Drill Sergeant
Drill Sergeant
Posted on May 10, 2017
What do you think is lacking in the Basic Training/ AIT process?
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I joined a little over five years ago, ever since I graduated my IET I keep hearing from senior leaders that soldiers arriving to the unit are less prepared/ trained upon competion of IET. What aspects of Basic Training do you personally think are no longer being taught or are no longer being enforced to the same standard as say 10-20 years ago? Idealy how could the system be fixed?
Basic Combat Training (BCT)
Leadership
Drill Sergeant
AIT Instructor
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 25
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I believe newer Soldiers have been lacking discipline, military bearing, maturity, and responsibility.
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SFC (Join to see)
Agreed, they are graduating osut and ait unable to pass apft, bf, weapons qual, and discipline is nonexistent. Idc if basic needs to be longer but grunts need to know their craft skill lvl 1 tasks much like eib upon arrival to unit. If i can teach eib in 7 days so can drill sergeants. DS's need to be in all AITs and keep boot to ass bc i jave noticed most support ncos lack the same lvl of discipline and bearing thet the pvts lack.
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SFC (Join to see)
I believe those support NCOs lack the higher level of discipline because they are also the product of the same environment.
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SSG Stephan Pendarvis
This is a good question. I don't know what they teach anymore...I just know what I see as the after effect in the discipline of the troops when they arrive at duty stations. I don't know what the do to them physically but I do see an increase in injuries over all in the troops. I start thinking that they issue crutches at CIF along with their battle rattle...lol. I don't think that they are any tougher..I just think that our youth are (pre basic) not as physically active as we were in the 80s growing up. And parents nowadays as a whole...are not hard on the kids or younger generation. We....as a whole...want to protect them from what we went through as kids...and that is not right. They need those personal challenges to make it through life. The DS has to probably deal with that AND meet mission of developing quality soldiers in 8 weeks...not possible. I'd say it actually takes 4-8 years for a soldier to develop into what the Army needs. It usually takes at least 2 duty stations in my opinion to start 'getting it" and understanding and actually seeing what the whole experience is all about. I have ran into many soldiers that just want to get out after one duty station. I encourage them to at least PCS and judge things off of that. But of course..."wherever you go..there you are"....lol. I think mentally our youth cannot handle pressure that the DS put on them and it is (as a whole) our fault as parents....(AS A WHOLE). I know some parents are doing a great job molding and making tough young adults that will take life by the horns and will be able to mold to any situation and life dealings. I think it is NOT the DS job to make our kids mentally tough or physically tough. I think that starts at home. Again...if newer Soldiers have been lacking discipline, military bearing, maturity, and responsibility...it is the parents fault...not the DS or the Army fault. Of course...some parents cannot control their kids and they send them into the military...that is another chapter in the same freakin book.
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Your always going to hear that point of view because generally earlier graduates want you to believe they had it tougher. I went through in 1982 back when the Drill Instructors still beat on the recruits, I remember low crawling under barbed wire while the Drill Instructors threw Artillery Blast Simulators at the slower recruits (fairly cruel and that would never be tolerated today). Having said all that and looking at the full Infantry OSUT course. Today's graduates have it tougher and more challenging because even though they eliminated some of the abuse........Ft. Benning was careful to replace it with more challenging training that was more relavent. Such as the administer IV to fellow soldiers part, the combative training (which unlike hand to hand is much more physically exhausting), all the hours we spent on Drill and Ceremony also trashed in favor of rubber shoot rooms. So Infantry OSUT is more physical today than it was when I went through and more relavent to a combat environment.........I would probably go a little farther and say it requires more physical fitness than in my day as well (1982).
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CPT Lawrence Cable
I agree. At least in the Combat Arms side of things, they got rid of the stupid abuse and added tough and more realistic training. You don't have to hit someone to smoke them. Tough incremental and realistic training makes better soldiers than abusing them ever produced.
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How we just start with the minimum standard for the APFT upon graduation. Achieving that minimum standard requires several of the factors discussed already, discipline to work out and get more physical, heart, to continue regardless, and a multitude of other combinations and factors. I am not going to say that the PT was harder, but the Drills obviously had more fear power back in the day to "pump you up" to get you going. Knowing the rigors of the Army, before going to basic I started training as I was really out of shape going in at 222 pounds. I left basic 167 and a fighting machine. Not sure that is the result these days. maybe its the focus and direction of the Army or the inclusive idea that everyone is made for the Army. We all know that is not true. .02
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LTC Trent Klug
Basic training graduates don't even have to meet the 60% minimum threshold for the APFT. They can graduate with a 50% score in every event. Think about that for a minute. The minimum standard isn't the standard anymore where basic trainees and physical fitness, as tested by the Army, are concerned.
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SFC (Join to see)
It's 50 points in each even in basic to pass. I went to basic after college. I hadn't really worked out before I went to basic. I was 22. I managed to pass. I did have issues with situps but that was purely form. I figured it out.
PT wasn't harder - they just could smoke the shit out of people a lot more than they can recently.
PT wasn't harder - they just could smoke the shit out of people a lot more than they can recently.
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