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The New Army Basic Training
The Basic Training images that are embedded into our minds from all of the movies and grandpa’s
horror stories of Vietnam are a thing of the past. As society changes so must the military and it must
adapt to every new wave of overweight computer and video game junkies that answers the call of duty.
It seems that the only thing left from the old school basic training is the angry, ugly looking drill
Sergeant that gives the recruits a hard time. Long gone are the wall to wall counseling sessions and no
rank corrective training to shape up substandard Soldiers. The Army’s Training and Doctrine
Command TRADOC sent out surveys to the Officers and Noncommissioned Officers to gather
feedback about training needs and improvements. The survey responses revealed that Map readingfirst aid and physical fitness were among the most critical areas to focus on. Warrior Tasks and
Battle Drills WTBD were also revised in May 2010 as a result of the feedback from the leadership. The
clear signs of change were evident when the Army allowed overweight Soldiers to graduate from basic
and Advanced Individual Training AIT which is why we have so many porkers in the ranks today. Words
like “sensitivity” and “stress card” dominate the Basic Training environment with the promise of creating
stronger and smarter generation of Soldiers to fight the wars of the future. I know that changes must be
made to keep up with the times and to improve the forces but I think that the Army’s top leadership has
to draw the line at some point and really look at all of the pros and cons of this new age training
strategy, so are we really creating a better Soldier by instilling all of this sensitivity stuff? After all we
are supposed to be stone cold killers when we need to, right? Try asking that the bunch of shrinks and
Congressmen that came up with these new strategies, I bet they will also tell you that they have not
served in the armed forces a day in their life. Soldier safety is by far a big part of training and just
about everything else that we do. It is our duty as leaders to enforce safety but sometimes we take the
safety factor to an extreme and it is because no one wants to be responsible should something go
wrong. The climate seems to be a big safety issue when it comes to training. I have had many training
events canceled because of rain, snow, heat and fog which is understandable if it is severe weather
but what happens when the Soldiers get into a real world situation where there is rain, snow, heat or
fog? Did we do right by overprotecting the Soldiers during training and not providing the most realistic
experience possible? Or could we have continued with the training on a smaller scale where the NCOs
could provided a better oversight to ensure Soldier safety while at the same time giving that Soldiers
the best possible training experience? I think we can, after all we do get issued wet and cold weather
gear for a reason. The bottom line is that we can’t change the rules as those decisions are way above
any of our pay grades so we have to be creative and think out side the box in order to provide the best
training for our Soldiers while at the same time staying within the regulations.