For junior enlisted, what are their biggest flaws coming into the military? Any advice?

From what I've seen, naivete' and isolationism hurts lots of our junior folks. Sure, they have 400 friends on Facebook who are from all walks of life and from all over the world, but they freak out when they actually meet different folks face to face.

I've got friends that train recruits right now - and they say they see kids that have NEVER had lace-up shoes - everything was Velcro or slip-on. This means they have to teach 18-24 year olds how to tie their shoes and boots.

TOTAL inability to conduct any sort of PT. The CCs I know (DIs, DSs, or TIs for inter-service folks) say that on day one of Boot, they get the kids to the gym to do a quick assessment to get a starting point for progress, and they see kids that can't run from one side of the gym to the other - from SIDE TO SIDE, not the long way. This isn't the age-old problem of getting non-swimmers in a sea-going service, this is a matter of folks that can only do half of a push-up (from the starting position, they can get to the deck - and that's it - they can't get back up to finish ONE push-up), and can't do a single sit-up. Sure, there are rock-stars that come close to maxing out the PT tests from the start, but they are few and far between.

The video-game era has hurt them in other ways as well. Some folks actually have said that they wanted to start over - as in: respawn from their last checkpoint - when they get in trouble. It's rough enough for junior folks - but this takes it to a WHOLE new level.

You've self-identified things to work on, so I'm sure you'll do just that. I'll only add: confidence will come with time and success. You're young, and relatively new. Your CoC knows that, and if they're good, they'll nurture you along like they're supposed to. Just give it time. 10 years from now when you're waiting for your Chief results, you'll look back at this and have a good laugh.

My weak link is my lack of confidence. I have no confidence and I'm too hard on my self. Testing or boards, I over think it and/or second guess my self to where I fail myself, even though I know all the answers. I crumble under pressure.