Not fit for RTC
 

Do some recruits actually show up for RTC not physically prepared? Are they usually sorted out and eventually shipped home? I mean I've heard of people not preparing themselves for the physical aspect and i just wondered how they could make such a huge life decision and hope for the best.

Honestly out of a normal division about 60-80% arent bootcamp fit. Its bootcamp, going prepared is fine but the point of it is to rebuild you. If you come across like its to easy then prepare to kiss the floor.

Probably one of the more ignorant things that I've heard. Come prepared, not cocky, and boot camp will be all the easier. There are a lot of people who come unprepared, and there is no excuse for that. On average a person has months beinging DEP, and months before that knowing that the Navy is their goal. I understand that people come from all different backgrounds and skill levels, but I also understand that the military is not for everyone. If you have months to prepare and either can not or will not do so, then you probably do not deserve to serve I the worlds greatest Navy.

It's a lot less stressful if you can just do the PT and IT sessions easily. That way screwing up and getting "punished" isn't as big of a deal lolol.

The only people that have excuses are the ones that get ship dates with less then a month. But yes, if you come to bootcamp, especially as an e-1, unprepared for it, then you are making life a lot harder then it needs to be.

But yes, if you come to Rtc in extremely terrible physical or mental shape, then they will separate you and ship you home. We had one female that was separated from us during the first week after p-days. We were running and she could not finish the first lap (physically unprepared) and refused to try (mentally unprepared). This caused her to be separated. There was no point in trying with her since she didn't want to help herself.

We did have people though that when we did our initial pfa not even finish the run. And then was able to graduate the week after the division because he finally got his run time down to 1230.

I will say that I went in 100% physically unprepared for bootcamp. My first 1.5 mile lap time on the initial PFA was about 18:00 - it was bad. But the Navy plans for that. If you are strong willed, and not a quitter - then you can definitely make it. They have a whole PT matrix prepared and it works. By the time I graduated I did my 1.5 in 13:15 (needed 13:30 to pass) - and got 70-ish sit-ups and 50 pushups. My numbers on those in the beginning were pretty bad, too. I remember about a week before the final PFA they said I was talking while we were doing an inspection practice and gave me a solo, middle of the compartment, spot ITE. To this day I believe they did it because they knew I needed another push to get ready for the PFA. And when the final PFA run came, your RDC's come out there and run too to motivate you (you're not really allowed to motivate eachother) - there were 3 of us in the division who were the only ones that like were on the edge of passing, including me. They ran with us specifically the whole run. I would probably be in FIT if it wasn't for them.

Just never give up. That will work wonders. And go hard when they PT you, they WILL motivate you, but you have to motivate yourself too.

Thanks for the info! Quite inspirational, really!

The physical standards of Navy boot camp are a joke so there's that. The CFLs don't even check your form and most of them are RDCs who got dropped from C school anyway lol.

If you are not active duty as your status says you are a depper, most RDC's I know and have known are at least E5 and above...no boot is not as intense as the army or marine boot, but most sailors are not out in the battle field on foot either...be careful what you claim as most times you will find you are wrong if you have not been there yet.

After this report, you can bet eyes are on form now...

I'm curious on how that is going to affect the newer divisions. Not going to confirm nor deny that my RDCs pushed hard with the "no buddy ****ers" thing lol

There is no more of the "No Buddy Effers" mentality - at least not in my division there wasn't from the RDCs. Of course we all said it after taps. But - they definitely have cracked down a lot. There is a staff of about 12-15 people walking around while you do your push-ups/sit-ups and they are checking for form and counting. They have people at the top counting too. We had 2 people get asmoded 2 weeks for cheating (added 11 push-ups) and we had some fail on form as well.
The PT isn't as hard if you are already relatively fit. But for people who the PT Matrix is designer for (people like myself who were completely unfit) the PT they do works great.

Dang they really did change. Push ups and sit ups are easy for me, but I suck at running. Always have been. Basic didn't prepare me well for running either. I'm glad my command has every option available for the run part lol You can swim it, bike it, run it (Track or treadmill are options you can choose), or do it on the elliptical.

Brother Div's RDC would come in before each pfa and say, "who here has been certified to count pushups? So how do you know if he or she did a correct push-up? So count every attempt. But remember your RTC Maxim." And then he would make us repeat our maxim to us but reillerate that we weren't certified to count pushups. And then leave.

Hahahahaha that sounds like something that was said to us as well. RDCs are amusing