What's in a daily life of someone at BMQ? (Basic Military Qualification)

As your recruiter to show you the latest film of the day you will have. It is very informative.

Like @YARNLADY said, your recruiter should be able to supply you with a fairly comprehensive list of what you should encounter while in Basic Training.

When I attended Basic Training for the Army in Fort McClellan, Alabama in 1986, I was one year out of high school and scared too. That 8 weeks of basic training helped me mature a lot, taught me self-respect and self-discipline, got me into excellent physical shape, and made me realize how much I could accomplish through hard work and dedication. I never once considered the ordeal as horrible although it was stressful and difficult at various times.

There are way too many different things we did on a daily basis to cover them all in this answer but suffice it to say, you will be busy from the time they wake you up until they release you for personal time at night. It’s a rigid and demanding schedule but it is beneficial, important, and necessary training for everyone.

We had a very low failure rate in our unit and the Drill Sergeants are not going to let you fail as long as you try your very best and meet the standards set forth by current military regulations. It’s not a cakewalk getting through Basic Training but what is expected of you isn’t unreasonable by any means and if you want it bad enough, you’re going to get through it just fine.

One of the best ways I suggest you start preparing for your military training is through physical fitness. Start working on running, push-ups, and sit-ups because those exercises are items that you will be tested on in physical training tests.

@Bluefreedom, thanks a lot! That was enough information for me to get started. I have before asked for a detailed day of what they did in BMQ, but I also wanted to get it from someone else’s point of view. One thing I want to know also, is if we get enough time to do personal things… *cough cough, like taking a dump. haha..

@curiouscat. Your first several weeks are going to be quite stressful and you will have very little personal time for anything. The only time you will get, for a while, will be in the evenings when they give you a small amount of time to polish boots, prepare uniforms for the next day and whatever other tasks they might assign to you.

During meal times, they will probably give you a time limit to get your food, eat it, and then return to a group formation afterward. On weekends, they’re going to find things for you to do also so that you remain productive but you’ll get more free time after many weeks into the program.

@bluefreedom, we do get a sufficient amount of sleep time, don’t we? (sufficient for me = 7–8 hours of sleep or more)

o.. and it seems as if constipation may contribute to part of the stress… lol =S

Unfortunately, you won’t be getting as much sleep as you want or probably need for a little while. If I remember correctly, we usually bedded down around 10 or 11 p.m. at night and were woken up by the Drill Sergeants at around 4 a.m. each morning. This fluctuated too depending on the training schedule.

In the Army, each of us had to pull Fire Guard at some point and this is where you had to spend one hour out of your sleep cycle walking through the barracks while everyone was sleeping to make sure that if a fire broke out, you could wake everyone up and get them out of the barracks. They scheduled people at random times to pull their individual shifts. I’m not sure if they do this anymore though.

@Bluefreedom, wow. that sounds…. pretty darn horrible to me. lol. I’m still excited for it though, what a great way to spend my summer after I graduate from High school. =\.

Trust me, it isn’t horrible. It’s hard work and sometimes stressful at the start but after it is over, it is a very rewarding experience it is certainly worth the time and effort. Some days will be better than others and you’ll have a few up’s and down’s just like everyone else but I’m sure you’re going to do very well and I wish the you best of luck in your endeavors. =)

@Bluefreedom, Yes, I agree that it will be a rewarding experience, Thanks a lot! :P