I am extremely proud to inform everyone that today I graduated Infantry OSUT training at Ft Benning. I have always appreciated and been extrememly grateful for the sacrifices that our Military members, most specifically, our Infantry make. I am honored to be given the chance to fight alongside our nations finest. I start Airborne School next week followed by RangerIndocrinationProgram so I do not have a duty station yet. This post would be longer than a book if I described all of OSUT so if you are going to ship soon to Ft Benning for Infantry training or if you just have some questions, ask them here and I will be more than happy to share with you some of my experiences and answer your questions the best I can.
Congratulations!! I wish you the best in your journey. I am going to be in the Infantry school by the end of July, I'll be going through WTC first for prior services. Did you have any prior sevices in your class? If so, How are they treated? Basically just tell me everything about your experience with PS's. What are the things that I have to keep in mind to go through Infantry school smoothly? Thanks in advance.
Hey Infantry, Yes we did have prior services that were in training with us. There were 3 in my platoon, about 11 I think in the whole company. Out of the 3 that were in my platoon, 2 were Specialists and 1 was a Sergeant. They started training with us at the end of week 8 and the beginning of week 9. There is no doubt that they got some special privaleges that the rest of us did not see but it varied from platoon to platoon. For starters, they were usually released at the end of the training day but they were almost always required to be back by lights out. 1 of the Specialists however was given permission around week 11 to spend the night with his wife but had to be back to the barracks by first call the next morning. They also got Sundays off. Also when we were in the field, after we would eat our MRE lunches, they would sneak off in the woods for a cigarette and that was accepted by the Drill Sergeants. Thats about where the privaleges end. The Drill Sergeants expected alot out of them because they were prior service but our guys were squared away so they never really had any problems. However we did have 1 Sergeant who came to our platoon about the same time as the prior services who was getting ready to go to Drill Sergeant school who was kind of learning the ropes of how everything works, he would give hell to the prior services. There were some "power clashes" at first with the prior services because we had an established chain of command already with 4 good squad leaders ( I was 1st squads squad leader for the length of the whole training ) and a squared away PG. Naturally the prior services come in, expected to be leaders because of rank and experience and it kind of messes with the chemistry that is already there because we had a way that we ran things that was working great. However you adapt like Soldiers should and everyone found there place and things just kind of work out. The 2 Specialists were both combat veterans, the Sergeant was a Nasty Girl switching to active so the Specialists got everyones respect, not just for being combat veterans but the knowledge and info they had was extremely useful and appreciated. During FTX, the 1 Specialists assigned to my squad was my RTO. Being the squad leader, he was by my side everywhere. We slept in the same hooch, we stayed up keeping our squad up in our patrol base for our 36 hour mission. We did our 15 mile ruck side by side. He shared with my some very valuable information and advice I will never forget. He was previously an MP and manned a 50 cal so he saw alot of combat. I will always remember his advice and info. It will give me a great start I think once I get my 1st unit. So basically what Im getting at is the privates will look up to you and the ones that are squared away will tend to come to you to ask alot of questions. Our Reclass Sergeant wasnt really respected at all but thats because he whined more than any private there all the time. During PT he would complain, during training, he would complain and make excuses so he didnt get any respect from the privates or the Drill Sergeants. Hell the Drill Sergeants wouldnt even really acknowledge him. But this guy was really a sissy. Anyways you'll get more privaleges most likely and you will come in higher up as far as the level of respect but just like anything else, you will have to prove yourself again to keep that higher level of respect from everyone. Anyways I hope that info is somewhat helpful. Best of luck to you. Feel free to ask more ques if you got any about any specific issues I did not cover
Not sure if you'd know this, but what happens if you want to reclass as Infantry from a support MOS? Do you need to attend all of OSUT, or is there an AIT-ish version of Infantry (or MP, or Cav Scout, etc.) training?
Thanks Snoop, I appreciate your input. Also,were you guys allowed to volunteer for Airborne? I do not have Airborne in my contract, but would like to try it out if given a chance. So were you guys asked to volunteer?
Gazurmah, To the best of my knowledge you will only attend the AIT portion of OSUT. Our reclasses came from the MP, Mechanic and Aviation fields and all 3 came into training in weeks 8 and 9 and recieved their cross rifles with us
Infantry, None of our reclasses had Airborne in their contracts and none of them requested Airborne. I know that if you do get Airborne that you have priority over everyone else so you will most likely not spend a day in Airborne hold after graduation. However, from what I understand it is very difficult to add Airborne or RIP to contracts once you are in training. We had several guys including a few with PT scores 290 and above that requested RIP contracts in week 9 when the Drill Sergeants asked if anyone wanted to add Airborne or RIP to their contracts, however none were ever given RIP or Airborne. However one guy from another platoon requested and recieved a SF contract. I think its very possible to get Airborne if you want it BUT its largely up to your Drill Sergeant if you get it or not. He will be the determining factor of whether you get it or not
Congrats on graduating I am an NG going fulltime after being discharged medically and being out for like 3 years. Got tired of this boring civi life and wanted to get back in, this time full time infantry (was a gun bunny which hated every moment of) in hopes of becoming SF. I completed basic (old Army baby) but it was at the end of AIT I was discharged over a petty fracture. Got the doc's go ahead and been talking with recruiter but I am unsure what to expect for AIT.
Congrats on your success snoop. I also would like to do exactly what you are doing. Also sniping. Can you give me some detail on that? Also, when i join i will be married. When exactly will i be able to bring my wife with me after i finish BT.
i have a question were the 11b reclass aloud to use their cell phones?
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Originally posted by SNooPCaPoNE46: Infantry, None of our reclasses had Airborne in their contracts and none of them requested Airborne. I know that if you do get Airborne that you have priority over everyone else so you will most likely not spend a day in Airborne hold after graduation. However, from what I understand it is very difficult to add Airborne or RIP to contracts once you are in training. We had several guys including a few with PT scores 290 and above that requested RIP contracts in week 9 when the Drill Sergeants asked if anyone wanted to add Airborne or RIP to their contracts, however none were ever given RIP or Airborne. However one guy from another platoon requested and recieved a SF contract. I think its very possible to get Airborne if you want it BUT its largely up to your Drill Sergeant if you get it or not. He will be the determining factor of whether you get it or not
bro were the 11b reclass aloud to use their cell phones or no? im a sht reclassing inabout a week active duty bby just got back from iraq my email is thomas.m.hensley please contact me
