Was Basic training Harder in the 80's and 90's compared to now, with the drill sergeants and drill instructors having theirs hands tied?

That is what I noticed about Knox, the command that ran the Armour OSUT also ran the regular basic training there and they set one standard for all did not matter if you were OSUT or there for 9wk BCT your standard was the same. Jackson every training battalion had its own standard for everything. It just baffled me that basic training there did not really met the standards I was used to.

All too often people judge what they are told it is like in "basic" today by comparing it to what they experienced yesterday. Its the military equivalent to the old "I walked to school in knee-deep snow 5 miles uphill...BOTH ways!" stories that our parents told us, theirs to them, and we tell our kids.

What I appreciate about your thoughts is that they are based on actual experience with "basic"; once as a trainee a quarter century ago (feelin' old yet? ;-) ), and can compare/contrast to what going on in more recent times as cadre.

Granted, you can't speak to every experience at every post as you mentioned, and that does muddy the waters a bit when trying to compare/contrast "then to now", but to answer the question from a place of experience rather than "feeling" makes for a higher quality opinion.

CPT Lawrence Cable - I think you might be right about training standards and commensurate experiences in combat arms. I talked to a buddy of mine who went into the Infantry after we graduated high school in '91, and it doesn't sound like his experiences were too far removed from mine when I went through a few (ahem!) years later on.

SGT Dave Tracy - I went through with a number of retreads from the Vietnam Era coming back in to go to OCS. They were shocked about things like the strict weight standards and actually having to pass a PT test, which apparently didn't either keep you from graduating or deploying if you flunked at the time.
By the time I got in, most of the stupid abuse had gone away, to which I say good riddance. Stair stepped, realistic and incremental training produces far better results than physically and/or verbally driving someone in the ground. That doesn't mean that I don't think the Drills don't need to be highly directive, especially during the early phases when they are still trying to teach the recruits not to pee on their hands, but there is a point during OSUT when all the non hackers are gone and you just get better results with hard and realistic training.

Water fountains ? We had Lister bags.

My granpappy had to gut a taun-taun with his sabre for warmth back when he was in General Solos revolutionary army.