12 weeks of Future Soldier meeting content. Written.
Counted down to ship date so you drop a soldier into the right week regardless of when they contracted. Each week names the outcome, the existing Honest MOS pages you show, and a sixty-second discussion prompt you can read off the card. Print it, screen-share it, or text it. It’s yours.
What does your MOS actually do, all day?
They can describe their MOS day-in-the-life without quoting the brochure.
“Open the Honest MOS playbook for the soldier's MOS. Read the E-1→E-4 tier together. Ask: "Which part of that surprised you?" Anything they flag now is something you address before BCT — not after they've already shipped and called home wondering what they signed.”
Where are you actually going to live?
They can name their likely first duty station and one true thing about it.
“Pull up the base profile for the two or three likely first-duty stations attached to their MOS. Cost of living, climate, school quality if married. Reality is better than brochures because reality survives BCT day 90.”
Your branch versus the other five — last chance to sanity-check.
They can articulate one specific reason they picked their branch (not "it felt right").
“Open the compare tool. Walk them through where their branch is statistically better and where it is statistically worse. If they have buyer's remorse, it shows up here. Better to find it now than at the in-processing line.”
The contract — what each clause actually means.
They have read their own DD-4 and DD-1966 (or service equivalent) with you, line by line.
“Bring their copy of the contract. Walk every clause out loud. The clauses you don't want to read are the clauses they'll be most angry about at month six. Read them now.”
PT baseline — the 90-day program starts now.
They know where their run, push-ups, plank are today versus where they need to be on Day 1.
“Test them today. Note the numbers. The Pre-Ship plan tells them exactly what to do on which day of which week. A soldier who can pass the entry PT test on week one of BCT is a soldier who finishes BCT.”
Run progression — where most BCT recycles start.
Their run is on a published progression they can repeat without you.
“BCT recycle for "PT failure" is mostly "the soldier could not run." Pull up the run progression. They commit to the three weekly sessions. You check it next week.”
Push-ups, plank, body comp — the boring middle.
They are following the progression and they know their tape-test number.
“Spot-check this week's prescribed reps. Tape them. If body comp is going to be a problem on accession day, it shows up now while there's still time to fix it without delaying ship.”
Heat, hydration, sleep — the three things that wash recruits out in week one.
They have a sleep schedule and a hydration habit that matches BCT routine.
“Heat casualties are the highest-volume DEP-loss-equivalent at BCT. If they're shipping in summer, the heat acclimatization protocol starts this week. Sleep schedule shifts to 2200 lights-out, 0500 wake.”
Pay, BAH, and the BAS chow-hall offset.
They can do the math on their actual take-home for month one without your help.
“Pull up BAH for their first duty station. Show them the BAS offset for barracks meals. Their first LES does not match what the recruiter promised in gross compensation — they should hear that from you, this week, not from a barracks lawyer in month two.”
State residency for tax purposes — a decision that lasts decades.
They have picked a state of legal residence with eyes open.
“There are nine states with no income tax. There are five that fully exempt military pay regardless of residency. The state they list on their first SGLI election is the state that bills them for the next 20 years unless they update it. This is a real decision.”
TSP, BRS continuation, GI Bill timing.
They know what TSP is, when to enroll, and what BRS continuation pay means.
“They will be auto-enrolled in TSP at 5%. They should know what that means in the first paycheck. BRS continuation pay shows up at year 12 and they can opt out at year 10 — the decision tree starts now even though the choice is far away.”
Ship-day logistics. Documents. Phone home plan.
They show up, with everything, calm.
“Final check. ID, Social Security card, banking info, immunization records on hand. Phone-home plan with family agreed. Two pairs of broken-in running shoes. They're going to be fine because you spent twelve weeks not winging it.”
Count weeks from today to ship day. Start there.
- Just contracted, 12+ weeks out: start at Week 12.
- 4-week DEP: start at Week 4 (skip identity weeks if they’re already locked in; compress body + money into the time you have).
- Ship date moved: re-anchor to the new ship date and jump weeks accordingly.
- Multiple soldiers in the same meeting: run the week of the soonest-shipping soldier. Earlier-ship soldiers benefit from re-exposure; later-ship soldiers get a preview.
Every page linked above is a real, existing tool on Honest MOS. Free. No login, no PII capture. If a link 404s, email [email protected] and we’ll fix it the same day.