Which army basic training to go to?

[downdiver2]

Go Benning, go 11B. This opens you up to attend most schools in the Army. While you're at it, throw in Airborne school and RASP after. Oh and don't worry, you'll be back to Benning for Ranger and Sniper school later.

^^ Yes, the advice to give you is not which basic to go to, but to educate you on signing up with all the advanced schools locked in. Example: Basic > to airborne school > to air assault school (Not so hard to get later) > to RASP. That way you attend all the schools at peek fitness (best chance) and you don't have to Beg command to send you later.

[Maurice]

MCRD San Diego


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[Burdened]

2nd MCRD San Diego.

[Gowking]

I'm 25 years old and I will throw it out there, if Jackson is more relaxed I'll need it. I ain't no 18 year old. But I'm in shape passed meps and opat test.

Pshh, this is the "new" Army right here. I turned 42 the night I arrived at Ft. Knox back in '07 for 19K OSUT. Give me a break...

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Hello for all you retired and active US soldiers, if you had a choice to choose a basic training location which one would you suggest?

Ft. Leonardwood, MO?

ft. Jackson?

ft. Benning?

I personally went to Relaxin' Jackson, although I found very little relaxation during BCT. I didn't ask to go there, but my BCT and AIT schools were all there. It reduced stress that I could hoof it from BCT to AIT. Some of the soldiers transferring elsewhere had to worry about getting correct orders, outprocessing, and getting travel vouchers & reservations.

Your MOS will determine where you go, so don't try to pick a job just to go to a particular BCT location. Some good universal advice to follow is don't go in early to mid summer. Not only will it be brutally hot, but you will be stuck in purgatorial reception for a long time with the mobs of new HS graduates. I stayed in Reception for two weeks, and that was pretty fast.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Pshh, this is the "new" Army right here. I turned 42 the night I arrived at Ft. Knox back in '07 for 19K OSUT. Give me a break...

I went to Fort Jackson and we got smoked every single day. It is a recruiter talking point.

[I/O]

I went to Ft Jackson which was coed and a joke. I am harder on my apprentices than they were on us there. Don't choose Ft Jackson if you want to feel like you went through something challenging.

When I went to my first formation at 0300 or what ever it was and saw females I thought I was in the wrong place.

I went to ft. Jackson back in "77", and my daughter went to ft. Leonardwood in "07" both were rough, Leonardwood had very bad summers from what my daughter said. She was MP, so AIT and basic there, I was lucky and got Jackson then ft. Eustis for AIT chopper mech. Jackson was rough though if you were on tank hill.

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[Bobby Ricigliano]

Same thing happened to a friend of mine. Bussed from downtown L.A. to Ft. Ord - oops meningitis over to the airport and off to Ft. Lewis in Washington. Finally got there around 2am and stood out in the rain for 4 hours. Caught pneumonia and spent 3 weeks in the base hospital. He and my dad had a good laugh as he was in the barracks that were built in WWII as temporary housing when my dad was there.

I went to Fort Lewis for pre-mob training for a month. When we entered the base I was amazed at the newness of everything and the base housing looked like higher-end type apartment buildings.

We kept on going though and finally got dropped off at what appeared to be semi-abandoned housing at the edge of some forest that looked pre-WW2 at least. Musty, creaky, and cold. We laughed about it and just sucked it up. It also rained every single day while we were in the field.

[jstert]

anyplace but ft leonard wood.


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[TeeMon5]

As I said previously, I was sent to Ft Polk, LA for BCT. I was one of the lucky few that did not have AIT at Polk. Most of the guys that went to Polk for BCT also got their AIT (Infantry & Tigerland), before being sent directly to Vietnam.

The Army chose Polk for Infantry and Tigerland training because of the dense, jungle like forests that were there and the heat, humidity and precipitation that approximated what the troops would experience in Vietnam.

My AIT was at Ft Holabird (Baltimore, MD) which is now closed. When I was there, it was the Intelligence Training center for the US Army and other services as well as Special Forces and foreign officers.

Some have suggested that you seek additional combat training like Ranger, etc. But unless you plan to stay in the Army, that type of training might not be as useful in civilian life as other types of training courses like MP, Computer, and the such, which will allow you to transition to civilian life and find suitable employment. The transition may not be as smooth if you have only been trained in the Combat Arms.

[sonofeugene]

Choice? That's nice.

When I enlisted in 1965, those of us that lived in CA were being sent to Ft Ord, CA. But, the group I was in got quite a surprise that day when we were told that due to a meningitis outbreak at Ord, we were all going to Ft Polk, LA.

It was handy for the Infantry guys because they had Advanced Infantry Training at Polk as well as the Tigerland course before going to Vietnam.

I also remember that guys that wanted Airborne Training went to Ft Benning after AIT.

Seems Fort Ord had periodic meningitis outbreaks. I arrived there in the summer of '71 just after an outbreak. Great place for basic, though.

[jarhead714]

anyplace but ft leonard wood.


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It did suck bad, but looking good ain't hard on an Army post. Had me a doggy girlfriend with a car. I was stylin'.

OP, you want good weather and good training, there are some yellow footprints waiting for you in beautiful San Diego, California.

[Honey nut]

Xxxxx

[peterinsj]

Cherry picking your basic training location seems like a waste of time. You pick your MOS and go where the Army sends you. First they send you somewhere for basic, then somewhere else for AIT, then you get sent to many other somewhere else's before your ETS date.

BTW I went to Jackson in Fall of '82 and my cadre were all 11b's from Benning and they didn't seem soft to us at all. They reminded us quite often of how fortunate we were to have a cadre of entirely Benning trained infantrymen. You do lots of pushups, humping your rucksack and all that other soldier stuff everywhere and at the end of basic you move on.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Cherry picking your basic training location seems like a waste of time. You pick your MOS and go where the Army sends you. First they send you somewhere for basic, then somewhere else for AIT, then you get sent to many other somewhere else's before your ETS date.

BTW I went to Jackson in Fall of '82 and my cadre were all 11b's from Benning and they didn't seem soft to us at all. They reminded us quite often of how fortunate we were to have a cadre of entirely Benning trained infantrymen. You do lots of pushups, humping your rucksack and all that other soldier stuff everywhere and at the end of basic you move on.

At Fort Jackson in 1998, 2 of our 4 Drill Sergeants had Ranger Tabs and all of them wore EIB's or CIB's. Suffice to say, there was no kindlier or gentler training for anyone. Obviously no one in my BCT company was infantry MOS's, but the Drill Sergeants didn't seem to care.