What things do you remember about adapting to military life?

The difficult part was of course being thrown into an entire new way of life. Confusion may be the biggest part of signing up. The unknown causes sleepless nights at the beginning. Adapting to the military way of life is a real opener. But of course almost all of us get through it.

The hardest thing was doing p.t. The Army made me lose weight and get in shape before sending me to basic training.

The lifestyle of order and structure and respect of authority or chain of command translated in the civilian world with any job and giving them my best…excellence in all we do.

Adapting to military life is not just a lifestyle, but a movement. Over time you’re used to independence and doing things your own way. The saying is dress right dress, a saying that my battle buddies and chain of command used meaning everyone needs to be exactly alike. Everyone wears their hair, their uniform, and their person to army regulation standards. The hardest part was dealing with someone that could not get it right, and therefore discipline the entire platoon.

lack of privacy

I felt alot of pride serving my country. The hardest part was exercising in the morning before the sun came up but it always made the day better and go smoother.

Getting sleep in basic training with 2 bays full of snoring people was challenging. By the end of basic, I was so sleep deprived I was almost running into walls.

Hardest part for me was the newness of everything.
I was just a dumb 18 year old kid from Wisconsin who knew nothing about the real world.
Starting over in a new place with no friends, no real money, no transportation of my own, no clue in general. That made me scared more than anything else. Luckily everyone I met had started basically the same way. The culture of taking in new sailors and showing them the ropes was a life changing experience for me.

I was 17 and living out of state for the first time. I used to think about having to pull the trigger in battle. I was both anxious and excited to be on my own.

While in Basic Training you exercise all day, every day. Best thing I have EVER done.

Do what your told, keep your head down, shout loud and all is easy.

Everything you had learned up to joining the marine corps became worthless, this include thing such as logic and common sense lol. For a short time the best way to progress was turning into a robot and performing every command you were given, this was both rewarding and devastating at the same time. On one hand it felt as if everything that made you YOU, was being stripped away, but the values and discipline they beat into you made you feel like a better version of yourself.

When I joined in 87', I went from an unstructured life to a very structured life which I fell in love with! I enjoyed the frequent moving and the new co-workers/friends that came with the moves. I really liked how everyone had a say on how we can improve our area, which improves the Air Force. These traits I still use today in my civilian life. Regarding the current mission, I always felts we all were in the same page...working together as a team and work family. This togetherness made it difficult when we all had to leave our deployments to return back home. I am thankful for the priceless experience, traits and training I learned over my 20 years in the Air Force.
Bill

Adjusting to what “right looks like.” I came from a background where there was zero accountability. Adjusting to that perspective has since shaped me, albeit not always how I’d imagined, into who I am today.

The discipline was a huge shock and the structure of being told what to do with every minute of your life.

One thing that was truly hard was the constant "hurry up and wait" mentality. Being a fresh Airman, at the crisp age of 23, I disliked the fact that everything I did was to be accomplished immediately and had to wait on everyone else to confirm or inspect. Having to be 15 minutes early to anything and everything, but waiting 20 mins. plus after the proposed time.

Waking up at odd hours of the morning, PT being essential in life, being away from your family for an extended period of time, having people around the ship that became family.

The inability to question, you had to follow orders

To keep driving forward and never giving up.

I remember laying in the rack in boot camp saying to myself what the heck did I do. I was 20 years old. I stayed in the Marine Corps for almost 7 years and loved all of it. Semper Fi'