Originally Posted by Avante

CR, first of all thanks for the post and I will try long distance running like you advised, as for my age my stamina is shocking :( (girlfriend away for 5weeks does not help)
The main thing I'm trying to avoid is if I pass selection in the first place, getting to phase 1 and it being the biggest shock of my life with how physically demanding it is, of course it will be its the British Army but if i can reduce the shock slightly I might not have Corporals screaming in my ears and calling me a big puff! :D
Probably the stupidest question I will ever ask; why is my PTI demanding I do 60 pressups 70 situps minimum when as far as i'm aware at ADSC you don't even do them, just the gym tests and the run? (happy to be corrected on this)

Also, perhaps a more abstract question CR and others who wish to offer advice. I've never had discipline in my life, although I am well behaved - is there anyway at all I can pshychologically prepare myself for PHASE 1?
Any hints and tips to toughen myself up?
Don't want to fall at the first hurdle is all

And CR, i'm so glad i haven't been cyber-bullied in over a week :D

-Zak

All good things come to those who wait.......

Very insightful reply GIAO
I will take your advice on board!
I did not think my spelling and grammar was that bad, but apologies and I will work on it!
-Zak

Bound_Apprentice :O
My worst nightmare :'(
go easy on me!

Only kidding - Glad's right about many things and you would do well to pay heed to his wise words.

As for me, I am no longer in any position to harm you - other than verbally.

If I am honest I am somewhat charmed by the exuberance of youth and lack of cynicism you display. The former will fortify you on the long, twisted route to the latter. I hope you enjoy the journey!

And make sure you keep photo evidence of your memories so you cannot get hijacked years later by people that remember more than you! (Yes, I mean you Eye Spy).

And there was Mr Parker my Politics teacher accusing me of being cynnical :D
Thanks Bound_Apprentice! I just want to show that there are still decent, educated, moral school-leaving 18 year olds, and we are not all tracksuit wearing dole dossers.
When/where did you serve Bound? Just interested more than anything!

PM if you like

-Zak

Originally Posted by Avante

And there was Mr Parker my Politics teacher accusing me of being cynnical :D
Thanks Bound_Apprentice! I just want to show that there are still decent, educated, moral school-leaving 18 year olds, and we are not all tracksuit wearing dole dossers.
When/where did you serve Bound? Just interested more than anything!

PM if you like

-Zak

Zak re my second point in my last post - Get fecked! I was trying to gently encourage you, not asking to climb into a maggot with you for a reacharound. It will take more than one snotty, sycophantic, pubescent teacher's pet to convince me that teenagers are not all complete, prize-winning c.units!

PM me Arrse!

Whooooaaaaaa there fuzzy little man peach! You have encouraged me wise owl, but can I speak to your alter-ego he is nicer to me :(
Be right back need to find sycophantic in the dictionary.... Ah! I wasn't trying to flatter myself I just despise chavs and hence use them as an example of scum. And i'm 18 I am a MAN :D okay...maybe not quite!
You win
And how do I know if I PM you, you will be nice and not flaming like a forest fire?!
-Zak

Originally Posted by Avante

Also, perhaps a more abstract question CR and others who wish to offer advice. I've never had discipline in my life, although I am well behaved - is there anyway at all I can pshychologically prepare myself for PHASE 1?
Any hints and tips to toughen myself up?
Don't want to fall at the first hurdle is all

yep.

get used to the fact that it's all a bit of a game. don't get disheartened. it's not personal, it's just part of the process. your kit will not be good enough, no matter how good it is. your "best effort" in PT will not be good enough unless you have a heart attack as you cross the finish line. you will, as every recruit before you, be a member of a squad which is "the most useless fucking shower i've ever laid eyes on in XX years in the Army."

you will be told to do things which make no sense or have no purpose (that you can see). in fact, the purpose of all this is to get you used to obeying orders immediately, without question or hesitation. when you've been broken down to that level, you can start contributing in the army.

no matter how stupid, just do it. don't roll your eyes, don't groan, and most important of all - don't jack. don't give up. the DS will be more impressed with you if you keep going till you end up on a drip in hospital. you will learn new limits you didn't know you had. you'll break your own mental barriers and go far beyond them.

we had a ginger pussy in our squad who uttered the immortal words "i can't do it Corporal!" in his whiney scouse voice. so they let him jack and we watched him pack his kit, thinking "what a fucking fanny, it's only ten weeks." can still remember him over 19 years later. we even had one guy who jacked on the first evening when we were told to do 50 pushups by our chunkie platoon sergeant. obviously didn't really want to be in the army - what sort of fanny gives up because of a few pushups?

no matter how shite you are, no matter how knackered you are, just don't ever give in. you don't have to be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. you just have to put in 100% effort. keep plugging away and get a reputation as someone with a bit of determination about them.

you want to prepare? go for your normal run. then when you're finished and totally knackered, just about to go in for a shower, tell yourself "right, now do another mile." no excuses, just fucking do it. ditto pressups etc. done 100 pushups? satisfied with yourself? do another 50. why? because you've been told to. just do it. you'll start to develop a bit of mental toughness. anyone can do it when it's easy; mental toughness comes when you're utterly fucked, on your chinstraps, ready to give up.

of course, it can get silly. i wound up running for about 3 hours one night, because every time i "finished", i kept telling myself "do one more lap!". what can i say - i was a bit daft in those days. could run at 7 minute mile pace for ever though ;)




p.s. "swing the lamp" time. our squad was pretty fit - we broke the records (at the time) for various physical events. think we got a bit big for our boots, because the DS decided to bring us down to earth with an almighty bump. our two evil PTIs (T "Facking" B and SR) beasted us to death in the gym one morning. no warning, but the second we walked in the gym we knew we were in trouble. the malevolence was hanging in the air.

several of the squad puked - if you couldn't make it out the door in time, the form was to puke inside your PT vest so you didn't spew on the gym floor. we crawled out of the gym and scurried back to the block ("ten seconds to get out of our sight, GO!!!!"). one of the worst beastings i've ever had. we're getting changed for showers etc and see out of the window that T "Facking" B is walking in the direction of the block. did we hide? did we bollocks - we stuck "I feel good" (james brown) on the boogiebox at full volume for him to hear, with us all singing along. he kinda smiled to himself and walked off to training wing. if you could have read his mind, it probably said "cheeky fuckers" with a bit of pride thrown in.

ok, that wasn't a very interesting story. but hopefully, you get the point. be lions, not mice

Farkin' 'ell CR, did you take a breath while doing all that?

Think your squad must av come before mine because 111 was the best ever at everything - we never puked until late at night when no-one could see us.

Well, at least that would explain the state of our ablutions every morning!

126 matey.

do you remember the section competition we had to do?

* BFT, finishing at the gym
* between the section, pick up variety of gym equipment and carry it 400m (around the square and back to the gym). it was things like those heavy green gym mats with the handles, a log, some tyres, medicine balls etc.
* run down to the assault course next to rowcroft
* either 3 or 5 times over the assault course (can't remember)
* run back to the gym as a section and over the line

the standing record was something like 37 mins. our section won it in something like 31 minutes, and all three of our sections beat the existing record.

think we were just lucky as a squad - the jackers all quit, and we were left with no passengers, so everyone was pretty fit and determined. in fact, we didn't have any problems with PT until the transferees and re-allocations arrived after basic.

we had one guy who reallocated from the signals. banged on about what he'd done, juniors etc... couldn't pass a BFT if he was in a fucking ferrari. at the end of the trade course, on the D&D phase, you had to pass a BFT on day one. everyone passed except him - he took about 12 minutes. so instead of having a fairly relaxed start each morning, we had to all get up every morning for an extra 0600hrs BFT until he passed.

everybody else had the tick in the box. all we had to do was get fatty round. only rule from the PTIs was - we were not allowed to touch him. cue him doing a BFT every morning, with dozens of guys egging him on and beasting him. on the wednesday, he gave up and walked for about ten paces, despite our yelling at him to keep running. he crossed the line in 10:31 - fail by one second.

we discussed doing a "full metal jacket" motivational session on him after that.

failed again thursday, finally passed on friday morning by about five seconds. personally, i think that if you can't pass a BFT at the age of 19, having been in the army for a while... you should seriously consider a change of career. because it only gets harder every year