ADF Recruit

Five in the morning at Kapooka. The lights snap on in the dormitory. The recruit has thirty seconds before the corporal walks down the corridor for stand by your bed inspection. The Australian Defence Force does not require a prior qualification. Minimum age seventeen, Australian citizen, pass the aptitude session, the medical, and the fitness test. Seven push ups for women, fifteen for men. Forty five sit ups. Level seven point five on the beep test. Initial Military Training runs eighty consecutive days at the Army Recruit Training Centre at Blamey Barracks, Kapooka, in southern New South Wales. Each week has a theme. Courage. Respect. Integrity. Excellence. The day starts at six am. Stand by your bed inspection, with sheets folded to a forty five degree corner. Six thirty am, physical training in green Army kit, a five kilometre formation run followed by circuits on the parade ground.