When will the Military stop conforming to the volunteer and start upholding the standard rules and regulations?

One thing that has caused change is the all vollunteer military. In the old days we could just drag people in off of the street. Today we have to try to get them to actually want to join.

SFC (Join to see) Good to see there are still a few 'hard Corps', no nonsense SMs out there who chafe at seeing the services become more and more caring and compassionate for everyone's hurt feelings. About all you can do is hold up yr end and not allow any let down of discipline if you can help it. Let's hope the feel-good types don't completely undermine the services before we head off into our next major war.

Saluting should really only be done on base during duty hours when in uniform. Company formations are really only good for accountability. Every unit I've been in 1st formation was just accountability & the 1sg saying we got a lot to do, your psg have the info. Other than that, that's it. Now with the rest that has been slacking is because at basic they aren't training soldiers anymore. They are being friendly & nice to them. Not Training them to be a basic soldier. Then having the units ncos deal with the mess afterwards. Which making discipline, cohesion a problem. They need to take their cells aways, ipods, tablets, etc. Treat them as if they were in basic. Then trian them to standard. Of completing basic skills, marksmanship, pt, respect, customs, NBC, etc. If I have to right a new soldier up every 5 minutes cause he's disrecepectful cause he didn't learn it at basic then the problem is there. If a soldier comes to the unit & can't pass a pt test within 3 months there is a problem there. If a soldier doesn't know what their weapon is, certain types of generic vehicles, what their Mos is, how to do their job, then we got a problem there. Sry if it sounds like a rant but the army starts @ BCT & AIT. Train & teach to standard. Ppl say the good old days are no more & need to stop looking to bring them back. Well I say forget that. The good old days, soldiers were soldiers not kids looking to have their hand held every step of the way.

The military is not a social program. Like it or not the military is here to fight our wars, and keep our way of life safe. Being a PC military doesn’t do that.
When you join the military you give up certain rights even if you don’t realize it. As service members we conform to the needs of our branch, not the other way around.
Face it, on the battlefield there are no safe spaces, time outs or do overs. That person on the other side isn’t going to give a damn about your feelings. While you’re crying because it isn’t fair, they’ll kill you and not think a second about doing it.

I was active 74-80. I saw so many changes during that short time. The Army IS evolving and there really isn't much you can do about it

Great concern. While I was on active duty, a soldier was called out if failing to salute. Is it fear of non-compliance that leaders are failing to do this part of their job? If a soldier cannot be trusted to cooperate or comply with AR in peace time, what are the chances he or she will in combat?

The only discarding of the rules I’ve ever seen is with the higher ranking people in the Army. If the leaders don’t enforce the standard, then the soldiers will follow the standard. You’re wondering why the Army is softening it’s touch, look at all the soldier suicides we’ve had since the initial push into Iraq and Afghanistan telling people to suck it up is no longer the answer. There’s nothing wrong with the Army we’re just evolving and trying to become more of modern entity. Also I call BS on soldiers not saluting as a SPC I would lay into someone for not saluting.

I agree with staff sergeant swan I would need an example of what you're talking about when it comes to not saluting. It has been a few decades since I've been in however growing a beard for religious reasons is no different than the American Indian I saw while I was in who had a long braid down his back while in uniform because of his beliefs. And many black soldiers were permitted to not shave because of the extreme skin irritation shaving caused. As others have said there have been exceptions to every rule.

Ten minutes into the next war

Unfortunately these days we are far more concerned with the feelings of the soldier than with the dicipline the soldier needs to display and live by. I recently read about the US Army reverting back to enforcing dicipline statndards in basic training. This would be great, however it needs to be re-enforced once the soldiers get to their permanent party unit and beyond. I firmly beleive that how we train in peace time will only help us during times of war/combat or in some of our most darkest times in life. I fo rone have been able to use this mental approach in my life during my time in service and once i retired.

I remember speaking with two soldiers when i was an instructor at Ft. Sam Houston, TX. Both of them were reservist and could not wait to go home and get back to what they knew as their normal life away from the dicipline the US Army was instilling in them. They were convinced that things would be just like they were before they joined. I explained to them that this would not b the case. That they would see thiings differently. They did not beleive what i expliend to them. about two years later i ran into one of them, he expalined to me that what i had told him and the other soldier was true. He realized that he had grown up and his friends back home were stil the same. He was not able to adjust to his old lifestyle and so he decided to go active duty.

This tells me that even the most thick-headed soldier will benefit from a more diciplined military lifestyle.