James Alex Fields Jr. (terrorist) is the name of the driver of the car that rammed into

[underpants]

27. Yep probably. My basic training was 4 months long

Cav Scout. We did One Site Unit Training so we did basic and learned about our vehicle all at once. For almost every other MOS they go to basic for 8 weeks to learn basic soldiering - everything in the "smart book" - marching, rank, read a map, qualify on a M16, throw 2 grenades, etc. then they have a week, as I understood it, to travel home and then to their actual job training. Even infantry does that, they are lumped in with truck drivers electricians cooks etc. then they go to Advanced Infantry Training.

He could very well have flunked out of basic or at his specific training. Releasing someone from the military isn't as easy as "you're fired. Get out" lots of paper work and clearing the unit and community. We were given a month to clear. I got it done in 3 days and just relaxed the rest of the month.

We had a guy in basic who flunked out of telephone installer training (he wasn't very bright) so they gave him a choice - discharge or go combat arms (Cav Infantry Tanker Artillery). He chose to be a Scout so he had to go through a fresh new 16 weeks. Nice trick by the recruiter- 16 weeks doesn't sound like 4 months when you sign up. Anyway had this guy chosen discharge it would have taken a while before he was actually out. Guys I knew who went AWOL (bad unit, we had several who went AWOL) still took another 2 months to get all the legal stuff taken care of.