"Basically, the goal is to establish a warrior ethos in the airmen," Sargent said. "We send a message that, regardless of the reason they joined, whether it's educational opportunities or technical training, they're warriors first and foremost." In the past, recruits spent their first week in classrooms, learning about noncombat topics. Now they're being prepared for a combat environment and warned about the psychological stresses of war early on in training. They're taught weapons training, security, first aid and other war skills and go through a mock predeployment briefing early in the course. Col. Gina Grosso, commander of Lackland's 737th...