Basic Training in the Rear-View

This is a gritty account of my experience while at Army Basic Training. No B.S. here, the real deal minus the spin.

Live it along with me. Understand the nature of the training that builds this nations Infantrymen..............

An Exerpt:

...........Drill Sergeant Blowhard. Great! His assistant Drill was a huge, apish looking bastard with an extremely heavy brow. This guy yelled semi-loudly, but spoke quietly and quickly. He was shaped like an up-side-down pile of rocks. A huge man. His expectation was that we’d hear him despite his low tone. This was challenging to manage as well. He seemed to be a good natured guy though. Still an evil Drill Instructor, but it was more obvious that he was playing a role.


................On more than one occasion, while at basic, I watched a Drill sneak up on a dozing private and snatch their weapon from them. The private would wake up later and reach for their weapon, it wouldn’t be there, and they would become white as a ghost, utterly horrified as the “I’m gonna die, feeling” washes over them. They would know that their death awaited them. There is no alternative for a soldier or trainee who finds his self in this situation. They must go and ask for their weapon back from the Drill Instructor.

For the entirety of the day we would watch as this poor individual performed extraordinary feats of exercise. If we were walking somewhere, even a matter of many miles, this trainee would be running around the entire formation for the whole time with their weapon raised above their head. When we’d stop and sit down for a bit, the trainee would resume stationary exercises. It would be a whole-day affair for the trainee as well as the Drill.