Is USAF BMT too soft?

War will decide. It always does.

It all comes down to political correctness... we have raised a generation of kids who got trophies just for participating

The adage "chair force" is thrown around a lot by my Army buddies in Aviano and I believe it does start at the lowest level. Being a newer Airman (almost two years now), BMT, as it stands, is soft. Yes, it became more that way when the Lackland scandal came out several years ago, but that time has passed. My experience in BMT was instead of push-ups or physical punishment (like I thought it would be), instead was 'Give me your 341!' and thought to myself that this system was pretty easy. Yes they still got in my face a few times, but it was still "enjoyable" where BMT should not be. It should instill discipline and a hard work ethic along with a physically demanding program, which it did, but not to the extent it should have been. I'm not saying it should be like the USMC or Army where you're in a combat zone and you're actually in a free-fire zone, but it should be more intense, more in your-your-face kind of deal. That's just my opinion as a younger Airmen.

I honestly believe my tech school prepared me better physically and mentally than BMT. We ran more, had constant smoke sessions, and our instructors weren't afraid to rip us a new on while simultaneously teaching a valuable lesson regarding the core values. Unfortunately, those principles seemed to be all but lost towards the end of my career. It got to the point when we cringed at getting a new troop straight from tech school.

I graduated BMT in October of 2012, so I'm still fairly new. But I came out of it like a champ, I'm respectful, get shit done, and got BTZ. We got yelled at the first few days pretty hardcore ("Shirley" not like when my dad went through in the 80s) and then again in week 4 when we got our name tapes. No body had a "stress card" and I hadn't heard of them until I got to my first base from a coworker who was joking bringing it up trying to give me shot,but jokes on her cause I never heard of it. I got base liberty on the day of my coin ceremony and graduation but I didn't dare screw around and change out of my uniform. The Chow Hall was my scariest experience and I didn't even look at sweets or juice, I stuck strictly to healthy foods, water, and a glass of power adequate for electrolytes...well a few months down the road I make a new friend in the dorms who had just graduated BMT about 2 months prior. He said he hadn't heard of them either,but the MTIs didn't yell as much as he had prepared for (same as my experience). He got base liberty starting at week 4, and got a dessert almost every day at the chow hall.

So as for the stress cards-I'm thinking it's a mythical creature

As for MTIs being to soft-absolutely!

We need a strict learning/stressful environment. We need to stop with this corporate bullshit and get back to the roots of it all-WAR! We don't win wars through politics like some people do, we win it through the front lines and putting warheads on fore heads!


But what does an airman know about strategy?

I've heard about the time out cards and the random liberty from the newer airmen when they went through BMT (just last year). Even though BMT was easy for the most part (if you do what you're told) it was still a challenge. I didn't count how many days left of basic I had... I counted it by how many times I had to go into the chow hall and walk past the snake pit.

My nephew just finished BMT a couple of months ago, and what he told me confirms the "no yelling" that TSgt Terry Hudson mentioned, as well as no cursing. He said there were no time out cards (I asked) but random base liberty wasn't mentioned. I do know that on the weekend of his graduation his free time was very limited, even when they had nothing to do.

I felt that Basic was too easy when I went thru almost 2 years ago. And I was our division's RCPO. If your RDC yells at you it's probably cause you weren't doing what you were supposed to be doing. One thing our 2nd RDC always stressed to us was that as a training command, it was RTC's job to prepare us for the fleet. Being lackadaisical leads to bad habits, and bad habits lead to shipmates losing their lives. I've heard so many stories about those who have lost their lives due to negligence or just plain nonchalant attitudes towards doing their jobs. You go thru basic training to mold you into a sailor/airman/soldier/marine. If I can't trust those who are entering the fleet to do their job, how can I effectively do mine? I shouldn't have to worry when I get to sleep if I'll wake up or not because someone wasn't doing their job.

I'm a chaplain at BMT. I see behind the curtain more than most people, because I meet with trainees every day who are experiencing the rigors of BMT. Whatever you hear about "timeout cards" and no yelling is flat-out false. Timeout cards do not exist. And yelling? There's lots of it. I literally have MTI's outside my office yelling at trainees, all the time. The amount of stress that trainees endure is just as significant as generations in the past. The older/retired Airmen who scoff at today's BMT are either uninformed or arrogant. The fact is: our USAF still trains hard.

It is true that BMT has more structure and safety today (esp. after the sexual abuse scandal of 2009) but it is NOT true that BMT has become categorically "easy." The MTI's are some of the finest our enlisted corps has to offer. They press trainees to the limit, in order to build them into Airmen of courage and character. I have the utmost respect for the entire 37th Training Wing, and most significantly for the MTI's. They do an amazing job of balancing discipline and pressure with dedication and professionalism. The USAF is stronger because of the BMT experience and the quality of new Airmen we push each week.

The Air Force knee jerked a couple of years ago when the scandals came out about the MTI's abusing their authority with trainees with sexual favors, other favors and just plain favoritism. Unfortunately, they went way to far the other way. Yes they need to tighten the reigns up a lot and bring back stronger discipline. They did do a good job by adding some more intensive training at the end of basic like BEAST week but they could certainly do a lot more in my opinion.