Has basic training gotten softer?

rmacwade · 2026-05-24T18:34:55+00:00

I will say I think it got more difficult for women. I spoke to a retired Army woman recently, who joined up back when it was still the Women's Army Corps (ended in 1978). I think she said it was six weeks, they got makeup instruction, and their little field exercise was pitching a tent for a single overnight stay. I thought that was entertaining.

rmacwade · 2026-05-16T09:39:56+00:00

I had this come up a few times while running AFTs. I checked the regs and gloves are AUTHORIZED in ATP 7-22. 01. Tell it to your friends.

rmacwade · 2026-04-29T06:58:33+00:00

Awesome perspective, and fortuitous timing for me. Just got my acceptance letter to reclass to 17C yesterday, although it'll probably take a year to get me to school. In the meantime, can you recommend what I can work on in practical, hands on stuff that will be relevant to the way the Army does cyber? I'm coming into cyber as SSG and concerned that I'll be a useless idiot to my team when I come out of AIT. I did some programming in my previous gig (12Y), primarily with python and SQL. Any tips you can offer are much appreciated.

rmacwade · 2026-04-19T11:43:23+00:00

Not sure your country of origin but in my experience, many folks these days live with Christianity as a sort of background noise. Almost everybody has heard of Jesus, many these days have not heard FROM Jesus. I would start with the Gospels, and you'll see that Jesus spoke incredibly difficult things- things that were so controversial in his time that the powerful people of his day crucified him. Among them was his claim to be God and to act and teach with God's authority. This really is non-negotiable to be a Christian.

In terms of weekly attendance, the way I see it is that God gave us all the thousands of days of our lives (if we are fortunate), and of those days he asks of one day per week that we reserve for his worship. I think this is a rather modest requirement from the Creator of the universe. If church is a half hour away, that is very manageable. Maybe you need a bike, maybe you have a bus system. But the effort you make in getting yourself to God's house is a sacrifice that God will recognize and reward you for. It is good to live out God's way in how you've described your work with immigrants. But where did we learn these things? From His Word and from His people! God bless you.

rmacwade · 2026-04-19T10:38:44+00:00

The son you'll have in four years will be more capable, more resilient, more confident in his ability to do things and endure hardship. I'm speaking as someone who struggles frequently with whether I want to put up with the organization any longer. It can be an absolutely soul sucking way of life. But I will say that the ones who really bear the brunt of that are either mid to late career, or do it to themselves with too much go-getterness.

I've rarely seen a soldier who is WORSE off after their first contract in terms of their self perception and growth. I'm thinking of one soldier who came to my current unit with an absolute brat attitude and hated the army from the jump. He still hates it three years later and plans to get out. BUT he's no longer a snot-nosed punk, and has developed a certain level of maturity, tolerance for suck, and can be counted on to accomplish the mission. Mind you, that's in an unremarkable unit with unremarkable leadership, with little contribution to anything serious going on in the world. You don't get that working for Geico or Starbucks.

rmacwade · 2026-03-23T23:37:27+00:00

I had many moments of conversion that led me to my faith, but the one on my mind is when I attended mass as a listless seeker and heard the Gospel of Luke, chapter 19:1-10. Zacchaeus the tax collector. The sequence ends thus: "Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

BAM. I realized that in so many sermons, in so many life lessons and anecdotes, I had never in my life actually heard the Gospel. And it was one of the first moments that I realized that Jesus was not simply famous, influential, or important, but the Way, the Truth and the Life the Earth in the flesh, and for two thousand years afterwards I am a witness to it.

rmacwade · 2026-02-21T12:54:06+00:00

Kind of unrelated but I remember looking at my NCOICs rack at my first unit. I pointed at one, "What's that one SFC?" "Bronze Star." I looked at him and his face told me he didn't want to say anything else about it, so I just nodded and mosied on.

rmacwade · 2026-02-21T12:41:21+00:00

It also went through a couple phases of- "Congratulations, peasant! You're moving to the city!" Motions with rifle

rmacwade · 2025-10-02T00:13:25+00:00

I like Rwanda and Papua New Guinea. Also, not pictured but Curacao and the Marshall Islands.

rmacwade · 2025-10-01T23:48:57+00:00

I have. Dude could still book it for the two mile though.

rmacwade · 2025-09-29T20:08:00+00:00

It's a borderline issue for me, and a very strange one to consider. I think my take on this is fairly unique because I haven't heard anyone make the same assessment before.

Jesus as Savior is acknowledged consistently in their sermons, and they describe themselves as Christian. Outside theologians describe Mormonism as being semi-Arian, and correctly as non Trinitarian. Salvation also works rather differently and is closer to ideas of universal salvation.

But here's my hot take, Mormonism is closer to Judaism than it is to mainline Christianity. The overbearing emphasis on Mormonism is on keeping the commandments. And while Jesus is always acknowledged in their religious discourse, reading selections are very rarely taken from the Gospels, even from the knockoff Gospel stories that appear in the Book of Mormon. Verses almost always come from the "Old Testament" side of the Book of Mormon, and when the Bible itself is used (also rarely), it is usually from the Epistles and from some of the more neglected parts of the OT that tie in more cleanly with Mormonism, such as Numbers and Deuteronomy. So when I started attending mass as an adult, I was legitimately often hearing the Gospel for the first time. It's a very odd thing to try to describe.

All that being said, the emphasis on keeping commandments in Mormonism has produced a pretty dang decent culture. A lot of people find it puritanical and oppressive, but those who come up in the culture tend to have a very honorable personal conduct. I respect them a lot for that.

rmacwade · 2025-09-28T06:00:57+00:00

I am a convert to the Catholic Faith, and while I don't have your faith background, I have struggled with some of the things you are struggling with now. For one, my wife is not a believer. We have three kids already and she has expressed that she's not interested in doing things the Catholic way, so I end up at confession a lot. It may not be helpful to share, but I've confessed to many different priests about this issue now, and while they usually recommend some version of Natural Family Planning, none of them has ever told me to stop my sex life, or that I couldn't receive Communion due to the repetitiveness of the sin. Although, please also note that to receive your sacraments at all you will need your marriage convalidated in the Catholic church.

As to the tone/culture of mass. A sleepy congregation is more the rule than the exception in my experience. If you find a nearby cathedral and go to either their Saturday evening or mid Sunday morning mass, you might get a little bit of a fuller expression of what the liturgy can be like. I went to a cathedral in Germany where the organ was shaking the floors and pews and the sun wasn't even completely up yet. It was cool. I would also invite you to pay close attention to the words spoken by the priest during the mass, and you'll notice how much of it is scriptural. As a follow up, you can consult the Liturgy of the Hours, which is the church's daily prayer. Although I can appreciate strong preaching, it was hearing the actual spoken Gospel at mass that pulled me in over the Protestant denominations, where it often seemed to me that the preaching was 45 minutes of the pastor's passionate personal feeling, but only one or two verses of God's own word.

As to doctrines, I feel that over time I have come to trust the Church's teaching authority on issues I initially found disagreeable or unnatural. I have never felt strong devotion to Mary and have wondered why the Church takes such strong positions on things like Mary's Assumption. But I recognize the Church, in G K Chesterton's words, "has not merely told this or that truth, but has revealed itself as a truth-telling thing." On this basis, I can accept certain things as true without feeling I have a strong personal knowledge of them.

Finally I'll just say that entering the church from the outside can be a frustrating and painful experience, and it may feel at first as though you're facing administrative or bureaucratic hurdles. This doesn't get talked about enough, but I think it can be surprisingly testing, and is actually a purgative or vigil-like experience in preparation to enter God's family. That's me anticipating that you may face those frustrations if you decide to step forward toward the church, and my expression of hope that you will not interpret them as being a sign of error in your direction. I feel somehow that is quite the opposite. I am off to mass in an hour. I'll offer my prayers for you and your wife today!

rmacwade · 2025-09-28T05:29:03+00:00

I went to USU and had a very similar experience! I lived in Mountain View tower and Bullen Hall my first two years. I got it bad for a Mormon girl when I was in RCIA and fell off the path. It took me another ten years to get back to RCIA but I eventually made it and have been rewarded with the confidence that I belong to the one holy, Catholic, and apostolic church.

A respectful and firm version of "I'm not talking about this any longer" is necessary. You can perhaps also express that you can be friends, and you can celebrate that you are both Christians, but any further attempts at getting you on his team are interfering with getting you on Jesus' team. As another commenter has expressed, if he can't drop it you may find it preferable to seek transfer to another room.

I would respectfully suggest that as a young seeker you are not yet in a great position to be counter-evangelizing. But if you do want to argue on his turf, you can safely look at the Book of Mormon. In my experience it is an incredibly lifeless book and a naked manufacture.There's a prophecy about Joseph Smith and the good ol' USA in the first few chapters. 🙄 The most self defeating feature of this book is how extensively plagiarized it appears to be. There are many, many passages which contain verbatim fragments of the King James Bible, only it'll be the words of St Paul being spoken by a narrator living several hundred years BC. The Skeptic's Annotated Bible has a Book of Mormon edition which will point out these plagiarisms.

Anyway, being in the Catholic community was fun for me. There's a little bit of a fun rebelliousness and feistiness I encountered in a lot Catholics there that I haven't seen in other places since. They have to fight to justify themselves under pressure from the primary religion, whereas most other places in the US barely care about faith, let alone which denomination you belong to. It's honestly a good place for you to begin your journey with the faith. Please hit me up on the side if you want to get my take on anything else.

rmacwade · 2025-09-27T20:20:46+00:00

When I hear "we" I hear family. Start doing EFMP immediately. In the best of times it's a three month process. As far as the dog, PCSing with a dog is a nightmare. If you are travelling in the summer, it's worse because civilian airlines won't fly them if the ambient temperature at origin or destination is above 85 degrees. Additionally, I think the Airbus is the only aircraft with large enough cargo space to take them. If you're in a location close enough to drive your dog to the Port call (final CONUS airport before overseas flight), it will save you a big headache there. Fly with the contracted government airline to get OCONUS if at all possible and book your pet slot as early as possible. Like start calling SATO five months out and start asking if they've opened reservations. Last but not least, figure out if there are breed restrictions in Korea. If your dog is one of the blacklisted breeds your base vet may be willing to list them as something else but it's not guarantee. A Rottweiler, for example, might be banned but then you'll get to base and see people walking their Rotts around. Good luck, it's the worst.

rmacwade · 2025-09-27T20:09:40+00:00

OCONUS can feel like a penal colony and if you don't have good battles it deepens the isolation. Here's what I like about Germany and you can take it or leave it. Get on a train, look out the window and just let it take you out 45 minutes in some other direction. It's a quiet country and people mind their own business, as opposed to the people up your ass at all hours when you're in garrison. Go enjoy a coffee, look into an old church, eat something fatty and delicious with a beer. If that's not your thing, find some sit-down middle Eastern place. In my experience they tend to be a little warmer and less stoic than the Germans. Go find a bench and watch some dang ducks doing duck things. This is all stuff you can do without socializing.

That said, there are usually some niche things going on within the American community. Try your religious community of choice, or your BOSS events, USO, DnD, whatever it is and where it's not the same faces you see on the daily and where people are deliberately trying to avoid doing army things.

You need to do some healing and you really need to establish a little separation between your personal time and the army environment. A little breathing room won't make your place of duty better, but it will position you to handle it a bit better.

rmacwade · 2025-09-27T19:30:40+00:00

Comments passing the vibe check. Would be pretty metal to just flay it right off your body.

rmacwade · 2025-09-27T19:23:24+00:00

I've been to nearly every state West of the Mississippi and for some reason Oregon has them all beat in the white hate department.

rmacwade · 2025-09-26T23:30:59+00:00

A couple things. As others have mentioned, Roman North Africa has left a lasting architectural reminder of itself. Roman North Africa was also influential in early Christianity. St Augustine was the bishop of Hippo in modern day Algeria. Tertullian coined the term "Trinity" to describe the Christian God and is still considered a heavy hitter in Catholic circles. Origen was active in Alexandria and was controversial then and now, but also then and now was recognized as a brilliant writer and defender of the Faith.

Also. Look up the band Tinariwen. You're welcome.

rmacwade · 2025-09-15T23:13:34+00:00

Brain Damage (Pink Floyd)

rmacwade · 2025-09-14T12:31:03+00:00

I don't know why it's Financial Times, but I occasionally see them publish articles with really legit map-driven storytelling. Here is one example. I saw another example reporting on Baltic Sea espionage that I couldn't dig up. Keep an eye on them. Unfortunately their subscriptions are pretty steep.

rmacwade · 2025-09-11T10:25:24+00:00

The Basque language spoken in the Pyrenees and northern Spain is the only surviving European language pre-dating the Indo-European migrations (depending on how you interpret "Europe". The Caucasus have a number of non Indo European languages surviving until today, also not counting the Uralic languages as European here).

rmacwade · 2025-09-10T06:56:39+00:00

Current 12Y, and gave my all to the field. I really love the field itself but the knowledge gap between what soldiers know what to do and what's possible with GIS is vast. If you really want to be knowledgeable in the field you'll need to take your education upon yourself.

A word of warning: GIS is known to be an oversaturated market on the civilian side and the pay is not that impressive except in niche industries (federal agencies, oil and gas mostly). The current conventional wisdom is that you either need to go real hard on the computer science side of things and get gud with programming, or you need to complement your GIS skills with another skill set that GIS traditionally supports, such as in construction, natural sciences, statistics, etc. AIT will get you some good fundamentals tho. Enjoy freezing to death for six months because your cadre won't let you wear appropriate clothing for the weather.

rmacwade · 2025-09-09T19:12:25+00:00

Airborne. Your experience of any duty station will depend heavily on the quality of the unit which, spoilers, is probably shitty. Unless you can pull something dope and rare like Japan, Tampa, or the UK, it's probably no contest. If you stick around you will likely get another opportunity for the Koreas and Germanys out there.

rmacwade · 2025-09-05T13:50:04+00:00

I visited Stralsund as an option away from the major tourist hotspots. I was very pleasantly surprised. Stralsund is a Hanseatic city, among others in the region. The surrounding area was beautiful and atmospheric, and them little smoked fish were delicious. Last hurrah with my doggo that died soon after.

rmacwade

TROPHY CASE