Posted on 10/12/2006 11:02:51 AM PDT by stm
WASHINGTON - Hollywood may have to tone down its portrayal of the militarys screaming, in-your-face boot camp drill sergeant. In todays Army, shouting is out and a calmer approach to molding young minds is in, says the head of Pentagon personnel. The Army says it has reduced by nearly 7 percent the number of recruits who wash out in the first six to 12 months of military life.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Why presume that reducing the number of wash outs is good?
Don't fall for the MSM spin. Their reporting is on this topic is terrible.
At Lackland AFB, they made it clear, "We don't care if you ever leave here" (set backs to your third day of training if you mess up) Dec 1974, BMT Squadron Commander. I think in my flight we had about 20% drop out.
Semper Fi
`Oooh, get her. Whoops! I got your number duckie, you couldn't afford me dear 2,3. I'll scratch your eyes out! Don't come the Brigadier bit with us dear, we all know where you've been, you military fairy, 2,3. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 Whoops, don't look now girls the major just minced in with the jolly colour sergeant. 2,3! Oooh.'
"Please don't laugh! Please don't cry! Please learn by the numbers while I teach you, son!" |
This is ridiculous!
WTF??????
I still remember the names of my two primary Army Drill Sgts: Cain and Power....and believe me they were well name...one had the power and the other had the cain! However, basic training was nothing compared to jump school. We started jump school with about 650 people from all four branches of the military. Three weeks later there were only about 250 of us left --and by jump week most of us had shin splits, sprained ankles, and other injuries. I'd take basic training again over jump school any day.
Regards, Ivan
I find this 'nicer' drill sgt. stuff very dangerous
By Bridgett Siter
Fort Benning Bayonet
FORT BENNING, Ga. (Army News Service, Sept. 7, 2006) Lt. Col. Scott Power was in the last hard Ranger School class in 1989. Lt. Col. Chris Forbes was in the last hard Officer Basic Course in 1988. And Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Gaskin, he was in the last hard basic training in 1995.
So goes it for every Soldier in the history of the Army. No matter when they came through basic training or Ranger School or whatever, they came through the last hard class, said Power, who sums up his command philosophy to all the drill sergeants under his command at 3rd Battalion, 47th Infantry Regiment, with this message to naysayers and those who believe basic training has gone soft:
Im not impressed with leaders who think they have to abuse their Soldiers to train them to standard. Im not impressed with leaders who think the lack of abuse makes basic training soft, he said. We were all in the last hard class get over it. We do things differently now, and were producing Soldiers every bit as good as we ever have.
A recent spate of letters to the Army Times from Soldiers lamenting the weakening of training, particulary basic and one station unit training, has those in the know like Power, Gaskin and Forbes mad as the word they no longer use when addressing new Soldiers.
Ive had it up to here with people who say basic training isnt what it used to be, as if thats a bad thing, Power said. We dont need to use profanity. We dont need to demoralize these guys who have volunteered to be here, knowing full well theyre joining an Army at war.
Were graduating Soldiers who meet all the standards. We stand behind what we put on Pomeroy Field, he said, referring to the Sand Hill parade field where nearly 9,000 Soldiers graduate from the Basic Combat Training Brigade each year.
Another 20,000 graduate annually from the Infantry Training Brigade.
Power, Forbes, the commander of the BCTBs 2nd Battalion, 54th Infantry Regiment, Gaskin and his fellow drill sergeants from 3 Bn., 47th Inf., Regt., addressed the frustrating accusations of a dumbed-down basic training last week.
Forbes insists its a misconception based on widespread misunderstanding about changes during the past few years. Take the issue of fitness standards, for example. Its common knowledge, he said, that Soldiers are now only required to pass the PT test with a 50-50-50, or 50 percent of the push-ups, sit-ups and 2-mile run on an age-based scale, to graduate from basic training.
But what they dont say, those who complain about it, is that these Soldiers must pass (advanced individual training) 60-60-60. They have to meet Army standard, he said. And the reason for that is we finally recognized that it didnt make sense to break a Soldier trying to get him to standard in nine weeks rather than build him up in 13. Were thinking smarter and producing Soldiers more fundamentally fit.
Power elaborated on the subject of fitness. Hes repeatedly heard complaints about Soldiers doing push-ups on their knees. Its a particular sore point with Power, because the media has hyped the misconception by printing photos of Soldiers in this position with no explanation.
And there is an explanation.
We used to push them till they dropped, he said. We know better now. Now, when they reach muscle failure, they go to their knees instead of going to the ground. Using the modified technique is actually tougher than the old method; they cant quit at muscle failure, they have to modify and keep going. Were building a more physically fit Soldier.
Power said claims of being among the last old-school basic trainees has traditionally been a matter of pride, a matter of jest, among Soldiers. But when they take it seriously, or the media takes it out of context, the facts get distorted or simply ignored.
Standards change, they always have, he said. When I took my first PT test in 1984, we used the old three-event standard; push-ups 68, sit-ups 69 and the 2-mile run, 13.07. Two years later, the standards increased. It got tougher. So you want to talk about back in the day? How far back do you really want to go?
Gaskin, a 29-year-old combat veteran, said its the new Soldiers who ultimately pay for the spread of misinformation.
They come here expecting summer camp, because thats what theyve heard. The first couple of weeks are a culture shock, he said. I say to anybody who thinks basic training is soft, raise your right hand, come on out and check it out for yourself.
Gaskin insists basic training is actually 150 percent tougher than it was when he attended 11 years ago. Back then, he said, training included a form of hazing Soldiers commonly call smoking. Gaskin called it unnecessary.
Now were producing fit Soldiers who are ready for combat, he said, because theyve trained with body armor, theyre geared up constantly, constantly doing battle drills and urban operations training and the kind of first-aid training that will actually save lives on the battle field, not the band-aid approach I learned in basic.
Soldiers today will graduate knowing the kinds of things I didnt learn till I got to my first duty station, and then some of it, I didnt know a year later, said Gaskin, who has been a drill sergeant for nearly a year. I told myself it would never be that way if I was responsible for training. The worst thing that could happen to me is to know I had a Soldier here for nine weeks and he goes off to combat and something happens to him because of lack of training.
Gaskin believes the year he spent in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division makes him a better drill sergeant. Sgt. 1st Class McKinley Parker agrees. The 37-year-old Parker spent a year in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division.
Gaskin and Parker said new Soldiers want to know what to expect in Iraq.
The most common question they ask is about Iraq whats it like. They want to know, and since we were there, we can tell them and drive home the point that they better pay attention to their training, because we were there and we know its relevant, Parker said.
We do something now that they didnt do when I was in basic training, he said. We have a question and answer time at the end of the day. When I was in basic, you didnt talk to drill sergeants. Thats changed. We have to be approachable, because you dont want these guys to have to ask questions when they get to Iraq. Then its too late.
Pvt. David Robertson is in a unique position to speak about the evolution of basic training. The 39-year-old retired firefighter reenlisted in the Army after an 18-year break in service. During an interview six weeks before his Sept. 28 graduation from 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry Regiment, Robertson spoke about the differences in basic training then and now.
Drill sergeants are a lot more caring now, he said. You can tell they really care about their Soldiers and theyre genuinely concerned about preparing us for combat.
They dont carry on like they did when I went (to basic training) the first time, Robertson said, but I think Im getting a lot better training with weapons and drills and all.
One thing hasnt changed, Robertson said. Drill sergeants are still sticklers for detail. Its a phenomenon Soldiers refer to as dress-right-dress.
Power said thats because Soldiers must prove themselves capable of paying attention to the strictest details.
If you cant do the little things well tuck in your shoe laces every day youre not going to handle the big things well, Power said. Thats not abuse, thats common sense training. We didnt throw out the practices that proved successful and start basic training from the ground up.
Take for instance, the traditional challenge new Soldiers face first day in basic; theyre given three minutes to make every bunk in the bay.
Thats an impossible task and an impossible time limit, Gaskin said. But it builds teamwork. If youre that Soldier, you feel real stress and you come together as a team with a bunch of complete strangers to accomplish the mission. Were building smarter, better trained Soldiers, but everything is still based on teamwork.
You wont find teamwork, as such, listed in the Army values, but its there, Parker said. The majority of recruits value self above everything else, he said, but within 72 hours of basic training, the relatively new values-based training starts to make an impact.
Everything they do, good or bad, we teach values, Parker said. They came here because they want to be a part of this. They want to fit in, and they start living those values.
To teach values affectively, drill instructors have to model them, Power said. Gone are the days of issuing orders from the sidelines.
Leaders must be role models first, he said. We have to lead by example. We cant say, Take a lap, and stand there and watch. A leader says, Follow me, and he trains out in front of his Soldiers. He shows the younger Soldiers that fitness isnt a basic training value its an Army value, something we value for life.
Power believes the increase in the number of Soldiers graduating basic training is a testimony to the success of his drill sergeants and the Armys new way of doing business. Its not, as some would say, the result of softer training.
Sgt. 1st Class Frank Meals believes it also. The 33-year-old combat veteran, a drill sergeant of nine months, said todays Soldiers leave basic training better equipped to fight than he did in 1992.
I left basic training prepared to run. I could do push-ups and sit-ups and run, he said. Todays graduates can run, but theyre prepared to stand and fight.
They know how to defend this country, how to fight and survive and make it back to fight again, he said. Thats the difference between then and now.
Beat me to it - that's the first thing I thought about when I saw the headline!
OMG that was absolutely hilarious. Python at it's most brilliant.
Umm. I know it sounds bad, but the only things that matter are the results. If current crop of troops are an example, then the results are pretty good...
Hooo-ah -----> Kumbaya
I remember when I was a cook in a training company and the Army issued rules that you couldn't lay a hand on a recruit. The Mess Sergeant told all us cooks about the new regs and added this comment: There's nothing to stop you from kicking them in the shins and then asking them what they tripped over.
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