[JohnHuang2]

Col. Hackworth heads up...

[Basil Duke]

Interesting. Easter Sunday I ran into a former 101 Airborne sergeant who told me that the marked decline in the physical fitness of incoming recruits first made itself known to him in the early '90s. Ordinarily, new recruits are called "cherries" by veteran troops. But the breed of recent high school grads that began to show up en masse in boot camps was so physically inept that many were simply referred to as "stems," because cherry would have implied too much substance. Majority could neither run nor do push-ups - and these were 18 year old males who should have been in the best physical shapes of their lives. I'm 36 years old. Does anyone in my age group recall physical education courses in high school? My instructor for all four years, Mr. Austin, a Korean War combat vet, ran us a couple miles and had us do 50 push ups every day. Most of us were like wiry rocks when we grabbed our diplomas and headed for the hills of university life.

[ImpBill]

Again Colonel Hackworth is on the mark. Eight years of social engineering is not going to be overcome overnight and unfortunately some of our "boys" will have to pay the ulitmate price as a result of poor leadership from the top. But that is nothing new either.

Corrections will be made, I am sure. The field troops will get the physical and mental toughness needed from necessity and the training commands will make the necessary adjustments.

Of course what the good Colonel is saying has been warned about by many sources over the past decade and left un-heeded. That is sad, but today is the day and we must go forward, correct the problems, and answer the challenge or we will pay even greater prices.

I think perhaps that Rummy knows this and have faith he knows how to make the necessary changes and "accomplish the mission".