# Talk Me Down: My Daughter is in Boot Camp and I'm Worried **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 7, 2015, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723 "2015-12-07T18:20:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/241 "2016-02-04T16:06:28Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > That will be like night and day from basic. The biggest issues there are the same you would get anywhere that a bunch of 18 year old boys and girls gather. Problems I never had to deal with since I have always been in all male jobs and units. I’ve heard AIT is like college. Ivygirl is 23 and from what her letters say, is (finally) starting to grow up. She says she really enjoyed first aid training and is looking forward to AIT. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/242 "2016-02-04T22:40:09Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > One female is getting out because she came back pregnant, and one male didn’t come back from holiday block leave. They know where he is and are just waiting for the arrest warrant to come through. :smack: > [@JRDelirious](#): > > In mine we had one who vanished in the night right from Basic. A week later he turned himself in at a base in Arizona. The place we usually did close-order drill was right next to the boundary fence, with a railroad just outside it. One of our CCs\* was fond of pointing at the fence and saying “Any of you guys wants out of here, all you have to do is climb over that fence and jump a freight. But if you do, _make sure you pack your seabag and take it with you_, because I don’t want to have to do the paperwork!” One of the lads from our sister company took off one night. Apparently he’d been listening to our CC, because he took everything with him. 😃 - Company Commanders. I think the Navy calls them “Recruit Division Commanders” or some such now. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/243 "2016-02-05T13:22:43Z")
Gawd Mom! When graduation finally happens, you will have a hard time recognizing and reconciling the young woman standing in front of you with the little girl you put on the plane just a short time ago AIT is (or was) a LOT like college. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/244 "2016-02-05T21:10:10Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I’ve heard AIT is like college. Ivygirl is 23 and from what her letters say, is (finally) starting to grow up. She says she really enjoyed first aid training and is looking forward to AIT. It depends. If you said that to someone in the Infantry they might hurt themselves laughing. With most Combat Arms MOS AIT and Basic are combined. Basic ends on Friday and AIT starts on Monday with the sames Drill Sergeants. It’s just another phase and usually not with that many more privileges. From what I hear Fort Sam is not like that. Guys like going there because there are a lot of women. I went to Fort Knox. Not so much. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/245 "2016-02-05T21:16:27Z")
Don’t know about Sam Houston, but the USAF base which trained all the docs & RNs (officers) and all the LPNs & techs (enlisted) was a VERY popular duty station for other specialties despite its terrible location. I can’t recall the details now, and couldn’t even way back when, but I know I had some roarin’ good times in the club there. And for once it wasn’t a stag party. I wasn’t stationed there, but it was a common destination for training flights from my station. And the club & its patrons (patronettes actually) were the main draw. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/246 "2016-02-05T21:34:18Z")
Jeez, so she’s going to a party post? ---
**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:** [February 6, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/247 "2016-02-06T00:38:11Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > His story was? And the consequences were? > > IIRC / IME the follow-up from a inventory problem with weapons in peacetime was pretty unpleasant for anyone even tangentially involved. I suspect the SPC actually checking weapons in and out and the NCOIC of that day at the armory were the ones who got really really reamed. PV1 Howard did get to finish with us so whatever the heck was his official RBI 'splaination must have been damn good. Also, being 1985 our CinC Ronnie had set forth that we needed to build up numbers \*fast \* and we were close to end of fiscal year so not many more chances to make quota, so it pained TRADOC to let go of warm breathing bodies however knuckleheaded. Back then you did not get to hang around with your weapon for long stretches of time except for overnight FTX and you weren’t even assured of getting the same one every time except during the actual BRM (shooting) phase. When we weren’t doing BRM they got sloppy and did not make us hand over our armory cards, just quickly glanced – still, one would think they’s notice a -1 variation in the number of assault rifles for Bravo 2 at the end of the day, wouldn’t you? At some point Howard had to go somewhere/do something where his weapon would encumber him and he was not sure he could secure it right so he had the bright idea of hiding it in one of the unused bunks at the vacant end of the barracks (can’t put it in his locker, the DS may look in!). Then he somehow missed the return time and I suppose he decided he’d somehow find a way to start the next day already armed (how the Hell he expected \*that \*to go unnoticed… it’s not like you can just slide a M16A1 down your trouser leg) and turn it back in at the end of _that_ day as if nothing had happened. However then came the unexpected clean-up party and the discovery. > [@ivylass](#): > > Jeez, so she’s going to a party post? Can’t talk for Ft. Sam of the 20teens, in the late 20th Century it was one of the plum AIT locations and I don’t see how that may have changed: It’s smack dab right in San Antonio, just catch a transit bus and you’re downtown in no time (field training is at Camp Bullis out in the country). And the city is just surrounded and embedded with military posts. But really, combat medic AIT should keep her good and busy. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/248 "2016-02-06T01:47:20Z")
Makes sense. Big difference between a sequence of short-sighted basically innocent but bonehead decisions that painted the kid into a corner versus somebody with mental problems who hid the weapon with evil plans for later. Long after training I got back from a live ammo TDY too late to turn my weapon in. The semi-peacetime USAF armory was 0800-1700 MF only. You couldn’t lock it in a POV or your quarters, so I had to babysit the damn thing on my back all weekend. PITA. But it was the conversation piece that broke the ice with the woman I’m still married to 33+ years later. So it was worth it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/249 "2016-02-06T11:50:28Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Jeez, so she’s going to a party post? Not quite! Though, it is in a great city with an active downtown nightlife, and for a guy, it is the single best place to ever be assigned. But that’s from a male’s point of view. Ft Sam has a higher percentage of women than anywhere else in the Army, and they’re all young and away from home for the first time in their lives… For a girl, I think theres no safer place. Strength in numbers, and all that. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/250 "2016-02-06T15:20:48Z")
She’s been told the first two weeks of AIT medic training are “Dead Week,” basically intense training. She won’t have time to write, and I guess there’s a lot of pressure to make sure you’re up to the task. She’s still worried about the next peer evals, but she’s been keeping up with the ruck marches (the latest one she was in the front of the pack). Her exact words _We got physically BRUTALIZED today. It was so much fun!_ ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/251 "2016-02-12T23:07:30Z")
We got a letter from Ivygirl. She came down with pinkeye in both eyes, and ear infection, and bronchitis on the day before they were to go camping in field in the middle of a Missouri winter. The doctor transferred her to and from the field for an appointment so she wouldn’t miss anything (didn’t want it to develop into pneumonia) and she was able to keep up with a 12K ruck march. WITH BRONCHITIS. That’s my girl. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/252 "2016-02-13T00:26:09Z")
Do they really call it camping in the US army? I would expect them to have some pompous technical term that pretty much means the same thing. The word “camping” brings to mind roasting marshmallows and telling scary stories around a campfire. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/253 "2016-02-13T00:56:18Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > I would expect them to have some pompous technical term that pretty much means the same thing. Yes! The Army’s pompous, technical term is bivouac. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/254 "2016-02-13T01:02:49Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Yes! The Army’s pompous, technical term is bivouac. Look at you, fancy britches! We call it going to “the field”. We’re so technical. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/255 "2016-02-13T01:58:15Z")
It’s a Field Training Exercise, or FTX. She said they dug a foxhole, did some maneuvers, and got woken up by mortars and screaming booby trap sirens that mimicked incoming missiles. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/256 "2016-02-13T06:33:46Z")
Hated the road marches, but yeah, ftx was the most fun I had in basic. Mmmm the assault course and night maneuvers, that was a blast. Loud, wet, cold, and dark but it was FUN dammit!😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chihuahua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@Chihuahua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chihuahua)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/257 "2016-02-13T14:13:13Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > Look at you, fancy britches! We call it going to “the field”. We’re so technical. “Bivouac” is a specific word for a short-term improvised camp. All bivouacs are field exercises, but not all field exercises are bivouacs. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/258 "2016-02-13T17:36:20Z")
> [@guestchaz](#): > > Hated the road marches, but yeah, ftx was the most fun I had in basic. Mmmm the assault course and night maneuvers, that was a blast. Loud, wet, cold, and dark but it was FUN dammit!😃 As a guy who went through basic in the Finnish army, fun equals not being bored. Being on base is just so boring. Boring lectures about stuff that’s boring. Boring cleanup details. Boring maintenance. Baseball in the evening was fun. I suspect that Ivygirl and her compatriots are a lot more motivated than a bunch of conscripts. On field exercises there was always something to do. Dig a foxhole into frozen ground. Dig a latrine into frozen ground. Just general digging into frozen ground. Shooting a heavy recoilless was fun: [https://youtu.be/ApF342s8o9o](https://youtu.be/ApF342s8o9o) Digging a hole for it into frozen ground wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/259 "2016-02-14T15:14:32Z")
Not being bored and doing something was a significant but small portion of the fun, yes, but oddly, crawling through the mud and muck, dodging the (fenced off) dynamite pits (for simulated mortar and artillery rounds) while low-crawling under the barbed-wire, following the assault course in the dark and the rain, all of it was actually brutally fun! I was in basic from april to may so no frozen digging for me:D ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723/260 "2016-02-14T15:19:07Z")
forgot to add, I was in Kentucky in the US and it was a mild winter that year so doubly no frozen anything for me [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-down-my-daughter-is-in-boot-camp-and-im-worried/739723.md?page=14)