U.S Army BootCamp

[gripper]

Hell,when I went to Benning for basic and infantry school I actually GAINED weight( I was only 135 when I went in,145 by th etime I was a freshly minted 11B10.I was on the other end of the weight profile-the overweight kids were on the "fatboy profile"-singlesd out for remedial PT and usually got their chow with the Drills looking over htier shoulder.Me?I got extra meat,veggies(learned to like okra),grits(redneck polenta as far as a Northeastern project rat like me could see),peanut butter.Kinda funny in hindsight.

[j427x]

i also gained weight. i think i picked up about 20lbs after millions of push ups,sit ups, and ran the soles of 6 pairs of hard soled combat boots.

lucky for me i wasn't in too bad a shape when i went in due to athletics/football/basketball and working in the logging industry for a summer job.

[Viper Dude]

Years ago.... A new soldier just out of Army baisic training reported in to my headquarters. So I asked him what he thought of basic. The fellow was Arabic originally from Yemen. He said, "piece of cake. it was so much easier" (than baisic with the the PRC Army which he'd done previously in Red China.) He was an infantry veteran of the Six Day War fighting against Israel as an RPG gunner.

My branch was Infantry. We got to walk most places or run. The Mech and Cav guys got to ride. That allowed them to carry lots of ammo. More ammo is always better !!!

So it really depends upon your perspective when you go through BCT with the Army. I have trained many cycles of new troops during war time both in the draft and the volunteer Army. There are lots of things all new soldiers must know to survive and work as a team player. Your reaction in extreme stress situations must be predictable and useful to your comrads and the mission at hand. That is the point of such training. Give it your best.

VD