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Life as an Infantry Soldier?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dacier
  • Start date Start date
Thompson87 said:
Ray said:
I hope you know what the infantry is all about. not to scare you but get ready for it. I was running 5 km a day for 4 months before I got to basic and I‘m having some trouble

You limited yourself to 5Km a day with no progression in 4 months? ..just saying..

And you found the need to slag someone SIX years after they posted?      ::)

... just sayin' ....

Edit to add; BTW the white member's nickname indicates a dead account, they're not coming back to read your comment.
 
Michael O`Leary said:
You limited yourself to 5Km a day with no progression in 4 months? ..just saying..


And you found the need to slag someone SIX years after they posted?      ::)

... just sayin' ....

Edit to add; BTW the white member's nickname indicates a dead account, they're not coming back to read your comment.


lol my bad. Never really looked at the date of the post, and didn't know about the "dead account".
 
Hey people, I was wondering what the day-to-day life of an Infantry soldier is while not deployed? I've looked around, but all I can find is what the trade entails. What is it like after BMQ and trades training? Essentially, what do you guys do exactly? (I apologize if this post seems kind of vague, I just don't really know how to word it differently.) Thanks, Guys -Badger (Infantry Hopeful)
 
I've seeing many posts on asking what day to day daily life is for an Infantry soldier is, and i see some people don't like the responses giving on these post. Because there is no proper answer that can be giving. Guess what it changes from day to dayfor instance buddies in different PL and COYs all have different experiances and everyone works different hours, courses, operations, taskings, field, leave etc... see where i'm going with this. There is no set work schedule do to the nature of the job, just be sure to have you kit packed right, just in case lol. But serious you can grab 1, 2, 3 4 random infantry guys and ask the the same question and you will be getting different answers, due to section, platoon, coy battilion requirements. sorry guys it just the way it is.

and you can check my spelling/ grammer if required
 
As VRI said, day-to-day life varies across the board. Maybe you are in a rifle company, and maybe you are elsewhere like RQ, BHQ, Tpt, etc. Perhaps you have gungho leadership that never let you rest and perhaps not. Maybe you have to pack-up vehicles like my unit is doing b/c they are shipping said vehicles en-masse elsewhere. Day-to-day life varies in this job just as much as it does in any job. Maybe you have a slow day of sales and maybe you have the Christmas rush.

In my honest opinion, just stay keen and optimistic no matter the circumstances. That way you may get the better goes than say, someone who is a 'pump. That usually is the case but not always.
 
Here's how the question should be worded:

  As an infantry soldier, what is YOUR day to day life?
 
chrism said:
Here's how the question should be worded:

  As an infantry soldier, what is YOUR day to day life?

Again, that's all dependant on the dude. Some are keeners:

0500 - wake
0530 - 10km run
0630 - Shower, ready for work
0700 - Goto work and workout before parade
0800 - Parade
.....

Sometimes you have greymen just coasting by
0730 - Wake and leave shacks
0800 - parade
1000 - ready in uniform after PT
....

Perhaps you have an injured pers or malingerer
0700 - wake and hobble to physio
0900 - Finish physio
....

My current schedule is nothing like a standard rifle company's routine
0800 - parade, PT
1000 - RQ Stores stuff
1630/1700 - Home
.....

Again, when folk ask 'What is a usual day like?' you have to attribute where the replier is working ('I work in the canteen so I don't have much of a day' <-- Not a regular day for 99% of infantry soldiers), any medical limitations (I have sand you-know-where), OP tempo (we are all heading out the door definitely/maybe/possibly so train up!), sub-unit leave planning (right now, RQ is skeleton staffed so we all do everything here), and any fastballs that may come down. Also, people should realise that there may be a bit of OpSec involved when a poster divulges his schedule in such a regimented form. Since these boards can be read by anyone, friend or foe, informing your En where you will be and what you will be doing isn't the wisest of actions, no?
 
:nod:  Good call ghost of jack, re. OpSec!  If one REALLY wants to know, and if one IS truly interested, then knowing the daily "routine" should not be important.  Enough said at it's not a regular shiftwork occupation.
 
I thought I'd add to the thread since my 'OpSec vs Daily routine' comment kinda killed the thread.

What is life as an infantry soldier like?

Well, the 'infantry is unlike any other job' is a statement said by a lot of people. It is both true and false at the same time. That saying 'jack of all trades, master of none' can be applied in that the infantry are frequently tasked out to do anything. We drive vehicles (VehTech), haul things on our backs (packmule), sort out things into neat little boxes/piles in order to keep count of it all (SupTech), call in indirect and CAS fire (Arty FOO), dig treches or other forms of defenses (CbtEng'r), maintain a fitness standard and teach others how to do the same (PSP), a lot of paperwork (RMS Clerk) and all of the infantry specific tasks.

The textbook definition of the infantry is to 'close with and destroy the enemy, in any terrain and in all weather conditions'. Therefore you will do training in all these terrains. This means that if it has been raining for hours or days, you still will be expected to go for that patrol, or dig the trench, or whatever your task may be. Being that we are in Canada, we love our winter training. There are many nights I have gone to bed and woken at 3am due to intense shivering. I have been in all weather for -60C to +60C, so if you are coming into the infantry, you can expect to be in any weather between those two temperatures.

When you are in garrison, life is different. PT every morning followed by 'the rest of yoru day'. Sometimes you have a training plan where you are supposed to be learning a specific task. Sometimes you will be on course. Other times, they will create work for you to do which seems quite mundane when you first get in. 'Count the camnets...again', 'stack those pallets in groups of ten', or 'clean out those LAVs'. The most common one that you will grow to highly dislike is 'go clean weapons' which you will be told to do so many times that you grow frustrated due to the weapon already being clean. My suggestion at this point is to go to some crevice on the gun and look for caked on carbon that is so shiney that it looks to be part of the gun itself. Without a clean and fully operational weapon, you can't do your basic job - be an infanteer.

There will be many frustrating events in your career, but never consider them to be 'bull***t'; think of them as things that build character. You may be slated to go on tour and then find out you are not. That same thing may happen with courses. People you view to be a 'pump may get the courses your wanted before you or get promoted before you or even be your leader. I personally had a huge problem with this when I was a private. There is one thing that brought be solace though - there are these kinds of situations even in the civilian world. So my suggestion is that when you are getting the shaft in your job, suck it up and push through. Your hardwork and actions will be noticed in time and you will be viewed upon in a better light if you have pushed through and not let things bring you down.

I see that it appears I have highlight nothing but bad things in the infantry and that is all the job entails. If it was nothing but bad, no one would stay. If your do not get the gucci courses or the good go's at things in your job, the #1 reason why the infantry (I will expand this to the combat arms as well) is the best place to be is because of the people. The people are what makes the infantry great. You are all predominantly alpha-males (if you do not start off in an alpha mindest, you will develope into one so that when you return to your civvy buddies, you see the change in yourself). Consider this in a way like chess. In chess, you only get better by playing against people better than you; in the infantry the same applies. The sort of people you befriend become friends and colleagues that are so good that you consider them your own family. You will learn to trust these comrades with your own life because at the end of the day, they trust you with theirs. There are not too many other jobs where you can ask your partner to 'watch out' while you duck off into the woods to poop in a bag in the middle of the night. Not too many places of work will have a coworker give you his ranger blanket because you are freezing out on a winter exercize when you know that he'll be that much colder without it. With all the above negative things that I pointed out, you know that your buddy has also done the same thing. It's that sort of comfort that you are not alone which makes any of it bearible at the worst of times.
 
GhostofJacK said:
You are all predominantly alpha-males... 

Thats a common misconception.  Being an alpha is about your place in the group, not an individual's personality.  If you are not the alpha male leading the group then you are not an alpha. 
 
Greymatters said:
Thats a common misconception.  Being an alpha is about your place in the group, not an individual's personality.  If you are not the alpha male leading the group then you are not an alpha.

I stand corrected. The wording I should have used is something that escapes my mind right now.
 
Old Sweat +1pt for taking the words right out of my mouth (after putting them there)
 
GhostofJack

A small correction in your job descriptions, while Veh Techs do drive vehicles  our role is to repair them (and a multitude of other equipment).  ;D
 
Armynewsguy said:
GhostofJack

A small correction in your job descriptions, while Veh Techs do drive vehicles  our role is to repair them (and a multitude of other equipment).  ;D

Yes, I realise that. At the same time, everyone else's job entails much more than I illustrated. The point of the illustration was to highlight that certain tasks the infantry do are also done by other trades. Yes, we drive vehicles, but veh techs do much more. If they didn't do more than that, then might as well collapse the trade and call them 'infanteers in tpt or maint platoons'. I did not mean to offend any trades by my VERY brief summary of duties. I was doing so to show that infantry do more that 'shoot guns and throw grenades'.
 
Old Sweat said:
I think you mean Type A personality. /quote]

Some people like to refer to the A/B theory, but Im one of those who believe that personalities are not as simple as A or B.

For this case lets pretend its still credible; yes, a lot of guys in the Infantry would be a Type A personality.
 
Old Sweat said:
I think you mean Type A personality. /quote]

Some people like to refer to the A/B theory, but Im one of those who believe that personalities are not as simple as A or B.

For this case lets pretend its still credible; yes, a lot of guys in the Infantry would be a Type A personality.

Definitely, but I feel (IMO), a "type A" guy in the service can quickly make the switch to
"alpha male" in civillian life.



(edit for rambliness, and to stay on topic)

 
I kind of like Bill Mauldin's description. Anything better than this is 'gravy':

Infantry

"Dig a hole in your backyard while it is raining. Sit in the hole while the water climbs up around your ankles. Pour cold mud down your shirt collar. Sit there for forty-eight hours, and so there is no danger of your dozing off, imagine that a guy is sneaking around waiting for a chance to club you on the head or set your house on fire. Get out of the hole, fill a suitcase full of rocks, pick it up, put a shotgun in your other hand, and walk on the muddiest road you can find. Fall flat on your face every few minutes, as you imagine big meteors streaking down to sock you. If you repeat this performance every three days for several months you may begin to understand why an infantryman gets out of breath. But you still won't understand how he feels when things get tough." -Bill Mauldin


http://www.experts123.com/q/what-is-it-like-to-be-in-the-infantry.html
 
Hammer Sandwich said:
Definitely, but I feel (IMO), a "type A" guy in the service can quickly make the switch to
"alpha male" in civillian life.

And I would agree, but being the 'alpha male' isnt always a good thing - its fine if youre 25, single, and trying to shag everything in sight, but most 'alpha male' behaviours that are tolerated in the military arent considered to be modern 'good leadership' characteristics in the civilian world. 


 
 
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