Spare time in Basic?

[Eryq]

Is there any spare time in basic for lifting weights or is that part of the training? Or will i feel like lifting any after all the running, pushups, etc.? :)

[SEBury]

From what i've seen/heard/learned, the only spare time you'll probably get is on sundays, and those days i'll be writing/reading letters and stuff. I know from a friend that jarheads sometimes have a bench and free weights in their squad bays. But dunno about army.

[SteveLord]

Weights will depend. They might forbid you because of the possibility of someone getting hurt.

[WO1 Quinones]

Is there any spare time in basic for lifting weights or is that part of the training? Or will i feel like lifting any after all the running, pushups, etc.? :)

Our spare time was for shining boots, cleaning weapons and writing letters. You are under total control. You cant leave the area to hit the gym. Well things could have changed.

[GutshotStraight]

The Chief is correct. You are not allowed to leave the Bay. One of the guys in my platoon asked about using a weightroom, the DS did not even answer him.

Spare time is limited, at least in red and white phase(s).

You will be doing bay maintenance/ area beautification, laundry, writing letters, and stopping fights in your free time.

James

[Frisco]

...and stopping fights in your free time.

That brought back memories.

[shortnsweet8]

That brought back memories.


No kidding. I was in BCT in 2004. Our female bay had over 60 females. You want to talk about some nasty fights!!! The males in my platoon got into some nasty brutal ones as well, but nothing is quite as rediculous as some chic getting pissy and starting a fight while we are all in the shower room. :rolleyes:

[Patriot84]

but nothing is quite as rediculous as some chic getting pissy and starting a fight while we are all in the shower room. :rolleyes:


/popcorn

Oh do tell. Please dont spare any details :cool:

[WO1 Quinones]

perhaps it was like this

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f252/signalwarrant/militaryfight.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f252/signalwarrant/Caged-Heat-1974_imagelarge.jpg

[Eryq]

LOL! Yeah, details. J/K... Lots of fights? Really? Why? I seen stuff like that on tv but didn't think it was really like that.

[EMILinator]

What do the Drill Sergeants do if they catch a dude trying to start a fight?

If some guy tried to start a fight with me during BCT.. I would be so pissed off. :mad: But I wouldn't want to jeopardize my time in BCT.

[RoadHawg]

What do the Drill Sergeants do if they catch a dude trying to start a fight?



lol Everyone got the enjoyment of being told to "beat your face" (push ups). Once our DS was tired of watching us, he then got down to business of problem solving. Very good tactic actually.

[shortnsweet8]

LOL! Yeah, details. J/K... Lots of fights? Really? Why? I seen stuff like that on tv but didn't think it was really like that.

Well I went through with the first summer cycle, so 90% of our company was 17, and I am not joking you. I was 20 and was literally one of the 6 oldest people in our company. I am not saying that everyone who is 17 is immature, but the females I went through with sure were. They fought over the stupidest things. We had 30 females on our side of the bay (30 on the other) with 5 shower heads and they would start **** because they had to share shower heads, or someone was in their personal space. We would get our laundry stolen by other females, even when we put our names on it. Nothing quite like seeing another female walk through the barracks with a pair of underwear that has your last name written across the band on the back... That was fun to point out.

[SteveLord]

I had a mix and no matter how old someone is, if they're stuck in this kind of environment away from home with a bunch of strangers....they are just as likely to act immature.

The older guys especially do not like being corrected when they are infact, doing something wrong or risk getting the platoon in trouble. I've even seen them fight over chairs during classes.

ONE BIG VH1 REALITY SHOW

[Eryq]

30 people and 5 shower heads? Do you just form a single file line to wait to take a shower? That would take a minute to get use to. lol.:eek:

[WO1 Quinones]

30 people and 5 shower heads? Do you just form a single file line to wait to take a shower? That would take a minute to get use to. lol.:eek:

Everything is time management and thinking outside the box. Once you learn procedures to accomplish the mission, then things will become easier. Remember the tasks you mention have been completed by millions before you so dont sweat it. We took PT showers in the format you just mentioned.

[shortnsweet8]

30 people and 5 shower heads? Do you just form a single file line to wait to take a shower? That would take a minute to get use to. lol.:eek:

Did you not learn to share as a kid? If not, you sure will learn sharing and teamwork at BCT.

[cyall]

30 people and 5 shower heads? Do you just form a single file line to wait to take a shower? That would take a minute to get use to. lol.:eek:

One of the platoons in my BCT company got to lockstep through the showers the first few days. We could hear the whistle from our bay. Whistle blows move forward...repeat. I think we had 6 or 7 shower heads of which 5 worked for 40 of us. There is always a line for the shower during personal time with plenty of encouragement from the guys in the back to hurry up. We had a few that constantly cut it close to toe the line for head count and weapons accountability.

[GutshotStraight]

We had 8 shower-heads and 55 people. We did "shower drills" often, which was a minute and a half and get out.

Wash the hairy parts is all I can say-

[gonzo]

I don't know what it's like now but when I was in, if you had enough energy to fight, you had enough energy to exercise. If you got caught fighting or about to start fighting, you would be exercised by the drill SGT. By the time the two are finished, they dont feel like fighting anymore.

Typically you should get enough exercise throughout the day as you get PT'd for various things including your platoon or someone in your platoon screwing up. If you still need more at the end of the day, you can always go to the drill SGT's office and ask for more. :)

[cheeseman]

There is a TON of fights. We just cleaned weapons and talked with friends about the free world.

[GutshotStraight]

True that...

Cleaning the M240B's should keep one busy enough to not start trouble but you never know...

My favorite was being on fireguard and having 3 fights start out of nowhere, (it happened within maybe 1 minute) it was so bad one of the guys who was sleeping went and kicked the door open (setting the alarm off and alerting a DS to arrive, and quickly!)

He looked at me and my battle-buddy, armed with our M-16A2's wearing our *****in' marshmallow sweats, and said "OK since you two cannot control the Bay I am assigning 6 teams to every fireguard shift..." So every hour there were 12 guys on fireguard---

BCT is a blast- :eek: :p

[qcomer]

True that...

Cleaning the M240B's should keep one busy enough to not start trouble but you never know...

My favorite was being on fireguard and having 3 fights start out of nowhere, (it happened within maybe 1 minute) it was so bad one of the guys who was sleeping went and kicked the door open (setting the alarm off and alerting a DS to arrive, and quickly!)

He looked at me and my battle-buddy, armed with our M-16A2's wearing our *****in' marshmallow sweats, and said "OK since you two cannot control the Bay I am assigning 6 teams to every fireguard shift..." So every hour there were 12 guys on fireguard---

BCT is a blast- :eek: :p


we had one night setup so that each platoon (since it was co-ed, the males from 3rd and 4th) shared a barracks room.

So, one night, DS coming in at 0100 to check lockers (knowing one would be undone or someone would be undressing in the bay) just to find a reason to smoke us and take us to the pit.

So, we go to "the beach" for a good 2 hours. Then come back and have 15 members of each platoon on duty at one time for two hours each (15 of our platoon for fireguard, 15 of their platoon for cleaning duty because we supposedly decided to go to the beach ;) )

[WO1 Quinones]

I was involved in a couple of fights lol.

But one fight I remember was this white guy from Chicago laying in his bunk and this brother was from Chicago as well and they had a verbal argument earlier. Well the brother comes in with his gas mask on and starts shaking the bunk of the white guy. White guy came down and they started wresting one another and then started throwing blows. It was awesome. We stopped it in time before the DS came.

We blanket party another guy who cried earlier in the day since we were getting smoke and he wouldnt continue to do pushups, so we had to remain in the front leaning rest for 30 minutes because of him. He went home the next day lol. 80s BCT, nothing like it. We didnt have PT outfits in those days. PTed in our BDUs with sneakers on and did boots and utes runs (long runs in combat boots). Marshmellow lol. I saw those at FLW when I reclassed in 2004 and wanted a pair and they said negative; only for BCT lol

[qcomer]

I was involved in a couple of fights lol.

But one fight I remember was this white guy from Chicago laying in his bunk and this brother was from Chicago as well and they had a verbal argument earlier. Well the brother comes in with his gas mask on and starts shaking the bunk of the white guy. White guy came down and they started wresting one another and then started throwing blows. It was awesome. We stopped it in time before the DS came.

We blanket party another guy who cried earlier in the day since we were getting smoke and he wouldnt continue to do pushups, so we had to remain in the front leaning rest for 30 minutes because of him. He went home the next day lol. 80s BCT, nothing like it. We didnt have PT outfits in those days. PTed in our BDUs with sneakers on and did boots and utes runs (long runs in combat boots). Marshmellow lol. I saw those at FLW when I reclassed in 2004 and wanted a pair and they negative; only for BCT lol

We had a few blanket parties, one was pretty bad. The guy deserved it though, but the other guys were out of line. It was double edged.

The guy slept with a sock with a locker i it from now on, figured hed bust heads if anyone came after him again.

I got in 2 fights, second time DS got involved and was willing to throw down on both of us. Didnt end up pretty.

[couger110]

We had a few blanket parties, one was pretty bad. The guy deserved it though, but the other guys were out of line. It was double edged.

The guy slept with a sock with a locker i it from now on, figured hed bust heads if anyone came after him again.

I got in 2 fights, second time DS got involved and was willing to throw down on both of us. Didnt end up pretty.

Wow, I didn't know that blanket parties still happened. Any advice on how to avoid being a target?

[cheeseman]

True that...

Cleaning the M240B's should keep one busy enough to not start trouble but you never know...

My favorite was being on fireguard and having 3 fights start out of nowhere, (it happened within maybe 1 minute) it was so bad one of the guys who was sleeping went and kicked the door open (setting the alarm off and alerting a DS to arrive, and quickly!)

He looked at me and my battle-buddy, armed with our M-16A2's wearing our *****in' marshmallow sweats, and said "OK since you two cannot control the Bay I am assigning 6 teams to every fireguard shift..." So every hour there were 12 guys on fireguard---

BCT is a blast- :eek: :p

That's weak. I still say to this day my platoon had the most fireguard in the Army's history. Had 16 man full battle rattle fireguard for 4 weeks (1 night of 2 man). Then we were doing better so it went to 12 full battle rattle for 3 weeks. Then the last two were in pt's (thank God) Week 9 we had 6 man.

[WO1 Quinones]

Wow, I didn't know that blanket parties still happened. Any advice on how to avoid being a target?

Dont be like PVT Pyle in Full Metal Jacket.

[gonzo]

Wow, I didn't know that blanket parties still happened. Any advice on how to avoid being a target?

The more often you do things that gets the whole squad/platoon in trouble (doing extra duties or exercises) the more likely you will become a blanket party candidate.

[Petterle]

Dont be like PVT Pyle in Full Metal Jacket.


a friend of mine just got out of marine corp boot camp and told me there was a guy there whos last name was pyles, and he told me the DIs kept making fun of him for it.