How hard is Navy boot camp?

Greg Simmons — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 02:31:10 -0500

How hard is navy bootcamp?

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 16 at 2019 2:47 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 02:47:40 -0500

Is this a joke? The navy has potentially the easiest basic combat training in the military

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 16 at 2019 4:05 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 04:05:45 -0500

It is the easiest out of all branches. Brother went through twelve years ago, I can only imagine it got easier.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Nov 17 at 2019 7:36 AM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 07:36:51 -0500

Second easiest after the Air Force.. The ironing final can be brutal... Make sure you practice your pleating.

Response by CPT Lawrence Cable made Nov 17 at 2019 12:40 PM

CPT Lawrence Cable — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 12:40:11 -0500

Don't let these guys get to you, inter service rivalry jokes.
You can google the Physical Fitness Standards, which by Army Standards are pretty moderate. According to my Navy Son, the Swim standard gets a lot of people, you have to be a 3rd Class Swimmer to graduate and some of the Rates require better swim skill. You can Google Navy swim standards and find out those requirement too. I am also told that the Fire Fighting/Damage Control as some attrition too. Other than that, you just have to deal with a living situation that simulates a ship, which means you are crammed into a pretty small area and pray you don't do a winter cycle at Great Lakes, where apparently there is nothing between it an the North Pole other than some tall trees.

Response by PO1 John Meyer, CPC made Nov 17 at 2019 1:21 PM

PO1 John Meyer, CPC — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 13:21:26 -0500

Physically? Honestly.... I had asthma and made it, which made the run a lot harder on me that others in my company, but I did it. The hardest physical thing really is the swim test, but don't sweat that either. They give you more than once chance to pass. If you don't pass the first time, they put you into remedial swim classes to help you pass, or at least they did when I went. And as CPT Lawrence Cable mentions, fire fighting/damage control is challenging, but it's more of a mind game that takes total cooperation with everyone involved in order to pass. Those who fail usually do so because they panic and can't follow orders. For physical conditioning, I recommend a minimum of running 1.5 miles as fast as you can and doing as many correct sit ups and push ups as you can in 2 minutes (ask your recruiter about the Navy standards for both). Take a look at this Navy article geared to those is the DEP program about physical conditioning... https://www.navycs.com/navy-fitness-assessment.html

Mentally... it's not really that hard either. The hardest part is learning "Navy speak" like deck instead of floor, bulkhead instead of wall, port = left, starboard = right, etc. But don't sweat that either. The entire time you are there, only Navy speak is allowed to get you ready to ship out.

Navy PRT Charts & DEP Physical Fitness Readiness

United States Navy Delayed Entry Program (DEP) physical fitness preparation and PRT charts.

Response by LCDR Joshua Gillespie made Nov 18 at 2019 11:10 AM

LCDR Joshua Gillespie — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 11:10:28 -0500

Greg- If you'll forgive me for making assumptions; this, and your earlier post has me thinking you're a little nervous about "boot camp". Let me begin by saying this is absolutely normal. Everyone's experience will be different, and what worked for one person, may not for another. My advice is this-if you can perform the current PRT with an "excellent" or better... the physical nature of the training should be very doable for you. If you're not a swimmer, I'd recommend spending some time at the pool, and researching what the standards currently are for those type events. The biggest things that "get to" folks are the various "head games"... if you've not been shouted at, made to do things in a hurry, or put out of your comfort zone a great deal; you'll likely face all three during basic training. I found the best way to "prepare" for that was to simply accept that no matter what, I'd do my best. Remember that "this too shall pass"... keep you eyes in the boat, hold fast, and before you know it... you'll be moving on to bigger and better things.

Response by MSG Danny Mathers made Nov 18 at 2019 7:37 PM

MSG Danny Mathers — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 19:37:00 -0500

Coming from SOF perspective, I would think it is easy or hard as you make it. The challenges of inter-service basic or boot camp are about the same. Each service has its own style of converting a clueless civilian into a service man. There are many paths after boot camp with higher degrees of challenges. Enjoy the ride, your family will be proud when you graduate.

Response by 1SG Rick Seekman made Dec 18 at 2020 10:09 PM

1SG Rick Seekman — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 22:09:13 -0500

Navy has a boot camp? Lol