Army temporarily halts sending new recruits to basic training…
Arrival
…during coronavirus outbreak
A source tells us the US Army, in an abundance of caution, has halted recruit basic training, presumably for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read on.
By Louis Casiano, Jennifer Griffin
The Army is holding off sending recruits to basic training for two weeks beginning Monday in response to the fast-spreading coronavirus, leaders announced.
Those already in basic combat training at one of the Army’s four BCT locations — Fort Benning, Ga.; Fort Sill, Okla.; Fort Jackson, S.C., and Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. — and advanced individual training will continue to be screened and monitored, the Army said.
They will move on to their next assignments after graduation.
“One of TRADOC’s main focuses is to develop leaders by accessing, training and educating Soldiers,” said Gen. Paul E. Funk, II, commander of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.
“We have to do so responsibly, and we’ve already begun protecting those currently in our ranks with social-distanced-enabled training, reduced movement of our Soldiers and trainees, and increased screening of those moving across our commands,” he added. “The decision to pause the shipment of trainees to BCT for two weeks will allow leaders to focus on setting conditions so movement can be conducted in a safer manner in the future.”
Read the rest, here: Fox News
Thanks.
Category: Army News, COVID-19, Guest Link
Those drill sergeants in the picture are POGs. Where was that picture taken? Definitely not Fort Benning.
“Those drill sergeants in the picture are POGs. Where was that picture taken? Definitely not Fort Benning.”
Typical response coming from someone who thinks he is better than others and thinks his Feces don’t stink.
You have a lot to learn in life, Slow Joe.
One of these days, you are gonna find out the Army and the Infantry are not forever.
You can really be a Jerk.
Sincerely,
The ninja family (one who graduated from Bennings School For Boys but spent 25 years in the Army as Non-Infantry and the other who graduated from a Ring Knocker School and spent 32 years in the Infantry. Both ninjas were Prior Service with Basic Training at Jackson & Dix and proud of it).
*grin*
Oh how I miss good old Fort Dix! That was the first time I ever left home!!!
Then it was off to Fort Monmouth, that place was like a country club! Now that was good duty!!!
Fort Dix. . . huh huh. . . Is that anywhere near Fort Butts? Huh huh, huh huh.
~Butthead
‘Like’
“Fort Monmouth, that place was like a country club!”
The nearby Boardwalk at the beach was nice.
So many pretty girls, so little pass time.
Too bad Ft Monmouth is now just a home to hundreds of deer.
~10 years later since they took her out behind the woodshed and shot her and they still haven’t been able to sell off more than ~1/4 of the base.
Growing up in its shadow helped later on in life when I could recognize bugle calls in Basic. 😛
AAH, Ft. Dix… you triggered my PTSD!!!
LOL
Whoa, whoa Ninja, slow down.
Why are you so sensitive about POGuetry speak? There is nothing wrong with being a POG. There would be no Army without POGs, and no mission can be accomplished without support.
In the Army, people choose their MOS. I am not sure about the other services. I here Marines get assigned MOSs after graduation from basic training, but I have no idea if they get to choose. In the Army though, you sign a contract for a specific MOS before going to basic, so I, of course, assume POGs should be very happy with being POGs and there is no reason to get upset when they are called People Other than Grunts, because it was what they wanted.
I was not being an asshole, I was stating a fact.
Lol!
“There is nothing wrong with being a POG.”
And just like that you’ve lost your Infantryman Card.
Please return it immediately:
Iron Mike
11 Grunt Ave
Fort Benning GA 31903
IF Infantry is the ‘queen of battel’, then ARMOR is the chastity belt that keeps that bitch from getting raped./sarc/
I’m not saying, I’m just saying.
Speaking from previous experience as a Recruiter for The Marine Recruiter, and now a corporate recruiter for a proud but humble woman owned business that sells software to the federal government, in the Corps Poolees (recruits before shipping) are screened to ensure that they are mentally, morally and physically qualified to enlist. Based on ASVAB scores and any physical restrictions (such as being color blind), they are presented the options of available MOS’s that are open. You can score all the way to right on the ASVAB, but if they don’t have a need for your dream job, even though you meet the requirements, they are not going to reserve that occupational field for you. And contrary to what the Barracks Lawyer tells you, it is not the Recruiter in your mall who gives you the MOS, it is the screener at MEPS. Hack is quite confident that the other branches are similar. Of course, you can always go Open Contract, and some great MOS may become available when the brainiac popped in a piss test, or you could end up in bulk fuel.
Not in the Army.
I came into the Army with an 11X contract. I wasn’t going to roll a dice with the MOS.
Ah, a fellow 11X contract, you wind up 11M like me?
I was an 11X back in the day.
I became a B when I got pulled. Would have been a B anyway. But we had a few C’s and I think one Mike in the platoon.
Cannot remember. No Hotels, though. They were just getting phased out.
Ah, the Starship days.
There were no 11M when I came in. Only B or C.
If you’re all the way on the right on the Navy ASVAB and not colorblind, you can pretty much guarantee yourself a flight after Great Mistakes will take you from the cold confines of Chicago to the warm, banjo filled nights of Charleston where you’ll learn to drink from the Firehose of Knowledge as you get about a 30-40 percent chance of becoming part of Uncle Hymie’s Hot Rock Club.
And then your life will REALLY fucking suck.
Ok, be nice about Bulk Fuel….It was my first job in the Air Force. Hmm, talk about having a long hose!
Good ol’ Ft. Dix. Did OSUT there in 1979, basic and then the 63B school.
The fact that all of the kids are wearing the same T-shirt, and similar sweatshirts are allowed to film, would imply it was some kind of “introduction to boot camp”. I am guessing Fort Jackson, SC due to the Crimson colors, but I don’t know the school Killock. Can’t see markings on buses.
Hmmm, just as I suspected. Those kids getting off the bus are wearing the colors of Killeen High School (TX), home of the Fighting Kangaroos.
Must be some kind of Field Day event/Recruiting Ploy.
When the ninja shows back up, the ninja shows up with both feet…buried up SJ’s anal orifice. Some things never change. Welcome Home ninja…y’all were missed.
Hey Slow Joe! Tho I was a proud member of the King of Battle, The Winner of Wars, the Field Artillery, I had the utmost respect and appreciation for ALL of my Brothers and Sisters that wore the uniform…of ALL the Branches, be they person portable Artillery, Aerial Platform Artillery, or Floating/Submergeable Artillery. Some of my best friends were Supply Daddies and Cooks…’specially the Bakers. I drove ’bout everything out there including a desk. Hung out with wire dogs, tunnel rats, boonie rats, and any other MOS you can name. Pulled a trigger, snatched a lanyard, and even turned a key on nuclear capable missiles (practice warhead only on those, Thank God). Ran commo watch, fetched, carried, and robbed dogs. Ate snakes and made fire with rubbed sticks with 18 series while looking at aerial photos. Crossed Bailey Bridges and got drunk with Engineers. Get over yourself. We are only as good as the sum of our parts.
Bode thee well…Hell hath no fury like a POd ninja.
Better to slow/delay the pipeline slightly than to have hundreds of young’uns sick.
Person
Of
Garrison?
Get back on that buffer.
As a Mustang, my peers were always envious of my buffer skills.
I could make that floor shine!
Especially slugging through TRADOC were sometimes you got extended (week long 24 on/ 48 off) CQ shifts waiting for another school in the pipeline to open.
Slow Joe, I myself had FOUR MOS’s during my career, 11B being just one of them. Running your mouth like you think your shit smells like lilacs will only get you pounced on time and time again, now QUIT huffing the floor wax while you’re on CQ!
Wow…4 MOSs?
I never knew you could change your MOS if you sucked at it. Four times? Wow.
Blow it out your ass, JUNIOR! I was Combat Engineer for three years of AD and went 11B when I came back in after a nine year break in service where I made it with flying colors in the private sector, have you done so? When my Unit was reclassed, I had to do the go get another MOS, now STOP huffing the floor wax while you’re on CQ Duty!
Changing MOSs is fairly common for soldiers in the Reserve Components (RC), Slow Joe. Something about reserve units on occasion getting reorganized and still being “the only game in town” for RC duty. Or because an RC member moves due to a new civilian job and wants to continue their RC career – and their old MOS isn’t available in RC units anywhere in their new geographical area.
I had four Navy NEC’s (analogous to your MOS’s)
Two 95XX series-
SH-2F LAMPS MkI Sensor Operator. My helo days.
P-3C Acoustic Sensor Operator. Airborne submarine hunter.
Navy Instructor.
Master Training Specialist.
And I didn’t suck at any of them.
3353–Submarine Rx Operator
3363–Submarine Rx Operator-Suoervisory
3373–Rx Plant Maintenance Supervisor (Electronics)
3376–Radcon Supervisor
9585–Recruiter
Whee. Busy me.
Cool. Thought you are one of our Bubbleheads.
Yes, Slow Joe’s a troll …. but he’s OUR troll. (^__^)
Joe, what exactly is your background? You seem to be very quick to criticize others based on a picture- in my experience the mark of a poser.
He’s no poser. He just isn’t great at thinking before typing. It’s part of his charm.
Yeah, but Recruiters will probably be required to still make mission. If you thought Recruiting was challenging before, try doing it during the Zombie Apocalypse. “They pay may suck, but we have toilet paper!” They won’t tell you that it is MRE toilet paper, though.
Hack Stone suspiciously seems to know something about recruiting. My recruiter lied to me. He promised me that I would learn proper English in the Army.
Is Hack Stone a recruiter?
My son has to go through MEPS a second time (not uncommon with the sedentary nature of many 18 year-olds nowadays) and needs to take the DLAB test to be a linguist, but all that is on hold because of the Wuhan Virus complications. My friend’s daughter is in Nuke School, but I don’t think she’s had any delays in her program because of this Chinese Virus. Plenty of kids are in an indefinite holding pattern that will disrupt the pipeline. We need to reopen the country sooner rather than later.
Hack Stone is a corporate recruiter for a proud but humble woman owned business that sells software to the federal government. If you attend any job fairs in the National Capital Region, you may get some of that sweet corporate swag, like limited edition key rings, travel mugs and tote bags, all manufactured with the best asbestos available in Third World sweatshops.
What’s next? A temporary cessation of all armed conflict across the globe.
The wars must go on.
And close on their heels are pestilence and death?
The internet is the new battlefield.
Rape and pillage from home….
The Internet; It’s Not Just For Porn, Anymore.
I’d love to be a SYSADMIN or just the guy at the local cable or phone/FIOS tech looking at the Net usage of late.
“Hey. That website isn’t about hamsters!!!”
By the way, the plan here in Fort Benning for the infantry BCT was to retain the recruits at 30th AG for as much as 3 weeks for screening, and then ship them across the street to whatever BCT company their are going to.
That’s gonna create a backlog and slow down the flow initially, whith more barrack space required at 30th AG were future privates go through normally in about a week.
I think those 2 weeks will help getting the process streamlined. But make no mistake, basic training remains priority number one for the CG, and [Edited for OPSEC].
Thus far, as I understand things, a 14-day quarantine in small groups is what the USAF is doing at Lackland. Did just read that they are also standing up a small test unit at Keesler for BMT to disperse training if need be.
The Air Force will probably issue everyone a Coronavirus Ribbon. The device on the ribbon will look like that thing that looks like a jack (Of balls and jacks).
30th AG sucked ass.
Eat, sleep, medical appointments, fight, wait.
Repeat.
Hh yeah. And get smoked.
I watched PFunk’s speech live yesterday (on facebook!)…they have a plan in place to run BCT after the pause.
Interesting how this is viewed at TRADOC…
So when the Platoon falls in you outstretch both
arms to set the interval at 6 FT.
Problem solved.
When the DI gets in your face you now have a
spittle mask.
Problem solved.
I was wondering how social distancing would work with that cherished tradition of gently tapping the rim of that Round Brown on a trainee’s nose bridge in loving remonstrance.
Easy, The Army and Marine Corps Just submitted rush order for Campaign Covers with 12 foot brims. Or, they can just use sombreros.
We’re gonna need holsters for all the
individual hand sanitizers.
Purell smells like Tanqueray, drinkable too– you know they’ll do it.
They are going to have to label it
carefully so soldiers don’t mistake the
LSA for sanitizer.
That could get messy.
Ahh yeah, the “Woody Woodpecker” as we called it!
That’s not far from the case at the Intel School. Extended rectangular formation is now the norm. Double-arm interval all the way around. Buses to training areas are only filled to half capacity.
A thought just occurred to me. The reason why everything is shut down is because of our litigious (and social media kangaroo courts when the courts of law fail) society. You shove 45-90 guys in a squad bay and a bunch of them get slightly ill? that is EVERY PLATOON OF EVERY SERVICE EVER! Now if there was one kid who managed to hide some preexisting condition (a kid got sent home from my boot for asthma) and he goes and dies on you? Well then the Army would be in a world of shit – from the public opinion point of view anyway. Some people are going to die. Lots of people die of lots of things. Not having a job and boredom will kill a lot of people. Let’s get some sort of phased plan together were the healthier and younger folks get back out there so granny can get her support while she stays indoors. I’m getting frustrated with this. The attempted shaming of people who say there may be another way to do this that doesn’t destroy people’s lives has to stop.
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” said no one this century.
“out of an abundance of caution” is more like it today.
Good point…I went to Harmony Church back in the days of Ronnie Raygun (OCT 86 – Feb 87) and literally the whole platoon got sick at the same time.
Didn’t slow or stop any training down…those really sick went to the URI ward at the hospital and the rest just continued on.
We were expected to suck it up and drive on…
How times have changed.
A typical scene in Boot Camp around week 3:
You got the sniffles, nasty? Awww. Here’s a giant size invisible straw for you to SUCK IT THE F$%K UP AND GET BACK IN LINE!!!!
The medics gave us “cold packs”. Tylenol, cough syrup, and some kind of sore throat lozenges…
good trade goods if you weren’t sick…LOL
Every vet I’ve ever known got sick in basic. I was sick for weeks. The “cold pack” of two ibuprofen and a blister pack of nasty cough drops did zero to alleviate the symptoms. I didn’t shake it until I got sick again at tech school and could finally self-medicate with some Nyquil.
The one and only time I got bronchitis: boot camp. In June.
Go figure.
Are Drill Sergeant’s shades regulation?
And why is homeboy taking a picture in the background?
Yeah. No. His ass would be getting some scunion right now.
And that phone would be smashed as an example.
They appear to be regulation, and he’s not in formation. And junior is taking pics because this is a school excursion, not BCT.
First I have ever seen a field trip to Basic.
Interesting recruiting method.
As to the shades, I guess times have changed. Back in the day, they had to be Army issue or “plain” (i.e., non-fashionable). Subjective, but the rules.
The reg is pretty broad on sunglass design, but 1SG’s and CSM’s have their own regs as you know.
Here is something I read yesterday.
“Aviator sunglasses were extremely hard to secure in Vietnam
and remained on the command controlled list of the 1st
Aviation Brigade until 22 November 1968, when 12000 pairs were
ordered. This large quantity was shipped in unmarked Sea-Land
containers for security, since theft had lowered stock levels
in Vietnam to only 1150 pairs in Qui Nhon and 2500 pairs as
back up storage at Da Nang. Consequently, most aviators relied
on privately purchased sunglasses.”
From “U.S. Army Uniforms of the Vietnam War” Shelby Stanton
Didn’t Napoleon say something about how an army can only fight so long as they have well maintained sunglasses supply lines?
The beer supply lines were
a top priority. Always a few
pallets sitting in the sun
along the apron. The labels
bleached to barely readable.
So one did not know if it was Fresca or Black Label?
Still available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/AO-Eyewear-American-Optical-Sunglasses/dp/B001E4SPLC
True.
I remember the old tinted BCG’s.
Stylish.
the ones with the cable ear parts were the best! LOL
I think those might be fashion forward these days…
They appear to be sunglasses made by Randolph. They are regulation. I was issued two pairs after graduating from ATC school.
Or AO-Sunglasses. I’ve been wearing them since 1968 — was a high school kid in Bangkok and my dad’s friend was a pilot — he gave me a new pair still in the tan cardboard box.
I guess that’s why they were so hard to get back then … rerouted to Bangkok!
The only ones I have ever seen are pilots and Tomb Guards.
And what you drive in you drive with in your car, of course.
I did not get shit except for some tinted BCGs.
I had to go pay for and and get some tinted go-faster glasses and have them tinted.
Got issued 2 pair of Gargoyles and about a decade later multiple Oakleys and WileyX.
II remember the Oakley’s and Wiley-X’s.
But those came 8 years later!
Basic is where you go to get your immune system
conditioned. This is an excellent opportunity to
bring back the draft (temporarily) and build up
our troops defenses.
Like this?
https://terminallance.com/2019/02/26/terminal-lance-538-phase-one/
the ninja family’s song to Slow Joe:
I’m having more fun approving your comments than should be allowed here. Any more and Dave will expect me to donate to be an Admin.
Oh wait. I already do.*grin*
Bwaaaahahahahahahahahahahahagaspgasphahahahaha stopyoukillingmehahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Nothing like a shoot n scoot, rolling barrage, George Smith Patton style kick ’em again while you got ’em down. Hang in there Slow Joe, it’ll feel better when it quits hurting so bad.
It is good to see ninja back and bringing joy to AW1Ed’s day, he asks for so very little…and he gets even less.
I get rather a lot, which is where the leather hide and sense of humor come into play.
I was not the brightest.
That is why I was Infantry as Fuck!
Heh. I scored high enough on the ASVAB to go Nuke.
Then I found myself sitting in the door of an H-3, wearing fins and a mask, looking at the St. Johns River with some crazy bastard slapping me on the shoulder yelling “Jump! Jump! Jump!”
So I did. That’s why I was SAR as fuck!
Funny.
Navy wanted me -real- bad.
Went Infantry. (Grin)
I rented a boat on the St. John river near Astor. Went out onto Lake George and didn’t take a compass bearing. Big mistake. Everything is flat and looks alike there. Entered a bombing range in the process and finally found my way back before running out of fuel.
On P-3C training flights at the range there, we would usually have to make a couple low passes with the bomb bay doors open to get the attention of the bass fishers and clear the range.
Low as in 200 feet, right on top.
They moved.
Did not know the P-3 had a bomb bay. Cool!
Room for acoustic homing torpedoes, depth bombs, and during the Cold War, *cough*. Also had hard points for wing stores like Harpoon ASMs and more.
What’s that thing on the underside
of the starboard elevator?
Sonobuoy Reference System antenna. They’re attached all over the aircraft.
Desperate to “make mission” the recruiter hijacked a school bus and drove it directly to an initial entry training facility.
More on this story at 6!
Kent Brockman of Channel 6 News in Springfield reports The US Army Institute of Heraldry (TIOH) was tasked by POTUS to design a Homeland Defense and Pandemic Response Service Medal.
The HDPRSM will rank higher in precedence than the GWOTSM however, will not supersede the highly coveted, yet rarely awarded NDSM.
Award eligibility criteria will be promulgated by The Pentagon and released to individual service personnel chiefs NLT 30 SEP 2020.
Frankly, while TRADOC is concerned with Soldiers getting sick in BCT, it is more concerned with putting several thousand of potentially sick Futures Soldiers and recently graduated Soldiers on planes, trains, and automobiles in airports and bus stations all over the country and world.
Jackson alone graduates a battalion of about a thousand Soldiers each week from Basic Combat Training from it’s two BCT brigades- there’s about a thousand more total from the other training centers (Benning, Sill, and L-W), and this does not consider AIT graduations.
If you stop that move, you now have a buildup of Soldiers in the pipeline at each installation, which will quickly (within a few weeks) fill up the ‘starships’ at each place, not to mention screw up throughput for the rest of the year.
On top of that, the Summer surge is about to start…
The next thing to look for is Cadet Summer Training for both USMA and ROTC… it’s a huge investment in resources, and critical pieces of training and assessment for cadets.