Also,  Arianna, think about packing beyond the official unit packing list. Look at what is either very very generalized (‘hygiene kit’… “you know what you need, Soldier”) or not listed / implied (weather- / season-based gear).

To speak directly of the hygiene kit for a moment, female Soldiers need to be prepared with 1-2 months of menstrual cycle care products (depending on their biological timing with the JRTC rotation). Stress can significantly change when a cycle occurs, so being prepared is better than not.

Speaking of cleanliness, BABY WIPES, BABY WIPES, BABY WIPES.  Not only is that how you maintain basic hygiene (because infections like Trench Foot still happen, believe it or not), but they’ll be used to wipe down a table, white board, spilled coffee, etc. So, so useful.

Be mindful of how you pack your ruck. Assuming you’ve been doing a few more field exercises, you’ll have a basic idea of not only how to pack your ruck of how to fit everything, how to access everything in your ruck. What I did was I packed my clothes at the bottom of the ruck to access via the bottom zipper (just behind my sleeping bag & tarp and extension cords). I pack my clothes as follows. Plastic ziplock bag all the things for 2 reasons: 1 – weather proofs (both so your clean clothes stay clean and your dirty, muddy, soaking clothes stay isolated) and 2 – easy access pulling them out of your bag (probably out of the back of a truck at midnight with no light).  I packed my extra uniforms in one of those XL Ziplock bags (not the vacuum ones, just normal XL Storage) and my shirts, socks, and underwear in Quart bags. You can think of your own method, but for bags with only shirt and socks, I rolled the shirt around the socks (when I would pull it out of the ruck, it would just look like a shirt), and the shirt/socks/underwear combo had underwear rolled in the t-shirt and socks on the outside of the shirt, seen thru the bag. I could tell which bag I needed (both sight and touch) but I wasn’t trying to pull out single pairs of underwear.  For sports bras, I kept them all rolled up in another zippy bag, but in a side pocket of my ruck, since I didn’t need to access them frequently but when I did, I could be quick.  Get a Ziplock for your laptop too.

As far as personal functionality, I recommend a coffee travel mug and a water bottle. Yes, you’ll have your Cambelbak/water source,  but you can’t drink coffee out of that. Let’s be honest, BN staff chugs coffee to support the Companies. I personally would recommend either a locking coffee mug ( I use Contigo) and a likewise very secure water bottle (also Contigo, Nalgene, Vapur). The water bottle enabled me to very directly monitor my water intake for the day.

Speaking of water intake, I highly recommend purchasing (or getting issued, if possible) and learning to use a Female Urination Device (FUD; also referred to as SheWee or GoGirl). It’s a total game changer to ‘use the tree line’ and not have to partially undress yourself each time.  Practice is necessary though since its a very different muscle set that is used, as well as a change in trained physical sensation. PM with any questions!

Lastly, and more generally, think about the anticipated weather and what that means for how or what you should pack. Should you shove an extra fleece cap and woobie with your sleeping bag, or do you only need the summer sleeping bag with the weather cover? Should your rain gear be shoved into the middle of your ruck … or on a side pocket / bottom to easily access WHEN (not IF) it’s going to rain. Things like that, just use your imagination and red team what you’re packing and how, and how to make yourself ready so that when you’re in the field, you’re searching for solutions, not socks. (< that was corny. But you get the idea.)

Get yourself a map (ask your Commander or 1SG or training room). I was constantly annotating and marking on what I was overhearing on the radio or TOC with my map markers (and occasionally sync with the Battle Board and/or Battle Captain). I even had several people ask to borrow my map because it had phase lines or unit demarcations that were relevant. (That was a point of pride for me that a few 1SGs and other officers had to borrow the S1’s map because they didn’t have theirs accessible. Small wins). It’s a little thing that can make a big difference.

Last point, because you may be wondering why get yourself a map or keep a notebook in the field. Plan to execute both analog and digital. You’re going to lose comms, 100% guaranteed, at some point for some duration of time (whether SIPR or radio or CPOF or NIPR email, on day 1 or for just a few minutes).  It’s not only about how you function without the digital system, but how fast can your overcome the inertia and get back on the fast pace of digital (what’s the smallest amount of time will you lose? how many people and hours will it take to re-establish a digital system? can I reduce that?).

The hours at JRTC will pass whether you love it or hate, whether you’re “winning” or “losing” (although, there’s not really winning or losing there). Learn all that you can and ask questions. Do the work you’ve been trained and know how to do. Then ask more questions. Talk to the OCs. And when you’re really frustrated when everything’s crashing, take a deep breath and remember – this one is a game. Attack the problem, not the game.