I was told that you aren't a real infantryman unless you went to basic training at Fort Benning. What are your opinions on this?

Plenty of WWII Era Infantry Soldiers and before never set foot on Fort Benning. When the Army says your Infantry than you are! Enough said

Infantry? I thought that ALL soldiers were "Infantry, First - Specialist, Secondarily!". Seems I was given the BASICs to become "all I could be".
As a 52C10, I was on the Rear Area Protection Squad. I figure I was a "retreating infantryman"...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b07887ZzKiw

Humor.

The trainers of the schools, whether infantry or any other, all go to the same training schools to become instructors. The Army (or any service) has standards that need to be achieved before you can graduate from that training. So it does not matter where you were taught as they all teach the same standards. The rest is up to you. You can be a crappy infantryman (or insert your MOS here) or you can be a good one, choice is yours and what you put into it. Most every soldier thinks his school was the best because they are not going to say another school is, it is a pride thing, nothing more.

That’s stupidity at its best It’s like saying you’re not an infantryman unless you joined the Marine Corps If you’re an 03 or 11B it’s still infantry…that’s your MOS and that’s what you were trained for

Ft Dix NJ is the one

I was a squid, so not army material, but we called all infantrymen grunts. It didn't matter where you went to training, or if you were in the Army or the Marines

I knew a lot of infantrymen with CIBs with stars that only saw Benning for ANCOC. Benning today has been modernized so the training there is exceptional. But, give it a few years before claiming that.

Worrying about what you are referred to as should be the least of anyone's worries. Jesus was called a devil; that didn't make him one. No one in the Service should be doing anything for himself, but for the good of the team. You are all part of one body, and no part of it is any less significant or important than another. Each soldier has his role to play from the least to the greatest. Whether cook or engineer, do your job with pride. When you seek employment after completing your tour, the boss will ask not how well you started, but how well you finished.

I must not have been an infantryman because I did my basic training and AIT at Fort Polk