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2026-08-11

Combat training for infantry takes 6 months and is not just about weapons safety and marksmanship

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I previously said I want to learn basics of how to handle weapons.
However, beyond the bare basics, it looks like shooting ranges are for improved marksmanship and marksmanship is not actually the low-hanging fruit for infantry combat training.
Combat training courses emphase drilling a lot of patterns into muscle memory so you can perform them while under stress.
In practice you need atleast 6 months of full-time training to become somewhat decent. During wartime often new recruits aren't given this much training, but then this also makes their casualty rates much higher.
I still wanna learn basics of how to use a weapon, it is low-hanging fruit. Taking the first step is harder so better take the first step.
But beyond that if I am actually serious about it, I have to go join an actual infantry combat training course for 6 months. (For example, actually join indian army.)

Don't reinvent the wheel lol

For stuff like hacking, you are operating on the frontiers of knowledge so it makes sense to go it solo.
For stuff like combat training, it is just muscle memory and discipline and stuff, and you have no special edge that will help you build muscle memory or discipline or whatever, faster than an established course. So just go for the established course.
Update - I looked more into it:
- Indian army SSC - requires 1-2 months prep + physical fitness (important) to crack interview - 49 weeks training - main difficulty is getting exit (PMR) early is hard, desertion has non-trivial consequences but you can still do it ofcourse
- French foreign legion - seem like luck-based character-based interview - 5 years training but easy to desert and no major consequences for doing so
- Russian army - you can directly enter but significant probability of being directly deployed in combat (!!!)
Main issue is yes this is a large time investment, and even more importantly, will break momentum you are building towards your current plans. Momentum is the most important thing.
I should maybe just consider all this a backup option and then forget about it for now.
In short, military training is expensive af and nobody wants to let you leave so easily. I wonder why there isn't an easy option to just pay the training fees and exit whenever.

2026-08-29

Update - Looked into more countries
- Singapore National Service - Singapore is likely to provide PR after 2 years of employment there, following which military service becomes mandatory
- Israeli Defence Force (IDF) - Provides fast track pathway to join military as a non-israeli jew. No easy pathway for non-israeli non-jew.
- Militias in the US - US has a number of unofficial militias who are willing to train people. I am not sure which ones will accept foreign citizens though
- ???
Joining FFL seems like the lowest hanging fruit for me here, if I ever get serious about this plan.
Obviously my current blog disqualifies me from joining all of the above listed militaries. If I ever get serious about this plan, I have to go completely dark.

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