Raising your right hand and signing the contract to commit yourself to military service is a scary and exciting leap of faith. There are so many unknowns ahead of you. Where will you go? What will you do?
Boot camp is the first big question mark. It sounds so mysterious and is unlike anything you have ever done before. How do you get ready for that?
Talk To People
One of the most helpful things you can do to prepare for boot camp is talk to people who have recently gone through your particular branch. If you are joining the Air Force, talking to someone who went through Army basic training 50 years ago is not going to help much. I would try to find someone who went through within the last year to get the most up-to-date information possible.
Recruiters know a lot, but it has probably been a while since they joined, and they are also typically trying to sell you and might sugarcoat things.
If you are a woman, I would talk to women about their experiences, specifically to gain a better understanding of what you can expect. I have written about my experiences here.
Study
Boot camp is not only a physical test. There are things you need to know, and the sooner you learn them, the better. If you already know all the ranks and your branch’s specific creed/song, then you will save yourself some time studying when you get there. At MEPS, I was given a booklet with things to study ahead of time.
Physical Preparedness
Go into boot camp able to pass the physical assessment. Practice the test before you go, in the appropriate order and time constraints. It is very different to do pushups and then wait 20 minutes to run as opposed to doing them back to back.
It is important to practice the actual exercises that you will do in basic training to get used to the specific movements. Being able to squat 200 pounds is great, but not going to help you run or do jumping jacks. I have seen some very strong people fail because they didn’t practice.
Hair
This one is very female-specific. For the most part, males just get their hair buzzed and call it a day. Women have much more freedom.
Washing
There is not a lot of shower time. There was one day a week when we were not trying to shower as fast as humanly possible. You do not have time to wash your hair every day, or even every other day. I would recommend training your hair to be able to go a week between washings.
Cutting
If you think you are going to want to get your hair cut short, I would recommend doing so beforehand, and if you are able to, with enough time for it to be able to grow back out if you don’t like it. Hair styling rules are much stricter in boot camp, and there is no way to pull it back to work out. Personally, it would have driven me crazy.
I would also recommend making sure your haircut is regulation before you leave, so you are not made fun of the entirety of basic for showing up with a mohawk. It happened.
Styling
There is not a lot of time to get ready, so getting comfortable and quick at getting your hair pulled back will make getting ready much easier in the morning. If you are not used to it, you will also be more prone to headaches with the tight hairstyle. Learn the art of placing your bun so you can still move your head and be able to get your cover to sit properly.
Organize Stuff
This will vary greatly by branch and what extra training you will go through before being able to potentially go home or see family. I knew that I had a lot of training to do, and that it would be a while before I was able to see my family. Because of that, I made three piles of my belongings.
The first was a please send to me immediately. These were things like extra contacts and my full-sized hairbrush. The second were things that could wait till my parents were able to visit. I set aside what civilian clothes I thought I would like to be brought as well. Third were things that I wasn’t sure about. I didn’t know if I would want them quickly or be able to wait.
Having things set aside was much easier than going through every drawer with my mom over video chat, debating things.
I hope you found this helpful as you are preparing to embark on your own military journey. If you have any specific questions and would like to leave them in a comment below, I would be happy to answer them.
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