Army Basic Combat Training is 10 weeks in 2026. That’s the number most people searching this question want, since the Army is the largest branch — but the answer changes a lot depending on where you enlist. Marine Corps boot camp runs 13 weeks. Navy boot camp was cut to 9 weeks in January 2025. Air Force and Space Force trainees are done in roughly 7.5 weeks of formal instruction.
Here’s the full picture before we break each branch down.
TL;DR — How Long Is Basic Training in 2026?
How long is basic training? It depends on the branch: Army Basic Combat Training runs 10 weeks, Navy boot camp 9 weeks, Coast Guard 8 weeks, and Air Force and Space Force about 7.5 weeks of instruction. Marine Corps boot camp is the longest at 13 weeks. Infantry and armor recruits attend a combined 22-week Army program instead of standalone basic.
Table of contents
Basic Training Length by Branch
| Branch | Length | Location(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Army | 10 weeks (22 weeks OSUT for infantry/armor) | Fort Jackson, SC; Fort Benning, GA; Fort Sill, OK; Fort Leonard Wood, MO |
| Marine Corps | 13 weeks | MCRD Parris Island, SC; MCRD San Diego, CA |
| Navy | 9 weeks | Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, IL |
| Air Force | 7.5 weeks of instruction (~8.5 weeks on base) | JB San Antonio-Lackland, TX |
| Space Force | ~7.5 weeks | JB San Antonio-Lackland, TX |
| Coast Guard | 8 weeks | Training Center Cape May, NJ |
None of these figures include travel, reception/processing days beyond what’s built into the schedule, or the job training that follows (AIT, A-School, tech school). Plan on being away longer than the headline number — often several months, depending on your specialty.
Sources: GoArmy, 2026; Task & Purpose, 2025; Air Force BMT, 2026; Marine Corps Recruit Depots, 2026; GoCoastGuard, 2026.
How Long Is Army Basic Training?
Army Basic Combat Training (BCT) lasts 10 weeks and runs in three color-coded phases — Red, White, and Blue — at one of four posts. If you sign an infantry or armor contract, you skip standalone BCT entirely and attend One Station Unit Training (OSUT) at Fort Benning instead, which combines basic and job training into a single 22-week program for infantry. (Source: GoArmy, 2026)
The phase breakdown looks like this:
- Red Phase (Weeks 1–3). Total control. Drill and ceremony, Army values, physical readiness training, first ruck marches, and the gas chamber. This is the shock-adjustment period.
- White Phase (Weeks 4–6). Rifle time. Basic Rifle Marksmanship dominates the schedule — zeroing, grouping, and qualification with the M4. You’ll also hit rappel towers and confidence courses.
- Blue Phase (Weeks 7–10). Field craft and weapons familiarization (machine guns, grenades, AT4), tactical field exercises, the final multi-day FTX, and graduation.
Army Basic Training Locations in 2026
The Army runs BCT at four installations, and your MOS largely decides which one you get:
| Post | Who trains there |
|---|---|
| Fort Jackson, SC | Largest training center; most support and administrative MOS recruits |
| Fort Benning, GA | Infantry and armor OSUT — “Home of the Infantry” |
| Fort Sill, OK | Artillery MOS pipeline, plus general BCT |
| Fort Leonard Wood, MO | Military police, combat engineers, chemical corps |
One naming note that trips people up: this post was called Fort Moore from 2023 until March 2025, when the Department of Defense renamed it Fort Benning — now honoring WWI Distinguished Service Cross recipient Cpl. Fred G. Benning rather than the Confederate general it was originally named for. If your paperwork or older guides say Fort Moore, it’s the same place. (Source: U.S. Army, 2025)
You don’t pick your location. Your MOS, your training seat availability, and your ship date decide it. Ask your recruiter for your specific assignment once your contract is final.
How Long Is Marine Corps Boot Camp?
Marine Corps recruit training is 13 weeks — the longest basic training of any branch — at either Parris Island, South Carolina (recruits from east of the Mississippi) or San Diego, California (west of the Mississippi). Both depots run the identical program. (Source: Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, 2026)
The schedule splits into a receiving week plus four phases: forming and fundamentals, marksmanship and field skills, advanced field training, and final polish before graduation. The defining event is the Crucible — a 54-hour continuous exercise near the end where recruits cover about 45 miles on foot and work through 29 team problem-solving stations on minimal food and sleep. Finish it and you receive the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor. That’s the moment you’re actually called a Marine.
Worth knowing for 2026: combat arms Marines now have to meet sex-neutral PFT scoring standards, so the fitness bar is genuinely uniform in those fields. (Source: PCS Pay It Forward, 2026)
How Long Is Navy Basic Training?
Navy boot camp is 9 weeks, and there’s exactly one place it happens: Recruit Training Command at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois, about 40 miles north of Chicago. The Navy shortened the program from 10 weeks to 9 for recruits arriving on or after January 6, 2025, by compressing the schedule — not by cutting graduation requirements. (Source: Task & Purpose, 2025)
The nine weeks cover processing days (P-Days), seamanship, firefighting and shipboard damage control, small-arms qualification, swim qualification, and watchstanding. The capstone is Battle Stations 21, a 12-hour overnight scenario aboard a ship simulator that strings together everything you’ve learned — flooding, fires, casualties — before you earn your Navy ball cap.
If someone asks about “Navy basic training locations,” plural, the honest answer is there aren’t any others. Great Lakes has been the Navy’s only enlisted boot camp since the 1990s.
How Long Is Air Force Basic Training?
Air Force Basic Military Training is 7.5 weeks of formal instruction, but expect to be at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas for about 8.5 weeks once you count Week 0 in-processing and graduation events. Lackland is the only Air Force BMT location. (Source: U.S. Air Force Basic Military Training, 2026)
The curriculum got a real shake-up in October 2025 with what the Air Force calls “BMT 2.0” — heavier emphasis on combat readiness and resilience training layered onto the existing framework of drill, physical training, weapons familiarization, and the BEAST (Basic Expeditionary Airman Skills Training) field exercise week. If you read a pre-2025 BMT guide, treat the week-by-week details as outdated. (Source: Operation Military Kids, 2026)
How Long Is Space Force Basic Training?
Space Force BMT runs about 7.5 weeks, also at JB San Antonio-Lackland, on roughly the same timeline as the Air Force program. The difference is content and cadre: Guardians now train in their own flights under Space Force military training instructors, with an added ~35 hours of Space Force-specific instruction on doctrine, force structure, and orbital threats. (Source: U.S. Space Force, 2026)
How Long Is Coast Guard Boot Camp?
Coast Guard basic training is 8 weeks at Training Center Cape May, New Jersey — the service’s only enlisted boot camp. (Source: GoCoastGuard, 2026)
Don’t let the mid-pack length fool you. Cape May has a reputation for high intensity per day, heavy emphasis on swimming and water survival (obvious, given the mission), plus seamanship, firefighting, and law-enforcement fundamentals. It’s the smallest branch, and reversion — getting set back weeks for failing a standard — is a routine and real risk there.
How Long Is BCT for National Guard and Army Reserve?
Same length, same places, same drill sergeants. National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers attend the identical 10-week BCT (or 22-week OSUT) alongside active-duty recruits at Fort Jackson, Fort Benning, Fort Sill, or Fort Leonard Wood. There is no shortened “part-time” version of basic. (Source: GoArmy, 2026)
Two things do differ:
- The split training option. Guard soldiers — often students — can complete BCT one summer and return for AIT the next summer, drilling with their unit in between. Total training time is the same; it’s just divided.
- What happens after. Once BCT and AIT are done, you go home to a one-weekend-a-month, two-weeks-a-year schedule instead of a permanent duty station.
So if you’re budgeting time off for a Guard enlistment: BCT plus AIT usually means roughly 4–7 months away in one block, unless you take the split option.
What Combat Skills Training Actually Covers
Combat skills training is the core of every basic training program — the block of instruction that turns fitness and discipline into someone who can function in a fight. Across branches it covers the same fundamentals, scaled to each service’s mission:
- Marksmanship. Zeroing, grouping, and qualifying with your service rifle. This eats the largest share of range time in Army White Phase and Marine Phase 2.
- Individual movement techniques. High crawl, low crawl, 3–5 second rushes, moving under direct fire.
- CBRN defense. Protective mask drills and the gas chamber — every branch makes you trust your equipment the uncomfortable way.
- Hand-to-hand combatives. Army Combatives Program basics; Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) tan belt for Marines.
- Tactical field exercises. Land navigation, patrol basics, fighting positions, and a culminating event — the Army’s final FTX, the Marines’ Crucible, the Air Force’s BEAST week, the Navy’s Battle Stations.
- Casualty care. Tourniquets, care under fire, and casualty evacuation basics.
If your goal is an infantry or other combat-arms job, this block doesn’t end at basic — OSUT and follow-on schools go far deeper. Basic training’s job is the floor, not the ceiling.
How to Prepare Physically Before You Ship
Show up already passing your branch’s fitness test and basic training gets dramatically easier — you’ll spend energy on learning instead of survival. Recruits who arrive unable to run two miles or do a proper push-up are the ones who get recycled, and a setback adds weeks to every number in this article.
Keep it simple in the 8–12 weeks before shipping:
- Run three times a week. Build to a comfortable 3–4 miles at conversation pace, plus one interval day.
- Own your bodyweight. Push-ups, pull-ups, planks, squats — daily volume beats occasional max efforts. Start with these military workouts you can do at home.
- Train for your branch’s actual test. Army recruits should build toward the ACFT events specifically with an ACFT calisthenics prep plan, not just generic cardio.
- Walk under load. Two brisk 30–45 minute walks a week with a 20–25 lb pack builds the connective-tissue durability rucking demands.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long is basic training for the Army?
Army Basic Combat Training is 10 weeks, held at Fort Jackson, Fort Benning, Fort Sill, or Fort Leonard Wood. Infantry and armor recruits instead attend One Station Unit Training at Fort Benning, which combines basic and job training — 22 weeks for infantry.
How long is Navy basic training?
Navy boot camp is 9 weeks at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois — the Navy’s only boot camp. The program was shortened from 10 weeks to 9 for recruits arriving on or after January 6, 2025.
How long is bootcamp for the Marines?
Marine Corps boot camp is 13 weeks, the longest of any branch, at either Parris Island, South Carolina or San Diego, California. It ends with the Crucible, a 54-hour field exercise covering roughly 45 miles on foot.
How long is BCT for the National Guard?
National Guard BCT is the same 10 weeks as active duty, at the same four Army posts. Guard soldiers can use the split training option — BCT one summer, AIT the next — but the total training time doesn’t shrink.
Where is Army basic training held?
Four posts: Fort Jackson, South Carolina (largest, most support MOSs); Fort Benning, Georgia (infantry/armor OSUT — called Fort Moore from 2023 to March 2025); Fort Sill, Oklahoma (artillery); and Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri (MP, engineer, chemical). Your MOS determines your assignment, not your preference.
When are Army basic training dates?
BCT classes start year-round, roughly every week across the four posts. Your ship date is set in your enlistment contract based on your MOS’s school seat availability — some recruits ship within weeks of signing, others wait months in the Delayed Entry Program. Your recruiter confirms the exact date.
Sources and Verification
Every length, location, and date above was verified against primary and service-branch sources in July 2026. Note: Fort Benning, Georgia was named Fort Moore from 2023 until March 2025, when it reverted to Fort Benning — older guides and paperwork using “Fort Moore” refer to the same installation.
- Army BCT length and structure — GoArmy: Basic Combat Training
- Army BCT locations and infantry OSUT (22 weeks) — Operation Military Kids: Army BCT Locations Guide 2026
- Fort Moore renamed Fort Benning, March 2025 — U.S. Army: Hegseth restores Fort Moore to Fort Benning
- Navy boot camp cut to 9 weeks (Jan 6, 2025) — Task & Purpose: Navy cuts length of boot camp
- Navy RTC Great Lakes — Navy.com: Boot Camp and bootcamp.navy.mil
- Air Force BMT length, Lackland, BMT 2.0 — U.S. Air Force Basic Military Training FAQ and Operation Military Kids: AF Basic Training Schedule 2026
- Marine boot camp 13 weeks, Crucible, depots — MCRD Parris Island: Recruit Training and PCS Pay It Forward: Marine Boot Camp 2026 Guide
- Space Force BMT ~7.5 weeks, Guardian-specific instruction — SpaceForce.com: Military Training and PCS Pay It Forward: Space Force Basic Training 2026
- Coast Guard 8 weeks, Cape May — GoCoastGuard: Basic Training
