Hiya there, I‘m home for the weekend from St Jean. Onto Week # 6 already Hoorah!
Anyway I‘ll try to answer your question as much as possible and as best as I can... Here we go...
Originally posted by Baskin:
[qb] what happens at basic?( after the training)[/qb]
Well first you register your name at the green desk to let them know you‘ve arrived. After that it‘s all up to you and your platoon on how well you guys are willing to work together! It‘s all about teamwork, teamwork and more teamwork.
Treat your fellow platoon members like brothers/sisters. You get to know them pretty much like a family, respect each others and the bonds that grows from it is unbelievable. You‘ll get to know what are each other weakness and strong point and you gotta make the very best out of it.
You‘ll do push ups, squats and Mark Time (drill move) till the cows come home. You‘ll be tired like never before as your day starts at 0530 and doesn‘t finish till 2300 and it‘s jam packed of classes of all sorts with evenings spent on shining boots, cleaning your cubicle, ironing your shirts and doing your station duty.
Everything is at a fast pace in there, no room for lazy people that wants a free ride. Your feet will be sore at first as you‘re on them all day trying to break-in your new combat boots while doing drill, marches, etc...
So much to do in so little time but it has to be all done and the only way to get it done properly is teamwork! They throw stuff at you that hardly can be achieved by yourself, they know that and that‘s why they do it too. It‘s all about teamwork and more TEAMWORK!
[qb]do we get free time? days off?[/qb]
You are CB for the first 4 weeks, that mean confined to base. You‘re not allowed to wear your civvies till your indoc period is over and it‘s all about earning the platoon priviledges for that weekend like Canex. You‘ll have classes on Saturday as well and the time "off" on Sunday isn‘t really off as you want to get your kit/cubicle/floor ready as much as you can for upcoming inspection and to study up on your notes for upcoming tests anyway, so don‘t count on time off for the first month.
[qb]hows the food? do we cook it?[/qb]
The food is more than ok! Breakfast has a awesome choice of cereals, muffins and usual pancake breakfast and toast and scramble eggs, etc... Lunches: There‘s a sandwhich lineup with salad bar you can have or "homemade" warm meal ready. The soups are really good. Dinners, same thing: Usually 2-3 choice (warm meals)and salad bar and to kill for cookies ehehheheh
[qb]laundry? whats the deal with that? do we do it?[/qb]
LMAO Yeah you do it and trust me you‘ll be challenged at first to get it done so everybody has clean clothes for the next day. Each floor house about 25-30 recruits with 2 washer and dryer.
[qb]Is there internet? or just mail?
can we make phone calls?[/qb]
Yeah there is internet but very slow dial up connections. 1$/15 minutes There are at least 3 pay phones in each stairways/elevator halls. And yes you can receive your mail everyday like home.
[qb]any information on anything of this type would be greatly appreciated also once you get sworn in what does that make you?
is it private or what?[/qb]
What it makes you? Hmmm in plain old english, as a Pte (R) you are right at the bottom of the food chain
You gotta prove and show you are there to give nothing else but 200% of yourself at all time.
There‘s lots to learn, specially if you have no military background or previous exposures. Your platoon, your pride, your country. Lots of work and dedication and perseverance is needed, never ever give up.
Fitter you are to start with, better start off you‘ll have. There is 10 floors in St Jean and you can‘t use the elevator so you‘ll get plenty of cardio vascular type of workout... And before I go,
NEVER aim for minimum standards
NEVER!!!!!
[qb]any terminology and what they mean would be nice too.
Thanks... [/qb]
You‘re welcome
