 What is happening guys, Staff Sergeant Masiba here, also known as Art Chuzo on social media and welcome to another episode of US Army Basic Combat Training mini series, Your Future Starts Here. For today's episode, we are going to be talking about the Forge. What is the Forge? What is the importance of the Forge in basic combat training? For those of you guys who do not know, the Forge is a brand new event that's being implemented right now all across the army in all basic training sites. The Forge basically is a culminating event for week 7 trainees about all the stuff that they learned the whole time they're in basic training. This will involve combatives, ruck marching from one point to another, firing weapons, bugle sticks, obstacle courses, land navigation, and many more. To summarize it, the Forge is basically that final requirement to see if a trainee will pass Army Basic Combat Training and finally become a soldier. 25 Providence, an IT specialist. I actually have been a mechanic my whole life and everyone thought I was going to go that route. But recently I got into computers and stuff and just wanted to find my own way in life. Everyone in my family has been a mechanic so I just kind of wanted to take my own path. Behind me we are actually getting ready for the Forge which is the biggest event here. We started off with the Hammer which is about 5 or 6 mile rug and then we went on to the Hammer which is about 8 and this one is anywhere from 10 to 12 miles and it's the biggest rug and all the other rugs we've been doing throughout the day this one is doing all our events at night so we're actually preparing for this to leave at midnight tonight at that market. Long story short, me and my wife both actually joined. She leaves a week after I get back from basic and we found out last year that we couldn't have kids and we knew we weren't going to make our family any bigger so we figured there was a bigger purpose of life than just working at 9 to 5 and now I'm coming here. I've realized so many huge families and guys have met here. To tell myself the mental part is the hardest part of it and it gets better, it honestly gets better and you're going to meet people from all over the world so get ready for it. I want to give a shout out to my wife mainly because she is my number one fan and she's leaving a week after me so get ready because it's a roller coaster and my mom and dad for being super supportive and also my brother and sister because they're rooting for me so thank all of y'all. Private first class, Ashley Matts. I was born in Greenwood, Mississippi but I now reside in Jackson, Mississippi. I have a four year old and I know that I needed to do whatever I needed to do to make sure that four year old had the best life that he could have and I knew the army would provide a great avenue to do so. My MOS is a 91 Bravo, all will be able to get it. The hardest part for me has been the gas chamber. I don't like not having control and to not be able to breathe, breathing is pretty important and kind of scared me a little bit. But once I got out I realized I was just freaking out in my head. It wasn't that bad. Victory Tower has been my favorite moment coming off that wall. That was the best part. Well you're 40 feet in the air. Either you're going to get it or you ain't. But I got it thankfully. Graduation. When we got here, the fastest way out of here, graduation. And one of the drill sergeants told us that the process isn't fast but quitting won't speed it up. And to know that graduation is right around the corner, just keep going, just keep pushing. You'll make it. Basic training has been hard. It has been challenging. It has been interesting. I've learned a lot about myself in basic training. Basic training will teach you things about yourself that you never thought you ever learned. It has even been fun. You meet new people. You do new challenging things. It has been exhilarating. The longest journey start with the first step. You've already taken the first step. So every day that you keep going you're one step closer to being finished. Just keep going and get it out of your head. Join. Do it. It is the worst best thing that you could ever do for yourself. You're going to be hard and some days you're not going to want to do it. But when you go to bed at night in the bay and you lay there and you think about all the things that you've accomplished that day, it's the most, this is the greatest feeling ever. You go to sleep proud as a peacock. The final event of the Forge is a rite of passage ceremony where trainees put on their berets for the first time in basic training. This symbolizes that they are now soldiers.