Graduated bootcamp

[Direland]

Graduated a week ago. This site was a lot of help and full of great info. So I'm here to return the favor, and help as many people as possible. Boom! I'm an MA, and currently at lackland.


BOOOM!!!!

[D.Brothers]

Congratulations! I can't wait to be able to say the same thing

[Rusk]

Congrats man, can't wait to be in your position and moving on to NACCS.

[Direland]

Originally Posted by Rusk

Congrats man, can't wait to be in your position and moving on to NACCS.

It won't be long. Good luck!

[gman022601]

I leave for great lakes in 9 days. And after that ill be headed to lackland for MA A school as well. First off Congratulations! I have a couple questions if you get a chance to answer them. How many processing days did you have at basic? How many days did it take to class at A school?

I've heard a couple horror stories from recent grads about 2 1/2 weeks of processing days at basic, and A school I've heard a couple weeks to a month and one person said 5 months.

[nick93]

Originally Posted by gman022601

I leave for great lakes in 9 days. And after that ill be headed to lackland for MA A school as well. First off Congratulations! I have a couple questions if you get a chance to answer them. How many processing days did you have at basic? How many days did it take to class at A school?

I've heard a couple horror stories from recent grads about 2 1/2 weeks of processing days at basic, and A school I've heard a couple weeks to a month and one person said 5 months.

I haven't been to basic yet but I've never heard of 5 months for processing. You'll be put on P hold if there's not enough people there to fill your division but once your division is filled you'll start pdays and it shouldn't be more than like 5 days or something like that. But I've heard of ppl being on p hold from a day to like a week. All depends on when people arrive I guess.

[Direland]

Originally Posted by gman022601

I leave for great lakes in 9 days. And after that ill be headed to lackland for MA A school as well. First off Congratulations! I have a couple questions if you get a chance to answer them. How many processing days did you have at basic? How many days did it take to class at A school?

I've heard a couple horror stories from recent grads about 2 1/2 weeks of processing days at basic, and A school I've heard a couple weeks to a month and one person said 5 months.

I spent a week and a half in P-hold at basic. We had to wait for other females, for our division to form up ( we were integrated, it was awful). Those will be the most boring weeks of your life. But you can build some good friendships during that time.

As for MA-School, it took me one week. I don't know of anyone who had waited 5 months or even one month. There could be cases, due to the government shut down issues. But things seem to be headed in the right direction now.

[FutureHM]

Originally Posted by nick93

I haven't been to basic yet but I've never heard of 5 months for processing. You'll be put on P hold if there's not enough people there to fill your division but once your division is filled you'll start pdays and it shouldn't be more than like 5 days or something like that. But I've heard of ppl being on p hold from a day to like a week. All depends on when people arrive I guess.

He was talking about classing up for A-School, not P-days. P-days will never be 5 months at basic... that's just common sense...

I too have a couple of questions:
1. When did you take your first PT test? Did you pass, and if so was it difficult since P-days could've jacked you up a bit.
2. How much sleep did you get a night?
3. Was there anything you were nervous about before going in and when it finally happened at basic, it actually wasn't as bad as you thought?

Thank you

[Direland]

Originally Posted by FutureHM

He was talking about classing up for A-School, not P-days. P-days will never be 5 months at basic... that's just common sense...

I too have a couple of questions:
1. When did you take your first PT test? Did you pass, and if so was it difficult since P-days could've jacked you up a bit.
2. How much sleep did you get a night?
3. Was there anything you were nervous about before going in and when it finally happened at basic, it actually wasn't as bad as you thought?

Thank you

1) It was the first week of actual training. You may be out on hold and do no physical activity. So make sure your run time is pretty good before hand. I sat around in P-Hold for almost two weeks, and still ran 11:30 on the first.
2) Sleep depends, on a lot of different things. For me I worked out after taps almost every night so I got less than everyone else. For the most part you will be in bed by 10 every night. And you wake up 8 hours after your taps time for the most part. Your RDC may have you do things after taps. So that could cut into sleep time.
3) Everyone is nervous, some people question why they are there. Especially with all the down time during P-Days. But for the most part, I expected yelling and some PT. It's not bad at all. I wouldn't worry too much.

[rac]

Originally Posted by Direland

1) It was the first week of actual training. You may be out on hold and do no physical activity. So make sure your run time is pretty good before hand. I sat around in P-Hold for almost two weeks, and still ran 11:30 on the first.
2) Sleep depends, on a lot of different things. For me I worked out after taps almost every night so I got less than everyone else. For the most part you will be in bed by 10 every night. And you wake up 8 hours after your taps time for the most part. Your RDC may have you do things after taps. So that could cut into sleep time.
3) Everyone is nervous, some people question why they are there. Especially with all the down time during P-Days. But for the most part, I expected yelling and some PT. It's not bad at all. I wouldn't worry too much.

I was in p-hold for two weeks...we had everyone after two days and didn't add anyone else to our division, on the female side. So that "waiting for more" is BS cause we didn't add more.

I passed my initial PFA as well with 14:40 but I never passed a PFA at my DEP program so...I guess not working out for 2 weeks didn't hurt me.

In P-days you sleep a ton, from there it goes down hill.

I was nervous for shots, swim test, and PFA. None were as bad as I expected, yet the swim test still made me cry. I hate the diving board!

I am in A-school as AE right now. I won't class up for at LEAST 3 months, so yeah. Have fun if you're an AE, AT, or AD.

[jzhaun]

Originally Posted by rac

I was in p-hold for two weeks...we had everyone after two days and didn't add anyone else to our division, on the female side. So that "waiting for more" is BS cause we didn't add more.

I forget exactly who said it or how it was explained to us but the gist I got in bootcamp was that we spent extra time in Pdays because medical was backed up. Each Pday (P-1 thru P-5) has specific stuff that you're supposed to do on it. Most of it is just getting certain forms filled out, sitting thru certain briefs, etc - the kind of stuff you can do in the compartment. But because Red Rover was full when we got to the day we were supposed to go get shots we stayed on P-3 or P-4 (I forget which it was) until there was an opening.

[Mparker181]

Congrats and I hope all is well so far in A school!

Few Questions
How was the gas chamber for you?
Did you sleep on the first night like everyone is saying ow
and last were there people that failed the run the first time but wound up passing the run the other two times?

[Eve1024]

Gas chamber was def an experience, just dont get too worked up over it and it will be fine.

I only got to sleep one hour the first night, next day it was very difficult to get through.

And yea the first pfa a lot of people failed the run, a few that thought they ran 12 but only did 11, I didnt pass the first one but passed the other 2. 3rd one is what counts, make sure you put effort into pt and all the runs you do.

[Haasino]

Originally Posted by Eve1024

Gas chamber was def an experience, just dont get too worked up over it and it will be fine.

I only got to sleep one hour the first night, next day it was very difficult to get through.

And yea the first pfa a lot of people failed the run, a few that thought they ran 12 but only did 11, I didnt pass the first one but passed the other 2. 3rd one is what counts, make sure you put effort into pt and all the runs you do.

For those not already aware, you wear an ankle monitor when you run the PFA in Freedom Hall, and there are several sensors on the outside of the track as you cross the start/finish line. Since the shortest distance on a track is technically the inside, some people miss the sensors because they're too far away and/or other recruits are blocking them. My advice while running the track is to cut to the outside and pass as close to the sensors as you can... then check the TV monitor for your name and lap# after you pass to ensure it was recorded. After that, you can return to the inside of the track. If it wasn't, don't stop to argue... just run faster!

[llamayamaa]

Originally Posted by Eve1024

Gas chamber was def an experience, just dont get too worked up over it and it will be fine.

I only got to sleep one hour the first night, next day it was very difficult to get through.

And yea the first pfa a lot of people failed the run, a few that thought they ran 12 but only did 11, I didnt pass the first one but passed the other 2. 3rd one is what counts, make sure you put effort into pt and all the runs you do.

Do they let you sleep the first night now???

[Mparker181]

I'm just really worried about my run! I've been running and I've got my one mile down to 10 minutes but I'm just worried I wont be able to!

[Bennett]

Originally Posted by FutureHM

He was talking about classing up for A-School, not P-days. P-days will never be 5 months at basic... that's just common sense...

I too have a couple of questions:
1. When did you take your first PT test? Did you pass, and if so was it difficult since P-days could've jacked you up a bit.
2. How much sleep did you get a night?
3. Was there anything you were nervous about before going in and when it finally happened at basic, it actually wasn't as bad as you thought?

Thank you

Lol I was gonna say the same thing man. Obviously he was talking a school.

[nick93]

Originally Posted by Bennett

Lol I was gonna say the same thing man. Obviously he was talking a school.

Okay my bad. It was a mistake....

[gman022601]

Originally Posted by Bennett

Lol I was gonna say the same thing man. Obviously he was talking a school.

I was talking about A school, regardless I sincerely appreciate everyone's answers. I knew what you meant when you answered.
That was good information on the reason for prolonged P-Days, I hate not knowing, at least this way it's understandable.

5 days to ship

[Diesirae27]

Originally Posted by Haasino

For those not already aware, you wear an ankle monitor when you run the PFA in Freedom Hall,

wow! thanks for that tidbit. I run much better if i know each lap time. I ship june 9th so have plenty of time to shape up

[cswheeler]

I've never posted on here but I have been a member for quite a long time although my profile doesn't say it, I am an MA serving on an aircraft carrier so if any of you have any questions about anything let me know! Go Navy!

[AP15]

how is life on a ship? is it spacious? and i love to play games, are there any places i can play on a ship?

[LT Guppy]

Ship life isn't bad.

Definitely not spacious....
Kinda like this, but you do get curtains for privacy.





By games do you mean computer games or board/card games? If so, yes both are permitted. Though you will not have internet on your computer. There are also TVs in the mess decks and some work spaces.

[AP15]

That's smaller than expected, but oh well... and by games i mean like a playstation or xbox... are there designated areas that you can play? or should i leave my system at home?

One more question... How long is a ship at its homeport?

[LT Guppy]

There are common areas where you can play. But you'll probably want to talk to the other people you work with and arrange for one person to bring a system instead of everyone.


The time if homeport varies greatly. Typically your can expect 12-18 months between deployments. But right now I know of 2 ships that will only be in port for 6 months between deployments.
However, while you're in port, you will still be getting underway. Typically for 1-2 weeks at a time.