So pretty much, I'm scared. Any females out there willing to give some inside tips on bmt? I know the guys have some really good input too but all there is out there besides the one article on about.com is from a male perspective. I'd really like to hear from the girls on this one. I already know my chain of command like the back of my hand, my reporting statement, and I've trained on the M4 and M9 for weapons qualifications. I leave 22 Aug for bmt and would also kind of like to know about how bmt works in the summer. My recruiter is pretty vague and not really all that reassuring. Lastly, is anyone going at the same time as me?

You'll be fine. What's your AFSC?

My wife just went through Basic not too long ago. She said it was pretty much the same as the men's experience. But you get a little more privacy if you have a male TI - they have to announce every time they enter the dorms.

When I went through 8 years ago, all flights paired up with another for training. I had a "sister flight", a flight of all women. We were banned from interacting with them, even though we had to train with them. Some of the really dumb guys tried to find ways to talk to them, and they got themselves in trouble for it.

Just a heads' up, watch yourself around the boys in Basic and Tech School. Men get a bit... primal when denied access to women. Especially the young 18-20 yr olds going through Basic. They'll look for action anywhere they can get it. We had a guy who got busted for bumping uglies with a girl in a dumpster. Dunno what happened to him, but he moved out of our dorms that same day.

Don't worry, you already know more than you're expected to know. The hardest part for me was cramming all that knowledge in a stressful environment. You already know the chain of command. Don't forget your reporting statement is "REPORTS as ordered." Most people want to say "Reporting" and they get chewed out for it. Also, no "sir sandwiches" (e.g. "Sir, yes sir!"). The movies perpetuated this response, so most people will be fighting to break the habit when they get yelled at for it.

Also, we shoot with the M-16, not the M-4 or M-9. However, the M-4 is a more compact version of the M-16, so it won't be too unfamiliar for you. Officers shoot with M-9's, so you won't have to worry about those. I've only used one once in my whole career and it was because I was at a firing range with some Marines and they offered to let me try it out.

Welcome to the Air Force! I hope you like it here! If it gets too stressful in Basic, just remember that it's all a big game. The TI's have to act like scary mean jerks, but outside of Basic, they're normal people with families and friends. It's nothing personal, just part of their job. If you do a good job and don't screw up, they'll pretty much leave you alone and training will be easier for you.

Best of luck!

One thing Coby didnt metion is this: If your going to do something stupid and you dont think your clever enough to get away with it DONT DO IT. They are everywhere trust me >.< One of my friends is a TI in the 321. I get to hear him yell at people all the time

They actually qualify on the M-9 now, i believe, with the new training.

People in jobs that deploy more than others will qualify on M9 as far as I know. It's based on your what tempo band your AFSC sits in.

Yeah, my wife just filled me in on that. Wow. When did that happen? And can I get some training at the range now, or are they just doing it in Basic? The last time I went to the firing range (couple years ago), they said only Officers could do the M-9 training, since it was their standard-issue weapon.

I know the Air Force has been trying to upgrade the M-16's to M-4's for several years now, but we're still being handed M-16's for deployments. I've seen the Army and Marines walking around with the M-4's though. I'm all-for an upgrade. I bought my own rifle sling so I don't have to deal with the cheap strap they put on those things. I'd rather be able to sling up my rifle from my side and fire in less than 2 seconds than spend 20 seconds struggling to get the tight strap over my helmet so I can return fire. The issued strap makes it feel like I'm wearing a bow and arrow, except the bow doesn't flex so you can't get it over your head quickly.

They started it when they changed to the new curriculum. Some jobs require you to have the M-9/M-4 training, mainly augmentee duty. And the airforce is slowly switching over to M-4's we will just be the last to get them, since they are starting with SFS first and then working their way down the list.

just 6 weeks left for myself. will be difficult being away from the wife and kids - and being around a bunch of 18-20 yr olds (will be 26 when I leave).

When she says Chain of Command - does she mean all the ranks? Airman Basic, Airman 1st Class, Senior Airman etc through Colonel, Brigadier General?

No she means your drill instructors, squadron superintendent, squadron commander, and so on all the way up to the chief of staff of the air force. your recruiter should have given you the list from the base commander on up, since that will be the same for everybody. You still do need to know the ranks, as far as i know.

Thank you for all the advice! My AFSC isn't decided yet, I am in the Electrical field though. I wasn't special enough to get a contract that specialized me, lol. My recruiter said we'd be firing M4's and M9's from the kneeling, prone, and one other position that escapes me at the moment. When I say Chain of Command I mean President, Chief of Staff, Secdef, and so on and so forth.

My friend told me about how some guys in his flight were uh primal after tech school, lol definitely going to be watching out.

Does anyone know how strict they are about fit flight? I can do the sit ups and push ups all day long but my 1.5 is 17 minutes. (sad) I'm trying to shave off the minute that would stick me in fit flight but I guess I want to know just how terrified I should be o.o.

No AFSC? You're not going in Open General are you? That usually means you'll be a cop, and you don't wanna go that route. They have some pretty sh*tty assignments in the military. Someone's gotta stand around in inclement weather and guard those gates.

Never heard of anyone being in a specific category (electrical) but not being assigned an AFSC. Honestly, I wouldn't have agreed to go without an AFSC. They can give you any sh*t-job they want once you're trained up. Heck, you may be stuck in AFI (Awaiting Further Instruction) while they pick one out and arrange a class date for you. In AFI, you hang around Basic Training after your graduation and do dirty work (scrub offices, file paperwork, etc). Menial little tasks like that. You can be stuck in AFI for a couple days to several months depending on job availability. Hopefully this won't be the case with you.

You'll be firing in the prone, kneeling, and standing position. You also need to qualify with a gas mask on. For part of your rifle test, they'll make you don a gas mask and shoot at the target. I'd earn the Marksmanship Ribbon if it wasn't for that damn mask. I wear glasses, so I can't see through my lenses and down the rifle sight with that big bubble face piece. I'm shooting blind for that part of the test.

I don't know what fit flight is, but Basic will definitely get you fit. You should easily work off a minute on your run. My wife had never ran a day in her life before Basic and she was kicking A$$ on that 1.5 mile. She couldn't do a single push-up before Basic either, and now she can do 20 before she tires out. You'll definitely get in shape if you're trying.

And yes, Chain of Command (CoC) is those appointed over you, from your supervisor all the way up to the President (Commander-in-Chief). Or in the case of Basic Training, from your TI to the President. I never got any information on ranks or the CoC before Basic, but they gave us the materials to study. Basic will incorporate a little classtime lecture and study work. It's not all obstacle courses like you see in the movies. You'll have to take a written test as part of your final evaluation.

Yeah I am in Electrical only. It says in my contract that they can not switch my field at all from the Electrical. Its something they are doing now I guess since there is such a high inflow of recruits. My friend's husband was in Mechanical and my other friend was Electrical also. One is HVAC and the other is Cyber transport. So luckily they can't stick me as a cop and I'm hoping that since I got a 98 on my ASVAB they won't stick me with some crap job. lol.

Also: Fit flight is something they supposedly added in for people who do not pass the initial requirements when they arrive and PT test those people every day till they do pass. They are made to do PT three times a day also. I don't know how much of that is rumor or not though, my friends who went through say it exists but they were all track stars when they went in so they don't really have any idea if the threat was real.

PT three times a day is excessive. You're more likely to damage someone than help them with that much stress. Now, daily PT I can understand. It's still stressful and borderline bad for you, but it can help out if done properly.

Yeah, well let's just hope I don't get stuck in fit flight if there is such a thing =]! Shave off that minute before I go, or just use the fear of it to get my butt in gear when I am there lol. You always run faster when you're scared right?

If you are not able to run the 1.5mi in under 18 minutes you will be sent home, not placed into a fit flight.

The 'specific category' you are speaking of is the same as open General. All jobs in the AF are broken into 4 areas...M/A/G/E. Mechanical/Administrative/General/Electrical. 'Open Electrical' is an option just like 'Open General' is an option.

All of the OPs job options will be electrical in nature... tech control (or what used to be), computer maintenance (or what used to be), HVAC, electrician, avionics, PMEL (or whatever they call it now), aircraft elcetronics (not avionics) are just a few of the options.

Are you certain because there were trainees in my friend's flight that stayed and they ran their 1.5 in 20 minutes. What reference do you have for that?

Good luck

Seriously?

Stephen Hawking would zoom laps around someone doing a 20 minute 1.5mi.

beep beep.

Lol Yeah, and I don't know if they would pay all that money and then discharge me for not being fast enough at the very beginning of basic. Why wouldn't they work with you? I cut two minutes off my time though so I'm not too worried now.

As of 01 Jan 2010.

For males it is 18+ minutes, For females it is 21+ minutes.
They consider you medically unable to run and improve your run time to a passing score.

Just make sure you run faster than 18 minutes for your initial PFT.

You don't get put in fit flight right off the bat, you have 3 main PT Evals. the one you do 2nd week is a "test the waters" eval. at that point they TI's know how much work they have to put into you, I just went through 5Jan10 and there was a guy in my flight that could only do 9 pushups (other stats were bad too). after that i think it was end of 3rd week, end of 5th week(before beast) and then end of 7th week for the final eval. the male and femaile experience isn't very much different, since the MTI's have a specific AFI handbook of crap they have to do and go over male or female. which we as trainees or airmen dont have access too according to what they said, but our TI showed us what the book looked like once in the dayroom inbetween an hour sessions of pushups,flutter kicks, and cherry pickers for someone farting during mail time. I couldn't agree more with the "its their job" statement, the TI's are only big and scary the first 4-5 weeks, after that, they ease up, and you can catch them laughing with their TI friends, making subtle jokes with trainees, and when i got on the bus to head to keesler our TI even said "I wanna let you all know, you did awesome, and you were a great flight" then jumped off the bus and the doors closed. also.. beginning 8th week, you will have to do baby flight details, and the TI's actually talk to you like your human, while making you make beds and distribute all the gear for the new baby flight coming in . i.e. (ruler,markers,laundry bag,lock,flashlight, etc)

Ill tell you... the crappiest day for me was the 2nd day, it was when the i realized i was no longer home and I couldn't sleep that night. that went away after about 2-3 days after you get into a routine. the other week that they SAY sucks, is 3rd week, they call it HELL week.. however, its actually "HEALTH" week and some idiot mis-heard. however; stand team (youll learn who they are) or 4-5 MTI's will do "night raids" on your dorm this week, to make sure your keeping your area nice and tight, If you aren't be prepared to be jarred awake to the tune of a TI screaming in your face.

All that being said. it gets progressively easier as you go, big stepping stones are how i made it through.
2nd-4th day youll be issued your ABU's sometime in this period
1st-2nd week, youll be learning drill hard core, and be issued your m16 trainer weapon
3rd week, you go over self aid and buddy care, you do some 4th week, a bit if i recall too.. you also do gas chamber this week as well as tactical march training. another cool thing that goes down, is you get your name tapes, and your blues. spiffy. 5th week, you qualify with the m16 at CATM, 6th week is all beast. 7th week is evals both PT, and written, as well as the first time you will wear blues.. Tues, and Thurs. and then 8th week is out processing and base lib/town pass. dont forget about the probably 25 classes you have to take strewed all between all those weeks.

It was one of the more rewarding experiences of my life, and when you get your airmens coin, you get that proud feeling, when you see all the flights doing drill movements almost 100% perfect with one heal beat, and hear hundreds of airmen say the creed and then blurt out the last line with every last ounce of energy "and I WILL NOT FAIL" it hits home..

bottom line, it sucks most times. but you make some cool friends, and learn a LOT of awesome stuff you can take with you for the rest of your life, I hope this helps, if you have any more questions, BMT is still relatively fresh in my mend. i graduated 5MAR10 and ive been at Keesler doing school for Cyber Transport 3D132, and my first duty station will be Incirlik, Turkey. expected grad from tech school is sometime mid november/early december.