Thread: What happens if I die at Basic Combat Training?

Originally Posted by Joe1492

A friend on mine told me when he was at BCT a PVT on the rifle range was shooting his M16 and it exploded killing him. He thinks it was due to the fact it was about 30 years old and starting to fall apart from use over the years. He also said the bolt in his was missing teeth.

I was also reading a blog http://www.mybasiccombattraining.com/ and in one of the post this guy said while he was on the range at Basic Training a PVT almost shot a DS in the head.

Does this kind of stuff happen a lot? I really don't want to enlist just to get snuffed out at Basic Training. And if it was to happen will my fam get insurance? Also lest say I was badly injured and couldn't continue BCT what happens then?

relax joe. there are some incidents of deaths at navy, air force and even marine corps training lol

even people die at the police and fire academy; or even the walmart greeter training.

but the difference of dying at basic; means your next of kin or dependent will get 400,000 dollars from your life insurance and more from other gratuities.

I have been serving my country for 20 years and been to two boot camps, two police academies and two wars and thanks to God, I am still alive.

Your family collects the crap you have mounted..

Deaths in Basic Training are EXCEEDINGLY rare - and when they do occur are caused by suicide, previously undetected medical conditions, heat stroke, and similar. Weapons related deaths (other than suicide) are almost unheard of. +1 to this almost certainly being a story your 'friend' heard and decided to pass on.

Rifles do not 'fall apart' - but they do wear out. This is why all weapons have mandatory inspection cycles. And the M16 bolt doesn't have teeth - it has lugs, with one side of the bolt intentionally made without them. Lugs can break, however - which is why you are taught to do maintenance checks on all equipment before using it.

Rifles can fail, - and a case head separation or firing out of battery can destroy the rifle; in gun circles this is known as a 'kaboom', and can also be caused when handloading ammunition with excessive powder. In an M16 this will blow the remaining rounds out of the bottom of the magazine along with the mag spring and floorplate, and may crack the upper and lower receivers as well. The most common cause of this is firing a rifle with an obstructed barrel - after dropping the weapon in the dirt, for example. This has happened enough times that we are very careful of it - and why we require eye protection now whenever we fire. I have never seen a documented case of this resulting in the death of a military shooter.

You probably have a better chance of drowning in your bath tub.

The Army has been training privates in there for quite a long time. They know what they are doing.

Originally Posted by MPclk2006

I think your "friend" took a story he was told at basic (to make the PVTs focus more during rifle training) and made it his own...we ahve all heard both of those stories....it will explode on you if you dont clean it so you spend hours on end cleaning it, then the other about a DS almost shot on the head, and it happened the cycle before too, always!!!

Yea, sounds like some chinese whispers there... I cant imagine any professional army being that wreckless in its training regime..

Some have a hard time adapting to the constant stress, separation from family, some have substance abuse withdrawal or mental health issues that weren't caught in the screening process, and some simply find they are not up to the challenge - and cannot face the idea of returning home a failure.