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Basic Training

Basic training is the first test. Here's what happens in BCT, boot camp, and officer training across every branch, with insider tips, stories, humor and honest accounts from those who've been there.

Latest in Basic Training

Yellow Footprints at Marine Corps Parris Island for the Educators workshop
Basic Training

The Yellow Footprints: The Marine Corps Educators Workshop

By Daniel Tobias Flint

Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island
Basic Training

The friendly rivalry between ‘Hollywood Marines’ and Parris Island Marines

By Daniel Tobias Flint

stress cards
Basic Training

The true history behind the Air Force basic training ‘Stress Cards’ myth

By Blake Stilwell

peanut butter shot
Basic Training

Why the ‘peanut butter’ shot is the most dreaded injection

By Tim Kirkpatrick

A step by step guide to the military’s incredibly painful ‘OC’ aka pepper spray training
Basic Training

A step by step guide to the military’s incredibly painful ‘OC’ aka pepper spray training

By Orvelin Valle

fort benning infantry
Basic Training

The soil new infantrymen walk on is bloodied from every American war

By Eric Milzarski

Recruit getting a boot camp hair cut.
Basic Training

4 Tips for recruits to remember as they ship off to basic training

By Team Mighty

marine tips for boot camp
Basic Training

6 tips from a Marine infantryman to prepare yourself for boot camp

By Ruddy Cano

Marine infantrymen
Basic Training

17 photos that show how high schoolers are turned into badass Marine infantrymen

By Logan Nye

recruit advice rifle inspection
Basic Training

5 pieces of simple advice for a new military recruit

By Team Mighty

basic training contraband
Basic Training

6 crazy things actually found in boot camp amnesty boxes

By Tim Kirkpatrick

jump school
Basic Training

Here are 10 things everyone experiences in jump school

By Alex Licea

Soldiers in camouflage uniforms carrying green duffel bags, with one soldier standing in the foreground facing away and observing the others.
Basic Training

The time a trainee escaped boot camp and hijacked a school bus

By Miguel Ortiz

boot camp
Basic Training

The 7 universally important things to know before any boot camp

By Blake Stilwell

sere school
Basic Training

SERE training: Survival against all odds

By Jessica Evans

sere training
Basic Training

The creator of SERE training was one of 34 POWs to escape from the Viet Cong

By Team Mighty

This is why its important for troops to go through the CS gas chamber
Basic Training

This is why its important for troops to go through the CS gas chamber

By Eric Milzarski

6 types of recruits you’ll meet in Navy boot camp
Basic Training

6 types of recruits you’ll meet in Navy boot camp

By Tim Kirkpatrick

west point
Basic Training

Ever wonder what the first day at West Point is like for a new cadet? Watch this

By Jessica Evans

air force basic military training ceremony
Basic Training

A guide to surviving Air Force Basic Military Training

By Jessica Evans