Honestly it took me a while to fully feel adjusted. However, they weren’t allowed to PT us the first part of basic, which helped a lot (although I did feel out of shape after that). Honestly I wish I had prepared better mentally. Basic was more of a mental challenge than a physical one…I did not realize this originally. Also, the entirety of freshman year is just one big mental challenge. Doing anything to mentally prepare would be helpful.
Like what?
Like what is mentally difficult or like how to prepare?
Both
There’s a lot of mental games the cadre play, especially the first half since they can’t PT. I’m honestly not sure how to prepare, but physical training will help. There’s not much to prepare for mentally, you just kinda have to jump in
I did not notice the altitude much. It was honestly at the back of my mind. Everyone is affected by it so they adjust the workouts and pt sessions for that.
OK, this insight is very helpful. It's probably something you can't fully explain to someone who hasn't been through it. Sounds like it's difficult because of the complete lifestyle change, going from high school to college, being physically exhausted, not having a lot of downtime, just being in a new environment cut off from the familiar. I appreciate your candor, and maybe the best advice is just to know that it will be difficult this first year, and to understand the realities of the demands of a service academy. The change from high school to college is a big adjustment itself, then you add the physical fitness and scheduling demands of a service academy on top of that.
Lol! My DD said she had one cadre that kept yelling (sorry I mean vocalizing with a purpose) at her re her marching “if you don’t stop doing that” but wouldn’t ever tell her what “that” was. She still doesn’t know if it was bad leadership of a mind game.
Accept the reality that despite coming from being probably in the top 1% of everything you have ever done that you will always be wrong, late, inept, dumb and not strong enough to be part of the Regiment/Brigade etc.
