Thinking about joining the army after highschool (Im 17) and I wanted to know what I should be doing to get in shape for it.

I know that one of the first tests for BT (basic training.) is to run a mile in under 8-1/2 minutes (not hard at all) but what else should I be ready for?

http://www.goarmy.com/about/training_careers_jobs.jsp
I'm a CIVILIAN who never served.Until one of the vets answers check out the above.
Good luck.

I think that is a bad idea, you should start by joining the national gaurd you can then go active after 6 months if you like it and if not you can walk away. A non fedarlized guardsman is not subject to UCMJ so you can literally walk away. Also see if you can get a one year contract with no reserves or inactive time as a trial run.

Congratulations on your decision to serve your Nation! The Pre-Basic Training Physical Fitness Assesment is comprised of three events. Push-Ups, Sit-Ups, and a One Mile Run. Males are required to complete 15 Push-Ups, 17 Sit-Ups, and One Mile Run in less than 8:30. Females, 3 Push-Ups, but the sit-ups and run are the same. Although that is just an assesment, I encourage you to try for the actual Army Physical Fitness Test. 2 Minutes of Push-ups, 2 Minutes of Sit-Ups, and a 2 Mile Run in less than 15:54; scoring a minimum of 60 points in each event. Completion of the Pre-Basic Training Task List, and APFT, can get you promoted. Check out GoArmy.com for more info or contact your recruiter.

ah. Thanks for the info you guys.
So I can join the gaurd and literally walk off if I don't like it? or more importantly..the National Gaurd is part of the army? I thought it was its own branch....

The national guard is its own branch, however, what happens is you get active duty guys who go into the guard to finish up the reserves commitiment or sign on extra, and they will say things like "this shirt you wear says army not army national guard" and there right but the shirt is where it is suppost to stop. I dealt with prior active combat arms guys and it made for really shitty drill weekends and a power tripping lt col, there were some cool people there as well but all it takes is a few bad apples and your drill weekends could turn into a nightmare. But thats better than every day of your life being a nightmare if you were regular army.

The national guard is ran by the state governor unless your unit is federalized ie called up by the president to active duty. You are not under UCMJ regulation unless you are federalized. However with this war in iraq, alot of national gaurd units are tapped out on equipment and man power, they have limited resources because they are suppost to be the equivilant to a state militia but in this day and time the federal government has an iorn fist over states, thats a political issue sorry to diverge. Anyway even if you dident walk away, ie your drill weekends were so-so or good its only one weekend, and if you dont want to be deployed there are a few ways to keep yourself in nondeployment status ie weight or PT failure (its really shitty that you have to play dirty sometimes but they wrote the rules and there is no clean way out).

If you like it by all means go for it, you only have to wait 6 months to go active in the guard and basic will take up like 2.5 months and AIT varies. My biggest thing is I like options, I dont like being put into a position where I have to do something or else, in my opinion having the option is far better than X$ bounus, and the military is really shady with its benifits you almost have to be a contract lawyer to make sure you dont get ripped off. The military is not going to pay you a dime more than they have to to get you to join.

Its nice to be able to come home after basic and not be ramroded through into a unit, and think what did I sign up for because basic is the most stressful senseless nonsense I have ever experenced and there is no way to possibly know if you really want to join the military until you are in it, some are gung ho and others are like holly shit what the hell did I sign up for. The problem is they front cool tanks, planes, etc when in reallity only a very small percentage of people actually get to fly F-15s or drive M1-A1 battle tanks what they dont show is drills spewing hate out and degrading recruits

Just make sure to keep your options and do your homework because as you dig the military is a tangled web of BS.

I strongly encourage you to join the national guard if your going to join, not the reserves because that is still federal. If you join try to split op that way you will come home for a period of time between basic and AIT, that way if you get done with basic and you think to yourself F this im done it will be much easier to get out if you are already home you just dont go to AIT. When you are in basic, it is very hard to get out, you just need to keep your mouth shut pass rifle marksmanship and your PT test and dont get hurt (OMG dont get hurt), what will happen is they will recycle you through basic, you most likely dont go home you could theoreticly be stuck there for 4 to 6 months, if the injury is bad enough you might get sent home but its not your choise (theres the option thing again), also dont believe when there tell you if you quit they attach your social security number so you cant ever get a job thats against EEOC.

Sorry if this sounds pesmistic but I am making sure you get a no BS assesment of the military. The military works out good for alot of people, you just have to make sure your one of thoes people that have the right mentality and there is no way to know until you are in it. And once you are in its hard to get out if you dident give your self options before you joined ( like joining the guard as a split opp). You might even see if you can get a 2 yr contract with no reserves time 2+0 that way you can do a trial run and if you dont like it you can walk with out a fight or a wierd discharge and if you like it you can pick up your bounus by negotiating your reenlistment contract and after 2 years in the guard you will have your training out of the way and a little rank so your reenlistment will be gravy if YOU CHOOSE to take it

Get spell check you propeller head! How do you expect people to read what you are trying to say when it is written at no better than 9th grade level.

For the engineer in you: Whine whit gooder English.

quote:

Originally posted by rppearso:
... I dealt with prior active combat arms guys and it made for really shitty drill weekends and a power tripping...

Your exposure to Combat Arms guys is limited. Don't lie to the kid, like you have been around so many Infantrymen, Cavalrymen, Tankers, and Engineers. The National Guard isn't that big. So your skewed perspective is merely a generalization you know absolutely nothing about.

quote:

But thats better than every day of your life being a nightmare if you were regular army.

How would you know? You were never in the Active Component. But you must think 495,000 people are all hoodwinked and blinded to the "reality" you see.

quote:

... and if you dont want to be deployed there are a few ways to keep yourself in nondeployment status ie weight or PT failure...

Great advice. Let me teach you how to be a quitter, and get fat. My, my, thats super. Thats what America's youth need. Good solid guidance on how to be lazy and sub-par.

quote:

... when in reallity only a very small percentage of people actually get to fly F-15s or drive M1-A1 battle tanks...

Well, in the Army, no one pilots F-15s. Thats a fixed-wing fighter that belongs to the Air Force. And as for the M1 drivers, its called MOS 19K, M1 Armor Crewmember. All 19Ks are Tank drivers, they have to be. But you wouldn't know that, thats Combat Arms, obviously not your specialty.

But most of this is just your way of trying to dissuade someone from a career you couldn't hack. Then again, you find a way to make it sound acceptable to quit whatever you start. Your meager justification of "options" is a line of BS. The military was SO shady when you quit? You failed your unit and yourself, breached your own contract, and somehow feel cheated because the Army National Guard let you go under less than Honorable terms? You want to be rewarded for mediocrity, rewarded for being a non-hacker. You can't seem to get that part through your head. You failed. You quit. You wanted to leave. Why should we be villainized for letting a self-admitted fat-body quitter go when he made such a stink about not wanting to continue in the service or uphold his end of the bargain? You still want to claim EEOC as some standard we are held to, when we aren't. Read the U.S. Code, smart guy, no where in it is the military addressed as a member of the Commission. We are not an Equal Opportunity Employer, and are not required to be. Therefore, your discharge under whatever auspices, is fair and accurate. Otherwise, you would have filed a grievance with the proper channels to get it changed on a DD Form 215. Thats Red Tape to you and you'd rather take it lying down and not fight because you're a quitter. So, in your childlike temper tantrum you've been whining about for 3 months plus, you will spew your vitriol all over, trying to convince everyone that we are the embodiment of evil and out to hoodwink every recruit; just so we can haze and degrade them, because we get off on it. Of course, 1.6 million Army service members are still here. Do you think its because the military you see isn't what everyone else sees? *gasp!* Horror!

So, before you attempt to denigrate the service again. Try this, tell your story, by laying the facts out about you quitting and failing to meet the standards. Then give your advice when every new applicant knows why you are so angry with the Army National Guard. Rather than generalize the ARNGUS and RA/USAR, speak from what you know; which isn't a whole lot.

Gee CavScout, now you've done it, he is going to have to look at that book with all the words in it so he can understand some of what you've said. Or he may just find it too taxing.

1. EEOC as the military discharge pertains to civilian employment.

NOT

EEOC as the military discharge pertains to military reenlistment.

2. Always keep your options open, never put yourself in a position where you have to do something or else. The military is a different experence for everyone, its when that experence goes south is when the military turns from smiles to not being so cooperative, and when it goes south you definatly dont want to be stuck with the shitty end of the stick (ie having to deal with your sgt daily when he knows you are trying to get out of dodge).

3. in referance to F-15s etc, I was refering to any high dollar military toy/TV sensationalized job (what ever that may be apaches etc) only a very small percentage of military people get a chance to play, but you knew my point you just wanted to make a cheap shot.

4. And you are proving the problem in your post, when someone wants to leave it becomes this disgrace, dishonor, like I murdered some preschoolers because I quit my job.

5. Im not mad about being let go im mad about the production it took to get out. I just want people to know that if there in and want out they better get used to living in the negitive on quality of life.

But hey more power to you if you can get 1.6 million to sign canned contracts (I was stupid enough to, although I knew my exit clauses as well and the recuiter was a friend of the family), if people refused to sign canned contracts, the military would be forced to contract negotiation which is how the real world works.

Taking a cheap shot? I take well placed shots. There is nothing cheap about it. If they hit hard and hurt your feelings a bit, so be it. THATS how the REAL world works. The truth slapping you in the face isn't a cheap shot.

Your comment again about how a small percentage of the military lets you "play" is a testament to your ignorance. Only tankers drive tanks. Officers don't do it, not even Armor Officers. So if you didn't enlist to be a tanker, you have nothing to complain about. Its not what you joined for. If you joined to be a pilot, through the Warrant Officer Flight Training program, then you are a pilot. Thats how these "canned" contracts work. You enlist for an MOS that you qualify for. Contracts are negotiated by those willing to concede to a lesser degree of passion for what they do. This isn't real estate! This is someone to serve on the forward edge of freedom. Its a shame you do not find it dishonorable or disgraceful to quit and break your word. An obligation you made, now broken. Negative (notice the spelling) quality of life?!? You were in the National Guard! Don't whine like you know what negative quality of life is. You were never deployed to a Third World country. You've never been in the field for 30 days with limited shower resources, where you may not bathe for 15+ days. You have no clue what a negative quality of life is. To you, negative quality of life means you have 2 bars of reception on your cell phone?? Give me a break. So, be thankful the National Guard let you leave. It wasn't always so, we would have thrown you in the stockade and let you finish your term there, but times have changed to a softer, more gentle Army. In the REAL world, you don't make a commitment and break it when it gets a little rough. If you do, you should be prepared to accept the consequences. You wouldn't tell your boss you'll meet the deadline, then not do it, would you? Then, when he fires you, would you piss and moan about it? It is no different. Contracts are not negotiated, they are accepted terms, both agree on. If you didn't agree, you shouldn't have signed. If you signed and didn't bother to read it, who's fault was that? Exit clause? There is no such thing. Do you think you are dealing with a local merchant? Its the Federal government, not Verizon wireless. We aren't ensuring you get the service plan thats right for you. We ask that you serve us first, and all others after. Thats why it is called "Serving your Country." There is no tagline of whether it is convenient for you. Service. Read about it.

I hardly think I would have been thrown in the stockade if I were no longer fit for military service. If the guard were to have forced me to stay in (with some sort of ultimatium) I would have kept going to drill but it would have been a waste of everyones time and they knew that. Last time I checked you couldent be locked up for incompetence even in WW2.

I got all the taste I wanted in basic, I dident need to go to iraq to know that it was going to suck ass after what I experenced in basic.

Negitive quality of life was basic training

http://www.counterpunch.org/jw04052006.html

I know Cavscout will have something negitive to say about this, or say its hype or BS but I think storys like this need to be read by anyone who is thinking about joining.

hmmmm, rppearso...perhaps you should contribute you life story to that website?

The article wasent about life storys it was about the realities of basic training

well....isn't that what you are all worked up about?

thats why I posted it

what do I have to do? paint a frigging picture?