BLUE PHASE - OVERCOMING TRAINEES FINAL CHALLENGES

The final phase of Basic Combat Training builds on everything trainees have learned so far and will serve as their final Soldier Ceremony from civilian to Soldier.

During this phase, trainees continue learning advanced marksmanship and maneuvering techniques, including engaging targets as part of a team, convoy operations, and identifying and disabling improvised explosive devices. They train on advanced weapons and learn how to throw live grenades.

As part of their final challenges, trainees embark on a multiple-day course to test their survival, fitness, and Soldier skills.
At the end of the phase, and after trainees have passed all of their challenges, they will be qualified to wear the Army Beret as a fully qualified Army Soldier.

The Confidence Obstacle Course (COC) helps instill Army values, build confidence and raise personal courage between trainees. The Confidence Obstacle Course is designed to test trainee’s endurance, stamina and willpower to boost their confidence in their ability to perform under trying conditions.

The Confidence Obstacle Course is all about overcoming obstacles and, as the name implies, building confidence.

Trainees conduct pugil sticks training in order to build aggressiveness and confidence required to defeat the enemy in close combat using the rifle and bayonet.

A pugil stick is a heavily padded training weapon used by military personnel for bayonet training since the 1930s or 1940s.
Many trainees have never experienced the realities of inter-personal violence found in close combat, and pugil sticks provide effective, but safe, "full contact" combative training at the entry level.

It is also an effective tool for enhancing the endurance and improvisation that are building blocks to developing the physical skills and mental toughness vital to success on the battlefield.

The Army Combatives Program enhances unit combat readiness by building trainees’ personal courage, confidence, and resiliency as well as their situational responsiveness to close quarters threats in the operational environment.

Basic hand to hand combat training stresses simple aggressive tactics with which to subdue an opponent. It consists of various kicks, blows, takedowns, counters and other movements used to disable or kill an opponent.

Trainees are instructed by skilled combatives certified cadre members that train them through hours of training under simulated combat conditions.

Fight strategies in combatives have three key stages: close the distance, gain dominant position and finish the fight. Training starts with ground grappling to teach the basics then move onto more difficult standing techniques. Trainees learn a range of defensive escape techniques to help them get into a dominant position in a close combat fight; they then learn offensive skills.

The Forge is a grueling, 96-hour, cumulative training exercise that puts week-seven trainees in a patrol base as they encounter a multitude of combat and logistical scenarios. During this time, trainees will be forged in the furnace of shared hardship and tough training. There will be multiple road marches, a tough night infiltration course, a combat resupply event, a casualty evacuation drill, a pugil sticks competition and the reflexive fire range. Over the four days of events, the trainees navigate about 46 miles.

The Forge emphasizes battle drills, tactical operations and numerous foot patrols. The Forge replaces the 20-year-old Field Training Exercise 3, which had trainees working at a forward operating base, or behind the wire.

The Forge is the culminating event in Basic Combat Training, and in order to become a Soldier, all trainees must complete and pass the entire evaluation. The Forge is the final event designed to see who has what it takes, and all trainees must complete the Forge. At the end of the Forge, trainees participate in the Soldier Ceremony. This is the moment when the legacy is handed down, they earn the title “Soldier” and the newest Soldiers put on their berets for the first time in Basic Combat Training.

The new Soldiers put on their berets for the first time and drink a symbolic grog. They get a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood, and they know that they are part of something bigger than themselves.

The Soldier Ceremony acknowledges that the new Soldiers have passed a milestone in Basic Combat Training, and it instills a sense of history in them. The ceremony is a tradition for BCT Soldiers Armywide, all with slight variations that make them unique. Putting on their berets signifies that the trainees have earned the title of United States Soldier. They will now stand with their Drill Sergeants as the Nation’s newest Soldiers.

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