Basic Training FEMALES..

[militarygirl]

okay so im due to join basic training in march 2014 i'll be 17 and obviously im a FEMALE.
i'm pretty exited but some questions keep bugging me and i was wondering if you could answer these questions for me SERIOUSLY. it would be so helpful

1. how long do women get to use the shower for?
2. how do women deal with 'periods' whilst in training?
3. are you allowed subtle make-up? (im self conscious lol)
4. do you get time to shave yourself whilst there (down below/under arms etc)
5. what are the shower stalls like ( i know where all women but do we get privacy?)

and before people rant at me ' i know they'll be times where i have to get 'down and dirty' and wont be able to wash (camping/drills mud crawls etc)

[Hyperlithe]

I can only tell you what it was like for me 9 years ago...

1. how long do women get to use the shower for? Depends - after PT approximately 3 minutes. And there were only about 4 shower heads and 12 of us that needed to get through, so you have to kind of leave the inhibitions at the door. You'll be concentrating on getting through and back outside fast enough to not get shouted at though, so you won't have time to worry about it, and after the first time you get a blasting for taking too long it won't even cross your mind. In the barrack block you can take longer, but you still won't want to take too long as you'll have a lot of jobs to do and kit to get ready for inspections etc.
2. how do women deal with 'periods' whilst in training? You just kind of get on with it. If you're worried go for a 'belt and braces' effect. The staff have seen a lot of female recruits, they know women can't do anything about their biology. Just be grown-up about it. You're not going to get any slack on PT because of the time of the month.
3. are you allowed subtle make-up? (im self conscious lol) No. Don't worry, everyone else is in the exact same boat, and you won't have time to think about it! You'll be surprised how much less your appearance matters to you by the time you finish basic training, other than in an 'Am I smart enough for inspection?' kind of way!
4. do you get time to shave yourself whilst there (down below/under arms etc) At weekends...
5. what are the shower stalls like ( i know where all women but do we get privacy?) For us the ones at the gym were communal but the ones in the barrack block weren't. I refer you back to answer 1 though!

It's all a bit of a shock to the system to start with, but there's going to be a whole bunch of you going through it all together, and you'll help each other through. When it's all over you'll look back on it and realise you enjoyed it, but while you're actually going through it it feels like it's awful. Make sure you know how to do laundry, ironing, cleaning etc before you go - sounds silly but there was one 21 yr old with me who'd never done any of that before because her mum did it all for her, and it meant that we all had to help her with her stuff as well as getting our own done...

[Tab]

A slightly different topic than the normal one, and at least she got a decent reply

[Hyperlithe]

Nice for me to actually be useful occasionally eh Tab!

[mike.dt]

There was so much opportunity for a blasting there and you resisted it, well done Hyperlithe

When I was in basic there were 8 showers in our block, and 40 men to get through them. So everyone got in the cubicles together, 2-3 in one shower stall at a time. You'd rather that than the beasting you'd get if you were late back onto parade. It was a clusterf**k.

Lads are wired up differently though. This was in 2008.

[Hyperlithe]

I'm in the RAF, joined up in 2004. We had mixed intakes, but separate blocks, so I guess we were quite lucky there were only 12 of us!
I'm going to be going through it all over again in Officer training next year though - it's going to be much harder second time round!

I'd never give anyone a blasting for asking genuine questions, although a lot of what gets asked on here could easily be answered by using the Search button...
This place was a godsend to me when I was in the process of joining up, and through training, so it's great for me to be able to do the same for someone else if I can. They'll get enough grief once they're in, why put them through it in advance!

[mike.dt]

I agree, well said