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Are you Army Strong? Before you decide to join the Army, it's important to ask yourself that very question. Army Strong doesn't necessarily mean being the toughest kid on the block or being able to bench press a stack of small children; it means that you have the willingness to give your best - and then some - and that you'll never give up.

If you think that the Army may be for you, there are several things you need to know before signing on the dotted line. You'll learn a lot about yourself in Basic Training, and you're almost certain to be pleasantly surprised by it - but the things you need to know now should play a major role in your decision about joining forces with some of the most highly skilled Warriors on the planet.

ARE YOU WILLING TO GIVE 150%?
The Army doesn't ask for one hundred per cent effort. They ask for a hundred and fifty. It sounds impossible; after all, there is only so much you can give, right? Wrong. If you're giving something your best, you've got to be willing to exceed your best. If you have an "I can't" attitude, the Army's not for you.

CAN YOU RUN?
In Basic Training and AIT (Advanced Individual Training), you'll run two to four miles on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. You'll do PT (Physical Training) before breakfast and in all kinds of weather. "If it ain't rainin', you ain't trainin'," is a favored motto of Drill Sergeants. You've got to be willing to challenge yourself, which may include a lot of pain.

Once you get to the regular, Active Duty Army, you'll keep running. However, you'll run even more than you did in Basic Training and AIT. Sometimes, depending on your squad leader, you'll run 8 miles in one day and go right back and attack the same course the next day.

Running is no picnic for most of us, but we do it because we have to - because, as Uncle Sam says, "Physical fitness is the cornerstone of combat readiness."

ARE YOU READY TO DEPLOY?
Deployments are the harsh reality of joining the Army. If a recruiter tells you that you're unlikely to make a trip or two to the sandbox, he's lying through his teeth. I had only been in the Army for ten months before I deployed - I was fresh out of school when they sent me (I was, however, eager to deploy). You'll very likely be gone for the majority of your initial contract, so understand that it's going to be a time of personal sacrifice and that you've got to give things up willingly, not grudgingly.

During a deployment, there is risk involved. You may be injured or killed - we are a nation

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