Trainees await infantry training
According to the Army Times, there are more than 400 trainees waiting for slots to open in infantry basic combat training companies. Traditionally, Summer months following high school graduation, Fort Benning, Georgia has been flooded with trainees;
Generally, trainees spend a week or two at a reception battalion before reporting to training, but during the summer, it can take as long as three. The Army’s end strength increase, on its second year, contributed to the current “summer surge,” [spokesman Benjamin] Garrett said.
Fort Benning has also been overbooked, he added, a common practice that allows an overflow of recruits booked in each training cycle, anticipating that some of them will be delayed or drop out before they arrive.
“Regardless of the number of personnel preparing from their basic training company pick-up date, the Reception Battalion Cadre are well equipped and organized for their mission to prepare the personnel for their basic training class,” Garrett said.
That’s good news, actually, since recruiters are able to keep up with the increase in combat units after years of manpower cuts.
Thanks to TSO for the link.
Category: Army News
Do the offer accession bonuses for Infantry? Be kinda curious what they are if offered.
My condolences to the incoming recruits. I only spent about a week at 30th AG, but that week was the worst part about Basic Training by far.
Lucky you, I arrived at 30th ag right before Labor Day weekend, got my head shaved, yelled at, got a PTs only issued to me, then spent 4 days doing nothing.
You brave soul! I assume you still had to wake up at 0430 to make it to the 0600 formation during that long weekend? 😉
On a side note, speaking of PTs, IIRC we were issued those at arrival, but everything else came in phases. It took a couple of days before we got our sneakers, so one fat, beaver-toothed hick was stuck wearing cowboy boots with his summer PTs in the meantime. While funny to look at at the time, in hindsight it might have been to even the field, because that guy could run like Jesse Owens once he got his proper footwear!
We had this dude with us we called Lurch. Tall motherfucker. Wore size 16’s or some such shit. He ended up going down range with us but it took him about 4 weeks longer hat everyone else to get his boots.
He became a target for the cadre due to his tall stature and the soft shoes. I hated being near him in any formation as he had a tendency to draw fire.
30th AG blew ass.
Some dudes actually hung out there and became barracks lawyers ans such.
I remember watching some dude take off on fire guard one night. He had a “map”. Loser.
I also remember seeing a bunch of chalk marks on a wall. About 60 or so. I feel bad for that dude.
First there is the Kaiser, he is the highest of all.
Then comes the Kaiser’s horse upon which the great man sits.
Then comes the dirt on which the Kaiser’s horse stands.
Then comes the Infantry :>))
Spoken by an AG officer.
Dad was a cavalry officer and he had a poster in his office that read
First there is the cavalryman.
Then there is the Cavalryman’s horse.
After that there is NOTHING.
After NOTHING there is the infantry.
When I told him I enlisted in 1980, he asked me where I’d be going to basic training. I told him Fort Benning. Long silence, then he burst into laughter “Oh Lord, you’re going into the Infantry!” 😀
If you ain’t Cav, you ain’t shit.
I just finished reading a good book about the Cavalry, 50 Shades of Hay.
Y’all sure like your big black…stallions. I thought the man rode on top of the horse though 🤔
😂
Pleez.
Calvary dudes bitch because they don’t get a CIB. They claim to do exxactly the same we do in the infantry. I’m like, “then why aren’t you infantry?”.
My experience in Iraq and the Afgh of the Stan is that cavalry units get the easy AO, while the infantry gets the hardest.
Word.
Yeah. Right. And without commo, you’re just lost in the woods.
“You can talk about us, but you can’t talk without us.”
Signal Corps saying.
Yup. Always loved to point out to the “We were there first” types that there was a phone ready and waiting when you got there first.
“Shootin’ comms all over the world”.
Training locations were not as specialized when I was in (pre 1980). I went to basic training at Ft. Knox and AIT (Inf) at Ft. Dix. Others went to other places for basic or AIT. Infantry AIT at Ft. Polk, La. was famous for being a direct pipeline to Vietnam.
Is Benning the only place they train infantry recruits?
Yes.
FLW?
Nope, Ft. Leonard Wood has MP, CBRN, and Engineer, but no infantry OSUT.
Is CBRN chemical? I know the chem troops & MPs went to Lost in the Woods after they shut Ft. McClellan down—at least the TRADOC portions did. From what I’ve picked up on the internet, 11th Chemical went to Fort Lewis and then Iraq and then deactivated.
I took BASIC at FLW (77F Petroleum Supply Specialist, although I hear that the number has changed) … I arrived Labor Day weekend as well but the wait wasn’t too agonizing.
For a second I Thought you meant Fort Lewis, Washington. They did basic there during the Vietnam war I believe.
When I was stationed at Lewis from 1989 to 91, they did one cycle of basic training there as a validation excercise for a reserve basic training division. This was at North Fort, in the old WWII barracks. I think this must have been the Summer of 1990?
I did basic and infantry AIT at Lewis. Aug thru Jan. 1970-71 wet, cold. It was the old north fort. Old WW II barracks. Not fun!
North Fort is now the most modern par to Fort Lewis. That’s were 5th SBCT from the 2ID was based. Worst Stryker Brigade Combat Team to ever deploy. They even reflag them as 2nd SBCT after they came back.
Yes, I went back to Lewis in 2016 and couldn’t recognize North Fort at all. Actually, after 25 years I couldn’t recognize much of the post.
Where one of my old barracks was is now an AAFES gas station.
Crazy how much it’s changed.
Yes we did do that Martinjmpr. There were two brigades (2nd and 4th) of the 104th Div that ran that show. I was there for the whole meal deal. Other than for when my battalion was there, I was essentially “staff puke at large” for COL John McGrath. He was an infantry officer and I think he felt sorry for me being the token Cavalry officer in his brigade. It was an eye opener.
Mostly a very good experience, the NCOs were pretty much all very squared away, there were still a lot of Viet of the Nam vets in the 104th back then. Some of the Company Grade officers were real less than awesome. I was a newly promoted CPT still serving my time as Adjutant and had to company commanders, whose companies were attached to our BN ask when they were getting decorated.
I said “For what?” They said “for coming to AT”. I said “You want a medal for doing your job?” We all had a conversation with the XO. Needless to say these two stalwarts did not get decorated that AT. I was told to write myself up for a decoration; essentially and politely said no.
There was a young man from California who unfortunately passed away during that cycle as well. That was pretty tough…
And those are the same officers that won’t lift a finger to write an award for their subordinates who really deserve an award.
It’s as if some people think that submitting or giving a Soldier an award will take money out of their own paycheck.
MSG Eric, You are 100% correct. I couldn’t believe it. Neither could the XO. When our BN CDR walked by during this discussion, all he did was raise his eyebrow, take a quick detour in MAJ “Mad Mel’s” office and continue on to lunch. Probably saved me getting my ass kicked by those two. LOL The interview with the XO occurred shortly thereafter. Im afraid that those two CPT’s thought they had been wronged. Glad they were attached and not part of our BN.
My PAC NCO and her team did a great job of making sure all the trainee records were updated, all the reservists were paid on time, all our stuff was in one sock. Put her and a couple of the superclerks in for ARCOMS, they did get AAM’s. I was a little hacked off (since I wrote them up…grrr). They were happy as hell to get recognized.
Now I gotta go check my records to see who I did my two weeks active duty with back in the mid-90s. Gold Griffon on a red octagon seems familiar. My group of Reserves did the last two weeks of ROTC camp at Ft. Lewis that summer.
CCO,
104th Div is a white wolfshead on a green background.
I have seen the Gold Griffon on Red octagon, but am going to have to look it up.
I did Advanced Camp at FT Lewis back in 83. The 104th provided the bulk of the cadre for us. Again that was at sunny North Fort Lewis.
Thanks.
Way back in the day Ft. Polk did as well.
Advanced buffer training before basic.
And there are rocks begging to be painted.
Hair to be cut
Police Call as well, NO litter left behind!!!
Any geezer slots open? I’m game.
You’ll be sorrrry!!
Fort Bennning, GA in mid Summer? You’d be begging to go to Vietnam after that.
I’m convinced that’s why they do infantry training there.
When I was there I remember getting a sunday paper (a rare treat for us) and in the paper there was an article about Georgia. The article started off:
“Nobody GOES TO Georgia. People come FROM Georgia, people PASS THROUGH Georgia, or people get SENT to Georgia.” Given that it was late August I wondered what kind of hell I’d gotten myself into.
Of course, this was at Harmony Church, in the old WWII barracks. We didn’t have the nice, new, air conditioned “Starships” like they had over at Sand Hill. 😉
Actually, during Vietnam, the main Infantry training post was Fort Polk, LA. Infantry basic training and AIT moved to Benning in 1976.
I remember guys in Basic at Dix that cried when they got orders for Polk. It was a ticket to Viet of the Nam.
The infamous “Tigerland”.
I still don’t know why my brother only had one year of AD in 1970, and the rest in the reserves, and it was all at Ft. Dix, but never was deployed anywhere.
Was it because he fell asleep under a tank one day? Or was the whole thing just sort of winding down and he wasn’t needed beyond that one year? I never asked him about it.
Not sure if it is exactly the same thing, but since 9/11 thousands of Reserve personnel were mobilized for one year to work in CONUS doing various functions. At Dix, Bragg, etc., were a bunch who’s primary job was to mobilize, train and deploy other reservists and reserve units to go to the sandbox.
Also, since there was a blank check, lots of “justifications” were made that someone was needed to do a job “temporarily” which meant mobilizing a reservist for a year to do it. So, it could very well be one of those reasons.
When I was at Bragg, we had an E-7 who made E-8 while he was there, that’s sole purpose was to take care of tests and the cabinets they were locked in. He didn’t update them, he didn’t write or QC them. He just took care of tests. He ended up sitting there doing that for 2 more years (3 total).
Meanwhile, as an E-6 I was training 60 personnel at a time often by myself because we were so short of instructors. But hey, we need that E-8 up in battalion to sit on his fat ass and watch test boxes!
I wonder if SSG Giggles knows how famous he is…
I’m not sure, last I checked he was a 1SG at Bliss or somewhere. We served together in TOG, along with Clymer, (s)he of the infinite quest for being labeled a victim. A 1SG I had later told me Diggles had become extremely unpopular in TOG.
As much Hell 30th AG is, I’d gladly do it again for PV0 pay, just to be home again.
Ft. Benning is as close as I’ll ever get to paradise, even in its tainted form with Cav/Armor A-holes everywhere.
Ft. Benning and paradise in the same sentence? It must have changed significantly since I was there. After three months at Post Pestilence I regretted not having extended my Southeast Asia Magical Mystery Tour. The best part of my year at Ft. Foul was spending time away from it, in the woods and swamps of Georgia and Florida.
To be fair, I was an Instructor/Writer at 2-29IN when I was there last. We didn’t work all that hard and the group of NCOs I worked with where some of the best human beings I’ve ever known (as long as boozed behavior and spousal fidelity where non-graded tasks).
Anyone that likes to hunt or fish, explore the wilderness, travel the wonderful South East, Fort Benning is a great base to do that from.
Great ranges.
Great opportunities for an Infantryman.
A wealth of knowledge of all things weapon related.
The ability to effect doctrine and fielding of equipment.
And *IF* it snows they declare all the roads black, hahahaha.
Question for my fellow 11 series, was I the only person that had an irrational fear of falling down those stairs that led to the chow hall at 30th AG?
Some dudes took a fall to get out.
I wonder how many that were “exited” posthaste by the prior regime would want to get back in immediately to help deal with shortages in some areas.
Go CAV and all of this can be avoided
Now if you like high school drama
Go 88M or if you like drama on Meth
Try 42A
BHWHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!!!