Getting Specific About Each Branch's Training
Several years ago, there was talk of creating a purple basic training -- one basic training program for all branches, kind of like what the Naval Academy does with Navy and Marine Corps officers. This idea never got past the "what if" stage. While similar processes are involved in turning young men and women into disciplined military members, the specific subject areas, disciplines, rules and processes vary too widely among the military branches to create a viable joint basic training program.
While many aspects of military basic training are different, many are similar -- or even exactly the same.
Juggling Basic Training Jobs
You may think that military basic training is run by drill instructors, and in some ways, that's correct. Instructors are the gods of military basic training and are there to ensure that everything goes according to their divine plan. However, almost everything else that goes on during basic training is accomplished, planned and supervised by the recruits themselves.
As with life itself, there are good jobs in basic training and jobs that stink. The trick is getting chosen for one of the good jobs while leaving the sucky jobs for others. The problem is, it's usually not a matter of volunteering for any specific basic training duties. The drill instructors hand out the jobs, and there are few (if any) rules. The drill instructors pretty much get to assign the jobs as they see fit.
From Basic Training for Dummies, copyright © 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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