SME Boss Kelvin Master

The mental part is honestly bigger than people admit and it's what you're really nervous about, the being-away-from-home bit, not the push-ups. The first week feeling cut off from home is genuinely the hardest stretch for most people, including me, but here's the thing, after that first week you adjust faster than you'd believe, the platoon quickly becomes a kind of family because you're all suffering and laughing through the same thing together, and book-out day feels absolutely amazing in a way you'll never forget. It's temporary, it has a clear end, and literally thousands of ordinary guys who also 'never been away from home' get through it every year, you're not uniquely unprepared. Don't psych yourself out imagining the worst, the anticipation is worse than the reality. You'll surprise yourself.