I have a question about the army!!?

Question

particulary about basic training. is it true you should only bring the clothes on your back? I heard that they have you a sort of charge card like that you use to purchase the things you need like toothpaste shaving stuff etc....... and then it would be later deducted from your pay. is that true or do you have to bring ur own atm card. what if u don't have a bank account?

Answer 1

You are told what you can bring with you when you report.
You are then given a set amount of army issue clothing. You can buy things you need at the PX for a reduced rate. You do not need a bank account at all and you can purchase against your salary if needed to.

Answer 2

You can bring the basics- socks, underwear, toothpaste, shaving kit, etc. Clothes just the ones you wear. You will get issued all your uniforms the first day and that's all you will wear there (you will get your PT's and ACU's). You will be given a card that can have money taken out of you pay, but you can also take your atm card and use that. You will more than likely need to buy extra personal hygeine items while you are there. You can also take items like evenlopes and stamps and paper too. If you don't have a bank account you need to set one up, the Army only does direct deposit for you pay. Before you sign your contract at MEPS you should have an account set up. If not your Recruter can help you. If you have any Army questions please feel free to ask both me and my husband are serving in the Army.

Answer 3

Ok, its not a bad idea to just bring the clothes on your back, and you do get a card that has a certain amount of money it, and all it is, is basically a cash advance of your first check. you will be issued all your new clothes pretty soon after you get to reception. and all the things you need such as toiletries, will be strictly monitored to make you dont buy contraband. Now, they reccomend that you have a checking account set up with a debit card, if you dont have all your info(routing number especially) they will have you open an account for that posts local bank.

Answer 4

Your recruiter should give you a checklist of things to bring and not to bring. I wouldn't worry if you don't have a bank account or anything like that because you'll spend your first three or four days in "in processing" where they shave you bald, hook you up with a bank account, and issue you everything you need to survive your basic training. If you accidentally bring something with you that's unauthorized (cigarettes, flask, etc.) don't worry, before you do anything they will let you hit up the "amnesty booth" where you can dump anything you want in no questions asked. Have fun and good luck soldier!

Answer 5

You dont have to have your own bank account, you will be offered that on day 4 they will find all the ones that need a bank and take them to the post back... aka.. fort sill nation bank, fort hood national bank... you get it...The credit card thing I have no idea, I know that when my husband got to basic, they made him get things that were on the list that he had but were not the right things.. Best answer is ask your recruiter... good luck and thanks for joining...

Answer 6

Just bring what is on your back, you don't have to worry about nothing. I was in the Army for 8 years and I do know that they supply everything you need. The only thing you need to worry about is to be sure you show up on time. Good Luck, my friend.

Answer 7

I'm pretty sure they can set you up with a bank account there, but you should already have one. And yes, they'll give you what they call a 'smart card'. They give you a card that has 200 dollars of advanced pay on it for you to spend on necessary products, like hygene supplies. And yes, only the clothes on your back, they'll hook you up with everything else. But bring travel size toothpaste and what not, stuff that'll last just a few days.

Always remember that the Army motto is "Hurry up and wait" Seriously, a lot, if not the majority, of time spent in the Army is waiting. I know that you don't have a clue what I mean, but you will soon enough, trust me. Here's an answer I shared with somebody recently, it tells what basic training is like at Ft. Jackson:

The first place you'll go to is the 120th reception battalion. It's where all new soldiers go. It'll last anywhere from 3 to 7 days. For me, that was the worst week. I say that because the one thing that you'll be doing the most is waiting. You know have no concept of what waiting in a line means by Army standards. Your 'company' will probably have about 600 soldiers in it. You will wait in that line, no talking, all week. Wether it's for chow, hair cut, medical, dental, eye exam, financial, whatever. You have to understand that if it was just one person doing this, it'd only take an hour or two, tops. But they have to process between 1 to 2 thousand soldiers that week. It takes forever. Don't worry, they give you reading material. It's honestly not that hard, just do what they tell you, when they tell you, and don't say anything except yes and no drill sergeant. It really is too easy. Then, usually on a friday, your boot camp drill sergeants will come and pick all of you up. Their goal for your first impression of them is for you to be nothing less than terrified of them. Be expecting this. And no, just about nobody there is going to be nice to you, get over it. I know it sounds mean or whatever, but thats just how it is. After that first week of reception comes the nine weeks of BCT. These nine weeks are divided up into three phases. Pay attention, this is useful: The three phases, in order, are red phase, white phase, and blue phase. Red phase is the first three weeks of training, these are the toughest weeks. During these weeks are when the drills are going to smoke you the most. Make no mistake, you're going to get smoked the entire nine weeks, but red phase is when they really lay it into you. During red phase, you'll go to pugil stick training, bayonette assault course, Victory Tower, confidence courses, and the gas chamber, called the NBC chamber. (Nuclear, biological, chemical, I think). White phase is a lot better than red phase, you get more priviledges and the drills lay off a little bit more. These weeks, however. are considered the most stressful. This is because you'll be qualifying on your M16 A2 rifle. It's stressful because most of the privates won't be able to shoot very well at all right off the bat, it is very frustrating. Often times most of the stress is shown when the privates fight amongst themselves. But as long as everyone keeps their cool, it'll all be OK. Then blue phase is the best phase. The drills start to treat you a little better. Understand that you all will feel a little like cattle, the dirlls always herding you around and treating you like crap. But blue phase is a lot better, and a whole lot of fun. During this phase, you get to go to the grenade range, fire a whole lot of really big weapons, and you'll go to victory forge, a week in the field. It really is a whole lot of fun. Then the last week is clean up, outprocessing, family day, and graduation day.

The thing to remember is, it is NOT as bad as it sounds. It'll take a little adjusting, but chances are that you'll have fun during the whole thing. In order to ensure this, you have to follow this philosophy: Your goal is to not have the Drill Sergeants notice you AT ALL. If it's been 5 weeks in, and the drills still don't know your name, then youre good. The less you stick out, the more enjoyable of a time you'll have. This works both ways; don't do anything to get in trouble (don't talk), and never, never volunteer for anything.

All of the above info is what takes place at Ft. Jackson.

So, have a great time becoming a Soldier in the United States Army. And remember during all the hard times that'll come, remember this; It's worth it.



P.S. go on goarmy.com and look up Basic Training, they have video recordings of it, it was really helpful for me.

Answer 8

Bring the set of cloths you are wearing and nothing else. They make you send 99% of anything else back. Trust me on this one.

Answer 9

Just show up in your civies. Bring a guitar if you have to, but Uncle Sam will supply everything you need.