Warrior Transition Course US Army

Effective: 1 Oct 04 all prior service Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard personnel, including their reserve components who have not completed a US Army BCT course or WTC or US Marine (USMC) Basic Training Course are required to successfully complete WTC conducted by the US Army within 180 days after enlistment into the Army National Guard or Army Reserve. The Warrior Transition Course will provide our Army with trained, disciplined, motivated, and physically fit Soldiers who respond to leadership, are focused on teamwork, demonstrate the warrior ethos, and espouse the Army’s core values.

The purpose of the Warrior Transition course is to transition active and prior service Navy and Air Force enlisted personnel to the Army, as well as retrain prior service Army personnel who are not required to attend Basic Combat Training. The course is taught at Fort Knox and focuses on the Warrior Tasks and Warrior Drills.

Essentially, WTC is boot camp for those who have already been in the service. It's not mini-boot-camp because all the aspects of boot camp are crammed into a 28-day course. It is NOT a "gentleman's course", it will kick your butt, and if you are not ready physically and mentally it will chew you up and spit you out!

Injuries such as stress fractures and broken bones are not uncommon, and dehydration / heat injuries are a constant concern as well. If you are going to be attending WTC, BE PREPARED!

Although there are Warrior Transition Courses at Ft. Sill, and Ft. Knox as well, I attended the WTC at Santa Fe / White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, and this page will give an overview of that course.

Whether you are attending WTC at Ft. Sill or White Sands you will be in-processed

at Ft. Sill OK. After you make your visit to your local MEPS, you will be given a travel briefing and placed on a bus for your nearest airport. You will fly to Oklahoma City, OK and stand-by at the USO office until they are ready to ship you to Ft. Sill. You will be mingling with fresh, new IET (Initial Entry Training) recruits - 17 and 18-year-old recruits heading for their first Boot Camp -

WTC and IET recruits at OKC airport waiting to ship to Ft. Sill

The USO folks at OKC airport are AWESOME!!! Kind, respectful, and patriotic folks that won't let you forget how grateful they are you are joining the military! On the 2-hour bus trip to Ft. Sill GET SOME SLEEP! You'll have a number of long hard days ahead of you, get sleep while you can!

At Ft. Sill, you will do no training as such, your time is spent entirely on dental exams, health exams, getting updated shots, paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork. You will be processed into the active duty Army, and that's it!
A great deal of time will be spent waiting... waiting for DEERS, Finance, clothing issue, you name it, "stand by to stand by!"

When you first arrive at Ft. Sill, you will be sent to a room where you will receive your "Smart Book" (IET Soldier's Handbook), The Soldier's Manual of Common Tasks - Warrior Skills Level 1, A bound copy of Arab Cultural Awareness factsheets, a couple of forms to fill out and a folder (as well as a boxed lunch). Do EXACTLY as the Drill Sergeants instruct! Remember, you are in a boot camp environment, and the D.S.'s are used to yelling at, belittling, and smoking recruits! This attitude tends to remain constant, with only a little regard for the years you've already spent in the Service. (Don't worry, though, it's only a week or so... Santa Fe and White Sands give you more of the respect you deserve!)

You will then go across the street and get your "marshmallow" PT gear, gloves, watch cap, and few other essentials.

The next few days will be spent waking up at 04:30, marching in formation to chow, visiting various in-processing stations (vision, hearing, the clinic, finances, DEERS, ID

Cards, ID "dog" Tags, clothing, etc..) and that's about it. Your feet will be measured by this ingenious little machine that measures your foot size and shape from beneath and then recommends the right size combat boot, running shoe, and other footwear. It was pretty cool!

The barracks are fairly comfortable (4-8 men per room in bunk beds) although the building itself is quite ancient. In fact, you will find a marker out by

the smoker's pit saying that this was the very site where Geronimo died back when it was a military hospital.

The surrounding grounds are nice enough, and "Soldier's Time" is quite extensive. You will have more freedom to visit the PX, Gym, make calls home (Yes! cell phones are allowed for WTC students as are cigarettes!), .... or just have time to yourself than at either Santa Fe or White Sands.

After you get all your in-processing finished, you will be permitted to get on the bus to SANTA FE, New Mexico!! Good Bye Ft. Sill!

The US Army appears to invade one of the two truck stops visited on the way to Santa Fe.

I had to post this, it is the most moving of all the 9/11 montages out there, bar NONE! If you forgot what that day was like, look no further than this:
WARNING: This has accurate and moving footage you probably haven't seen before, NOT for the faint of heart!