Anyone know about Army/NZDF training?

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

Thanks for starting this thread FellowshipOfTheRon, very helpful for people going through the defence force application process. Sorry to hear about your injuries.

I was wondering if you could give us a breakdown of what the basic training is like these days? I want to get into an early morning routine now to get prepared for basic training if my application is successful. So it would be awesome if you could let us know what the morning schedule is like? Wake time, PT time, breakfast time, time for showering and shaving?

I especially want to get my body used to doing PT either before or after eating in the morning? I'm guessing they do PT before eating? Also, what does morning PT usually involve? Cheers.

 

Hey Chur, not home at the moment but briefly the schedule is like this. it changes a little throughout basic, the time you get for morning routines really tightens up and the standards for things like bedroll/consistency between recruits gets really high. ps pretty much all the below must be performed without making any noise, no talking to be heard by the NCOs.. if you're talking they'll "assume" everythings done and call everyone to stand fast for inspection.. then you get to start the day with a bunch of pushups lol

0545 - 0600

- toilet/shower/shave/brush/

- do your bed (hardest part is the bedroll), iron the pillow sleeves for inspection

- be dressed sharply with fully ironed uniform. burn any loose threads

- room cleaned including rubbish bin empty, no dust particles or lint to be found anywhere in room or on your clothing

0600 - 6.20

- cleaning of toilets 'ablutions', showers, hallway etc. : brasso the pipes, clean & dry sinks.. no drips of water to be found anywhere!, empty all bins, mop/BUFF the floors, outside barracks to be clean too... no leaves anywhere, perfectly raked soil, broomed up the pathways all clear of debris

06.20

- stand to attention on parade grounds in correct formation

- inspections of everyones attire, inspection of barracks.

- some drill

06.30-0700 (the amount of time you get to actually eat is like 10-15mins because the queue and some time wasted getting punished on the way to the mess)

- quickly eat, no talking etc.

- get back outside in formation to march back to barracks

0705 prepare for PT

- sharply iron PT shirt/shorts.

- your PT sneakers better be clean and look like brand new.. no grass or mud to be found on them

- change in to pt gear (shirt/shorts/cap/pt socks/pt sneakers), no watch or anything else.

- fill up the 1L canteen (drink bottle) with water, MUST be full all the way up. if the PTOs catch

- wait silently on parade grounds

0715 'double' to the gymnasium

0720 - stand as required for PT inspection. usually involves something like holding up your drink bottle perfectly parallel to the ground for 10mins while waiting for everyone to be inspected. if you're caught lowering it too much or changing hands you'll be pulled out for some form of punishment like having to run somewhere few hundred meters away and back within 30 seconds and if you don't make it, do it again until you do.. if your shirt isn't ironed perfectly or some lint found or anything you'll start out with a bunch of punishments. if they shake your drink bottle and hear water shaking in there then you get punished too so it's important to fill all the way to the top lol.

the actual training varies, in the first couple weeks its really just heaps of running. hill running, 5km, 8km runs etc. you have to be able to keep running for ages without ever stopping otherwise you'll be punished for lack of discipline. eventually you get in to some cirtcuit type training like burpees, pushups, squats, etc. then it gets to more specific type training.

 

best thing you can do to prepare really is discipline yourself. get up soon as 0545 do your bed with the hospital corners, shower/shave/toilet/brush REAL quick , get down your breakfast real quick for the day and go out for some training. yeah its hard to keep the food in but you quickly realise how important that food is.. if you spew it out or skip breakfast because training makes ou feel sick then you won't have energy to make it through rest of the day.  for PT stuff just join some circuit training programs at your gym, crossfit is quite a popular choice but you can't go wrong as long as you get used to heaps of running and learn to look after your feet (taping them, using powder, keeping them dry/airing them out when you get the chance)

 

[Pseudonym]

not home at the moment but briefly...

KUTGW, FOTR.

[AZIDE]

good thread. military sounds fucking gay though

[DIANABOL]

 

[shane]

Just do it dont worry about it, you will pick up the routines in know time. 

[pyro]

Just do it dont worry about it, you will pick up the routines in know time. 

Completely agree with this. Regardless of how good you are, you generally get punished as a group anyway, and theres always plenty of people that screw up, so you are always in for a good time

Timings and the routine is something you will pick up on pretty quickly anyway.

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

Just do it dont worry about it, you will pick up the routines in know time. 

Completely agree with this. Regardless of how good you are, you generally get punished as a group anyway, and theres always plenty of people that screw up, so you are always in for a good time

Timings and the routine is something you will pick up on pretty quickly anyway.

definately agree with these guys, the above i listed was really just an FYI. to keep it simple just do lots of running and pushups to prepare and strive to maintain high levels of discipline in whatever you do.

[pyro]

Great post anyway Fotr, real good look into the full morning routine. Brought back a few memories lol.

 

Thankfully back then I was still a baby face and barely needed to shave once a week let alone every day, so I could get away with doing it the night before just to be safe, and save me time in the morning.

[ChurBro]

Thanks for that FellowshipOfTheRon. It's good to have some idea of what I'm getting myself into. Sounds pretty intense but I'm sure it's great character building. Can't wait! :-D

[shane]

Just go in fit, the rest you pickup and learn as you go. The Army is molding you to be a Soldier and a future leader as your career progresses 

[Pseudonym]

Just to bump up this long-running topic, has anyone looked at the Force Fit app that's currently being advertised on this site?

 

I just had a look at it tonight - it's actually really good. It'd be ideal for those of you wanting to prepare for the fitness tests. I'm very impressed.

[Cameron_R]

I had a look through it on the weekend. Pretty slick!

[eddiw]

Hi fellowshipofTheron is it optional to do the basic maths and advance maths? And how bout the English stuff? How was it?

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

Hi fellowshipofTheron is it optional to do the basic maths and advance maths? And how bout the English stuff? How was it?

 

what they ask you to do depends on your trade. if you just going in infantry you do the basics English/math and that's it nothing that even a highschool dropout would find challenging. if they give you something to do and you dont do it, consider yourself out because most of these trades are pretty competitive and they fill up fast.

[ss4533]

Just a question FOTR, So did you actually march out or did you get medically discharged?

Cheers.

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

Just a question FOTR, So did you actually march out or did you get medically discharged?

Cheers.

MD halfway through mate, when i got injured they inspected my medical history some ways back and found i had some undeclared joint problems (recruiter was the one who told me not to bother declaring it after all!) which put me in pretty bad standing. medical clearance gone = undeployable = back to civvy street working in IT ;/ tried reapplying last year was rejected on medical grounds. pretty stuck in to my career now and heading towards 30 with mortgage starting up don't think I'll be in a position to reapply for a while now.

[infantry]

Hey fotr,I have my interview coming up in two weeks,found this forum through Google.

I'm 34 and pretty much all done in the recruitment,just the interview,and induction/2.4 km to go.

Am I being too pretentious to wear a full suit for my interview?

I've noticed the recruitment process hasn't really been good with information and communication,that's how I stumbled across this forum,to find out more.

I'm heading for the July intake as a rifleman.

Very excited can't wait for final processes.

Just a little nervous about the interview I have studied what the infantry do,is this a hardout formal interview or relaxed to a degree?

sorry if my post is not up to scratch lol its my first post here.

Good luck to all those going through the process,it's not an easy process,lots of hurry up and wait along the way!

Sorry it didn't quite work out for you fotr!

Cheers

[Tonkintechnique]

Hey fotr,I have my interview coming up in two weeks,found this forum through Google.

I'm 34 and pretty much all done in the recruitment,just the interview,and induction/2.4 km to go.

Am I being too pretentious to wear a full suit for my interview?

I've noticed the recruitment process hasn't really been good with information and communication,that's how I stumbled across this forum,to find out more.

I'm heading for the July intake as a rifleman.

Very excited can't wait for final processes.

Just a little nervous about the interview I have studied what the infantry do,is this a hardout formal interview or relaxed to a degree?

sorry if my post is not up to scratch lol its my first post here.

Good luck to all those going through the process,it's not an easy process,lots of hurry up and wait along the way!

Sorry it didn't quite work out for you fotr!

Cheers

 Infantry for f*ck sacks lol who haven't even joined yet and that's your name lol.

i spent 4 years in the Army as infantry.

 

Most people show up to there interview looking smart but its not really going to help much overall.

 

but ideal time to join bro good chance of getting a trip to Iraq i'm tempted to move back to NZ and reenlist lol

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

Hey fotr,I have my interview coming up in two weeks,found this forum through Google.

I'm 34 and pretty much all done in the recruitment,just the interview,and induction/2.4 km to go.

Am I being too pretentious to wear a full suit for my interview?

I've noticed the recruitment process hasn't really been good with information and communication,that's how I stumbled across this forum,to find out more.

I'm heading for the July intake as a rifleman.

Very excited can't wait for final processes.

Just a little nervous about the interview I have studied what the infantry do,is this a hardout formal interview or relaxed to a degree?

sorry if my post is not up to scratch lol its my first post here.

Good luck to all those going through the process,it's not an easy process,lots of hurry up and wait along the way!

Sorry it didn't quite work out for you fotr!

Cheers

 

Hey infantry, welcome to the forum. Yeah I agree the recruitment is fairly light on the details which is why i started this thread up, place for ex/future soldiers to collaborate about training for / entering basic.

 

It wouldn't hurt to wear a suit but if you do, wear it right eg. do your tie up properly, right amount of cuffs showing the army is completely random mix of super strict / traditional fashion police lol. .. one of the corporals made a bug fuss of a guy who showed up with black trousers and white socks. personally no i didn't and no one i saw in the waiting rooms/ test days were wearing suits either. the dress standard is definitely formal though since it is a job interview, you'll be heaps more careful about how you iron your shirts / trousers after basic and making sure no lint .. they won't really be judging that as much before hand long as you're tidy and dressed appropriately. business shirt tucked in with buttons done up properly on shirt. black formal trousers, polished leather black shoes and black belt if you want to make a good impression.

 

the actual interview is very relaxed, or may just i had a person who was very good at it and made me feel that way. they hit you with trigger questions on how you deal with stress, what motivates you in life, why you want to join and lots of probe type questions to figure out your character. the best preparation you can do for this is just be yourself, be clear about your intentions (what trade you want to join, what you hope to get out of it etc.), don't seem like you double minded because they making an investment in taking you in (big time & money commitment)

[Pseudonym]

Is the Defence Force running a recruitment campaign at the moment or something? Infantry, you're the 3rd person to sign up for this topic this week! If this keeps up, the army will HAVE to put FellowshipOfTheRon on the payroll...

 

Out of interest, have any of you guys tried the Force Fit app the NZDF put out? If so, what did you think?

[ss4533]

I'm in the Army now and was just curious to see if FOTR was as well, I haven't seen the app but to be honest I personally don't think the standard of fitness is that high, but that's what basic training is for, to ensure you can meet the minimum requirements.

[chassq1]

Hello,

 

Im in the stage where I have to get SV security clearance and few questions on this 

 

1. Do they actually call referees ?

2. What kind of questions do they ask my referees?

 

3. and can my friend be referee? (known him for 11 years)

 

thank you so much for taking time to answer my questions .

[maccaz]

Hello,

 

Im in the stage where I have to get SV security clearance and few questions on this 

 

1. Do they actually call referees ?

2. What kind of questions do they ask my referees?

 

3. and can my friend be referee? (known him for 11 years)

 

thank you so much for taking time to answer my questions .

 

they called my referees back when i applied

1. i declared some criminal convictions and they called referees before deciding how long the stand down period should be before i would be allowed to re apply (was 6 months or something not long) so yes they call referees

 

2. similar to job interview reference check type questions, how long you known them, how would you describe them, do they get along with everyone, ever had any conflict with them etc .

 

3. yeah think they specified who can be referee, one of mine was work mate that id known for years prior to working with him.(should say on the form, maybe non relative and can't live with you?)

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

they called my referees back when i applied

1. i declared some criminal convictions and they called referees before deciding how long the stand down period should be before i would be allowed to re apply (was 6 months or something not long) so yes they call referees

 

2. similar to job interview reference check type questions, how long you known them, how would you describe them, do they get along with everyone, ever had any conflict with them etc .

 

3. yeah think they specified who can be referee, one of mine was work mate that id known for years prior to working with him.(should say on the form, maybe non relative and can't live with you?)

 

yep my experience was on par with this couple yrs ago on all 3 points. i also had a referee that i'd known for 10+ yrs, don't think you can have relatives etc. but it says on the clearance application form

[GyzzBrah]

FOTR you are 30!!?