United States Army Basic Training

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United States Army Basic Training (also known as Initial Entry Training)[1] is a rigorous program of physical and mental training required in order for an individual to become a soldier in the United States Army, United States Army Reserve, or United States Army National Guard. It is carried out at several different Army posts around the United States. Basic Training can last anywhere from 15 weeks to over one year, depending on the career path an individual chooses upon enlistment.

Basic Training is designed to be highly intense and challenging. The challenge comes as much from the difficulty of physical training as it does from the required quick psychological adjustment to an unfamiliar way of life.

Basic Training is divided into two parts: Basic Combat Training (BCT) and Advanced Individual Training (AIT).

Basic Combat Training, or BCT, consists of the first 9 weeks of the total Basic Training period. It is identical for all Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard recruits. This is where individuals learn about the fundamentals of being a soldier, from combat techniques to the proper way to address a superior. BCT is also where individuals undergo vigorous physical training, to prepare their bodies for the eventual physical strain of combat. One of the hardest and most essential lessons learned in BCT, however, is self-discipline: BCT introduces prospective soldiers to a strict daily schedule, entailing many duties and extremely high expectations for which most civilians are not immediately ready.

Advanced Individual Training, or AIT, consists of the remainder of the total Basic Training period. It is where recruits train to eventually become experts in their chosen field, and it is therefore different for each available Army career path. For example, if an individual chose to enlist as a tank operator, they would be sent, following completion of BCT, to Armor School. If an individual instead chose to enlist as an Army medic, they would be sent, after BCT, to the Army Medical Department School. Although many AIT schools don't center around combat the way BCT does, individuals are still subject to the same duties, strict daily schedule, and disciplinary rules as in BCT. AIT trainees are also continually tested for physical fitness and weapons proficiency.

Contents

[edit] Overview

[edit] Daily schedule

A typical day in Basic Training generally follows this schedule. Times can change depending on location, commanding officers, or simply the whims of the drill sergeants.[2]

Time Activity Description
5:00AM Wake-up Wake up and perform personal morning tasks. For males, shaving is mandatory every morning.
5:30AM Fall-in Line up in company area, perform morning physical training (calisthenics and running).
6:30AM Breakfast
8:30AM Training Begin the day's scheduled training exercises.
12:00PM Lunch
1:00PM Training Continue the day's scheduled training exercises.
5:00PM Dinner
6:00PM Drill sergeant time Time for drill sergeants to talk to the recruits about any subject they may think requires attention.
Mail call is also performed during this time.
8:30PM Personal time Time for recruits to engage in personal activities, such as writing letters, doing laundry, showering, or simply relaxing.
Recruits may also catch up on platoon duties during this time, such as barracks cleaning or shoe shining.
9:00PM Lights-out

[edit] Drill sergeants

At the core of Army Basic Training is the drill sergeant. Drill sergeants are the instructors that are responsible for most of the training that takes place in Basic Training. They accompany recruits throughout training process, instructing and correcting them in everything from correct procedures for firing a weapon to the correct way to speak to a superior.

Drill sergeants, while prohibited from harming recruits via physical contact, commonly use a form of punishment known as "smoking." If a recruit does something wrong, a drill sergeant may order that recruit (or the entire platoon) to engage in a series of calisthenic exercises, such as push-ups. When drill sergeants order this type of punishment on a recruit, it is said that they have "smoked" or "dogged" the recruit. This is also known as CAPE (Corrective Action: Physical Exercise).

Other physical exercises used to discipline recruits include: squat-thrusts, holding heavy objects over their heads while running, "cherry-pickers", "Indian runs", "grass drills", "flutter kicks", and extra duty work.

[edit] Meals

Meals are generally given in the Dining Facility, usually referred to in its abbreviated form, DFAC (pronounced DEE-fak). When a meal occurs during a training session at a remote location, meals are sometimes given in the form of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) or pre-packed meals from the DFAC that are known as "hot-Alphas" or "field chow".

[edit] Sundays

In any given week of Basic Training, Sundays are generally scheduled as "personal time", although drill sergeants usually instruct recruits to do barracks maintenance during this time. Chapel (religious) services are also held on Sundays, and are available on-base for most major religions.

[edit] Fire guard and CQ

For each hour of every night, two or more recruits from the platoon must remain awake to patrol their barracks area, watching for fires as well as recruits attempting to leave the barracks area. They wake the next pair of recruits at the end of their hour-long shift. This duty is called fire guard.

Fire guard stems back to the days of wooden barracks and wood-burning stoves. The fire guard would watch the stoves to make sure that the barracks would not burn down. If the weather gets cold enough, some groups conducting overnight outdoor training will use a kerosene "pot bellied" stove, which must be watched to prevent accidental fires. Even when no flames are in use, present-day fire guard during Basic Training is more an exercise in discipline than it is a practical necessity.

CQ (Charge of Quarters) functions in a somewhat similar manner (only during BCT, otherwise it's called Staff Duty). CQ shifts rotate throughout the entire company, with just two recruits from the company staying awake per shift. The actual Charge of Quarters is the drill sergeant, and the pair of recruits staying awake are the "runners", meaning that they perform tasks for the CQ. They perform some of the same duties as the fire guard shift, only they remain outside, in the company area, watching over all four platoon barracks. Only the CQ on duty may open the barracks doors, and the runners must alert the CQ if someone else attempts to enter or leave the barracks.

[edit] Hands-on training

For many hands-on instructional sessions, recruits are transported to other locations on-base that specialize in the given subject. For instance, a class on rigging claymores (a type of small anti-personnel land mine) is given at a location where a field is already set up with the appropriate props for the simulation, including fake claymores that recruits can practice on. Classes are also given in the use of the AT4 shoulder-fired anti-tank missile launcher. For this class, recruits are brought to a mock battlefield riddled with decommissioned tanks and other vehicles. Each recruit fires a trainer AT4 weapon, loaded with tracer bullets, at various targets on the battlefield. For weaponry training that involves only the use of fake weapons, one real demonstration of the actual weapon is usually performed. For example, at claymore training, one real claymore is rigged and remotely detonated; and at AT4 training, one lucky recruit (often the recruit who qualified highest on the M16) is chosen to fire a live-round AT4.

[edit] Locations

The location where a recruit is sent for Basic Training depends on his or her chosen Military Occupational Specialty, or MOS, which is selected upon enlistment.

[edit] One Station Unit Training

With some MOS', both the BCT and AIT phases of training are accomplished back-to-back at the same location, with the same instructors, as well as with the same fellow recruits. This is called One Station Unit Training, or OSUT. For example, the infantry MOS consists of the usual nine weeks of BCT followed by six weeks of AIT, all within the same location. A similar program is followed for cavalry scouts, tank crewmen, field artillery cannon crewmen, military police, combat engineers, and chemical operations (defensive) specialists.[1]

[edit] Basic Combat Training

The U.S. Army has five sites for BCT:[3]

Female Army recruits are sent to Fort Leonard Wood or Fort Jackson, which have gender-integrated training.

[edit] Advanced Individual Training

AIT is held at the corresponding school for the recruit's MOS.
For more information on the different AIT schools, see Advanced Individual Training below.

[edit] Reception Battalion

Reception Battalion (RECBN) is the period that begins when the recruit arrives at the Army base where he or she is to undergo Basic Training. Initial preparations for training are performed here, including:[4]

  • Haircut (head shave for men; women must either cut hair short or wear pinned up)
  • Physical examination (including blood and urine tests)
  • Inoculations
  • Distribution of uniforms and personal gear, such as duffel bag, mouth guard, and canteen.
  • Instruction in marching and the upkeep of barracks
  • Initial physical assessment test:
  • 17 sit-ups within one minute.
  • Men: 13 push-ups within one minute.
  • Women: 3 Push-ups within one minute
  • Men: one-mile run in 8½ minutes.
  • Women: one-mile run in 10½ minutes.

By the end of Basic Combat Training recruits will be expected to do 6 times as much as on the entry PT test.

Reception Battalion can last up to one week, but is sometimes compressed into as few as 3 days.

[edit] Fitness Training Company

Those recruits that fail the physical assessment test can be held back at Reception Battalion, where they are placed in Fitness Training Company (FTC), sometimes referred to in slang form as "Fat Camp." FTC involves daily, rigorous physical training. Recruits in FTC are given 2 chances each week to complete the physical assessment test, and upon passing are allowed to move on to the next phase of Basic Training. Recruits that spend 4 weeks in FTC without passing the physical assessment test (failing the test 8 times) may be discharged from the Army via an Entry Level Separation (see Discharge from Basic Training below).

[edit] Basic Combat Training

Basic Combat Training, or BCT, is a 9-week training period that is identical for all MOSs (Military Occupational Specialties). This is because the Army believes that no matter the soldier's speciality, they should all be taught the basic skills of combat so they will be ready to properly defend themselves (as well as their fellow soliders) when and if necessary. It is divided into three phases, each phase lasting three weeks. The three phases are each represented by a color (red, white, and blue).

At some Basic Training stations, the current phase is denoted by the color of guidon carried by the platoon. Following the recruits' successful completion of the Field Training Exercise (FTX, a final exercise just before graduation), the Phase III blue guidon is sometimes traded for a tri-color red, white, and blue guidon that symbolizes successful completion of all three BCT phases.

[edit] Phase I

During Phase I or "Red Phase", recruits are subject to "Total Control", meaning their every action is monitored and constantly corrected by drill sergeants.

[edit] Week 1

Week 1 begins with the recruits meeting the drill sergeants who will be responsible for their training throughout BCT. The drill sergeants pick up their recruits from Reception Battalion and either transport or march them to their company area. The company area is the common area for the entire company, and is surrounded by four barracks — one for each platoon in the company.

Upon arrival at the company area, recruits are subjected to the "bag drill". This is a training exercise in which all the recruits' duffel bags are dumped into one large pile, and the recruits are told to find their personal duffel bags simultaneously, and within a set time limit. The exercise is designed so that the soldiers fail in their task and must keep trying again, until they realize that they must work together in order to complete the task within the time limit.[5] Following the bag drill, the recruits are divided into platoons.

Drill & Ceremony training begins during week 1. This refers to correct procedures for marching, and body movements such as standing at attention, "facing" (right-face/left-face), "at ease," etc. For this and many other exercises, soldiers are sometimes issued fake rifles known as "rubber ducks", so that they can become familiar with the proper handling of their weapon before they have actually been trained to use it. More recently recruits have begun to be issued fully functional M16A2/A4s during the first week of BCT to allow for early familiarization with the weapon. These are replaced with "Rubber Duckies" only during notably muddy or dirty events such as the Bayonet Assault or Night Infiltration courses.

Classroom instructions are given in each of the seven "Army Core Values," which include loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. Note that the initials spell out the mnemonic LDRSHIP (leadership). There are also classes held on subjects that involve day-to-day personal life in the Army, such as sexual harassment and race relations.

[edit] Week 2

During week 2, recruits begin unarmed combat training, also known as hand-to-hand combat, Combatives, or Ground Fighting Technique (GFT). The training often culminates in a competition where each platoon chooses one recruit to compete. At gender-integrated training stations, the platoons each choose one male and one female recruit.

Recruits are also instructed in map reading, land navigation, and compass use. These skills are put to the test at the Compass Course, where recruits are divided into groups and must navigate their way to a series of points throughout a wooded area.

Recruits will also tackle other physical challenges including Victory Tower and the Teamwork Development Course. Victory Tower is an exercise where recruits must navigate through several obstacles at extreme heights, including climbing and traversing rope ladders and bridges. They must then rappel down a 50-foot wall (back-first, with rope harness). In the Teamwork Development Course, squads must negotiate a series of obstacles, with emphasis on working as a team rather than as individuals.

First aid training is also given during this period. Recruits are trained in evaluating and properly treating casualties, ranging from the simple dressing of a wound to application of a tourniquet. Recruits are also trained in how to evaluate and treat heat casualties such as dehydration. Proper procedures for setting up and removing an IV are now being introduced, including closely supervised live practice on each other.

[edit] Week 3

Recruits begin training for bayonet use using pugil sticks and then move on to the Bayonet Assault Course. Other hands-on instruction sessions include person-carrying methods and physical problem-solving.

Recruits are also commonly sent to the "gas chamber" during this week, which is a large, sealed chamber where soldiers are subjected to tear gas while wearing their gas masks. The gas chamber is the culmination of a series of instructions on gas mask use. Recruits are forced to unmask just before exiting the chamber, so that they can briefly experience the effects of the gas. Drill sergeants will usually ask each recruit to recite information while they are unmasked, such as name, rank, social security number[citation needed], the Pledge of Allegiance, or the three Army general orders, so that the recruit is forced to open their mouth/eyes and/or take a breath. Recruits that answer incorrectly are sometimes sent for another trip through the gas chamber.

Week 3 is also when the recruits are introduced to their standard-issue weapon, the M16A2 assault rifle. This does not yet involve the actual firing of the rifle. It does include Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM) fundamentals training (instruction in marksmanship techniques without firing the rifle), as well as maintenance tasks, including "field stripping" (quickly disassembling) the rifle, cleaning it, and reassembling it correctly. With the focus toward Weapon Familiarization, many of these tasks (such as maintenance, and disassembly and reassembly) are now done during Week 1 as a part of the initial round of classroom instruction.

[edit] Phase II

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Phase II or "White Phase" is where soldiers begin actually firing weapons. With the assault rifle (M16 A2), they will fire at various targets, which are progressively further-and-further downrange, resulting in more-and-more difficult shooting. Additionally, there are pop-up targets at long range. Other weapons the soldier becomes familiarized with include various grenades (such as the M67 fragmentation grenade) and grenade launchers (such as the M203 grenade launcher).

A soldier practices using his fixed bayonet, attached to a dummy rifle.
A soldier practices using his fixed bayonet, attached to a dummy rifle.

The second week of Phase II involves familiarization with the bayonet, anti-tank/armor weaponry and other heavy weapons. There is also an obstacle course which the soldiers are expected to negotiate in a certain amount of time. This is also known as the confidence course since the main objective of running the course is to build self-confidence. There is also the expectation of working as a team with the assigned Battle Buddy.

Additionally, there is continual, intense physical training (PT), as well as drill and ceremony training. At the conclusion of Phase II, soldiers are expected to demonstrate proficiency with the various weaponry in which they trained, using numerous "go or no-go" (pass/fail) exercises, prior to being allowed to move on to Phase III.

[edit] Phase III

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Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

Phase III "Blue Phase" is the culmination and the most challenging of all the training phases. During the first week, there is a PT final. At some locations, soldiers that fail are not allowed to go into the field with the rest of the platoon. The Final PT Test consists of the Standard Army Annual PT Examination. A minimum of 150 points is required to pass US Army Basic Training. Those that pass will move on to "Bivouac" (camping) and FTX (Field Training Exercises), such as nighttime combat operations and MOUT training. There is no access to the dining facility during these exercises, so meals are given in the form of either MREs (Meal Ready to Eat) or "hot alphas". Drill sergeants will make much of this an adversarial process, working against the recruits in many of the night operations, trying to foil plans, etc. Other BCT companies also in their FTX weeks may join in simulated combat scenarios, generally at night, with intense competition to prove their particular company the better trained.

Week 2 of Phase III (the 8th week of Basic Training) culminates in a special tactical FTX (Field Training Exercise), during which the drill sergeants will advise, but allow recruit platoon leaders and squad leaders to exercise primary decision-making. They attempt to make virtually every one of these exercises different. Due to the fact that being a soldier is potentially an extremely hazardous job, recruits must demonstrate extreme aggression and fearlessness, tempered by intelligence and common sense. Only those that demonstrate these vital attributes will be permitted to move on to AIT.

[edit] Advanced Individual Training

Advanced Individual Training, or AIT, is where new soldiers receive specific training in their chosen MOS. The length of AIT training varies depending on the MOS and can last anywhere from three weeks to nearly two years. The current longest AIT training lasts 84 weeks (1 year and 8 months).

Just like BCT, AIT progressively allows trainees more and more privileges. At the start of AIT, trainees are in Phase IV. After a varying length of time and satisfactory performance, the trainees are awarded Phase V. Phase V often includes the privilege of applying for off-post passes or use of a cell phone. Phase V+ is awarded after a similar length of time and continued good conduct. Phase V+ trainees may walk about the base without having a battle buddy present, be able to drink alcohol on weekends (provided one is of legal drinking age), and even stay off-post overnight on weekends.

[edit] AIT schools

Army AIT schools include (not a complete list):

  • Intelligence Center - Fort Huachuca
  • Medical Department Center and Schools
  • Military Police School
  • Ordnance Mechanical Maintenance School
  • Ordnance Munitions and Electronics Maintenance School
  • Quartermaster School
  • Signal School
  • Transportation School
  • Combat Medic School

[edit] Punishable activities

Activities that are prohibited during Basic Training include (but are not limited to):

  • Insubordination (disobeying orders)
  • Disrespecting a drill sergeant or other superior
  • Cigarette smoking
  • Possession/consumption of food, except during designated meal hours and in designated areas
  • Possession of other contraband
  • Neglecting fire watch or CQ watch duty
  • Going AWOL

[edit] Article 15

When a recruit engages in a prohibited activity, their drill sergeant may recommend an Article 15. An Article 15 is a type of disciplinary action, also known as nonjudicial punishment, and can entail any or all of the following:

  • Restriction to specific limits (normally work, barracks, place of worship, mess hall, and medical facilities) for up to 45 days
  • Extra duty for up to 45 days, usually meaning that the recruit's personal time is replaced with work detail
  • Forfeiture of up to one month's pay over a period of two months
  • Reduction by one grade of rank (demotion), which also means a permanent pay reduction until the recruit is promoted again
  • Verbal or written reprimand

If a drill sergeant sees fit to recommend an Article 15, the recruit is brought before the company commander and given the choice to have a public or private hearing. In either case, the drill sergeant recommending the Article 15 presents their reasons for the recommendation, as well as a recommendation for an appropriate punishment. The recruit is then given the opportunity to defend their actions. If the company commander then agrees with the recommendation, the Article 15 is imposed. The recruit is then given the choice of either accepting the punishment or appealing the decision. If the recruit chooses to appeal, he or she is brought before the battalion commander, who makes the final decision following a similar hearing.

There are various grades of Article 15.

  • A Summarized Article 15 can put the recruit on corrective training or extra duty for up to 14 days, and restrict the recruit to certain designated areas. This restriction bears the most weight during AIT, when "pass" privileges are revoked, meaning the recruit is confined to barracks while others are allowed the use of certain recreational facilities on base.
  • A Company Grade Article 15 extends the severity and length of these disciplinary actions, and can also impose a deduction taken from the recruit's pay and one reduction of rank.

- Neither of these are put in a permanent record: they are shredded at the end of AIT.

  • A Field Grade Article 15 can impose some or all of the most severe actions, and can include two reductions in rank. This goes on the permanent file, and is not erased after graduation.

- Some combinations of actions can also consist of being "held over" or "rolled back" to start training from a date already passed, including being started over ("new start over", or NSO) at the beginning. There is a certain amount of disgrace associated with being a "holdover" or "NSO", however the knowledge of training already gained by the recruit held back is held immensely valuable by the recruits of the company or class just starting.

[edit] Discharge from Basic Training

A recruit can be discharged from the Army before the conclusion of Basic Training. Discharges that occur before the completion of 180 days (approximately 6 months) of training are characterized as administrative (also known as a "General Discharge") discharges, which are neither honorable nor dishonorable.

  • An Entry Level Separation (ELS) can occur when a recruit demonstrates unsatisfactory performance and/or misconduct. A recruit can only be ELS'd after at least 4 weeks of training and 2 counseling sessions, except under extreme circumstances, such as the recruit being deemed suicidal.[6]
  • If it is found that a recruit is unable to train due to a chronic medical condition, he or she may obtain a medical discharge by the recommendation of an Army medical doctor.
  • A discharge due to any condition Existing Prior To Service (EPTS) may occur when a recruit is found to have a prior medical condition existing before enlistment. This includes a General Discharge with notation that the recruit "Failed Procurement Standards."

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Army Training Phase Restrictions
  2. ^ Army Basic Training - How to Prepare and Succeed
  3. ^ Surviving Army Basic Training
  4. ^ GoArmy.com > Soldier Life > Becoming a Soldier > Basic Combat Training > Week 00: Reception
  5. ^ TRADOC News Service
  6. ^ Army Basic Training - Entry-Level Separation (ELS)

[edit] See also

v • d • e
United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC)
Sub-commands United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC)
Installations
Schools
Languages