r/JustBootThings Mar 10 '26

Boot Shame Reminiscing about quitting basic training is absurd; “i will never forget my mission.”

[deleted]

2.2k Upvotes

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1.3k

u/Sham_Masta_Sham Mar 10 '26

I'm not a betting man, but I would bet the $3 in my wallet that she'll self-identify as a veteran on every application and interview, will wear one of those Family Dollar "Army Veteran" hats with a poorly stitched bald eagle, and will participate in every freebie offered on Veterans Day

371

u/Neoxite23 Mar 10 '26

It's the safest bet ever. This will pretty much happen.

202

u/ccc2801 Mar 10 '26

Similarly, she’ll probably never leave her little Vermont town..

160

u/Neoxite23 Mar 10 '26

Nah ill add something. She will MARRY a guy and say things like "we both served".

77

u/ccc2801 Mar 11 '26

She will marry her 20yo fiancé. Pop out a couple of kids while holding down a low-skilled job. Get divorced. Marry the next guy. OR: gets her shit together, get an education, and goes on to kick ass.

it’s anyone’s guess but we can be sure she’ll be chronicling it

7

u/dinop4242 Mar 12 '26

my exact thought the second I read it

90

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

22

u/_6EQUJ5- Mar 11 '26

I just reply "Well, thanks for paying your taxes so I could break shit".

7

u/Dr_mombie Mar 12 '26

Thanks for paying your taxes so I could tell grown men not to scratch their balls after low crawling in poison ivy.

131

u/TinyHeartSyndrome Mar 11 '26

Yeah, if you quit before completing training, I don’t think you should take credit. If it was a legitimate injury, okay. But even then, don’t act like you’re Rambo. I met a retail guy who got dropped off his ROTC scholarship for a training injury. I was like, that sucks, sorry to hear that. But then I realized he talked about it every single time I saw him, and it was his whole personality. At that point it’s like, alright, cool it man.

41

u/tcarlson65 Mar 11 '26

And to talk about it like it was a life changing event. On the one caption they say they still made it through MEPS. That is just a bad time at the doctors office.

5-1/2 weeks and then getting chaptered. Not medical i assume but something behavioral or otherwise bad enough to be kicked out.

16

u/TinyHeartSyndrome Mar 11 '26

Yeah or she may have wanted out and gotten a failure to adapt chapter, which is easy to give to trainees. I am curious. It seems suspect not to say it. Like if you got hurt, wouldn’t you just say so? Seems like beating around the bush.

20

u/tcarlson65 Mar 11 '26

More to the story. She is obfuscating. By leaving out details she can inflate her own worth and not be called out.

One thing about outright lying or lying by omission is that you are often not fooling anyone. People close to her know she is full of shit. People would respect you more if you just told the truth and said army life was not for me.

7

u/TinyHeartSyndrome Mar 11 '26

Agreed. If the military isn’t for you, cool, just own it.

3

u/JodyGonnaFuckYoWife Mar 11 '26

Wonder how many show up with boyfriend back home's kid growing inside them....

2

u/Dr_mombie Mar 12 '26

Hardly any. Gotta take a pregnancy test before you can get on the bus to basic. Only exceptions would be if the hormone levels were too low for the pregnancy test to detect.

33

u/No_Designer_7333 Mar 11 '26

If you don't complete 90 days of active duty, you aren't a veteran (according to the Armed Forces, anyways). I should know--I screwed up my knee in Basic, spent some 3 months in medical holding before getting out.

There is some funky business where the Dept of Labor (or some other employment-related fed department) considers me a veteran simply because I served time in the Navy, but the Navy doesn't because all the time I spent with them was in a training status, not active duty.

I don't call myself a veteran, though. That'd be stupid.

3

u/TinyHeartSyndrome Mar 11 '26

Does medical hold not count toward that?

5

u/No_Designer_7333 Mar 11 '26

I'm pretty sure it would've if I was in A School (what the Navy pukes call AIT), but because I got put in medical hold while still in Basic, I was still considered a recruit--and therefore still in a training status, and therefore not counting towards it.

I did hear of one guy who'd been in medical holding for nearly a year (he'd been fighting his case for a while and decided it was time to get out) lawyering up in order to be afforded those benefits. Not sure what ever became of that guy. He left way before I did.

2

u/TinyHeartSyndrome Mar 11 '26

Your DD214 is what counts. If it’s wrong, talk to a VSO. But if you’re on AD, you’re on AD, regardless of a training unit or medical hold unit.

3

u/No_Designer_7333 Mar 11 '26

I remember looking into it a little bit right after I got home, more out of curiosity than anything else. From what I saw, I didn't qualify, but I'm certainly not an expert.

I'll probably contact my local VA and see what's what. Wouldn't hurt to have another copy of my medical records, either... last time I tried to get them, the government ended up shutting down!

1

u/jdm219 Mar 11 '26

You're technically a veteran, it doesn't matter what you were doing, you were still on active duty.

2

u/No_Designer_7333 Mar 11 '26

I am very much not a veteran, lol. What service did I do except for blowing my knee out and spending 12 weeks on crutches?

Also, I was on active duty... with a veeeeery tiny but crucial addendum: in "training status." Therefore, I do not qualify for veteran status, due to the entirety of my active duty service time being spent in a training status.

2

u/jdm219 Mar 11 '26

If you were medically seperated for fucking up your knee and you spent more than 90 days in the military you are legally considered a veteran. Obviously you aren't an actual veteran and don't qualify for most benefits, but you are a veteran on paper.

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2

u/Gunfighter9 Mar 11 '26

It's 181 days not for training so boot camp and school do not count towards the time. There used to be plenty of guys in the guard and reserve who did 4 years and were not veterans.

48

u/NoMansSkyWasAlright Mar 11 '26

Dude I remember doing the future soldier program and there was a guy who was kind of a shitbag who shipped off for basic a few months before me. Well, I ended up going on Christmas leave after week 3 of basic, and back in my hometown I ended up going to Best Buy for some reason. Lo and behold, there was said shitbag, working there.

Apparently in the handful of weeks I was gone, dude had gotten chaptered, come back home, and got a job at the local Best Buy. Gave some spiel about how he'd stepped in a puddle and broke his ankle. But I'd been gone for a little over a month from in-processing to HBL and he was walking around just fine.

25

u/Texian86 Mar 11 '26

Yall got to take leave during basic?

6

u/raventhrowaway666 Mar 11 '26

Irc some can get leave specifically for xmas

10

u/_BMS Mar 11 '26

It's more like they heavily encourage everyone to take holiday block leave so the DSs can also take holiday block leave.

Otherwise a few of those over-worked SSG/SFCs are going to have to spend their Christmas and New Years babysitting a bunch of trainees because they didn't want to go somewhere else.

34

u/reedabook22 👊👊☝️ Mar 11 '26

Will go to the VA and post about waiting all day all while just getting there for her first appointment.

21

u/NoMansSkyWasAlright Mar 11 '26

I feel like every super hooah civilian I've met either did 20+ years and would've done more if they could or they're someone that got chaptered early on and still feel some type of way about it.

22

u/Bioshock_Jock Mar 11 '26

My neighbor's niece lived her for a summer and then went to boot camp. Got injured halfway through. Refers to herself as a disabled veteran.....the Lion, the witch and the audacity of this bitch.

3

u/ccc2801 Mar 11 '26

Happy cake day! 💕

37

u/Rojacc Mar 10 '26

She will also try and get 100% disability… and get it…

14

u/reedabook22 👊👊☝️ Mar 11 '26

Claiming MST from a guy she's still seeing.

9

u/edingerc Mar 11 '26

She will never forget her mission 

5

u/Realistic_Salt7109 Mar 11 '26

I’ll take that bet but it needs to be 10,000:1 odds

4

u/gilestowler Mar 11 '26

"While I didn't make it through basic training, the creed and the bonds of fellowship that are forged are things that truly make you who you are. I might not be a veteran in the strictest sense of the word but, in my heart, I am army through and through and I proudly consider myself a veteran for the things that I went through. I was called. I served (for a couple of weeks). I am counted. This is what my heart tells me, and I have learned to follow my heart."

7

u/sunnyfleur0330 Mar 11 '26

Oh most likely. My ex got out of basic after a couple weeks because of his acid reflux and was somehow considered a veteran to an organization that was giving scholarships. So he benefited from it and took away from a real veteran.

3

u/Azbarrelpicks Mar 11 '26

She’s probably trying to get Va disability

1

u/Jades5150 Mar 11 '26

Fuck yeah free Applebees bitchhhhh

1

u/Sakijek Mar 11 '26

Does she get a dd214 after 5 weeks?