Maybe we're going to have battle sneakers and combat shorts too?
BTC at Ft. Ord for me in Oct '74 was about like you say. I didn't think it was so tough, none of the cadre had to touch trainees, but the language was atrocious. If there was someone who couldn't take that, I surely didn't want him in the same Army as me.
My son goes to Ft. Jackson on the 12th of July for BCT and yes, we're aware it's sexually integrated. What next?
You guys get it.
You don't create loyal people with initiative by beating them into submission. Tough discipline can be achieved without the master/slave relationship.
My Dad was a DI at Parris Island in 1941, and acted like it at home when I was growing up. I was well behaved, but on the inside I was seething with resentment. He got the behavior he wanted, but not the loyalty.
This is what the Russian army has. Their troops have been known to sell their weapons to Chechens for vodka.