Got to get tougher in a hurry: David H. Hackworth says U.S. military not making the grade

Every week, fewer American flags are flying from cars and homes. And it becomes easier to rationalize Sept. 11 as a terrible tragedy that happened to the folks in some other town rather than the ongoing threat to our way of life that this century's Day of Infamy really represents.

But out there in the global trenches, the war against international terrorism grows bloodier by the day, and as a consequence, more coffins draped with American flags will be turning up at Dover Air Force Base.

The first round in Afghanistan is still far from over, and then there are rounds two through 30: the running sore in the Middle East, and Saddam's weapons of mass destruction; ex-Yugoslavia, where we have thousands of soldiers keeping that fragile peace; and dozens of other Bad Lands either on fire or waiting to ignite.

This complicated conflict won't be won by the smartness of munitions or the sagacity of diplomats, but by the grunt on the ground digging out the terrorist and either nailing him or jailing him. There's no way we'll prevail and protect Main Street USA without tough, well-trained soldiers.

Having led infantry squads, platoons, companies and battalions in combat for a bunch of years, I know that to make it on the battlefield, grunts must be granite-hard both in body and mind, have the discipline of a Spartan warrior, know the basics of the fighting trade as well as what's on their dog tags, always sleep with one eye open and be able to shoot as straight and as fast as a Delta Force sniper.

But during the first serious fight involving U.S. conventional troops in Afghanistan, our soldiers were far from up for the game. They fought well but were just not strong enough for the rugged mountains of Afghanistan.

The commander of the operation, Gen. Tommy Franks, pulled our boys out of the battle early so they could catch their breath and brought in 1,700 fighting-fit British Marines. The British media recently reported that Franks said, "The British troops may be more accomplished at some aspects of infantry warfare than their U.S. counterparts." The report added, "They know how to walk up mountains. ... They don't expect to be given a ride in a helicopter every time they want to get somewhere."

The poor physical condition of so many of our soldiers was no big surprise to me. When I eyeballed our kids going through initial training last year in a warm-and-fuzzy basic course that's been made shockingly softer than the one I took 56 years ago, I concluded from my visits and the comments of scores of Army small-unit leaders that many of these boys and girls – some of whom could barely do two push-ups when they first reported to the Army Reception Station – wouldn't make it in battle.

Last week, 50 highly motivated recent graduates of Fort Benning's basic and advanced training programs and the storied Parachute School reported to Fort Bragg to prepare for further training that would allow them to join our elite Special Forces units.

"On Monday they took the PT test," a trainer there told me, "and over half of them failed to meet the standard."

So after eight weeks of basic, five weeks of infantry advanced training and three weeks of parachute training, more than 50 percent of this group of young soldiers couldn't pass the push-ups, sit-ups and two-mile run.

"We aren't talking about some way-out SF standard, but the bare minimum required for any soldier to graduate basic training," reports another Special Forces sergeant. "If this is representative of what's happened to infantry basic training, I'm afraid to even ask what the hell is going on at the co-ed basic programs of Fort Jackson and Fort Leonard Wood."

Our generals must bite the bullet and insist that the kinder, gentler standards that have castrated the conventional Army during the past decade be rooted out. Training must be returned to the reality-based standard that used to prepare our grunts to make it through the crucible of combat – or we'll continue to fail when and where it counts.

That would be an excellent suggestion to make to the National Boy Scouts of America.

Sadly, the feminization of America's men and military is in full flower. At the local school level, many ROTC programs have been dropped and Riflery is not a sport offered any longer--too un-pc and too high an insurance liability Our children don't know the rigors of physical fitness because they get home late from daycare and then watch tv--no outside play. At our elite military institutions, everything has been reorganized to kow tow to a feminist agenda. I live near West Point and in the last few months have spoken to women who teach there who bellyache about how there is still an old boy network and they need to become more contemporized. I calmly say fine as long as it doesn't impact the soldiers on the battleground and since women don't measure up physically which is what counts in battle, why should they be the benchmark? Sigh--these people don't like my observations. V's wife.

That's why I like the idea of making different classes of MOS physical difficulty, and rating the PT tests on those, no difference for sex or age, only the ability to do the job.

The problem with that it would create resentment between different units. Soldiers would look down on the less physically fit, even if they had higher rank. Also all soldiers need to be able to pick up arms and fight. The PT standards are the minium fitness level. I would hate to see us lower it even more.

There are disadvantages, but different MOSs already look down on others. Of course, the minimum standard would be the minimum to fight, but if you want to get into infantry, better train some more. There are already extra tests to get into certain outfits, like the Special Forces, I'm just extending the idea.

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