What I Wish I'd Know: BCT Edition

2

2025Cadet

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Oct 6, 2020
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Here's a list of everything I wish I had known for BCT:

1. If you have to utilize the restroom, your cadre will let you. Make sure you ask for everyone in your flight, but if you ask, they will let you, even if it seems like an inconvenient time.
2. Ladies- do not just just high impact sports bras! You will regret it. I had to buy some looser bras at the C store during basic.
3. Tie knots in the ends of your bootlaces so that they're easier to tie.
4. Bring plenty of stamps! I wasn't planning on writing a lot of letters, so I didn't, and the C store ran out so I couldn't buy more for a while, and I wrote a lot.
5. Break in your boots beforehand, and bring blister tape.
6. Ladies- bring hair gel, or product. There will be time to use it after hygiene time, and it will save you from getting in trouble for fly-aways.
7. Bring more underwear than required on the packing list.
8. Don't worry too much about the weight of the bag that you bring on I-Day. It's better to have everything you need.

Feel free to add advice, or ask questions!
 
Here's a list of everything I wish I had known for BCT:

1. If you have to utilize the restroom, your cadre will let you. Make sure you ask for everyone in your flight, but if you ask, they will let you, even if it seems like an inconvenient time.
2. Ladies- do not just just high impact sports bras! You will regret it. I had to buy some looser bras at the C store during basic.
3. Tie knots in the ends of your bootlaces so that they're easier to tie.
4. Bring plenty of stamps! I wasn't planning on writing a lot of letters, so I didn't, and the C store ran out so I couldn't buy more for a while, and I wrote a lot.
5. Break in your boots beforehand, and bring blister tape.
6. Ladies- bring hair gel, or product. There will be time to use it after hygiene time, and it will save you from getting in trouble for fly-aways.
7. Bring more underwear than required on the packing list.
8. Don't worry too much about the weight of the bag that you bring on I-Day. It's better to have everything you need.

Feel free to add advice, or ask questions!
 
2025Cadet said:
Here's a list of everything I wish I had known for BCT:

1. If you have to utilize the restroom, your cadre will let you. Make sure you ask for everyone in your flight, but if you ask, they will let you, even if it seems like an inconvenient time.
2. Ladies- do not just just high impact sports bras! You will regret it. I had to buy some looser bras at the C store during basic.
3. Tie knots in the ends of your bootlaces so that they're easier to tie.
4. Bring plenty of stamps! I wasn't planning on writing a lot of letters, so I didn't, and the C store ran out so I couldn't buy more for a while, and I wrote a lot.
5. Break in your boots beforehand, and bring blister tape.
6. Ladies- bring hair gel, or product. There will be time to use it after hygiene time, and it will save you from getting in trouble for fly-aways.
7. Bring more underwear than required on the packing list.
8. Don't worry too much about the weight of the bag that you bring on I-Day. It's better to have everything you need.

Feel free to add advice, or ask questions!
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How much sunscreen did you bring? Did you treat your clothes with permethrin? Powder for chafing? Moleskin for blisters?

Thank you for your insight.
 
Osprey123 said:
How much sunscreen did you bring? Did you treat your clothes with permethrin? Powder for chafing? Moleskin for blisters?

Thank you for your insight.
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I brought one bottle of sunscreen, and they issued us another one. I didn't even use the sunscreen they issued us, and I only used about half the bottle I brought. I didn't treat my clothes with anything, and I never had issues with chafing. On of my friends brought Gold Bond powder for chafing though and said that it saved him during Jacks Valley. I brought a roll of the KT Tape blister prevention tape instead of moleskin. I find that it takes less time to apply.
 
nw2003 said:
How conditioned should we be for BCT? Distance-running-wise
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I'd make sure that you can run 2-3 miles without needing to slow your pace. A lot of the running we did in basic was paced off the slowest person, since you work as a team. As long as you can keep a constant pace, you should be fine. Do make sure you're prepared to run the 1.5 mile AFT during basic though. I think the average score for men is just over 11 min and the average score for women is just over 13 min. I'd prep more for stationary PT exercises, like push ups.
 
Falcon134 said:
Will we be tested on how many pullups and pushups we can do the first day?
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When you say tested.... does that mean staff member with clip board recording the number? No - but you will do pushups literally every day of basic and quite frequently throughout the year. Regardless of how mean cadre members may seem, they are generally interested in your success and moving the conditioning along is important for the group. Here is an example - before you enter the dorms, you may be asked to drop and do the number of pushups for your academic year squadron - for me that was 25. For some.... that was 40 and I am betting Mighty Mach 1 played a different game. Oh - and these were two count pushups - 1(down)-2(up)-3(down)-"One Sir!(up)

Pullups are rare because of the need for equipment. There are pullup bars in some of the "quads" down at the base of the dorm buildings, some in the stairwells, and then at the gym. Current students can correct me, but in general, pullups seemed to be a 1% of the time activity when compared to pushups (50%), front leaning rest (30%), wall sit with raised arms holding a rifle aka "The Mother" (10%), flutter kicks (10%). Running is also in that mix, but you get the picture - there are plenty of other means of "torture" than pull-ups.
 
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My DD also went with stamps enough for her and to share. I think I ordered Scooby Dos and Hot Wheels plus the basic flag ones. A few blank envelopes and a few sheets of ruler paper.
Black backpack and a special comfort grip (2pack so I still have the other).
She also took one sheet listing her passwords and address list.
She set up her amazon and input her USAFA mailing address and other addresses, plus default credit cards.
Extra boot socks.

For parents, can't stress enough on this: get ahead on your work so you can spend hours on WebGuy!

Many parent clubs are now having their Hail & Farewell meetings, officer elections, and new parent welcome meetings. Make sure to go to any/all of them! And reelect HCopter, hahaha! Remember if your DD/DS does not fill out "the form" or "click the box" for the parent to be contacted, then the parent club won't be allowed to contact you (the parent). I suggest you proactively reach out, because we (the parent club) are not getting contemporaneous notification even when they do "check the box".
 
Just an aside. I sent my son to basic with a full book of stamps. He'd never written snail mail letters before, so I wasn't expecting much. Well, in one of his letters, he asked me to send more stamps, since the C-store was out. I sent two more books, and he was allowed to receive these!
 
Falcon134 said:
What kind of bag do you recommend to bring for basic? Any specific brands??
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Don't worry too much about this, they take your bag (with the clothes you wore on I-day)

EDIT: This was my experience at least, I don't know anything about this year :)
shiner said:
Current students can correct me, but in general, pullups seemed to be a 1% of the time activity when compared to pushups (50%), front leaning rest (30%), wall sit with raised arms holding a rifle aka "The Mother" (10%), flutter kicks (10%). Running is also in that mix, but you get the picture - there are plenty of other means of "torture" than pull-ups.
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Sounds pretty accurate to my experience, with the exception of the wall sits. We did "netherworlds" (lunges) and squat routines. There was a lot of restriction on what they could do to us, which was good because the PT actually made you stronger. We also didn't do PT until day 9 (I think) so that basics had time to acclimate to the altitude. On topic though, I think we did pull-ups (outside of the PFT) once.
 
So how long are we carrying the bag from home for? Only the first day? I've been worrying about a comfortable grip, but if it's only the first day, I will stop putting so much thought into it.
 
foofer04 said:
So how long are we carrying the bag from home for? Only the first day? I've been worrying about a comfortable grip, but if it's only the first day, I will stop putting so much thought into it.
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First couple hours of the first day.
 
I have a dumb question (yet again). I see the value in bringing extra underwear/bras, blister tape, stamps, envelopes, paper, hair gel etc. My question is what happens to all of this stuff? @shiner says you will only carry your own bag the first few hours of the first day. I have also read in the past that your personal items (civies etc) get put into storage. Would my DD have the ability to bring most of these extra things to her room on the first day (I know the policy on civies)? Does the Cadre take them from her? If so, how does she get them back?
 
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