# Basic Training Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2014, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592 "2014-04-07T23:19:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/1 "2014-04-07T23:19:31Z")
I have some friends who have chosen to join the Army, mainly because they can’t find a decent job and see it as a good way to pay for college. Most of these people were living in the SF Bay Area, often with their families, and invariably they would be sent to some far away place for basic training. For example to some place in the deep South. Perhaps my observation is biased by a relatively small sample size. I assumed the Army did this so that the trainee was far away from home and couldn’t easily hitchhike back if they weren’t happy, but somehow I don’t think this is correct. Perhaps they are only sent to certain bases because they need to fill spots and the Army doesn’t care where the spots are. Or perhaps because there are no bases on the west coast that do basic training nowadays. Given the added cost of having to fly these people from one end of the country to the other I figure there must be a good reason for it. So are new recruits purposely sent far away from their home for basic training, or does the Army simply fill whatever spots are open wherever they may be, and as a result someone could be sent to a base relatively close to where they live? ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/2 "2014-04-07T23:31:44Z")
Um, neither? Only some facilities are set up for Basic Training. You go to a Basic Training facility to do your Basic Training, then you go somewhere else. You don’t get an assignment to do, like, a job, until you’ve finished Basic. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/3 "2014-04-07T23:56:26Z")
> **[Military recruit training](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recruit_training#United_States_of_America)** > > Military recruit training, commonly known as basic training or boot camp, refers to the initial instruction of new military personnel. It is a physically and psychologically intensive process, which resocializes its subjects for the unique demands of military employment. > Initial military training is an intensive residential programme commonly lasting several weeks or months, which aims to induct newly recruited military personnel into the social norms and essential tasks of the armed forces. Com... ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/4 "2014-04-07T23:57:29Z")
According to wikipedia, the Army only has 4 places to do Basic Training; Fort Benning in Georgia, Fort Jackson in South Carolina, Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, and Fort Sill in Oklahoma. After Basic, they go to “Advanced Individual Training” (which may be at the same base or may be elsewhere) where they start learning about their actual job in the Army, then they get stationed somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/5 "2014-04-08T01:50:38Z")
Right. Pre-World Wars you would have entry training happen at a broad variety of different locations. You’d show up at a “recruit depot” for inprocessing and then off to the regiment to train you. Upon the World Wars, it became necessary to “industrialize” the process. From the [(PDF) Basic Training Museum](http://www.jackson.army.mil/sites/bct/docs/599) website, the official version of the story: > [@](#): > > In World War I, men were welcomed into the Army at recruit depots all over the United States, and then they reported directly to their service units where they were trained and sent overseas. When all deployable units were filled, extra men enlisting into the Army were kept at the recruit depots where they trained to be loss replacements. At least, that was the plan. Between 1917 and 1918, there never were extra men. In fact, the Army didn’t have enough men to fill the regular deployment units. So, the Army had to start tearing apart existing units and reassigning men to units that were ready to go overseas. With the Soldiers being shuffled around so much, units weren’t able to train Soldiers properly before they were sent into the war zone. > > In World War II, the Army decided it needed a place for Soldiers to receive training before they were assigned to their regular units. So, starting in 1940, Soldiers were trained at replacement training centers before they were sent to the unit that they would serve with. > > During this time, the process of training was standardized for each specialty, and field training exercises with live ammunition were added. Unfortunately, just like in WWI, in 1942, the Army ran out of the necessary manpower to fill deploying units, and after 1942, upon joining the Army, soldiers were immediately assigned to a unit and sent overseas without any training. As the war went on, the Army continuously struggled to develop a plan to meet the demands of battle. > > After the war, the Army reduced its numbers, and it was finally able to commit energy to developing a training program. Early in 1946, the Army reduced the time Soldiers spent at replacement training centers by half by cutting out advanced individual training and concentrating on basic military training only. In 1947, the length of training returned to 13 weeks, but the focus remained on basic military training. > > […]During the Korean War, the Army pioneered a formal advanced individual training program. Formerly, Soldiers were given basic military training, and then they were assigned to a permanent unit where they would receive on-the-job training. In 1953, this pattern changed, and Soldiers were sent to specialty training after their basic training to learn the skills they would need for their particular job in the Army. In 1963, on the eve of the Vietnam War, the Army again improved the training program with the introduction of drill sergeants and committee groups to orchestrate training cycles. Drill sergeants, Soldiers specifically chosen for their leadership abilities and their accomplishments in the field, became the teachers, advisors, administrators, and leaders of basic training while committee groups, or specialty instructors, were placed in charge of hand grenades, infiltration courses, basic rifle marksmanship, night firing, close combat, individual tactics, and general subjects such as first aid. There used to be more BCT locations (e.g. Forts Dix (NJ), McClellan (AL), Knox (KY) ) that were wound down as the Volunteer Army got progressively smaller (I myself did Basic at McClellan in the 1980s). Similarly, the Navy used to have Boot Camps in Florida and California as well but have now limited themselves to Great Lakes Station in Illinois, and the Coast Guard shut down their West Coast location 30 years ago. Of the smaller services only the Marines have retained more than one Basic location (Parris Island and San Diego). ---
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/6 "2014-04-08T02:04:38Z")
When I was drafted (1969) the Marines generally sent those from Chicago west to San Diego and Chicago east to Parris Island. I’m sure there were exceptions, but I believe this to be at least 90% accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/7 "2014-04-08T04:33:09Z")
The Air Force only has one base for enlisted basic training–Lackland AFB, near San Antonio, TX. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/8 "2014-04-08T05:16:27Z")
Basic training for me was Ft. Carson CO in 1961. All my Sargents were combat vets. That made my training better than most of that time frame. Then advanced training at Ft. Rucker, AL. You got a travel voucher, you could drive, walk, train, bus, fly, you had X amount of $$$ and a report date. Don’t be late. Sometimes it would cover a train but usually a bus. Airlines required you to pitch in a lot more usually. Only free rides I ever got was crossing oceans & mucking about in the far east. I did not get cushy jobs in Europe. I was state side some but got lucky in those places. Not that they were so great, I had no wheels but I had some really cool First Shirts & CO’s. ---
**Author:** ![Chihuahua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@Chihuahua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chihuahua)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/9 "2014-04-08T08:19:22Z")
> [@](#): > > So are new recruits purposely sent far away from their home for basic training, or does the Army simply fill whatever spots are open wherever they may be, and as a result someone could be sent to a base relatively close to where they live? As mentioned, the trainee’s origin is irrelevant. There are only a handful of Basic Training facilities and they get sent to whichever one has vacancies. The only exception is for people who have what is called One-Station Unit Training (OSUT), which is when their Basic and AIT are rolled into one long training session. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/10 "2014-04-08T13:00:28Z")
When I joined the Coast Guard, recruits who lived West of the Mississippi took basic training in CA. If you lived East of the Mississippi, you went to NJ. ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/11 "2014-04-08T14:11:22Z")
All military bases in whatever branch of the service you wish to discuss have a purpose. I believe the term in the military would be “mission”. The mission of a base where the new recruits go to basic training is to do just that. Provide the basic training to new recruits. Therefore, the base is set up and designed to do that, with the proper facilities, training areas, and personal all dedicated to that purpose. An Army recruit cannot just walk to the nearby Army base in his state and say “hello, I’m here for basic training”. They would not know what to do with that person, except send him to the people who have been trained to do just that. ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/12 "2014-04-08T14:21:06Z")
I thought recruits were sent to a different part of the country to become acclimated to a different climate. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/13 "2014-04-08T14:45:52Z")
> [@svd678](#): > > I thought recruits were sent to a different part of the country to become acclimated to a different climate. There are various training programs for climate-specific warfare. But those are all advanced programs that one would take _after_ basic training. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/14 "2014-04-08T18:34:06Z")
When I went to basic training, my family or relatives or life experiences had already taught me: How to shoot, How to clean, including weapons, cook, camp, respect authority, iron, sew, scrub, make a bed, polish footwear, crawl in mud & under barb wire, and so on. Since I had never been in a school that had a band much less a marching band, I did not know the tricks of marching. That skill & those tricks I learned in basic. Oh, and General orders & Chain of Command at the military level. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/15 "2014-04-08T18:54:30Z")
When I joined the navy in 1989 I was sent to boot camp in Florida (though there’s no basic training for the U.S. Navy there now, as far as I know). I’m from Washington state. But I don’t think I was sent all the way to Florida to get me as far away from the state of Washington as possible. As I recall I was sent to Florida because that’s where “nuke” training took place, as well, and I’d tested into the “nuke” field at MEPS. So I’m guessing that for economic reasons I was sent to the base for basic training that also had the nuclear “A” school. For reasons I won’t get into, here, that plan got derailed so I ended up at “A” school in San Diego after boot camp, instead. Once I got to my ship (U.S.S. Cape Cod, AD-43) eventually someone joined my division who was from San Diego (I know this to be true because he invited me over to his place a few times after we got to know each other) and who had been sent to boot camp IN San Diego (lucky dog). So I don’t know if there used to be a general rule on where to send recruits based on where they lived but if there was and if it had anything to do with sending people as far away from home as possible then that obviously didn’t happen for that particular shipmate of mine! ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/16 "2014-04-08T19:03:13Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > …Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri… Good old Fort Lost in the Woods! ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/17 "2014-04-08T19:12:30Z")
Fort Jackson is by far the largest basic training post these days; they train 50% of all new soldiers and 70% of new female soldiers. So yes, you’re probably going there. They don’t care where you’re from. Plan your entry to NOT be in the summer - pro tip. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/18 "2014-04-08T19:19:06Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > When I went to basic training, my family had already taught me: > How to shoot, > How to clean, including weapons, > cook, > camp, > respect authority, > iron, > sew, > scrub, > make a bed, > polish footwear, > crawl in mud & under barb wire, > marching… Somebody once described basic training like this: “They teach a bunch of simple skills that an average person needs about two or three weeks to learn----but they somehow manage to jam-pack it all into an intensive 8 weeks.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/19 "2014-04-08T23:16:13Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Somebody once described basic training like this: > “They teach a bunch of simple skills that an average person needs about two or three weeks to learn----but they somehow manage to jam-pack it all into an intensive 8 weeks.” 🙂 Well, starting off with a class of 60 and have to teach to the lowest common denominator can sort of burn up some of that time. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592/20 "2014-04-09T04:44:26Z")
We had a bunch of “lowest common denominator” individuals in our company. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-training-question/685592.md?page=2)