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Every day will be slightly different in BMT and you’ll never really know what to expect from day to day, but a few things stay pretty constant throughout.
For instance you’ll get up at about 0445 (4:45am) every morning to the sound of reveille and will get dressed and then will be downstairs in formation where you’ll take roll call and the Dorm Chief will report attendance to the personnel there. You’ll sing the Air Force song and a few other things before being released to the next activity which will depend on what time of year you go to BMT.
During the cold winter months you’ll do PT at about 1530 (3:30pm) in the afternoon since it’s warmer. During the summer they change the schedule so that you do PT right after your morning formation so that it’s still cool instead of trying to exercise in the 100º+ Texas heat.
You’ll PT for about an hour each day, regardless of what time you do it. You’ll alternate between strength training and cardio training days and will do PT six days a week (Sunday is your only break). If you do PT in the morning, following your hour of PT you’ll go eat a very quick breakfast and then go back up to the dormitory to shower (very quickly), and setup the dorm which means you do all of the daily “chores” outlined in the job section. This includes making your bed, straightening the beds, cleaning the latrine, etc.
Following your morning dorm setup you’ll be back down in formation and ready to head out to whatever appointments you have that day. This is where it’ll be different every day and it could include appointments around the base for in-processing, doing paperwork, medical screenings, picking your jobs, etc. You could also be sitting through classes which are usually in classrooms in the bottom level of the squadron buildings.
Sometime between 1100 and 1300 you should break for lunch back at your squadron building, the exact time will depend on what is going on that day. Lunch will be very quick also, since you have to continue on to more appointments throughout the day.
After lunch you’ll do more appointments or classes or drilling, etc. Around 1700 or 1800 you’ll have supper and this will probably be your longest meal, as you don’t really have anything else pressing to do throughout the day so the TI will go easier on you. During the first few weeks of training though, you’ll still be very pressed for time while eating. When you are closer to graduating the TI will ease up on you and let you have a little more time since you are getting the hang of everything else at basic.
For the rest of the evening until lights out at 2100 (9:00pm) you’ll work in your dormitory doing things like shining your shoes, cleaning up the dormitory again, organizing your lockers, etc.
After lights out, depending on your TI you may be able to sneak some letter reading and writing time with your flashlight. I had a female TI (I’m a male) so she would leave and go home every night so we could write and read letters with our flashlights at night. However if you have a TI of the same sex they may be there all night or pop-in to check on you more often. Also remember that every minute that you are up writing letters is another minute of sleep you aren’t going to get and you may regret staying up the next day.