What things do you remember about adapting to military life?

I joined because I needed structure. I was craving it. Being the second youngest of six, my parents were just worn out by the time I came along. High School presented absolutely no challenge, except showing up. Bored, lost, on the verge of going to the dark side in the late 80s.
Best thing I ever did was get the fuck out of my hometown when I did.
The only difficult part was getting through the 18-24 month episode with the E-3 "Fuck the Suck"mafia. It is probably still the hardest part for many.
Now, after a little more than 20 years later I was able to return and settle into my calm, cool years.
"Smoke pouring out the window, ice cold beer sitting in the console"..

Going from a high school kid to Navy boot camp and later to aircraft carriers where you worked 12 hrs/day, 7 days/week. Tonkin gulf yacht club, where the hell is vietnam??

One thing that sticks in my mind was the lack of private space. Almost always someone around or something to do. No t a chance to be alone with your thoughts. That might have been a good thing.

I am a Military Brat. My Dad was a veteran of the occupation of Japan and Korea. He and I both fought in Vietnam. As a military brat raise mostly in the cocoon of military families I never experienced real racism. In 1965 I had a crush was on a beautiful black girl. I know she really liked me but I couldn't understand why she would not go out with me despite being very affectionate in hiding. I realize now in 1965 she knew racism.
We all played and fought (fist fights no weapons) and partied together at AYA functions.
Then in 1969 in basic at Fort Jackson I experience full out real hate of blacks from New York recruits. I did not welcome racism and ended up being hated by both white and black bigots for a while. In time things smooth out and we trained and functioned as a team.
Point is: I was raised to respect everybody as were most of my friends and life was beautiful.

Adapting to Military life , especially before we got housing, I had to get up at 4 am. I did not have a car the first 6 months, so I rode the bus with other Veteran's and Civilians working on Ft. IRWIN. I did not get home till almost 6 pm. Husband was working nights, so I had to feed 2 hungry children, make sure their homework was done, get my uniform ready for the next day. I was a person who wanted to look sharp every Day at my job. Come Friday I was exhausted, but there was grocery shopping and laundry. My daughter was trying to be a Big help. I just pushed myself, till October 31, and my Husband said let's go to Toyota. I found my car, and 2 miles on it. Finally no more work bus, and getting more time with my Family, and we finally got on base housing. Even Greater. Thank You

Just learning how to put up my darned hair.
For ages I had this weird half braid twisted and bobby pinned to the top of my head.
All "natural" colored hair ties and then...
Scrunchies.
But not during PT because if it fell....all hell broke loose.
I still (20 years out) have my hair up ALL the time.
What a pain in my... Head.

As with many others it became very clear very quickly that there were things I would have never imagined myself capable of that became routine with enough pressure. You find out early on exactly what you're made of when you're pushed to the brink. It completely changed how I saw myself.

My whole life changed. Hind sight is 20/20, but people, places, and experiences are priceless. Blessings!

I think it was both the extremes of efficiency and inefficiency and took some time for me to get used to. For example, there was a proven, tested, "right way" to disassemble, clean, and reassemble a weapon to make sure it was ready for when you needed it. On the flip side, I remember standing in ranger school in formation with BDUs and no field jacket in freezing weather just waiting for what felt like hours (but was probably less than 30 min) for the RIs to tell us what our next task would be with no knowledge of what that might be, or when it might happen. In the end, all of the above built character in ways I appreciate MUCH more now than I did at the time.

My Dad was in the service so I pretty well knew what to expect. The early hours, well, I was usually up and in the head before the DI started banging on the trash can. The discipline was as expected and the feeling of being part of something bigger was keen. The marching for long periods was difficult at first but soon caught on thanks to my running in high school. All in all, I believe I was better prepared for military life because I knew what my Dad had taught and instilled in me about this way of life.