I joined the Army because the Marines lost my paperwork consecutively for two years, I don't like ships, and the Air Force had a line out the door. Infantry so my basic training was OSUT (One Station Unit Training). I didn't do basic and then go elsewhere to be trained in my chosen MOS or profession, it was all one solid go-through. It's odd, I'm in the same platoon now as two of my buddies from basic training, and one is even in my squad. I have four more buddies that ended up here but they are either in another unit or another company of the same unit. I had some great times in basic but I also had some extremely terrible times in basic. I tried my best to not get noticed in basic training because playing daddy to like six other recruits and helping to make sure their bad habits were kicked and they turned into good soldiers. It wasn't mentally as challenging as I thought it'd be. The most mentally challenging thing was keeping your discipline when getting smoked for something one Drill Sergeant told you to do but the other didn't know you were told to do it. NCOs on up often contradicted each other, but when trying to train two hundred and twenty new recruits you'll get that. The most difficult part of basic training was trying to get along with the fifty something odd people from various backgrounds you'll find in your platoon. Often times if you absolutely hate basic and want out of it, the fastest way out is to graduate. That's what we were told from the beginning and I didn't realize how true it was until recycles from previous iterations and classes six months or eight months before kept getting dropped into our platoon. It didn't suck nearly as bad as I expected but I come from a more Marine family so I was expecting the worst of the worst of the Marines you see on Youtube. Your Drill Sergeants are people too, and they just want to make good soldiers (and probably get out of Benning). Basic training is, in a sense, simply there to teach you who's in charge and has authority and get you in shape. As far as physically demanding goes I couldn't do forty pushups, thirty situps and ran an eighteen forty-three two mile run when I went in. That increased to sixty-one pushups, sixty-one situps, and a thirteen thirty-nine two mile by the last PT test. My absolute worst time in basic, and probably my life, was carrying my fifty pound ruck, a SAW, a 240 tripod mount, and an M4 on the twelve mile ruck WITH a slipped disk in my back (I couldn't sit upright under my own will with no weight), shin splints, a shoulder sprain, and a stress fracture in my left foot near the toes. Painful as shit. Here's the thing. I went into basic quitting everything I've ever done. School, Work, Exercise, etc... but I came out more motivated to do better in absolutely everything I do. I don't quit now and I can't thank the Army enough for beating it into me. TL;DR 10/10 Most fun you never want to have again.