BTI is an acronym for Basic Training Initiative (originally BWC Training Initiative). It is a three part program encompassing all of the basic knowledge that a Black Widow Company trooper must know to become a good rifleman and a good a leader.

BTI was a concept derived from the "Organized Might" series, a series of three training operations run by DucusSumus, the first of which was run on December 28th, 2003. Each of the three operations had a different focus, but all of them began with simple movement and firing drills designed to increase squad cohesion and combat effectiveness. The positive effects of these drills were noticed, and the conceptual outline for the BTI program was submitted on March 6th, 2004. The concept was well received, and a comprehensive outline for the first course in the program, Basic Training, was created.

BTI: Basic Training was run by DucusSumus for the very first time on March 21st, 2004. Other early instructors of the course include Dur13l and Cord, both of whom are still affiliated with the outfit today. The course was a resounding success, visibly improving and expanding the outfit's abilities on the battlefield.

The second course in the BTI program, Advanced Training, was originally designed to be a weekly course that would cover something new each time, similar to the way in which the "Organized Might" series was run. It was later decided that it would be better suited as a standardized program that would expand on and add to the procedures covered in Basic Training. The first comprehensive outline for Advanced Training was created collaboratively by DucusSumus and JRDiaz82. JRDiaz82 ran Advanced Training for the first time on May 28th, 2004. This course, like Basic Training before it, proved to have a very positive effect on BWC operations.

Leadership Training, the final course in the BTI program, was run by DucusSumus for the first time on July 29th, 2004. The original comprehensive outline, written by DucusSumus, has been lost, but the course remains very similar to how it was, today. The improvement in BWC squad leading that resulted from the course was noticeable right away. Finally, the BTI program was complete.

Eventually, it became clear that BTI instructors needed to be certified. Firefly created the Training Master Instructor program, or TMI, to award those members who had put forth a great deal of effort into training and signify who was able to run BTI courses. Today, only those BWC members who have earned TMI status are authorized to run any courses of the BTI program.

The three outlines for the three BTI courses were not written in a consistent format. The third outline didn't even exist. In order to give the group of certified BTI instructors a standard syllabus from which to work, OptimusPrime wrote the first standardized set of outlines for all BTI courses. He called this set "Training Outlines," and it was released on March 8th, 2005. These outlines served as the standard for nearly a year until they were reformed by SteelRain13M in collaboration with DucusSumus. The newest version of the standard set of BTI outlines was released on March 7th, 2006.

Today, SteelRain13M, PlanetSide Platoon Sergeant, oversees the BTI program as the Primary Instructor.