Army 101: Basic Combat Training | U.S. Army

I am an American soldier. I am a warrior and a member of a team. We've got 90 seconds to get off this bus. I served in the United States in the 35th Army Battalion. I will always face the mission first. I will never accept defeat. This is your primary position in the military. General Sargent, I will never quit. In a single fight. I will never give up all of combat. There's no prouder tradition than serving in the United States Army. And basic combat training is your first step to becoming a respected member in the profession of arms. Soldier training is demanding, both physically and mentally. But in the end, you'll feel a sense of accomplishment that you'll carry for the rest of your life. During this 10-week training process, you'll learn important Army values, traditions, and skills. Such as teamwork, discipline, proper military dress, land navigation, rappelling, and weapons handling. The Army has four basic combat training locations, including Fort Moore, Georgia, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Your training location is determined by your specific Army job, which you'll learn in the Advanced Individual Training phase. And those trainees on track to become officers will go on to Officer Candidate School at Fort Moore after completing their basic training. For all trainees, most nights are spent in the barracks, and every recruit is assigned a bunk and a locker. The only times you don't stay in the barracks is during an overnight field exercise. Three hot meals are provided each day during basic training at the On-Post Dining Facility, or DFAC. The DFAC offers a variety of nutritious food, which will help keep you energized during your tough physical training. Phone calls are limited during basic training and are at the discretion of the drill sergeant. Packages with treats and snacks are discouraged. However, letters between family and trainees are highly encouraged. After you arrive at your designated training location, you'll spend your first several days in reception. Here you'll fill out paperwork to start getting paid, receive physical exams and immunizations, get a haircut if you're male, and you'll be issued your Army uniform and other personal items. Once you complete reception, you'll move to your training company and meet the drill sergeants who will train and mentor you until graduation. Your first week at the training company is called Yellow Phase. During this phase, you are introduced to military customs and courtesies, discipline, the Army ethic, values, Army history, physical readiness training, and performance optimization. As a drill sergeant, I'm here to coach, teach, and mentor. I teach trainees the basics, whether it be shooting, moving, communicating, they learn the basics. I feel as though I'm kind of taking a child and molding them into something that they join the Army to be. And usually that's to better themselves, coming into the Army to discipline themselves as well, to learn a new career path, something of that sort. It's my job to show them a new way of life. After recruits complete Yellow Phase, they enter their next phase of training, called Red Phase, which lasts about three weeks. Here you'll learn the fundamentals and traditions of being a professional soldier, including the warrior ethos and the soldier's creed. This phase includes daily physical training and other physical tasks, such as the confidence course, team development course, rappel tower, and MBC chamber. This is where you start your fitness transformation. The Army Combat Fitness Test is administered so you will see how you do on your first PT test. This will consist of a deadlift, standing power throw, push-ups, a sprint drag carry, the plank, and a two-mile run. And you'll learn basic soldier tasks like how to pack and load your rucksack and clean your issued weapon. The hardest part of Red Phase for me was definitely adjusting, living with about 40 people in a bay, ranging from ages 18 to almost 40, and different cultures and backgrounds and ethnicities. Learning to work together as a team, it can definitely be one of the biggest challenges in Red Phase. After Red Phase, you'll enter White Phase. This phase lasts about two weeks and increases the level of fitness training and your soldiering skills, including how to set a perimeter, hand-to-hand combat drills, basic rifle marksmanship, first aid, and land navigation. It's through training such as this that you start to come together as a team and practice the leadership, resiliency, and teamwork skills you're learning at the same time you're gaining a new confidence. You don't have to be the strongest or the fastest. You just have to be mentally ready and you have to push yourself through and be your own support. Every day you're going to have to give it everything you've got. This isn't an easy thing to do. It's a choice to leave your job, leave your family. But ultimately, I think paving the way for the future is important and showing your family that you can do whatever you set your mind to if you're really willing to put in the work. It's all mental and you have to constantly tell yourself like you will get through it and you will complete basic training because that's what's going to keep you at the end of the day. The last phase, Blue Phase, is about three weeks long and completes your transformation from civilian to soldier. During this phase, you'll learn advanced marksmanship, the proper way to throw grenades, and maneuvering techniques. You'll train to engage targets and learn how to operate and move as a small team. The end of Blue Phase culminates in a nighttime infiltration exercise and a 10-mile road march. This time is also where you will receive your U.S. Army badge, which will be worn on the left shoulder of your uniform and your black beret. The importance of this ceremony is to be able to allow the trainees to be able to recognize what it is that they've accomplished. That the script that they've listened to from the beginning lets them know the legacy of which they are now a part of. Where they've been called through this whole process, they've heard trainee, trainee. That now being able to be a part of the soldier induction ceremony, that now they take that next step in their careers, in their lives. That they're no longer trainees, now they become soldiers. Your last week of basic combat training is graduation week, where you'll take your final PT test for graduation. But this time also includes family day in addition to the graduation ceremony itself. You'll also spend time out processing and preparing for the next phase of your Army career, which is your advanced individual training. I've learned that I always have to put the team first, no matter what. And that selfless service is the most important thing a soldier can do. It's a great learning experience, it instills discipline, and I think it's overall really beneficial for society as a whole. Basic training is not going to be easy, it's not made to be easy. The drill sergeants are going to be hard on you. That's our job, that's what we're supposed to do. Do not take it personal, take it as a learning experience and constantly tell yourself that you can do it and you will do it. There's no denying that basic combat training is tough, but you'll find that becoming a valued member of the world's greatest Army is one of your life's major accomplishments. And the skills you learn will be ones you use for the rest of your life. It's also your first step in a career as a soldier. Learning tough physical and mental skills, as well as nurturing your leadership abilities, will create limitless opportunities as you move forward in Army training. Join us and discover untapped possibilities.