In my book The Ultimate Basic Training Guidebook, I devote
an entire chapter to Battle Buddies. In basic training, your
Drill Sergeants will assign you a battle buddy. If you ask
anyone who has been through basic training about their battle
buddy, 99 percent of them will tell you their first name,
last name and probably some other details such as their birthday
or the number of brothers and sisters they have.
Your battle buddy
will most likely be a different race, ethnicity, or age from
you. The Drill Sergeants want you to be able to work closely
with someone from a different background. Race, ethnicity,
and age are superficialities that will not matter when completing
a mission. You will be responsible for how your battle buddy
looks, acts, performs, etc., and vice versa. Your battle buddy
will be someone you will never forget, so make a conscious
effort to be tolerant toward that individual. Most likely,
those who have a helpful battle buddy will have had a much
easier time at basic training.
Before every formation,
make sure your battle buddy has all the necessary equipment
(e.g. paperwork, writing utensil, canteen, etc.). Every recruit
has a bout of depression, anger, or stress that may last a
few hours or even a few weeks. Make sure you recognize your
battle buddies change of emotions. Picking up his or her slack
during times of high stress will be much appreciated when
it is your turn to have these bouts of emotion. Don't get
in the habit of doing your battle buddies work for them, when
you get frustrated with your extra chores, the Drill Sergeant
will be of little value to you when resolving disputes such
as those. Simply learn to recognize when to help your battle
buddy out and when to ask for help.
The benefits of
having a battle buddy greatly outweigh not having one. Essentially,
your battle buddy is an extra set of eyes and ears. Suppose
you have to go to sick call for the day. When you return,
your battle buddy can fill you in on everything you missed.
Now lets suppose your Drill Sergeant just got finished giving
you 10 sentences of instructions. You might retain 8 of those
10 sentences. Your battle buddy also retained 8 of those 10
sentences. Odds are, the both of you didn't miss the same
2 sentences. So, together you absorbed all the instructions.
There is strength in numbers, and the battle buddy program
proves this. www.ultimatebasictraining.com
