Are we being too soft on Soldiers?

Yes we are, people tend to forget that this is an Army, not a place that owes you personal time, explanation for everything, mandatory awards. Not only are we being too soft on Soldiers but those Soldiers are getting promoted and becoming soft leaders. They look good on paper but can't perform in the field.

I think there is a way to use smoking as an effective tool for correction and training, but I think that in the past it got way out of hand, and unfortunately that led to the Army having to respond and make changes. If smoking had been used responsibly the whole time, I don't know if that would have happened. I personally have a very laid-back personality and I don't enjoy smoking soldiers, but I think the way to use it effectively is as a quick, immediate reminder to nudge an otherwise good soldier back to the correct behavior. But ongoing patterns of behavior or conscious decisions to do the wrong thing need to be addressed by actually evaluating that behavior and setting up a plan to change it. Smoking just can't fix these things by itself, and responding to escalating misbehavior by just escalating the amount of smoking is poor leadership.

Yes. And many leaders view corrective training as "inhuman". There needs to be a balance when utilizing corrective training. Weak Soldiers are being developed and even though generations of Soldiers change and become modernized, the physical and mental effects of war are unchanging. We're not the Boy Scouts or a political organization.

http://usarmyleaders.blogspot.com/2015/06/us-army-total-leadership-human-side-of.html

here are some real issues in the military with political correctness and tip toeing around feelings. That being said, there are still multitudes of tools available to all of us when it comes to teaching, motivating, and yes even correcting.
If you feel that you are running out of tools and options to deal with a situation, then talk to your mentors and leaders to discover new options. I have yet to run into a situation where a smoke session was the ONLY solution. I personally see it as a challenge to expand my creativity (and believe me when I say that I can be pretty creative).
That is one of the real benefits of forums such as these.

Great feedback, gents. It is a fact that good counseling, leading by example, and knowing your Soldiers solves a boat load of Soldier related problems. I completely agree that you can't use the same approach with every Soldier. I also agree that in the "good old days" things could go a little too far. By too far I mean IVs, vomiting, bleeding, etc. However, I asked this question because at my current unit it's been explained to me that anything more than 5 repetitions was strictly verboten. I wonder if this might be taking it a little too far in the other direction. This struck me as something worth turning into a topic and seeing what the gang had to say.    

The recruits are the weak ones! "Oh my P#$$y hurts I am going to call my Mommy" or skipping out on retreat and posting selfies online! Posing making gang symbols WTF! These Kids wouldn't last 2min with my DI or with my CO or NCO s
From back in my time! You whined You got smoked harder! Ridiculous!

SFC Brown.

Soldiers, as a microcosm of society, change. As we have entered the video game, computer, and smart phone age, the persons entering the military have a much different life than I did growing up with a party line telephone and three TV stations.

Thusly our style of training has to change would be an initial comment, or does it? I started my military career as a United States Marine. Boot camp in the Marine Corps is a right of passage. When I went through it was prior to the development of the crucible, but it was still a life changing event.

So in answer to your question are we too soft, probably. But can we be too hard, misguided, or directed, likely. There is a balance which must be struck by NCOs in the field and knowing your troops is a first step. For me, as a senior NCO all someone had to do was act as though they were about to utter the word "disappointed" and I would changing course and doing all I could to excel. I did not hear that word, but it would motivate me if I thought it might come. Again, knowing your Soldiers seems quite important.

Two things which were shared with me that served me well. First, the adage, "easy to be hard, hard to be smart." Second, the adage that "people accept starting hard and getting soft, they have trouble with starting soft and getting hard."

Good luck,

I say yes, I got this new PVT in my PLT, fresh out of basic, says to me that their wake up wasn't till 0600. I said WHAT ??? What happened to 0430 wake up and PT ?

As has been said, the single greatest problem faced in the NCO Corps and the Company Grade Officer levels is lack of creativity withing the imposed system. Corrective training, executed prior to punishment, must achieve a new level of focus and efficiency.

My favorite, since my squad leader days, is to make subordinates hand copy portions of regulations, those specifically related to the offense. This does many things all at once. The initial counseling informs them of their failure to meet Army standards. Second, by establishing a very low tolerance for error (hand copying for crying out loud) it breeds attention to the details (I require the use of blue or black ink). Third, failure to meet the standard establishes a pattern of failure to meet the standard, leading quickly to UCMJ or separation. Finally, at least here, I know they have read, and probably memorized, parts of that regulation. Nobody likes to do this, but if they fail, they face separation.

For me, the greatest advantage to this is instead of wasting my time, or my NCOs (who need to be working with the promising leaders) this correction must be done on their own time. It works more often than not. Follow-on and close-out counselings turn out better for both the leader and the led. The correction is accomplished with minimal, but repairable damage to the relationship, and the Soldier (possibly even the leader) comes out that much more knowledgeable.

All that to say there must be new ways with the new restrictions...