minute of sit up's and 1 mile run (some units do 2 miles for the fun of it). This test will simply give your drill sergeants an idea of your fitness level. After that you will 2-3 more tests to watch your progress. In the last week or two you will have the last test which that one will count as your pass/ no pass in basic.

Bottom line: you will have many weeks and plenty of help to pass the last test.

Oh my goodness... the more I hear about it the more exited I get, for the past 7 weeks I've been going to the gym 6 times a week for this.

Knowing myself, I have a feeling I'll come up with 30 more questions... but for now, I really appreciate everyone's help.

For the past week, I had been having a lot of "what ifs" floating around my head, but knowing that the army is filled with helpful people willing to teach/encourage you to reach your goal, fills me with peace and excitement, thank you everyone!!