You're in the Army now...

[ELB]

Best wishes to your daughter!

[StewNTexas]

My very best to you and your daughter.

As to cell phones....

Time does change things, A LOT. I got to Parris Island around 4:00 AM. By noon, I had my hair cut, EVERYTHING I brought taken away. Yes, razors, rings, shoes, socks. We went in one end of a very long room as we had arrived. Went out the other end with new clothes, new haircut, and EVERYTHING we arrived with in a heavy duty bag.

We sealed them, wrote our home addresses on them, and away they went.

At about the 11th week period, I THINK I saw a coke machine out of the corner of my eye one day while returning from a 10 mile march. Not sure, it might have been a mirage.

[bizarrenormality]

Best wishes and best of luck to her!

Keep looking in the mailbox for a letter like this one. http://www.texaschlforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=31202" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[quidni]

Thank you much - she's active

I'm wondering - if I ace the PT tests - if it's possible to get some sort of reprieve on my age (45) and get into the Reserves... hmmm.

You're still young enough to enlist in the Texas State Guard.

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

I got to Jackson about midnight. We rode in on the busses as soon as we made it to the replacement BN we were yelled at to get off the bus ran into a room and had everything but the clothes on our backs taken away. since everything was closed we went to the barracks and went to sleep. at 0500 we woke for chow and by noon we were lookin like soldiers with our heads shaved, BDUs on and bags packed. For the next week we did D and C and then went to our Basic Training.

I cant believe that they let them have cell phones now. That is just ridiculous to me. But then again the Army is getting too soft. They have stress cards at basic and you cant make soldiers push anymore. Too politically correct.

This is not to take anything away from your daughter. I applaud her and her decision to join especially at a time of war. That shows great character and a great upbringing. you should be very proud of her and I know you are!

Let her know that she should enjoy her time there...this may sound wierd but she is going to miss basic when its all over. I know I do. the physical stuff at basic did not bother me the hardest part was being away from family and friends. All we had was pen and paper to write home. My favorite time was mail call. We got to go down get our letters and shine our boots. Its funny but I miss it.

[nitrogen]

I was in better shape around that age, but still too much of a mess for any branch of the service to take me, even the air force. Part of me wishes I could have done it, if only to annoy my folks!

[stroo]

Best wishes to your daughter and thanks for her service. My son-in-law is in the Marines. While he is very satisfied with his career choice, it isn't easy.

[Medic218]

I wasn't lucky enough to go through Boot @ Camp Snoopy (which is what we called Jackson when we were at Ft. Leonard Wood aka Ft. Lost In The Woods...I think it was jealousy driven! )

gee, ya think!!! Lol

[chabouk]

My oldest did Army OSUT in 2004. No cell phones, no cigarettes, one payphone call upon arrival, another a month later.

I don't guess it scarred him too badly... he just reenlisted, is getting ready to deploy overseas, and is angling for warrant officer/flight school after he gets back.

[gregthehand]

Someone pointed out that she is in reception battalion and that is correct. They don't take away any personal items away there since they will only be there for a week max. It's just too hard to manage all the material in that short amount of time. New people come in every day and leave every day. Right now they are getting uniforms, haircuts, shots, eye exams, etc etc. Their days are full but they haven't started the super hard stuff either.

What will happen is once they are done with their checklist of stuff they have to do the Drill Sergeants will come pick them up and take them to the other side of Ft Jackson to their BCT unit. I was in 3rd Platoon D 1/61 Inf. Once there they will probably take away cell phones, and other restricted items/contraband. I wouldn't expect a package though. We just had to store ours in boxes and they stacked all of them in a big utility closet. One platoon per closet. On the day of graduation they gave us the boxes back and we just carried them to our AIT unit. I went to Ft Gordon and when I got there they took it back again and stored it. Once we hit phase 5 of BCT we were allowed civilian clothes, cell phones (although in 2000 not many 18 yr olds had them), and we could leave post on the weekends to go out into town.

BCT is all about stressing the privates. They will have many tasks thrown on them to make their lives stressful. They do this so they will react better under stress in the field Army. The things they have to do though to graduate is pass a PT test, qualify with their rifle, throw two hand grenades, rappel down victory tower, pass a height and weight test, and if I remember their were a few knowledge tests along the way. Oh and certain route marches and the gas chamber. If they miss any of those for whatever reason they will have to go piggy back with another unit to get them done or they will be recycled.

Depending on her job AIT is going to be a lot different than BCT. BCT takes the soldiers through Phase 1, 2, and 3. AIT they start out as a phase 4 and then move to phase 5, and 6 if there AIT is a long one. I can only speak for Ft Gordon as that's where I went. The Drill Sergeants are still there but they are not a constant presence like they were in BCT. Most of the day is spent in class with NCO instructors learning the basics of their new job. They see the drill sergeants for morning PT, 1st mess, 2nd mess, and after school. Also during room inspections and such. We had a decent amount of downtime at AIT to write letters, or hang out, etc. Also we woke ourselves up in the morning. No drill sergeant screaming down the hall like at BCT. Our rooms were different and we were given a lot more responsibility. They do this in a process they call the acclimation of the soldiers. So in BCT they were treated like they knew nothing and lead around from activity to activity. This is ok because in reality they don't know anything and need the constant guidance. However in AIT they are slowly made to take on more responsibility for themselves through the different phases. This is so by the time they graduate and move on to their first duty station their squad/section/team NCO won't have to teach them how to get along on their own. While they are a team out in the field Army while they are in garrison it's pretty much like a 7-5 job and the soldiers are expected to show up where they are supposed to show up and do their jobs without someone telling them to do it.

What did she write down on her dream sheet for her three choices of duty stations? What MOS did she go with? Is she scarred of heights? If not she should go airborne. Airborne and air assault school are both less than three weeks and are EASY. Both schools mean quicker promotions on up to E-6. They get points for stuff like schools, awards, college, etc. Plus being airborne or air assault always makes a soldier look better, even if not in an airborne unit. It shows that they are willing to go the extra mile. I'm sure she will be given a chance in AIT to go to Airborne training.

Make sure she takes advantage of the free college training when she is in. I did and it took about a year and a half off my college when I got out. Plus the Army pays for schools, books, and most of the classes are held on post.

If I may I would recommend the following posts as they are nice, and near an area that is not known as an "Army Town".

- Ft Gordon, GA
- Red Stone Arsenal, AL
- Ft Sam Houston, TX
- Corpus Christi Army Depot, TX

Those are all nice posts. Plus they are somewhat small.

Places I would avoid like the plague if possible in order!

Ft Hood, TX
Ft Bragg, NC
Ft Lewis, WA
Ft Knox, KY
Ft Wainwright, HI (not as nice as you would think and the locals hate soldiers)
Ft Bliss, TX

Hope this very long post is informative.

PS you're more likely to get into the National Guard than the reserves.

[13MWZ]

I went to basic at Ft Benning in 03....we still called it Relaxin Jackson. I went there for AIT, we didnt even get phones, weekend passes, nothing. It's so easy to pick out the 'new' soldiers, not just from their rank, but their attitudes, training level and dicipline. It's almost embarasing being assosiated with some of them. After the Army spends so much money geting them to that point they arent much better off then when they first joined. Then the rest of us have to use our time to train them right and make them into soldiers......something basic should have done. It's a shame.

Congrats to your daughter Andy for making the decision. Here's hoping she'll turn out better than the soldiers the 'mill' is cranking out now days.

[gregthehand]

Take that cover off indoors and those heels should be touching soldier! Looks like reception battalion. I remember the barracks well. I'm surprised she gets to wear her rank. We didn't get to until after BCT graduation.

[3dfxMM]

Many BCT/OSUT posts now keep the cell phones locked up with their other personal belongings, but hand them out for use when they are allowed phone privileges. It keeps the lines down at the pay phones. Not all training units allow this but many do. My son went through Infantry OSUT in late '04. We got two phone calls the entire time. Congrats to your daughter.