Basic Training - Mentally Demanding?

[Sammy98]

Hey guys,

I just wanted to know what makes basic training so stressful. The only thing I can think of which makes people say it is mentally demanding, is that you get yelled at a lot. I couldn't find an answer to this. All I could find was the physical demands of basic training. So my questions are: What makes Basic Training so stressful? Does the military make you mentally and psychologically strong?

 

[Towards_the_gap]

I'll take a stab at this.

It is the culture shock of coming from a 'me me me, I'll turn up when I want, I don't have to try hard at anything' culture to one where your failure to apply yourself directly impacts those on your team.

It is working and living in a 24hr environment where you are given timings and standards which are apparently impossible to meet. I.e. dismissed for lunch at 1230, with an order to be back on parade by 1300. Line-up in the kitchen means you do not get to the hotplate until 12:50, and of course this being the military you actually need to be on parade by 1255.

It is the physical training, which may be a shock to some who consider getting slightly out of breath 'a hard work out', not knowing that a real hard workout has you praying to gods you didn't know exist.

Also a 24hr environment with little to no distraction asides from books or shared facilities and very little privacy.

Finally, it is the depressing realisation that what your parents always said about doing well at school and the consequences of doing the opposite has come painfully true, and now it is too late.

This is all based on my experience 12 years ago, so personal experiences may vary.

 

[medicineman]

I'd also add that, while getting yelled at doesn't seem like much, but when you're sleep deprived, behind schedule, getting picked up for something you think is minor but made to think it's the end of the world, dealing with people in a close environment and have deadlines that seem impossible, all at the same time, life gets to be difficult.  Since they're not allowed to execute a random 1 in 10 recruits to keep everyone guessing and on their toes, they have to insert stress artificially - making you do things when tired and hungry is a great way of doing it, keeping you always guessing about what's coming next, making you worry yourself silly about small details, all lends itself to a great mental challenge.  I of course left out the physical pain that often gets endured - alot of mental demands from that as well.

MM

 

[Sammy98]

Does this stress decrease or go away after you are done Basic Training?

 

[chrisf]

Depending on your mental and physical state and past experiences going into the course, basic training may be extremely stressful, or not at all stressful...

The course itself is not difficult, and should be one of the easier things you'll do while in the military (in retrospect at least... no thinking, no responsibility, just do what you're told when to do it, and you'll be fine... seriously, it's that easy...). It's the culture shock of it all that makes it difficult.

Will there be more mentally and physically demanding tasks? Absolutely.

Will they be "stressful"? Much of that will depend on you... that all depends on if you build the ability to deal with stress...

I've personally seen plenty of experienced NCOs who can't handle stress and go into a spin at slightest elevation of stress.... I've seen others who are completely unaffected by any sort of stress, and if you were to take their blood pressure, you may have to double check to make sure they weren't dead... and there's plenty more in between, who have very normal reactions to normal stresses.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Does this stress decrease or go away after you are done Basic Training?

I'd say it doesn't 'go away' but you adapt to it, you learn how to cope with it (thru training and teamwork...big things to learn at Basic) and you become conditioned to it thru successfully overcoming 'challenges' in your training and experience that build your confidence. 

 

[Jarnhamar]

Worrying about stress on basic training is like worrying about tests in grade 6.

It seems like a big deal but it gets a lot worse.

 

[Towards_the_gap]

Does this stress decrease or go away after you are done Basic Training?

It gets put into perspective.

 

[Quirky]

Does this stress decrease or go away after you are done Basic Training?

I'll just add that looking back at it, basic was the easiest course I've done so far in the military.

Good luck.

 

[Ayrsayle]

Does this stress decrease or go away after you are done Basic Training?

I usually have this conversation with people thinking about joining - I usually explain it in terms of perspective.

Before a "life changing" stressful event, most people exist in a spectrum of say, 1-10 in terms of how "difficult" life is.  When you go through your military training, you start to realize that what was once a 5-6 is now just a 2-3, you become mentally able to handle things with moderate discomfort that used to be the absolute worst you previously could bear.  A day without sleep is a big deal for most of the population, whereas most of the people I work with would shrug it off without a second thought.  Most people don't carry 60-80 pounds of gear for kilometers at a time, etc.

In short, things don't get "easier", you adapt to the difficulty and change your perspective on what is really difficult.  That only happens during periods of stress.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

It's about as mentally demanding as searching this site for the gazillion answers to the proportionate amount of threads that already exist on the subject.

---Staff---

 

[KingCharles55]

I appreciate any help and advice I can receive, I am not even sure this is the correct section to post this in but I will try my luck regardless.

I have noticed there are fantastic resources here and a great support community when it come to discussing the physical standards required to survive and thrive Basic Training and beyond. However, and maybe I am missing it somewhere in the pile, but there are not many pieces of advice or posts in general regarding emotional and mental preparation.

I understand and am continuing to improve my physical conditions daily, however I would love to hear from those who have either gone through the entire training process or perhaps even current active service members for any tips, "tricks", advice, or any type of guidance as to preparing mentally for the rigors and stress of the early military career.

First time poster, long time lurker. Thanks for all the help!

 

[mariomike]

I would love to hear from those who have either gone through the entire training process or perhaps even current active service members for any tips, "tricks", advice, or any type of guidance as to preparing mentally for the rigors and stress of the early military career.

Some here for Basic Training,

Basic Training - Mentally Demanding?
https://army.ca/forums/threads/112315.0

First time poster, long time lurker.

Welcome to the site, and good luck with your military career. 

 

[lohocard]

I appreciate any help and advice I can receive, I am not even sure this is the correct section to post this in but I will try my luck regardless.

I have noticed there are fantastic resources here and a great support community when it come to discussing the physical standards required to survive and thrive Basic Training and beyond. However, and maybe I am missing it somewhere in the pile, but there are not many pieces of advice or posts in general regarding emotional and mental preparation.

I understand and am continuing to improve my physical conditions daily, however I would love to hear from those who have either gone through the entire training process or perhaps even current active service members for any tips, "tricks", advice, or any type of guidance as to preparing mentally for the rigors and stress of the early military career.

First time poster, long time lurker. Thanks for all the help!

The best thing you can start with right now is not getting offended by anything/anyone. Nowadays, it’s very easy to offend somebody based on their personality, looks, hobbies, etc. It’s just the world we live in now. The instructors will pick on you, and other recruits might as well. The biggest thing is don’t take anything personally and don’t get upset. Become immune to threats, bullying, etc. They don’t mean anything.


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[KingCharles55]

The best thing you can start with right now is not getting offended by anything/anyone. Nowadays, it is very easy to offend somebody based on their personality, looks, hobbies, etc. it is just the world we live in now. The instructors will pick on you, and other recruits might as well. The biggest thing is don’t take anything personally and don’t get upset. Become immune to threats, bullying, etc. They don’t mean anything.

I had heard this same advice by those close to me who encouraged me to investigate the military as a career possibility. The phrase "Embrace The Shit" (pardon my language) was used frequently and its the de facto motto I have been using this far, I am glad to see it mostly holds true!

The whole purpose of training is to take an overweight civilian like me and make him into a prepared and useful military member, makes no sense to take any of it personally if the entire purpose is to make you better than you are long term.

 

[wnhan]

Similar to the previous poster's saying of "embrace the crap", former UFC fighter Chael P. Sonnen also had a great saying of "trying to find comfort in discomfort" or "getting comfortable with discomfort". I often used this when I ran in preparation for BMOQ (and still continue to do so) in order to break down the mental wall of running further/longer. It has helped me gain a lot of mental resiliency in times when I wanted to stop running due to fatigue. Perhaps you can use this saying when you are feeling pressure during your career. I hope this helps. Best of luck in increasing your mental fortitude.

 

[brihard]

I'm a strong believer in the 'big four' for stress control. Positive self talk, reasonable goal setting, visualization of challenges before you encounter them, and controlling your excitement through breathing. Now, fair disclosure, I instruct that stuff through the Road to MEntal Readiness training, but I have found that in varying degrees some or all of these techniques work for just about everyone.

Set goals. They can be as general as 'make it through BMQ, or as narrow as 'make it through this ruck march' or 'make it to lunch'.

Tell yourself you can achieve what you're setting out to achieve. You can be your own most crippling critic, and your own best cheerleader. Whichever you feed - positivity or negaitivity - it will grow.

Practice tasks and challenges mentally. Visualize yourself achieving the next thing you need to pull off. You can't practice everything in real life, but you can to an extent innoculate yourself to stress by consciously thinking your way through something ahead of time.

Learn 'combat breathing' or 'square breathing' or 'tactical breathing' or however someone wants to label it. A lot of our toughest times are because our fight or slight - our sympathetic nervous system - starts running away with our physiology and our psychology. The only real conscious/unconscious overlap we have in these systems is respiration. Learn to breath to bring your own heart rate and excitement down and to give yourself those extra fractions of seconds to think under stress because your higher order thinking isn't as shot.

There's lots of material out there about this stuff. I recommend it.

 

[EpicBeardedMan]

Realize BMQ is a game and you'll be fine. Don't take everything personally. I'll always remember my first inspection...the guy in the cubicle to the right of me was crying by the time the 2IC was done with him whereas I had a hard time not smiling/laughing.

Once you realize it's a game you're fine. Pay attention to what the instructors tell you but also realize when it comes to inspections that they will beast you no matter if it is perfect or not. Once you prove yourselves and get into the later weeks of the course inspections will be more casual, but expect to always be doing pushups every time for inspections.

 

[MgRCAF]

Some here for Basic Training,

Basic Training - Mentally Demanding?
https://army.ca/forums/threads/112315.0

Welcome to the site, and good luck with your military career. 

My enrolment is on September 6 2018 am I going to st jean on the same day?
Thanks

 

[mariomike]

My enrolment is on September 6 2018 am I going to st jean on the same day?

This shows the time it took others between Enrollment date and BMQ start date,

Application Process Samples 
https://army.ca/forums/threads/13064.6200
256 pages.