Most people have seen a military movie or two that has a boot camp scene. I’ll come right out and say that most of them are partly accurate. You have extremes like Full Metal Jacket and Stripes. Most of what is shown has happened at one point, but is not necessarily common anymore. In most of boot camp the instructors are not allowed to touch the recruits. Gone are most of the days of blanket parties (I did say most).
Now days DEP (Delayed Entry Programs) are run to help you prepare for boot camp. Usually your recruiter will run PT (physical training) sessions at least once per week to make sure that you meet the requirements before going. In fact if you don’t meet their minimum requirements, they aren’t supposed to send you (most recruiters will send a person regardless, so make sure your in shape and ready for yourself).
The requirements to pass each boot camp are below, and it’s best to be ready to pass these before you leave, to be able to concentrate on the other aspects of boot camp once you get there (you don’t want to be part of the ‘fat group’). When I got to boot camp they took our height and weight again to see if we should be on the fat group, and marked us 2-5 inches shorter to try and get more people part of the group (thankfully I still avoided it).
(those links also have corresponding material on special forces such as SEALs, Green Berets, etc)
How are you going to get fit and ready?
You can go traditional routes such as the gym, but to really get yourself in gear, look into systems such as P90X. P90X is highly regarded and a well-liked exercise program that actually works.
This next option also makes sense, there is a program written by Sgt. Matt Menster of the Marine Corps. He explains how you can prepare for the hardest boot camp of them all (Marines), check out his program here. They say it’s 90% mental and 10% physical in boot camp, I agree if you are already in good shape. If not (like my case), then it turns to about 75% physical. If you think you may struggle phsyically then consider one of the programs or getting some physical training help before you get to boot camp.
Written by Bill Wayne, member of the Best Military Surplus team.
