Tell me about BCT at Ft. Sill

[WAZX3DRVR]

I leave for there 9 Jan....88m, Army Reserves.

[Jedi XD]

Experiences may vary, I went through in Oct '04. Some days were better than others, but overall I thought it was pretty easy. I know things have changed since than dramatically. I'm stationed there so I see blank class A's walking around every other week(is a new graduating class). I know they have more privelges(sp?), ie cell phone use and smoking of all things is allowed, but I think they have to pass a PT test first.

I would also have to say that more than a few of the new soldiers coming to my unit have been pretty sub par. There seems to be a growing trend of "your unit will teach it to you" when it comes to AIT and PT doesn't seem to be as stressed as it was when I went in and as I stated I thought it should have been more difficult. But I degress. If you have any other questions, just ask.

Coming in Jan, it might not be that bad....cold nights and crisp mornings, but not bad days/afternoons.

Good luck though, and welcome aboard.

[Badshot]

Damn it does sound like they've loosened up.. then again it's been 15 years since I was there for Basic and AIT.

The only thing Jedi seems to have neglected to mention is the wind.. OMG the wind

Don't worry basic is more a mind game than anything.. you will get in shape if you're not already. Work with your Reserve unit NCO's to figure out PT and see if they'll help you get straight with the other little things you'll need. Don't worry if you don't get it all in advance, Uncle Sam and his designated Sargent's will ensure that you get the basics down.

I know when I hit AIT most of us got out of it what we put in. Not that it was hard (well PT was stepped up just because of MOS Pride I guess) but still nothing outside of the do-able.

Enjoy Ft. Silly ..

[eric_t12]

Don't worry basic is more a mind game than anything..

amen to that.

benning wasn't as physically demanding as i thought, but they made us drink water like you wouldn't believe, due to large numbers of heat casualties.

after every lunch/dinner meal for about 4 or 5 days straight we had half our platoon chucking it back up outside the bay area.

as for sill, probably about the same.

at least you won't be at relaxin' jackson

[Badshot]

Yup we did a ton of water the whole time I was in the Military.. then again I've been a big water drinker most of my life.

The funny thing about Sill when I was there was that they were "Testing Out" the low stress BCT's for the REMF's .. you had to have a non-combat arms MOS to get into it.. but what a fricken joke. Those guys did their road marches in soft shoes.. bastards...

And your Potato Hill camp out will be COLD.. on the other hand, if you're lucky you'll see the AC-130's and their FAC's doing runs. We took a "break" during our Land Nav exercise (that was AIT though) to hang out with a guy from 10th Group who was directing fire for Spooky. He was chillin in shorts and had a cooler of drinks we were not allowed to see. But he talked to us about calling Air Support which was much cooler than 155mm in our eyes.

Still.. Lawton is a **** hole, Ft. Sill was OK over all, had a good Class 6 store and more than enough E-Clubs for us AIT guys to cruise

[Jedi XD]

Ha, I forgot about the wind, but I'm accustomed to it being from South Dakota, so there was no adjustment.

Yeah it'll be cold, but they may not even be staying out there if it's too cold.

Whether you are in the field or not, you will get to hear plenty of artillery practice. I don't think a week goes by without a day or two of regular intervals of 'thumps"


Don't think that since it's winter, you won't be drinking as much water, you'll still be drinking it like its going out of style, and before it freezes.

Lawton is still a craphole, and not getting any better. One club just got put off limits because of a soldiers involved shooting, one killed, one held for questioning, both in my brigade.


Anytime you are around a weapon, any weapon system; CLEAR it! A BCT soldier was killed last month when someone failed to properly clear a .50, yes I said ma duece, and he was hit during a demo in the bleachers.

[yocan]

meh my friend in the army got into a verbal crap shooting match with a sergeant, who made fun of them for the "ease" of boot camp. That long march you have to do to graduate the guy said their 4 hour limit was a joke and said he couldn't have kept up with that guys group when he went through.
Friend looked him in the eye and said "lets go" I'm confused as to whether this was basic or to become a sergeant which he was. Long story short they "ran" the whole thing, and did it in the ranger time allotment which I understood to be 1 hour 56 minutes or so. This guy is 215 lbs and 6'4" and he can't do much but he can hump. The point is, when he got in he had nothing when he got to basic, by the time he did that hump, he was running 3 miles a day in boots, so yeah it must have been after basic. If you work, you will improve, if you don't, no one will cry for you when you die. (that wasn't a play on words)