Medication. Over-the-counter medication is not allowed in basic training. If you bring any with you, it will be taken away. All prescription medication will be re-evaluated by a military doctor upon arrival. If the doctor determines that the prescription is necessary, the civilian medication will be taken away, and the recruit will be re-issued the medication by the military pharmacy. This includes birth control pills (for women). Women are usually encouraged to continue taking birth control pills during basic training, if they took them before going to basic, to ensure that their systems maintain their regular cycle.
Pictures. Here's another tip from Casey: After initial clothing issue, you have to lay out everything you brought with you to basic on your bed. The blue ropes and section supervisors come in and go through your stuff checking for contraband, etc. prior to locking up your civiilan luggage. The tip is to leave your pictures at home until after the "shakedown." After that, have your girlfriend, boyfriend, significant other send you their picture, once zero week is over. That way, only your T.I. has to see it, and not all the blue ropes and section supervisors when they do the shakedown. They gave some guys in my flight a hard time when the went through the pictures. "Is this your girlfriend????!!! You know she's at home dating someone else right???!!"
I'm often asked what females do during their (to put it politely) "time of the month," at basic training. The answer is nothing different. Pads and tampons are readily available, and women use them and continue with training. Bathroom breaks are given often enough that changing pads/tampons are not a problem. Many women report that they don't have a cycle during their entire time at basic training, due to the high levels of activity and stress. The thing to remember is that thousands of women have been to basic before you, and they survived just fine.
Smoking If you smoke or chew tobacco, you're going to be quitting (at least for a couple of months). You'll not be allowed to smoke or chew during the entire tour of Basic Training You also won't be allowed to smoke or chew tobacco at tech school while on base, or while in uniform. Considering you are restricted to base for your first 30 or so days of technical training (see Technical School Training Restrictions), this means tobacco won't be available to you for at least two and one half months.
Banking Information and Your Military Pay. You should set up a bank account (either savings or checking) before you depart.
Direct Deposit is mandatory for military pay. You should already have a bank account set up before you leave for basic training, and bring your account information and an ATM/debit card with you. If you don't have an account set up, one of the first things the staff will do is require you to establish an account at the base credit union or base bank.
During your in-processing, you will complete paperwork to begin your military pay. Military personnel are paid on the 1st and 15th of each month. If those days fall on a non-duty day, you are paid on the duty day, preceding. Your pay is direct-deposited into your bank account.
So, when will you receive your first paycheck? Good question, and one that can't be answered accurately. In general, if your military pay information is entered into the Finance Computer System prior to the 7th of the month, you'll receive your first paycheck on the following 15th. If the information is entered into the Finance Computer System after the 7th of the month, but prior to the 23rd of the month, you'll receive your first paycheck on the following 1st. However, please note that the date you fill out the paperwork during in-processing and the date the information is input into the Finance Computer System are not the same dates. A Finance Clerk is going to take the paperwork you filled out, and enter it into the Computer. However, the clerk is entering the information of hundreds of other recruits at the same time, so it may take several days before yours gets entered. I always advise people to estimate that the first paycheck won't be deposited until a full 30 days after arrival. That way, if you're paid before that, it's an unexpected surprise, and if it takes the entire 30 days, it's what you were expecting anyway.
