Women in Boot Camp
July 2 -- When Amanda Dove and her fellow recruits climbed down from the truck at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri last fall, they knew they were about to start the notorious ordeal of Army boot camp, but Amanda didn't fully appreciate how all their lives would be transformed by the experience that lay ahead.
Granted unprecedented access by the U.S. Army, ABCNEWS' 20/20 Downtown was there to meet them, and for the next nine weeks, Downtown watched as Amanda and five other female recruits were disciplined, schooled in warfare and transformed into soldiers.
While they each struggled, their trials were typical of what women in the military must go through in order to join the ranks of the armed forces — still largely dominated by men.
What follows is a summary of those nine weeks and how it changed Amanda and her comrades.
Jarring Arrival
"You will put your heads down in the bags," yells a drill sergeant. "Do it!"
When the trucks arrive, the women are met with chaos and mayhem. They are under full verbal assault from the officers who'll turn them into soldiers over the next nine weeks.
Amanda, 21, is yelled at by three different drill sergeants until she breaks down into tears.
But her tears have little effect on the seasoned drill sergeants, who have spent years learning how to toughen new recruits. To them it's about instilling a "military bearing" in civilians.
"Lock it up private — there is no crying here," one of them shouts.
'I Hate Being Here'
For privates, the process called "Reception and Integration" can be intimidating, degrading and dehumanizing.
"I can't do this. It's the yelling that scares me," says Erin O'Reilly, 20. "I hate being here."
"It's about beginning the process of turning them into soldiers," says Lt. Col. Casey Haskins who takes part in the training. "They're really civilians with a haircut and a uniform when they get to us."
Team Building
Boot camp is designed to take recruits from different backgrounds and who have joined the Army for different reasons, and turn them into a unified team.
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