Basic

Surviving Boot Camp and Basic Training

Jack Jacobs, David Fisher

The award-winning author and Medal of Honor recipient shares an insider's history of bootcamp that's "authentic, entertaining, and often funny as hell" (Corporal Brian Dennehy, Ret.).
Every American fighting man and woman share one thing in common: they have all survived basic military training. Basic tells the story of that training. Col. Jack Jacobs and co-author David Fisher recount the funny, sad, dramatic, poignant, and sometimes crazy history of how America has trained its military, told through the personal accounts of those who remember the experiences as if they happened yesterday.
If you've been through bootcamp, these memories of drill instructors, marching chants, combat training, hospital corners, and the shared feeling of triumph are guaranteed to make you smile. And those who haven't done it will understand and appreciate this life-changing experience that turns a civilian into a soldier—and in just eight weeks.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Introduction: Welcome to Basic Training
• If It Moves, Salute It: Welcome to Initial Military Training
• In the Beginning There Was the Heaven, the Earth, and the Drill Sergeant
• Where to Begin
• Diversity Will Never Be the Same: The Military Breaks Down Barriers
• A Memorable Reception: The First Few Days
• Take Everything Off the Top: Everything in the Military Is Uniform
• DI Does Not Stand For Devil Incarnate: The Men and Women Who Are King
• Let’s Definitely Not Get Physical
• The Military Marches on Its Feet, Always to the Cadence of a Rhythmic Beat
• Everything Is Public for Privates
• Myth #1: The Saltpeter Solution
• The Biggest Cover-up: Making the Military Bed
• Reflections on the Military: In Quest of the Perfect Shine
• The Home Ranger: The Homesick Blues
• Social Studies: Learning to Get Along
• The Real Battling Buddies: Not Everybody Gets Along
• A Clean Start: Personal Hygiene
• Hors D’oeuvres Are Not Served at Blanket Parties
• The Marine Corps Hymn
• “I Need Three Volunteers, You, You, and You.”
• A Site for Sore Bodies: A Brief History of Training Sites
• The No Space Patrol: Life in the Navy
• Myth #2: The Time-out Card
• Meet General Inspection: It’s Pretty Neat
• Myth #3: Suicide by Buffer
• This Man’s Salami: Contraband in the Barracks
• The Drive for Success
• Ladies Daze: Training Women
• Survival Training: The Life You Save May Be Your Own
• Fire Men and Women: Weapons Training
• Myth #4: Death on the Infiltration Course
• “Listen Up You Mens”: Speaking Military
• “Smoke ’Em If You Got ’Em”: The Military and Tobacco
• A Dream Job: The Recruit Never Sleeps
• Thought for Food: Military Chow
• The Weight Is Worth It: The Miracle of Military Meals
• Body Building: The Shape of Recruits to Come
• The Upper Hand: Military Courtesy
• The Recruit’s Body of Work: Physical Training
• Men and Women for All Seasons: The Weather Factor
• The Mess Hall Actually Should Be Called the Neat Hall: KP
• The Pain Is in the Details: Guard Duty
• First Class Instruction: Classroom Work
• Finding Yourself in the Military: Learning Navigation
• Following Orders
• The Worst of It All: The Gas Chamber
• Turn Your Head and Cough: Health and Fitness in the Military
• Putting the Fight in the Fighting Man: Hand-to-Hand Combat
• Bucks Private: Separating a Recruit and His Pay
• What We Have Here Is a Lack of Communication: Out of Touch
• Bivouac: A Test of Heavy Mettle
• The End of the Beginning: The Day the Military Wins
• Index
• Other Books by Colonel Jack Jacobs
• About the Authors
• Copyright