CADET BASIC TRAINING - "BEAST"
WHAT HELPED ME
Try to stay healthy. It sounds silly, but I'm speaking from experience. I broke my foot on a road march
in beast. I was on the receiving end of much verbal grief because I was on profile (a doctor said I
couldn't run, jump, or march) for more than half of beast. Females in the Army (speaking from prior service
time as well) tend to get stress fractures more frequently than males. My advice to female candidates is to
drink milk, and lots of it. Your body needs calcium. Not only do you need calcium for your bones, but it is
a major factor in muscle contraction as well. Medically baby yourself before leaving for beast. You won't be
able to eat the way you are used to and you will be experiencing more stress than you are used to. This makes
your body need all of the nutrients you can get prior to beast.
Your feet become your best friends. They need to be taken care of. Wearing
Combat Boots can be tough for the first few weeks. A trick to keep from
getting blisters on your feet: Wear a pair of the thin black nylon socks they
issue you under the thick wool socks. Your feet will slide inside the boot.
Without the thin sock, your skin will rub back and forth on the wool sock.
The thin sock protects your skin from the rubbing. Also, I was told by an
officer that rubbing a thin coat of Vaseline on your feet before road marching
adds another layer of protection. I never tried the Vaseline, but by wearing
the thin socks, I only had ONE blister the whole time I was there.
Beast is easy, but don't use that as an excuse not to prepare for it.
One of the best ways to make Beast harder for yourself is not to be in
physical shape. The other way is to get down on yourself. If you think
that six weeks of military training is going to be too hard for you,
then it will be. Otherwise, Beast is easy. Trust me.
P.S. Remember to use the correct greetings, it will save you a lot of
hazing.
Bring medicated foot/body powder, it
helps prevent chafing from the BDU's when you get hot in the field in
addition to feeling good on tired feet.
The suggestion above for drinking lots of
milk is good not only for the females but the males as well. As a
alternate source for calcium consider tomatoes which are high in calcium also.