I would appreciate as much info about the 25s school for a prior service (E-4) as I could get
1. what to bring
2. pt and pt tests
3. barracks
4. how hard is the school

I'm in AIT right now for 25B, so unfortunately I can't answer your specific questions about being a 25S. Things do vary by whatever company you are part of, but I will give you info based upon the company I am in...

PT varies by day, but is generally more challenging than what I experienced at Fort Jackson. We still have ability group runs, though they are only about once a week. Other run days could be 60/120s or a run with the 1SG, supplemented by company runs (~3.5mi) or even the dreaded battalion run (~5mi). On muscle endurance day we often do pyramids of pushups and situps. PT is occasionally cancelled by the rain, and often preempted by other events such as showing our ID cards and tags to our company ops, a blood drive, going to obtain an ID card or early school, making a sick call appt... a lot of things can come between you and PT, unlike basic. We had to take an initial PT assessment the first week upon arrival as a diagnostic, with a PT test for record (usually the EOC towards the end) later, and maybe another one in between. Of course PT standards at AIT are 60% for each event for your age group.

In our barracks, there are different types of rooms ranging from small 2-3 person rooms to larger 8-person rooms. There are a lot of vacant barracks buildings (it seems) but folks are crowded like sardines into our company (makes sense, as it would be cheaper to staff, I suppose). The 8-person rooms are a lot smaller than the 8-person rooms where I went to basic at Fort Jackson with a lot less elbow room. The latrines are common areas, however, are much nicer and cleaner.

What to bring... Well, I guess that depends upon you. Most folks coming right to AIT would be in Phase IV status, so you won't be wearing civilian clothes for awhile (they are locked up until you obtain Phase V status). In our company, we didn't get a chance to phase up until we had been at Fort Gordon for a month. We also had to pass a PT test, a written test about general Army (and company-specific) knowledge, pass a barracks and room inspection, and a Class 'A' uniform inspection. Phase V brings with it things like weekend passes (actually one overnight pass, from about 10am Saturday to Sunday afternoon) off post. Things we were allowed to keep in my company: cell phones (limited access though in Phase IV) and electronics that are small enough to fit into a cargo pocket. Laptop computers are forbidden in my company, though I have heard of some others that allow them.

I know your message was posted awhile back in May, but if you have any other questions I might be able to help with, feel free to drop me a line.

Jennifer

Iam a 25S and lucky for you the school is much shorter now. It went from 9 months to like 5 months depending if you get the tactical or strategic course. You will be staying in the permanent party barracks which really arent that great. PT is normal thats only if you even do PT. But if you have any other questions hit me up

As SSG Airborne said the AIT course is much shorter now. Tactical being 23 weeks and strategic being 28 weeks. However taking either side of the course doesn't mean much. All I can say is the course is very easy as long as your researching skills are at their peak. Also if you get offered a 1C slot you best take it if you don't want to be in a tactical unit for atleast 2-3 years. However being a 1C doesn't mean you won't get stuck in a 7D slot as I did. I went through the strategic side and got 1C (Satellite Controller/GMF) and still ended up tactical as I am now working on a KU system in Iraq. Back to the real discussion: You should be in permanent party barracks but there have been cases where prior service soldiers were still housed in AIT barracks depending on how long they had been out of the military. Anyways the course is too easy and you should be fine.
Good luck.