<p>i wanted to be here, and that's why i applied. my dad had told me i couldn't get through here unless i was coming for me and no one else, and he was right. the fear of going home after the bus ride was just enough to get me to start basic, and then i was fine.</p>
<p>another tip (which i kind of wish i would have followed but i didn't) is right now, while you're excited, write down how you feel and why you want to go. then bring that letter with you, and whenever you start to get down, pull it out and remember why you wanted to come and how bad you wanted it.</p>
<p>haha, i wrote 4 or 5 letters to myself before i left and had my friend mail one to me every 5 or 6 days. she thought i was crazy, but it was the best idea ever.</p>
<p>giraffe, i definitely don't think that's the only thing at all. you have to have motivation. what i'm saying is for that brief second when you're scared out of your mind, i think that helped me. but anyway, doesn't matter. :)</p>
<p>Did they have you guys write letters to your future recognized selves during Basic? I'd completely forgotten about it until I got it back. It was wild.</p>
<p>hmm, not that i recall, petko. they did make us write a letter on what it means to be a good cadet during honor lessons. they were kinda bogus though.</p>
<p>It seems really hard to tell future cadets what to expect during basic (though THE BUS seems to be one of the scariest parts, since you experience it first). I went to a diversity camp at USAFA in November, and asked about BCT--and got answers ranging from " 'Don't come here-save yourself!' (lol) to 'I loved Basic!'" Does it change a little bit each year? Or are the different answers just based on personal opinion??</p>
<p>Writing letters to myself seems like a good idea :) I better get started! lol</p>
<p>a lot of its personal attitude. i didn't think basic was that bad, and i actually kind of enjoyed it. of course i always tell people "don't do it!" or "you can always stay on the bus!", but its in a joking manner and just for grins. its something ppl do every year</p>
<p>Writing letters to myself is a good idea that I probably would not have thought of. Should I have the opportunity to attend, I will be doing that. It will be good to be reminded of my deep desire to succeed when things are actually hard.</p>
<p>As for the bus ride... My experience comes from the AOG's video on I Day. However, when the cadre yells "get off my bus," I don't think I would want to disobey.</p>
<p>On my bus, the cadre asked me his name, which I had luckily been repeating in my head since he said it. I probably would have said his name if he'd have asked me mine! Basic as a whole though was ok for me. Physically it was rough, but you just have to keep your head in the game. The best advice I can give to anyone is to have a sense of humor. That will help more than you know. And like it was said earlier, you'll just want to sit down!</p>
<p>Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that you can do it. All you have to do is want badly enough to get through it, and you will!</p>
<p>Basic stories are some of the funniest around, btw.
Unfortunately, most people don't get the full extent of the comedy, if they didn't go through a basic themselves.</p>
<p>Yep, I told one story to a friend back home. His response: "Hehe, that's kind of funny" Same story to a cadet: busts out laughing before I can finish.</p>
<p>Just finished talkin to a classmate, a funny moment from BCT was the wonderful classmate we have in the squad who decided he would attempt to build a sundial behind the tent... I guess he didnt figure cadre could see him when the flaps were up, but the look on his face when they yelled his name was PRICELESS!!! ;)</p>
<p>aaaaaaahahhahahaaha demons D flight got forced by their cadre to build a sundial. they had to greet it every time they passed it outside their tent.. then the cadre got frustrated because it wasnt accurate and kicked it. lol</p>
<p>The saddest part of all of this is that I spent the morning figuring out how to build a sundial that accounts for the local lattitude and DST. So far so good... I just have to figure out what location MST is set to so I can adjust it to standard time.</p>
<p>us barbarians built our own home-made scarecrow that we attached to the border of barbarians and cobras. I forget his name but that was just some of the "cool" things we did in jack's lol.</p>
<p>we put up a flag (Demons A), you could see it from pretty darn far away, we basically dug a REALLY deep hole and stuck a tree with a banner attached to the other end in the hole. Some other squad tried to take it down while we were training, but we dug the hole too deep and they couldn't get it out before one of our cadre saw it shaking and ran over and stopped it</p>
<p>Some people dug a pit behind the cadre tent. A DFP after we went to Ops Warrior. Then our cadre had us throw rocks at this other tent full of basics who kept yelling at us while we were lined up. They did cadre impressions and assault course move parodies (I'm still laughing about the time they did "hammer smash" with a sledge hammer).
And one of our cadre used a squirt gun on us to "test our bearing". It was the day right before he left for Westpoint.</p>
<p>We had some pretty hilarious bearing contests. I never made it very far, but there were a couple of guys that would NOT laugh... even with mouths full of water.</p>