What is Army Basic Training?
Basic training is the first step in your new Army career.  It will potentially be the most difficult and rewarding experience of your life! 

Basic training is generally a nine-week course.   Here you will learn the fundamental skills of being a soldier.  To get an idea of what you will be doing, here is a schedule of basic training at Ft Jackson, SC.    All BT posts have the same basic curriculum for basic training.

"Basic training to me was like taking a spoon full of cough medicine as a kid, hating the taste of it, but knowing that it is something you need. Coming into training, I was nothing but a couch potato, I loved to sit and watch TV everyday and sleep till about noon. After [nine] weeks of intense training though, I am more active and feel as if I can take on the world. After all the pain I have went through from physical training, being away from home, and not being a civilian, overall it has been a good pain. Since I have joined the Army I have seen nothing but improvement in my self-discipline, teamwork, abilities and confidence."
                                                            -quote from a recent graduate

Not only will you learn the basics of how to look and act like a soldier, you will slowly but surely become a soldier.  You will become physically fit, self-confident and willing and able to tackle anything that comes your way!  You will become intimately familiar with your assigned M16A2 rifle and everything it does, as well as fire a machine gun, a grenade launcher and a host of other weapons in the US arsenal.  You will learn to become quick on your feet by participating in hand to hand combat and a bayonet assault course.  You will learn how to be quick mentally and overcome your fear by tackling challenging obstacles, some over 40 feet high!  You will gain confidence in your equipment by entering the gas chamber.  Mentally, your brain will be challenged every day with new skills and tasks, inducting you into "the Army of one".  Lastly, you'll make lifelong friends who can share in the trials and tribulations of army basic training and join the life-long club of being a basic training graduate...certainly something to be proud of!


"When I first began to consider joining the Army last year, I was very naive on what it was all about. The main reason I decided to enlist was to gain some discipline and learn some skills to further my career ambitions. I wasn't living up to my potential and that was very demoralizing.  When I finally arrived at Ft. Leonard Wood, I was in for a rough awakening. At the time I was 230 lbs, a chronic smoker, and
unaccustomed to any type of physical activity. I had smugly assumed that doing a few push-ups the month before I departed would be enough to shape me up!! The drill sergeants soon showed me the error of my assumption.
If you had asked me in the first two weeks to describe basic,
I would have replied, 'Hell on Earth'. I had never worked so hard in my life. I was in constant pain, and the other two privates my size were removed from training within days. No one, including myself, expected me to survive to Phase II. My Diagnostic Physical Fitness Test score was a whopping 14 points combined!"
                                                                      -another successful graduate

Please be sure to visit our other resources on the homepage to learn more about basic training and other concepts that will set you up for success as a new soldier!


Soldiers negotiating the tower on the Confidence Course.