Did you enjoy Basic Training?

Yes I did. My intention in those years was to escape the life I then was trapped in, and to prove to others that I had what it took to make it on my own. Basic taught me so much more. I became the person I longed to be, and through those weeks I wanted more. I finished my active duty as a senior E-6, and still remain in the in-active reserves (will have a total of 33 years come next March). I grew up in basic training, and to this day I feel the void I lived in beforehand was filled during those weeks.

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There were times I couldnt stand it but overall I loved it for the simple fact that my Drill Sergeants demanded respect and instilled unwaivering discipline.....something that is lacking these days. Im the NCO I am because of my drills.

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Did I enjoy Basic Training? That's a hard question to answer. I guess I would say I enjoyed what I learned and what I proved to myself that I was capable of but I didn't enjoy the 3am wake up calls, being yelled at all the time, the hundreds of push ups I completed, the miles ran, and all the other "fun things". I do look back at my time in basic training and I'm thankful for the guidance of my DSs and the lessons we learned and how those lessons were applied a few years later.

SGM COBERLY HOOAH MY ARMY BROTHER BUT WE WENT THRU TWO DIFFERENT 
WORLDS WHEN IT CAME TO BASIC TRAINING (BOOT CAMP)THAT WORD GENTLE WAS NEVER IN OUR MINDS CUZ IT WASNT IN OUR GREEN MARINE CORPS MACHINE MINDS...MY FIRST 30 MINUTES AT MCRD SAN DIEGO 26 MARCH 1969 I SAW A TALL MARINE WHO PASSED OUT BECAUSE HIS MOUTH WAS PRESSED UP AGAINST THE BULKHEAD AND THE DRILL INSTRUCTOR DROP KICKED HIM IN THE HEAD AS WE WERE FILING PAST HIM LYING ON THE DECK I SAW A BLACK SHOE MARK ON HIS FOREHEAD WE WERE STILL IN CIVILLIAN CLOTHING THAT WAS 46 YEARS AGO I REMEMBER IT LIKE IT HAPPENED A MONTH AGO...I BET THEM D.I'S HAD PTSD FROM VIETNAM BECAUSE THEY WERE PURE ANIMALS .................YOU PEOPLE GET A GLIMPSE IF YOU WATCH 1.FULL METAL JACKET 2.THE BOYS IN COMPANY C............THERE WAS NOTHING NICE ABOUT BOOT CAMP WE DIDNT EVEN HAVE REAL GRASS IN THE PLATOON AREA WE HAD TO RAKE MUD AND THE FURROWS WERE OUR GRASS...SGM IF IT WASNT LIKE THAT I COULD NEVER HAVE WALKED INTO 4 MAXIMUM AND 1 MEDIUM SECURITY PRISON........

I loved every minute of it. I enlisted in the Army, with the intent of doing three years, turning 21, getting out, and joining our local police department. By the morning of my second day of basic training, I already knew I had found a home and would stay. Came in for three years and left with 25.

It was an acceptable experience and I survived. Unfortunately, I had bronchitis throughout all of basic training so after every single cardio event I was basically coughing my lungs out for 10-15 minutes. That put a damper on the experience.

I didn't think it was bad or hard. Parts of it was fun. I didn't like Chicago in January, though.

I did enjoy BMT when I went through it. It was base on physical training as will as mental training so that you will be able to make through the military through ou your career.