# The hijinks and horrors of boot camp

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hijinks-and-horrors-of-boot-camp/1002277>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 30, 2024, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hijinks-and-horrors-of-boot-camp/1002277 "2024-05-30T13:52:32Z")\
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**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hijinks-and-horrors-of-boot-camp/1002277/5 "2024-05-30T14:30:54Z")

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I went into the Navy in 1975, one week after graduating from high school. I found the experience to be rather surreal. I had never experienced something where your life was scheduled 24 hours a day. I didn’t find anything all that difficult, very little PT (there’s no place to run on a ship), 4 to 6 hours of class room training a day and carrying around dummy M-16 rifles for 7 of the 9 weeks was a rather pointless exercise. I found boot camp to not be all that difficult, I was surprised how many did. Only 52 of the original 80 in my company made it through without being set back. Out of that 28, at least 6 were sent home as unfit for military service. The only time I really wanted to go home was when I called home and found out my mother had been in a car accident. She suffered a broken arm but otherwise was fine.

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