Boot Camp question. Last minute advice appreciated

[injured1]

Hello,

I have a couple questions if you guys wouldn't mind answering.

I'll start with a short story to give the questions some background.

I had become interested in joining the military back in January. I did not meet the height and weight standards so off I went to my local gym to lose weight. I did the standard diet and cardio and shed a hundred pounds in three months. Move to Mid April. I walk in to my local recruiting station and chatted. My now recruiter told me that they were backed up and I was looking at a 2013 ship date. Cool, I told myself I have plenty of time.
I come back to do some paperwork and he tells me i'm now in the August 2012 area. I tell myself that I still have some time to build endurance, etc.

Off to meps and I go through the hoops and my paperwork/contract says June 18th. I tell myself "okay..no worries, I GOT THIS." Fast forward to a couple days ago, I did my moment of truth, etc and my official date is now May 29th.
On my IST, I got 10 pull-ups, 78 sit ups, and 13:00 on the 1.5 mile

So....

1. Why was my date constantly moved up?
2. Do you guys think i'm ready? (I don't want to be the fatbody slowing everyone down and being last)

Sorry for the poor sentence structure. I'm sweating bullets here.

(I am 6'1 213)

[tozan]

Don't worry about it there will be guys in much worse shape than you and some in much better shape... Bottom line is Basic is for teaching you and also getting you in shape...

Thank you for being willing to serve...

[xpbprox]

That's awesome man, you got lucky getting a date that soon. Do what you're told and work your *** off and you will do good. Step your game up man, you got this.

[Vacaville]

1. Don't volunteer for anything - you won't be scoring brownie points.
2. Fly under the radar. You'll be punished for all kinds of things that you didn't do, don't add to the pain by being a smartass.
3. It will be hard to do at times, but get into it and enjoy the insanity.
4. The hardest part is mental not physical (unless you're in really bad shape). The idea is to strip you of your individuality, get you to function as a team player, and learn to follow instructions.

Good luck!

[hsiehjohn]

It definitely helps to be in shape, make sure you can rune 3 miles with ease; one less thing to worry about while they are screwing with you mentally. Get a copy of the general orders and rank structure and start memorizing them, again one less thing to worry about. You get the idea.

[Snoopy47]

never mind

[Snoopy47]

never mind

[whatpain]

oh yea, the Soldiers Creed..................memorize it. No one told me, and oh, the Army Song too.

dude hes going to the marines bro. boot camp not basic. if he shows up with the army general orders memorized hes gonna have bad times.

[Snoopy47]

never mind

[Snoopy47]

dude hes going to the marines bro. boot camp not basic. if he shows up with the army general orders memorized hes gonna have bad times.

OOOPPSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

SORRY man ignore everything I said. I have no idea what you are in for.

All I know is the marines had the bigger flag while I was AIT. I was wondering why he did pull ups

[TacticalPlinker]

I was in your situation about 5 years ago. Only difference was I didn't need to loose at much weight though I couldn't run worth a damn... That, and my ship out date was constantly being pushed back, not up. They would call me once a week and tell me I was shipping out, then an hour later I'm not. So fourth and so on, for about 8 months. Come to find out even though I was in the Delayed Entry Program (DEP) I was in for too long due to recent policy changes anyway, so I eventually got fed up and left the program.

Bottom line, I regret it everyday. I should of found a way to get me to boot, but after 8 months of being jerked around, I was fed up with the crap and lost my motivation. Now, I'm in worse physical shape and I'm 5 years older.

By the way, I joined the Corps if anyone is curious. Was going MOS 2111. Another reason I regret leaving. Oh well, Oorah!

[Reilandlaw]

Been a long time since I was in your boots ('94), but I wouldn't sweat the weight thing much, they'll get you in shape. Just be in a modicum of shape so you can do the minimum, work on your pull-ups and sit-ups and do some running to get your endurance up. I was in the exact opposite position as you when I joined, I was underweight and went in on a weight waiver (5'11" and 110 at the time, boy were those the days!) and I was never athletic before I enlisted. I did the dep about 6 months before I went to boot camp so I got a slight feel for the PT that would be expected of me. It was difficult for me (not just boot camp, but the rest of my enlistment as well - I went 0311, and because of my small size and non-athleticism, the physical end of it was always hard for me - especially the hiking with large packs, even more so when they stuck me with a radio, but a HUGE part of it really is mental. Just don't ever quit, even if you're falling behind and having a really hard time, don't quit, give it all you got).

I wish you the best of luck - be safe.

Bill

[hsiehjohn]

2111 is not that much fun, its all paperwork and counting rifles by hand when you open and close the armory daily to make sure all weapons are accounted for. The actual hands on time working on weapons is less than 5%. You didn't miss much.

Now, if you have your degree and go the officer route .... that's where its at.

[Clownpuncher]

You'll be fine.

The fact that you are in any kind of shape at all, other than round, is one step ahead of some you will see. Your big challenge will be maintaining/conforming to the ht/wt standards after boot camp. If you had to lose that much weight to get in, you will have to work your tail off to keep it off once the daily grind of boot camp is over with.
As for your date moving, take it as a affirmation that you're ready. You are most likely moving into someone else spot that couldn't go on time. So, since you're ready, willing, and able, they will ship you.

[TAK]

My date was moved up 8 month with a 13 hour notice. Once you are in the DEP be ready to leave at anytime.

You will be fine, as long as you can pass the IST in bootcamp that is all that matters. You will be tired, probably sick, and definitely in pain from your peanut butter shot. I left doing 65 sit ups, 8 p/u and a 11:50 run time ( I have no idea how I still remember that) and I had no problems in bootcamp. Make sure you stay in shape though after bootcamp and during mct/soi.