I went through basic training at Fort Jackson twice almost a decade apart - first in 1997, and in 2006. In my opinion, there is a BIG difference between BCT now and how it used to be. I was surprised to find that today's basic is all about political correctness... hell, the DSs were doing things like apologizing if they cursed, lest someone complain. Recruits were complaining after 10 minute long smoking sessions. Overall, I would say it has gotten a lot easier. Some of the folks in my company actually complained that they thought BCT was too easy.

Is it really Basic Training?...or is it today's society as a whole. I went through BCT in 1981. Trust me, back then it was no cake walk. But look at the differences in society today versus 1981 (for those of you who can remember that far back) We were not LAZY children. We didn't have computers, IPODs, Both parents at work leaving us at home with cable TV and a refridgerator full of junk food. We, as parents, have to bear part of the blame for letting this happen. Hell, we had sub-standard sioldiers back in the early 1980's. Was that the Drill Sergeants fault? Hell no it wasn't. People are different. The Drills give them the the fundementals of soldiering. It takes years sometimes to mold a new soldier into a professional NCO. The Drill Sergeants are not afforded the luxury of that much time in order to "pump out" the finished product that we desire. That's OUR job!

It ALL starts at home...whether we like it or not. Open your eyes people look at our society as a whole and ask yourself if you could do a better job with what you have to work with

I will admit, I certainly felt that the Drill Sergeants had their work cut out for them in my BCT company. I don't know if anyone else could have done better with the folks that were there. There were many situations in which it seemed like there was a lot more that the Drill Sergeants wanted to do, but that their hands were tied.

Sorry to revive an old thread, just wanted to share that my unit has finally received two privates straight from OSUT and I was surprised by their high level of discipline and motivation. It had been a few years since we received any new privates here, so with all the talk of basic going soft I had low expectations.

I can't speak for all soldiers or MOS's, but the system has worked so far for these two the way it always has in the past. They are every bit as disciplined, motivated, and ready to learn as any private I have received previously.

ARMY STR.. ughh, I still can't bring myself to say it.

We just received an influx of soldiers from OSUT, and I was surprised that they let most of them graduate! We had PT failures, people who couldn't qualify on a weapon to save their life, which it may come to, since we are deploying soon. I understand there's a huge push for MP's to get trained and ready to deploy, since we are a huge part of the plan for Iraq, but standards should be upheld, no matter what. If substandard training is being conducted, or new soldiers are being graduated just to get numbers up, regardless of their soldiering skills, could get themselves and others killed overseas.

quote:

Originally posted by nurdt01:
We just received an influx of soldiers from OSUT, and I was surprised that they let most of them graduate! We had PT failures, people who couldn't qualify on a weapon to save their life, which it may come to, since we are deploying soon. I understand there's a huge push for MP's to get trained and ready to deploy, since we are a huge part of the plan for Iraq, but standards should be upheld, no matter what. If substandard training is being conducted, or new soldiers are being graduated just to get numbers up, regardless of their soldiering skills, could get themselves and others killed overseas.

Sounds like you'd better get crackin' then. Train 'em up!!

That's pretty much what we're doing. A bunch of them are good soldiers, they ask plenty of good questions and try to learn as much as they can. We have a bunch of average people, don't really try too hard to go out of their way, not yet fully "soldierized." And we have the group of soldiers that just are sucking wind at everything. Can't shoot, can't do PT, and seem to have forgotten anything taught in OSUT. Luckily, we are training heavily, and there is a HUGE emphasis on making sure they are ready for deployment, as we are spending a ton of time at ranges and in the field. They are going to have a rude awakening the first time they get into a firefight or IED strike and realize they probably should have paid more attention in training.