How hard is basic bootcamp?

Question

I have friends in the military, and some say bootcamp wasnt that hard, and some say it was the hardest experience of their life. So was basic that hard, or was it really easy. Or it depends on your health and mentallty at that time?

Answer 1

Not that hard if you are in reasonably good mental and physical health.

The Marine Corps can be tough if you are not already at least a little bit of a jock. If you can run a mile with out wanting to die, you should make it. You will be able to run five when you get out.

Answer 2

You can be vegetarian, but there are practical reasons it's difficult. The food is meant to support a mission, and while each individual is important, you are only part of that mission. The military is not equipped to support vegans. That would require an entirely different supply chain and the handful of vegans would not be worth supporting against the needs of the mission. How can you be vegan and wear leather boots? You cannot guarantee what you will or willl not eat during Basic, and this is for the same reason you can't guarantee what you will or will not eat in a deployment (combat). You can try to get the vegetarian MRE when you're in the field. You can live a vegetarian or modified vegan lifestyle after you get out of Basic when the dining facilities give you more time and options. But what it comes down to is the military mission - if it's a choice between your desires and the needs of the mission, you will lose. But that's what you need to go to Basic Training to understand - mission before self.

Answer 3

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RE:
How hard is basic bootcamp?
I have friends in the military, and some say bootcamp wasnt that hard, and some say it was the hardest experience of their life. So was basic that hard, or was it really easy. Or it depends on your health and mentallty at that time?

Answer 4

I wouldn't say that it's easy, but it's not terribly hard, either. It can get tedious and frustrating at times, but really all you're doing is following simple instructions all the time. Keep in mind that every time a recruit gets washed out of basic training, the military loses a soldier/marine/whatever. They can't afford to lose a whole lot of people, so they have an interest in making sure that things don't get too hard.

Answer 5

Here is what I say to everyone. It depends on your Instructor. Some are too easy on their trainees. Others are really hard. To me the ones who have it hard, come out shining stars. The ones who had it easy end up dirtbags( not all, but majority). The whole reason for BMT is for military discipline. If it doesn't start at the foundation which is BMT then it will never carry through the rest of their military career. All I have to say is hard or easy, give it your best and follow and lead by example. Do not be the loser who has no military baring or respect military rules and regs. If you can't do that stay out of the military! There is already enough fools walking around as civilians. We do not need that garbage in the military either.

Answer 6

It really depends on how determined you are. If you really want to do it, then it will be easier. But if you just wanna join the military to brag afterwards, you'll have a hard time.

In Ukraine, where I'm currently serving, the boot camp is about 3-4 times harder. In US the officers actually care about your health, even though they won't admit it. But in Ukraine, a soldier or corporal is disrespeted even more than the military dogs. Because the dogs cost money.

Have you ever had your seargeant run and ram you as hard as he can? First couple of times you get blown back about two yards. Then 1 yard. Then you just fall. After about a month, the average Ukrainian unarmed soldier can take out about 4-5 average US soldiers.
Some men get taken away from there the first week, some a bit longer. And then, the real Ukrainian soldier material stays through the whole thing, and they get thier insignia.

My point is that yeah, you have to be in shape, and right state of mind, but even more than that, you have to want to go through with the whole deal.

Answer 7

Boot camp probally will be the hardest experience of your life.

But, no, boot camp is not all that hard.

Generally it will be the hardest experience of your life, because you have never had ANY hard experiences in your life so far.

You will be expected to what your told, when your told, and do it exact how you were told to do it.

Not many civilians have ever had to do that before.

But remember, there are 30 million veterans in the US, who have all passed boot camp.

So don't worry about failing, not that many people do.

Plus, the hardest part of boot , is the first week, thats when everything will be completely different, than anything you have ever done before.

But after that, it will become a routine.

Answer 8

You should be able to run, Typically Army basic is all push ups, situps and running.

And since your arms shake and your stomach muscles cramp up long before your legs do--if you are not in good shape then you end up throwing up or gasping for air for a few weeks.

In army basic you rarely run more than two miles.

After that though you get used to it.

People that ran track in high school or played sports don't have to much difficulty.

It's the couch potatoes that have it hard for about three weeks or so.

Its supposed to be tough--Your going to be a soldier or Marine--You need to be able to Kick butt.

Answer 9

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Theoretically, if your only option for food is shooting and gutting a small animal in front of you, would you try to stay vegan? The military is actually pretty good about allowing people to choose different lifestyles, religions, etc. What the military does NOT do is provide you the means to follow through with any of them. If you want to be vegan, your chain of command is not going to hold you down and shove a steak down your throat. However, they are not going to and special order soy products and and the like just to meet your personal dietary needs. A few years ago I trained with a vegan. She did fine, she ate what was available and didn't make a huge political issue about it. The rest of the squad would often trade food with her so that she could avoid meat products. If you are faced with not getting enough protein or calories or food in general, just eat the meat products.

Answer 10

Boot camp is a psychological and physical process. The latter to get you in combat shape; the former to condition you to take orders without question. I was in the US Air Force, which I learned years later was fairly easy. Its the US Marines that gives the toughest training. I've heard they subject you to physical/mental stress while being sleep-deprived, which the Air Force didn't do to me. They mentally prepare you for the possibility of going into live-fire combat. The physical and mental treatment you're subjected is to determine your mental capacity to function under stress. If you can't handle basic training, it leads to reason you'll likely go insane in an actual combat situation.