Wall Street Times Report
The views expressed here are my own and in no way represent the views or policies of the US Army, Dept of Defense, or any other official agency
The Wall Street Times had an article yesterday that reported on Basic Training here at Fort Leonard Wood. The title of it was "Marching Orders: To Keep Recruits, Boot Camp Gets A Gentle Revamp"
I have to tell you as an Army soldier and the wife of an Army Drill Sergeant, I was astonished at the way this certain unit is conducting training. One part of the Article says that a commander asked that his recruits be given an extra 30 minutes of sleep to the already 8 hours a night they are given. When I went to basic, we had lights out at 2100 then they were turned back on at 0430. Yes it is only 7 and a half hours and it is much more than I got when I entered the "real" army. Do you think the troops in Iraq are getting 8 and a half hours of sleep? I work at the hospital on post here at Fort Leonard Wood and I see trainees all day long going in and out of here. Not to mention at the PX...in tennis shoes no less...Today's Army is not preparing soldiers for "real" military experiences. The troops are going to leave training and get to their permanent duty stations ill-prepared for what lies ahead of them. It is not going to be a cake walk in the field or during a deployment. It is not going to be less stressful to them to have been babied during training. They are going to walk away from training with no true meaning of what being a "soldier" is really like.
And in the end may very well end up paying the ultimate price, not from doing a heroic deed or from just being a soldier but from being ill-prepared or just plain old scared and not ready.
It is a shame really....It is a shame knowing that the drill sergeants who are willing and able to train the new recruits have their hands tied and are unable to do so. The real shame is that these Drills are the ones that will have the soldiers in their units after the come off the trail and will have to train them then. I feel for the kids that get to a new unit that is already deployed and they have to join them. They will not have the time to get the proper training and therefore will go to a major deployment more "green" then most.
So I say go back to the days of wall to wall counseling and then see how many trainees really make it!
The Army should be about quality not quantity.
The Wall Street Times had an article yesterday that reported on Basic Training here at Fort Leonard Wood. The title of it was "Marching Orders: To Keep Recruits, Boot Camp Gets A Gentle Revamp"
I have to tell you as an Army soldier and the wife of an Army Drill Sergeant, I was astonished at the way this certain unit is conducting training. One part of the Article says that a commander asked that his recruits be given an extra 30 minutes of sleep to the already 8 hours a night they are given. When I went to basic, we had lights out at 2100 then they were turned back on at 0430. Yes it is only 7 and a half hours and it is much more than I got when I entered the "real" army. Do you think the troops in Iraq are getting 8 and a half hours of sleep? I work at the hospital on post here at Fort Leonard Wood and I see trainees all day long going in and out of here. Not to mention at the PX...in tennis shoes no less...Today's Army is not preparing soldiers for "real" military experiences. The troops are going to leave training and get to their permanent duty stations ill-prepared for what lies ahead of them. It is not going to be a cake walk in the field or during a deployment. It is not going to be less stressful to them to have been babied during training. They are going to walk away from training with no true meaning of what being a "soldier" is really like.
And in the end may very well end up paying the ultimate price, not from doing a heroic deed or from just being a soldier but from being ill-prepared or just plain old scared and not ready.
It is a shame really....It is a shame knowing that the drill sergeants who are willing and able to train the new recruits have their hands tied and are unable to do so. The real shame is that these Drills are the ones that will have the soldiers in their units after the come off the trail and will have to train them then. I feel for the kids that get to a new unit that is already deployed and they have to join them. They will not have the time to get the proper training and therefore will go to a major deployment more "green" then most.
So I say go back to the days of wall to wall counseling and then see how many trainees really make it!
The Army should be about quality not quantity.
posted by In all things there is a little Evil. at 12:13 PM
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