What things do you remember about adapting to military life?

I joined the Army at the age of 28. I was a mentally withdrawn and physically abused wife. The Army brought me out of my shell and made me the strong woman I am today. I thrived in Basic training. I found the strict lifestyle was just what I needed. I found my voice through my Drill Sergeant. Adaption to military life was a great transition for me. I was able to help those younger females who found it difficult and were away from home for the first time. Adjusting to civilian life as a Veteran has been more difficult.

Before joining the Navy, I had attended a Military Academy. Therefore I was accustomed to a military lifestyle. Boot Camp was easy compared to a military academy. I also entered service as an E-3 due to my JROTC training

Joining the military was the best thing I ever did. After 10 years retiring as a SSG E-6 I was in demand for a lot of jobs when I got out in 1985. But I would advise that no one one join today. In 1976 we had benefits out the ass. They have taken away all the benefits I had, and now the politicians consider you just fodder.

When I took my first oath, I felt a member of a winning team. After serving 27 years, military life became a lifestyle.

I remember adapting to the working hours was difficult. You were scheduled to work - you worked. When we had to go to 12 hour shifts it was really hard to do the night shift. Convincing your body to stay awake and training it to sleep when you could was hard for me.

I remember whenever I first joined that I was thinking to myself this is it. It's time to be a grown up and nobody is going to hold your hand or walk you through the little stuff. It's time to make sure all your things are in order and ready to go

Just getting to know everybody as being the new guy down in the main space.

Stepping off the bus and getting hit with the reality of everything that was about to happen

Joining the military brought forth insecurities I wasn't aware of. Gained some strengths and learned to keep moving thru it all.

Basic training for me was not a typical basic training. It was conducted at Ft. Jackson but was different to say the least. My basic was done in a year where Ft. Dix closed to basic training so all recruits that were scheduled to do their training there were moved down to Ft. Jackson. Because of that, they had to reopen closed barracks that were scheduled to be torn down....Tank Hill. They were WWII barracks with no air conditioning (in July). They also had to have Reserve drill sergeants come in that rotated every two weeks. As a result, it was like starting basic over every two weeks. It was not fun!