Do you feel soldiers are better or worse off with the new approaches for corrective training?

SSG Mistark,
Well, first and foremost I joined the Army back in 1992 when corrective training involved smoking the hell out of Soldiers. Must of us during that time, we got the point after the "smoking session", that's just the way it was.
I honestly think that corrective training starts at home with parents. When I or one of my other brothers messed up, it was dealt with right away, which brings my first point...deal with the possible problem right away or as soon as possible. One other thing is that the correction has to be related to the incident or problem area. And this is when most of us, me included make/made mistakes when applying an effective corrective training...we just smoked them.
Me, I'm not totally opposed to essays as long they are performed correctly and related to the incident. We all had a Soldier who was or are always late for formation, and what do we do? Have him/her show up 10-15 minutes prior to formation, correct? But in reality, what is that going to do? I would have him/her conduct some research, and type an essay on the importance of been at the right place, at the right time APA style, then present it to you. And if you have done essays APA style, you know is a little bit of work. Give the Soldier a time frame to complete it. I had a Soldier conduct a research on backward planning because he kept showing up late to work. After the task, he found himself waiting outside the building almost 15 minutes prior to work call.
Some Soldiers need more drastic measures then others, it depends. But the main thing here is that the correction has to be dealt with right away, and related to the deficiency.

Regardless of the direction of the corrective action, the end goal is to educate the Soldier of their error, right? A quick smoke session is, of course, an immediate action. But what about remedial action? One could think this being one and the same of basic rifle marksmanship. Most times, a quick fix action resolves the problem. Other times, a more in depth action is required. Understanding the Soldier and the infraction will get you to understand the best way to correct the infraction. Some would say that a quick smoke session is the best COA. But really, all you are doing is improving their PT score but not really addressing the problem? That is why I go with essays. When one of my Soldiers screw the pooch, I have them write an essay addressing their infraction, the ramifications of their actions that they can face and what could happen to the unit due to their brainfart. Educating their body is just a quick/immediate action. Educating their mind is a much more effective remedial action.

This is an old army story. I asked a CSM if he ever screwed up in his career to which he replied yes. He was told to cut a parade field with scissors. He told me he never screwed up again.