In the United States, recruit training in the U.S. Army is called Basic Combat Training, U.S. Army Infantry undergoes OSUT (One Station Unit Training) which involves BCT, Infantry Advanced Individual Training and Specialized Infantry Training (such as Bradley, or Mortar School) all in one, in the U.S. Air Force it is called Basic Military Training or "BMT", in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, it is called Recruit Training and in the U.S. Coast Guard, it is called, "Basic Training."
Some services present a badge or other award to denote completion of recruit training. The United States Army typically issues the Army Service Ribbon (issued after completion of Advanced Individual Training), and the United States Air Force presents the Air Force Training Ribbon and the Airman's Coin. The United States Marine Corps issue the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor once initial training is complete to signify that the recruits are now Marines. The United States Navy replaces the "RECRUIT" ball cap the recruits have worn throughout training with the "NAVY" ball cap upon successful completion of "Battle Stations". The United States Coast Guard's basic training graduates place a Coast Guard Medallion on their ball cap.
For honor graduates of basic training, both the U.S. Air Force and Coast Guard present a Basic Training Honor Graduate Ribbon. The Navy and Marine Corps often meritoriously advance the top graduates of each division one pay-grade (up to a maximum of E-3).
U.S. ArmyEdit
Army Bayonet Training
A U.S. Army recruit practices bayonet training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
Main article: United States Army Basic Training
In the U.S. Army, recruits are sent to Basic Training in a location chosen by the military Military Occupational Specialty, or MOS, which is selected upon enlistment.
Basic training is divided into two parts, which commonly take place at two different locations, depending on the chosen MOS:
Basic Combat Training, or BCT, is a ten-week training period.
Advanced Individual Training, or AIT, is where new soldiers receive specific training in their chosen MOS. The length of AIT training varies depending on the MOS and can last anywhere from six weeks to one year.
Several MOSs combine both in a back-to-back combined course called One Station Unit Training (OSUT), the longest recruit training in United States Armed Services, which can last up to 22 weeks.
The U.S. Army has four sites for BCT:
Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia
Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina
Fort Leonard Wood in St. Robert, Missouri
Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma
All 11b (infantry) MOSs have a 16-week basic training program.
Basic Combat Training is divided into three phases. During Phase I, (also known as "Red Phase") recruits are subject to "Total Control," meaning their every action is monitored and constantly corrected by drill sergeants. The first week of training is commonly referred to as "Hell Week," due to the intense period of adjustment required on the part of the new recruits. Marches are common throughout basic training. Recruits are sent to the "gas chamber" during Phase I, as part of training for defensive chemical warfare. They are also introduced to their standard-issue weapon, the M16A4 rifle or M4 carbine.
In Phase II (also known as "White Phase") soldiers begin actually firing weapons, starting with the rifle or carbine (M4A1). Other weapons the recruit becomes familiarized with include various grenades (such as the M67 fragmentation grenade) and grenade launchers (such as the M203). Recruits are then familiarized with the bayonet, anti-tank/armor weaponry and other heavy weapons. The course also includes an obstacle course which the soldiers are expected to negotiate in a certain amount of time. Additionally, Phase II includes continual, intense PT, along with drill and ceremony training. At the conclusion of Phase II, Soldiers are to demonstrate proficiency with the various weaponry with which they trained.
Phase III or "Blue Phase", is the culmination and the most challenging of all the training phases. A final PT test is administered during the first week. Recruits who fail are frequently retested, often up until the morning of their cycle's graduation. If they do not pass, then they are recycled to another platoon until they meet the fitness standards. The final PT Test is the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT). Usually, a Soldier needs to score at least 60 points in each APFT category (pushups, sit-ups, and 2 mile run) to pass, but in Army Basic Training, only 50 points are required; the Soldier will nevertheless take another APFT with a 60 point requirement at AIT. During Blue Phase, the recruits move on to such longer and more intensive "bivouac" and FTX (Field Training Exercises) as nighttime combat operations. Drill sergeants will make much of this an adversarial process by working against the recruits in many of the night operations and trying to foil plans, etc.
U.S. Marine CorpsEdit
Main article: United States Marine Corps Recruit Training
Marine Corps Platoon
In August 2005, a U.S. Marine Drill Instructor inspects his platoon shortly before Lights Out at MCRD Parris Island, South Carolina.
United States Marine Corps Recruit Depots are located at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, and Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California. All female enlisted Marines go to Parris Island. Men go to either, depending on whether they were recruited east or west of the Mississippi River.
Marine Corps Recruit Training is divided up into three four-week phases and further broken down into individual training days. While there are 69 individual training days, recruits also go through pre- and post-training processing. Phase one mainly consists of learning recruit life protocol, physical training, MCMAP training, academic classes, initial drill, a series inspection, and the confidence course. West coast recruits also do swim qualification during this phase. Phase two is completely in the field at Camp Pendleton for west coast recruits, with the first two weeks being spent on marksmanship training and qualification with the M16A4 service rifle, and the last week in the field learning skills such as fireteam formations, land navigation, and hikes. For east coast recruits, phase two is swim qualification, rifle qualification, and Team Week, a week of maintenance duties for the island as a show of how to perform mundane tasks while still keeping military bearing and attention to detail. Phase three brings the San Diego recruits back to the recruit depot where they finish up with final drill, final inspection, more PT and confidence courses, and graduation. During third phase, west coast recruits also go back into the field one last time to do the Crucible event. Parris Island recruits finish with field training, final drill and inspection, the Crucible, and graduation. Note that recruits going to either depot receive exactly the same training, if in a different order.
Recruit training for Marines is a 13-week long program, and is followed by SOI (School of Infantry) or MCT (Marine Combat Training) military occupational specialties (MOS) located at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina (for Parris Island graduates) and Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California (for San Diego graduates). Marines with an infantry MOS (03XX) receive 59 days of training at ITB (Infantry Training Battalion) and then are assigned to a unit, while non-infantry receive 28 days of training at MCTB (Marine Combat Training Battalion) and then attend their MOS-specific school.
U.S. NavyEdit
Instructional Training exercises at RTC Great Lakes
In March 2002, a U.S. Navy Recruit Division Commander conducts "Instructional Training" to correct substandard performance during boot camp.
Main article: Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois
The U.S. Navy currently operates boot camp at Recruit Training Command Great Lakes, located at Naval Station Great Lakes, near North Chicago, Illinois. Instead of having Drill Sergeants or Drill Instructors like other branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, the U.S. Navy has RDCs (Recruit Division Commanders) that are assigned to each division. Training lasts approximately eight weeks (although some recruits will spend as many as nine weeks in training due to the somewhat complicated processing cycle). Days are counted by a system that lists the week and day that they are on, for example 7-3 for week 7 day 3. The first approximate week is counted P-1, P-2, etc. which denotes that it is a processing day and does not count as part of their 8-week training period. Recruits are instructed on military drill, basic seamanship, basic shipboard damage control, firefighting, familiarization with the M9 pistol and Mossberg 500 shotgun (the Navy no longer gives instruction on the M-16 in boot camp), pass the confidence chamber (tear gas filled chamber), PT, and the basic essentials on Navy life. Recruits also attend many classes throughout boot camp on subjects such as Equal Opportunity, Sexual Assault Victim Intervention, Uniform Code Of Military Justice, recognition of naval aircraft and vessels, and more. In order for recruits to pass boot camp, they will be physically and mentally tested on a 12-hour exercise called Battle Stations which consists of 12 different scenarios consisting of firefighting, first aid knowledge, survival at sea, mass casualties, shipboard flood control, bomb detection and many other skills that they have been learning in the past 7 weeks. After completion of boot camp, freshly minted Sailors are sent either to various "A" Schools located across the United States, where they begin training to receive their ratings (jobs) or to apprenticeship training, where they then enter the fleet without a designation.
The Navy formerly operated Recruit Training Centers in San Diego, California; Orlando, Florida; Meridian, Mississippi; and Port Deposit (Bainbridge), Maryland. From 1942 to 1946 the Navy had two additional training sites. Naval Training Station (USNTS Sampson) (in 1950 renamed Sampson Air Force Base) near Seneca Lake, NY trained over 400,000 recruits. as well as Farragut Naval Training Station in Bayview, Idaho.
U.S. Air ForceEdit
Air Force Military Training Instructor
A formation of USAF trainees.
Main article: United States Air Force Basic Military Training
The U.S. Air Force's Basic Military Training (BMT) is eight and a half weeks long, as they do not count your first week ("Week 0"). BMT is 63 calendar days long. It is conducted at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas. Formerly, trainees were referred to as "Airman" from day one of BMT. This has been changed; now, personnel are referred to as Trainees until the Airman's Coin Ceremony in the eighth week of training, when they receive their Airman's Coin. Trainees receive military instruction (including the Air Force core values, flight and individual drill, and living area inspections), academic classes (covering topics such as Air Force history, dress and appearance, military customs and courtesies, ethics, security, and alcohol/drug abuse prevention and treatment), and field training (including protection against biological and chemical attack, basic marksmanship on the M-16 rifle as well as first aid). Following BMT, Airmen go to a technical school (or 'tech school') where they learn the specifics of their Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC), which is similar to the MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) in the Army and Marines, the Navy's NEC (Naval Enlisted Classification) code, or the Coast Guard's ratings.
All non-prior-service enlistees are required to complete BMT, including those enlisting in the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command. Reserve component enlistees receive the same training as their active-duty counterparts. Credit can be given on a case-by-case basis for enlistees with college credit, Eagle Scouts and service in the Civil Air Patrol qualify for promotion to E-2 (Airman) or E-3 (Airman First Class) upon graduation from BMT. The stripes are not worn until graduation, though trainees are paid at the higher pay grade.
Lackland AFB has been associated with BMT for almost the Air Force's entire history. From 1950 to 1956 300,000 airmen received BMT at Sampson Air Force Base in New York. In 1951, Parks Air Force Base in Dublin, California became a BMT center, with training beginning in March, 1952. BMT at Parks AFB ceased later in the decade and the installation was transferred to the US Army in 1959. For a brief time between 1966 and 1968, the Air Force operated a second BMT at Amarillo AFB, in Amarillo, Texas.
Unlike the Army and Navy, but like the Marine Corps (throughout boot camp) and Coast Guard (during the first section of boot camp), trainees are required to refer to all Airmen, enlisted and NCO's as well as commissioned and warrant officers, as "sir" or "ma'am." Trainees are required to preface speaking to Military Training Instructors with their "reporting statement:"
"Sir/Ma'am, Trainee (the recruit's surname) reports as ordered." or "Sir/Ma'am, Trainee (the recruit's surname) reports.", depending on who initiates the conversation.
An additional 2 weeks of BMT was added to the program on November 1, 2008, extending the duration of BMT from six and a half weeks to eight and a half weeks. BMT has been tailored to incorporate some of the additional warfighting skills to coincide with increased Air Expeditionary Force(AEF) rotations, and more frequent support of its sister services during those rotations.[5]
U.S. Coast GuardEdit
USCG Basic Training
A Coast Guard Company Commander instructs a recruit during basic training.
Recruit training for the U.S. Coast Guard is held at Coast Guard Training Center Cape May in Cape May, New Jersey. The training lasts eight weeks. The U.S. Coast Guard is unique in that it fires the Sig Sauer P229R pistol[6] during the training. The training also covers basic seamanship, drill, military bearing and firefighting. The Coast Guard base on Government Island (now known as Coast Guard Island) Alameda, California was also used as a second major recruit training center until it was closed in 1982 and converted into the base for the USCG Pacific Area Command, the Eleventh Coast Guard District, the Marine Safety Office San Francisco Bay, the USCG Maintenance & Logistics Command Pacific and the Integrated Support Command Center - Alameda.
Although the Coast Guard is a part of the Department of Homeland Security, rather than the Department of Defense, it is by law and tradition a branch of the United States Armed Forces. As with all military members, Coast Guard personnel are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Due to the Coast Guard's unique mission set – including CONUS and OCONUS defense operations, search and rescue and maritime law enforcement – there are added requirements to maintain high physical fitness standards and intense military bearing. Due to its extremely unique, diverse and difficult mission, the U. S. Coast Guard is the most selective in recruiting and training standards. (As an example, the Coast Guard Academy is the only service academy that uses competitive admissions for prospective officer candidates).
During their time at Cape May, recruits are subjected to the usual "boot camp" atmosphere of direct instruction and intense motivation. The recruits are designated as Seaman Recruits (SR; E-1) and, uniquely to the Coast Guard among the services, advanced to the rank of Seaman Apprentice/Airman Apprentice/Fireman Apprentice (SA/AA/FA; E-2) upon graduation. They must adhere to strict rules such as hygiene and uniform regulations and obey all lawful orders. Coast Guard drill instructors are called "company commanders" and hold a rank ranging from Petty Officer 2nd Class (E-5) up to Senior Chief Petty Officer (E-8). Coast Guard companies have approximately two or three company commanders and anywhere from 20 to over 100 recruits.
After completing boot camp, recruits can select their rate and then attend an "A" school. Not all graduates go straight to "A" school, many spend time in the fleet as "non-rates". "A" school is a long-term technical school providing specific instruction about a rate. The "A" schools last two to six months and usually occurs at TRACEN Yorktown, Yorktown, Virginia or TRACEN Petaluma, Petaluma, California. Some rates have an available apprenticeship training option instead of attending an "A" school, known as "striking".
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