New Basic Training Hardens 'Softer Generation'

[Surf n Turf]

A kinder, more buddy-like Drill Sergeant
“I know it’s raining out, so we will stay in the barracks today.
SnT


The U.S. Army is overhauling its basic training program for the first time in 30 years.
They're "advanced in terms of their use of technology, and maybe not as advanced in their physical capabilities or ability to go into a fight.
We are seeing a decline across the board in America," he says. "This isn't a decline in our recruits; this is a decline in our American society in terms of their physical capacity. It's just a softer generation.
"We certainly have a generation that is not as disciplined when they enter the military."
"Whereas they might have what they believe is a form of courage or discipline, it's not what we expect of a soldier in very tense and difficult situations,"
They may need to spend more time toughening up, but Hertling says, today's recruits also bring skills and an attitude that the military's not seen before.
"They're different. They have a technology edge. I think they're smarter than any generation we've ever had before,"

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...02&ft=1&f=1049

[JJ_BPK]

Originally Posted by Surf n Turf

A kinder, more buddy-like Drill Sergeant
“I know it’s raining out, so we will stay in the barracks today.
SnT

I don't know.

If they really want to save money, they can shorten but not soften basic..

How about cutting it to 48 hours,, of KP.

Then after their 1st week-end pass, allow the new E4's a choice:

• Mess-Kit Repair
• Airborne
• Ranger

If things just don't work out in the 1st 72 hrs, an honorable discharge with GCM???

This might also eliminate some of the posers that keep popping up..

They can serve, get the awards, and be back home in a week???

[Richard]

Not sure about it being a softer and gentler BCT:

In some ways, that means basic training needs to get — well, more basic. The new regimen spends even more time on how to fight.

"It's including things like the use of weapons, knives, bayonets, sticks — even the rifle can be used as a weapon without shooting it," Hertling says. Hand-to-hand skills like kicking, punching and holds are preparing recruits for close combat, which, he notes, are the kinds of situations the military is expecting to "be in for a very long time."

<snip>

They have loyalty, Hertling says, but he thinks the most important thing about this generation is that they want to change the world. "They want to contribute to something that's bigger than themselves."

Doesn't sound so outta whack to me.

And so it goes...

Richard's $.02

[akv]

If these recruits are smart, and loyal and need discipline and fitness instilled in them, isn't that a better problem than the inverse?

Perhaps it's just part of human nature to think the younger generation is softer and less capable, yet to date the American soldier has responded every time the nation has needed. If you look at warfare and technology going back in time, I'm not sure what to think of relative toughness, it just seems a brutal business regardless.

For example, IMHO WW1 trench warfare was incredibly brutal, large scale battles, in the mud, in which technology was far ahead of tactics, no penicillin, etc., just a slaughter. The US Civil War was also brutal, lines of men and artillery blasting away at short distances in the open.

Yet I wonder what a soldier from a phalanx or a Roman legion would have thought of this relative to 20 years of hand to hand combat.

Did the WW2 vets on the Eastern Front or those who fought at Normandy, up Italy or across the Pacific have it easier than their fathers in the trenches of Belgium? I don't know how you answer that?

I recall reading accounts of Vietnam vets whose fathers told them this isn't a real war like ours was. I personally am in awe of the men who ran SOG missions up north, or fought at Khe Sanh etc. In recent times you have examples of the sacrifice of the two snipers in Somalia, or the courage of someone like Sergeant Bellavia in Fallujah. There are too many examples to cite from Vietnam and the GWOT.

It seems warfare has changed, bodycounts have gone down in wars since WW2, obviously due to scale, but also due to tactics and technology, but is this a reflection on the toughness of subsequent generations? IMHO the younger generation always has different, lingo, culture, and preferences, but when push comes to shove answers the bell for their war.