Do you believe counseling soldiers has better results than making them do PT?

No I think it has zero affect. They don't care about a piece of paper but if they knew that the consequences where physical they would change their mindset

Man we got smoked all the time. We became very disciplined . Got to enjoy the smoking after a while. Made a better soldier, unit, and platoon out of us.

Punishment and counseling is always been the forefront of military values. Without discipline and counseling you'll have a weak military

It doesn’t matter what you believe. What does the SCIENCE say? Personally I think PT reduces arthritis, depression, and many other things. I can’t say with scientific certainty but I think PT is better than counseling.

Until the pain of staying the same is worse than the pain of changing, Soldiers will continue their habits.

It depends on your goal. If your goal is to create hard body, hard minded, highly disciplined Warriors....you work them till they drop. Then you work them some more. And you talk to them while they are doing push-ups and sit ups.

On the other hand, If you want sensitive soy boys that want to discuss their feelings with the enemy and explain to the bad guy why it is wrong to hurt people...then by all means, counsel them.

I always counseled my soldiers squad leader drill sgt platoonsgt or company commander. Smoking was for poor PT performance or as drill sgt for on the spot corrections during field training. There is no paper trail if all you do is physically punish them. If you have to finally put someone out of the service better have paierwork together.

In my time in service I have seen serveral different approaches taken. For me, a mix of counseling statements and PT worked best. A soldier remembers the pain of the PT but they also know that with the paper trail they could easily lose time money and rank. Me personally I feared losing rank and money more than anything.

Nothing works better than a good smoke session.

Ill sum it up quick. I never saw this in 88 to 91 when i served. Its the laziness that comes from lack of excercise and accountability. This generation has grown up to computers video games, social media cell phones and thug music. The gangsta culture and lack of 2 parent households filled with inactive children is the problem. They are way too sensitive. They need therapy dogs to deal with normal everyday stress. You wonder why this generation is weak this is why. My own children get notes to skip gym class i never even thought of such things in the 80's. We were all physically active. Good luck with these recruits.