The basics of Basic and AIT

So guys, your S.O. signed their life away for probably 6-8 years or so and you both have no idea what's next, right? Welcome to the Army, where no information is shared and everything inevitably will get lost or forgotten! I'm here to help!

**This is all based on my experiences thus far as a National Guard girlfriend, and it may not be true for everyone and the ways things work may have now changed as well.**

Just Getting Started

One of the first thing your soldier will go through is MEPS(Military Entrance Processing Station). Here they will take the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery). They basically take an SAT or ACT to find out if they can qualify for the MOS (military occupational specialty) they want. They should get their results right away. 

If you haven't caught on yet, there's a TON of acronyms you will learn pretty quick. It seems like everything in the army has an acronym.

After they return from MEPS, they will work with their recruiter to start up RSP (Recruit Sustainment Program)at the nearest location and start getting basic training information. RSP starts getting the soldier prepped for basic and gets them into a similar routine that they will go through for the remainder of their contract.

A soldier may not be at RSP for long though, depending on their basic training date. My boyfriend only had one weekend at RSP before he left for basic. He didn't get much time because he signed as "split-op" since he was 17 and only finishing his junior year of high school. As split-op he was able to break his training into two segments in order to work around his schooling. 

Basic Training

Basic training is really tough of soldiers because it's really hard to prepare for what they will face and there's a ton of uncertainties for the family as well. Bases work very differently and so do the drill sergeants. For anyone who may go somewhere like Fort Benning, you will learn "no news is good news" VERY quickly. 

Places like Fort Benning are still in the "Old Army" phase. There is no phones, and the treatments that the drill sergeants come up with are just insane. They will break a soldier down as far as they can, and build them back up the way they want them. 

Basic can be very difficult for a soldier because of this. It's hard to imagine some of the things that my boyfriend had gone through. Just for starters, they didn't have air conditioning. In Georgia. In June-August. Oh, and they shared one room with 50 guys. It already sucks, and the drill sergeants aren't even added to the equation yet!

While the drill sergeants are one of the biggest struggles your soldier will face, there's a lot more that will get to them. My soldier told me when he got back that he always dreaded opening my letters after the first couple weeks. He said that a bunch of guys were getting those "Dear John" letters or letters from friends saying that their girlfriend is cheating on them. My soldier struggled being surrounded by all that news and was always terrified to open my letters. 

I guess what I'm trying to say here is just be there for your soldier. Their life is already miserable, they aren't getting any sleep because they have to pull 50/50 fire guard or there's fights in the barracks all night. Just please don't cheat on them. There's so many soldiers that go through major depression throughout basic and are put on suicide watch. Your soldier will get beaten up mentally and physically throughout basic training, unless they go to a company that is following "New Army" rules. They will still have to work, but it won't be nearly as difficult as "Old Army" minded companies. 

There is good news, though. There's three parts of basic – red, white, and blue. They get a little bit easier as your soldier goes through them. Red is the toughest and it's when they go through their shark attack and the drill sergeants will give them everything they have. This is also the time that you most likely won't get very many calls, if any. 

As long as you stay busy at home while your soldier is gone, basic will pass pretty quickly. It still is a huge test on relationships and will most definitely take some work. My only advise is to think about them first. They are already completely cut off from the world and are trusting you with everything they can muster. If they get jealous or anything because you are hanging out with someone they don't like, there's probably something going on with the other soldiers in their platoon that has them freaked out. The best way to work these things out is to keep open communication the entire way, and remember it's only 11 weeks!

Graduating basic

Graduation for basic comes up pretty quickly and it does take some planning, so don't wait until last minute or you may not get a hotel room, rental car, whatever you may need when you go visit your soldier.

My boyfriend's parents were nice enough to let me surprise him during his family day by skipping school to come visit him and watch him graduate. Although the surprise was almost ruined the night before family day, we still managed to pull it off and he was completely surprised!

Anyways, graduating basic is an accomplishment for your soldier but it won't be as big of a deal as graduating from AIT. A soldier will usually get the day before their graduation day to spend with family and get off base to do whatever they would like, but their are strict rules that your soldier may have to follow. Make sure they are followed completely otherwise they may not graduate and face even worse consequences on top of it. 

During our family day, my boyfriend didn't want to do a whole lot except sleep. He was completely worn out from his training all summer and we could already see a few changes in his personality. He told me something bad went down, but to this day he still refuses to talk about it, and he has never been the same since. 

The next day they will graduate very early in the morning and they will be released and you can take your soldier home or do whatever (if they are split-op). I believe anyone that wasn't split op was able to get another day or even a couple with family, but then were shipped off to their AIT location. 

AIT (Advanced Individual Training)

AIT will be a little more difficult to describe, because it's different for every MOS. A soldier's AIT can be anywhere from 4-52 weeks. This is where your soldier will train for their specific job. Infantry is at about 7 weeks long, and is pretty similar to their basic training since they learn mostly combat type skills in basic. AIT seems to be a bit easier than basic in some ways. The drill sergeants won't be as aggressive as they were in basic. They aren't trying to break the soldier down anymore at this point. They are trying to teach them their job. So, as long as no one fucks up, they will be left alone for the most part. 

I don't want to go too far into AIT, just because it is SO different for everyone. But if you can only make it to one graduation, go to the AIT graduation. For Infantry soldiers AIT is when they "become a man" There are a lot of special things they do at the end of training and their Turning Blue Ceremony is something they really won't want you to miss. I'm sure other MOS's have similar things as well. 

Now that we have the basics, check in next week for another post about being a National Guard girlfriend and as always, comment with questions or any topics you would like to hear about!