so army guys and gals, what do you think of this

[jeremy]

Are you sure about that? That's a rumor that has been around a long time. I went to basic in '98 and that rumor existed then. If they are giving out these things that's a big load of

Stress cards made me have to have a counseling session with the Brigade Chaplain once upon a time...

Other than making Basic Training (ALOT) longer, I think it is a great idea. The Army (and Military in general) is on information overload! Focus on the crucial task and perfect them! Then get your additional training when you get to your unit.

I expect someone with the title of soldier to show up at my unit with a good working knowledge of what it is to be a soldier...
I do not have time to play at being a Drill. I do not have time to teach a troop how to move under direct fire, call a casivac, fire or any other basic task...
All that does is lower the amount of time used to teach advanced stuff to soldiers... It leads to hazing, and disciplinary problems with the older soldiers also...

Almost all of those tasks were taught in the class i was in 1996 at Benning without any fancy name attached to it. What really helps is the extra/refresher training you hopefully receive in your unit after you leave basic.

Come to me and not know what being a soldier is about... You get all kinds of extra training all right...

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

I'm conflicted on some of the training .

Having been in a MASH unit , I never touched a bayonet , M203 , claymore or AT4 after basic so I can't say that the time spent on learning how to use them was well spent .

 

[kedie]

It could have been very helpful had your unit been in danger of being overrun though.

You always gotta be ready when Murphy shows up.

 

[H.T.]

I know that the Infantry Basic & Ait is done diffrently than the other MOS..The Scouts,Tankers & Arty guys may have a tough one to they being combat arms. I didn't know how diffrent my basic & Ait had been till I got to my duty station in the winter of 89. HHC 1/5 CAV 1CD. The medics had dorms and got to dress in civies and go out so did alot of the others. It gave me a since of pride knowing I'd had it a bit tougher than they had & that I'd earned my Infantry blue...I;m all for changes but lets not make it to easy also let's be sure the other MOS are trained as at least basic riflemen. Like the Marines. This should of started during Vietnam when your in a combat zone that has no lines the enemy can be anywhere. All our troops from the Truck drivers to the cooks should be able to at least use a rifle and know basic infantry tactics.
I know that when we got orders to cross the pond..We not only had to get our gear and equepment ready we had to train the cooks and other non combat arms soilders how to use there weapons..Being heavy Cav our cooks had Duece in halfs and they had M2 .50 on them..Well we had to show them how to use them..We were at the range I told the cook to load the weapon...He put the belt in back wards..Not feeding it from the wrong side..He had it in backwards the rounds facing him!
Stream lineing is fine..Let's have the Vetrans who've been there be in on the set up.
& the training.
The US military needs to take a lesson from the British SAS...The SAS men who are wounded bad enough that they can no longer fight are placed in teaching/training positions.
I was lucky I went to a unit that kept us ready and trained us. We hade Vietnam Vets who showed us how to use and E-tool in hand to hand combat & alot of ther things that we needed to know..When we got in Country we set claymores on the outside of our Guntracks with the det wires ran into the drivers' hatch, we learnd other things about how to fight there.
It seems that we forget how we fought the last war and we have to relearn everything at the cost of US lives

 

[hornadylnl]

You know what they say about the Army. 200 years of tradition, unhampered by change.

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

It could have been very helpful had your unit been in danger of being overrun though.

You always gotta be ready when Murphy shows up.

If we ever got deployed , we were supposed to have a Co of MP's attached to us .

Other than that , we did our yearly quals with M16A2's .

 

[Pale Rider]

Personally I think Basic should be closer to 16 weeks in length. And just a little bit tougher to get through... Just my .02...

Agreed. When I went through it was rushed and that was on a 9 week schedule. I asked a DS one day why they didn't yell and scream and "smoke" us more? I was curious because it seemed a little too easy at times. His response was.

"Well private, we don't have time for that S--- we're in a war and we need to cram as much legit training into you as we can. Because most of you will be in the sandbox within 6 months to a year of getting out of here."

I think he has a good point. I read an article somewhere in the last few weeks about soldiers being deployed so soon after basic and how they pretty much stepped off the plane into the desert still figuring out how to properly wear the uniform. But I digress, I have 0 combat or deployment experience. I will say though that compared to basic the AIT Commo training I got was good but terribly managed. AIT (at least at FT Gordon) is a joke, it's the biggest cluster... well you get my drift, not the most well run or efficient place in the world.

 

[dukeboy_318]

If we ever got deployed , we were supposed to have a Co of MP's attached to us .

Other than that , we did our yearly quals with M16A2's .

In a perfect situation, sure you'd have that company of MPS, but keep in mind that the MP Corp is one of the smaller MOSs in the Army, when I graduated AIT as a MP, there were just under 30,000 MPs world wide between the Army and Marines, Ive heard that number has risen to 60,000 but you cant always rely on having someone else do your fighting for you, cause what would happen if the MP trucks doing your convoy security got hit? This is why I think cross training and at least 1 yearly qual on not only the M16 platforms, but with the 240, 240B and Ma Deuce should be conducted.

 

[tv1217]

Im in the middle on that... when i went through basic I swear part of it was like American Gladiators... who is gonna be running on a log over water while trying to hit another person with a pillow on a stick.... Or who is gonna be trying to go up a rope feet first?

AS long as they keep warrior tower i guess Im good.

You know as soon as they eliminate that, someone is gonna run into Osama sitting on a rock in the middle of a river accessible by a log armed only with a giant q-tip and they'll be like "DAMN IT I WISH I HAD THAT TRAINING'

 

[ABN82]

Stress cards made me have to have a counseling session with the Brigade Chaplain once upon a time...



I expect someone with the title of soldier to show up at my unit with a good working knowledge of what it is to be a soldier...
I do not have time to play at being a Drill. I do not have time to teach a troop how to move under direct fire, call a casivac, fire or any other basic task...
All that does is lower the amount of time used to teach advanced stuff to soldiers... It leads to hazing, and disciplinary problems with the older soldiers also...



Come to me and not know what being a soldier is about... You get all kinds of extra training all right...

Just for the sake of curiosity, what rank are you?

Very few will be a SUPER SOLDIER or Marine, or Seaman, or Airmen given the time alloted for "BASIC" training. Hence the word "BASIC"! Focus on the critical task and master them, then move on from there. Why do you think some Branches have training that may take up to a year or longer?

If your unit is allowing hazing and has disciplinary problems, that is a leadership issue. Any Soldier, no matter if it is a fresh boot or someone that just transfered in needs to be brought up to speed on how the Unit functions and so on. After the new Joe has a good feel, then let the "Good natured ribbing" begin.

Oh and casivac is actually spelled casevac. It is short for Casualty Evacuation.

 

[jeremy]

Just for the sake of curiosity, what rank are you?

Me, I am just an NCO...

Very few will be a SUPER SOLDIER or Marine, or Seaman, or Airmen given the time alloted for "BASIC" training. Hence the word "BASIC"! Focus on the critical task and master them, then move on from there. Why do you think some Branches have training that may take up to a year or longer?

Yup firmly understand that... That is why we have a Basic and AIT form of education system for Initial Training and Indoctrination into our services.

If your unit is allowing hazing and has disciplinary problems, that is a leadership issue. Any Soldier, no matter if it is a fresh boot or someone that just transfered in needs to be brought up to speed on how the Unit functions and so on. After the new Joe has a good feel, then let the "Good natured ribbing" begin.

Yup and you have never seen a FNG getting smoked because of something he should have learned to do in Basic or his AIT. Hazing happens, the only place it does not is in some PC Utopia... I agree that everyone has to be brought up to speed, even solid veteran soldiers... Every unit operates a little differently. However, The kid that just got out of Basic and can not qualify with his weapon, or the kid who can not perform basic tactics, or the kid who can not perform basic CTT tasking... These happen a lot as we try to push Recruits though the system faster to fill attrition. These are not acceptable. I have troops that are arriving in as replacements that will get their OJT in theater. The grading system here is pretty severe. We run 3-5 missions a week. When are we at the unit to teach these new kids?!

Oh and casivac is actually spelled casevac. It is short for Casualty Evacuation.

The words in Red are the ones that you misspelled...
I can also critique spelling...
Would you like to do grammar next?!