US Army Infantry basic training gets more cuddly
“Follow me” is no longer an order on the first day of training. It’s a request.
Jeff LPH 3 sent me this news. The US Army Infantry School is getting rid of the decades old “shark attack” on soldiers’ first day at basic. The shark attack is when the trainees come off the bus, can do no right, and drill sergeants are everywhere. The soldiers are made to do simple, physical exercises (pick up your bags…put them down), which of course they do too slowly, not as a group, and never to the satisfaction of the sergeants. In response, the angry drill sergeants pounce on any perceived weaknesses in a swarm attack not unlike a shark feeding frenzy.
I didn’t know this originated with the Army infantry. They did it to me in USAF basic. I thought it was part of the standard military training.
Not anymore though. Drills will no longer be establishing “dominance and authority through intimidation and fear.”
The new “First 100 Yards” event will replace shark attacks as trainees’ first experience at the 22-week infantry training program.
The five-phase event was developed on-site by senior non-commissioned officers at the Infantry School, officials there said in a news release.
The phases require trainees to memorize information about their unit histories and chains of command; conduct a simplified resupply mission; perform events from the new Army Combat Fitness Test, including leg tucks, standing power throws and push-ups; and observe an infantry squad and weapons demonstration.
It ends with trainees moving to their new platoon bays to begin 14 days of isolated training as part of the recently implemented COVID-19 protocols.
I don’t want to live in a world where new military members aren’t afraid that their drill sergeant, drill instructor, military training instructor, recruit division commander, or company commander (that’s Army, USMC, USAF, USN, and USCG respectively) isn’t going to actually murder them in their sleep for not tucking a lace in properly.
Source; Military Times
Category: "Teh Stoopid", Army, Big Army, Dumbass Bullshit, Guest Link, WTF?, YGBSM!!
What is the “Spirit of the Bayonet”?
Anyone?
(Toothy “Joker” grin)
TO KILL! TO KILL! TO KILL!
Q: What makes the grass grow green,
soldier?
A: Blood! Blood, Drill Sergeant!
True story.
Private 2banana at 1st day of bayonet training.
DS: “Private 2banana, what makes the grass grow?”
P2: “ummmm…rain and sunshine Drill Sergeant??
DS: “BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!”
But only if the sky is blue.
And it is blue because God loves the Infantry!
That’s just great.
Now drill sergeants are not going to break the civilian out of the new recruits, and they will report to their new units as undisciplined pieces of shit.
We saw some of that during the “Blowjob Willie” years when they started experimenting with “stress cards” in Basic & AIT and Permanent Party Units had to do what the Drill Sergeants were no longer allowed to as well as more Chapter 13s to boot!
This is the continued demasculation of the Armed forces. The left is winning this and will effectively ruin readiness and morale. No cursing, stress cards, elimination of standards, social justice training and universal inclusion will be the complete downfall to the US military. We will essentially be Blue Helmets.
I’m ok with the addition of the 1st 100 yards. I actually like the idea of it.
But not as a replacement for the shark attack. Just in addition to the shark attack.
The brass that came up with this was surely never charged with turning civilians into Soldiers or Infantry Soldiers. Dickheads!
We got an earful of expletive laced discipline less than a minute after taking the oath
and before getting on the bus to Dix. Will the new recruits be driven to
Basic by their parents and meet the faculty just like going off to college?
Will mom get to tour your new sleeping quarters? Can you take your
favorite pillow and teddy bear with you?
Probably. I have a nephew at Benning in week three right now (after AG stay). Now they company is followed with weekly facebook updates by what I deduce is the XO.
What is funny to watch, is some of the helicopter moms commenting….
“Um…. I haven’t seen my little Johnny yet. So many pictures yet none of him. He is about 5′-6″ blah blah blah and I haven’t gotten a letter yet. It would be nice to know what’s going on and if yall could get everyone in a picture.”
I exaggerate a little bit but that’s the feel of it. Do they think the drills are reading book of face at night taking notes on what the mommies want?
Thankfully my nephew is squared away. He doesn’t need any of that coddling BS.
OldManchu
-Ft. Benning summer / fall 1989
The 30th AG people.
Odd bunch. Like Zombies.
Thank God I rolled in a week.
Saw a bunch of clowns slip off in morning formation to leave town at the 30th.
“The brass that came up with this was surely never charged with turning civilians into Soldiers or Infantry Soldiers. Dickheads!”
I saw where PhD’s with NO Military Experience were tasked with planning Military training and it turned a number of things to shit!
What a crock. Let them do their planning in the CS chamber.
YGBSM
Well, as long as our enemies are also getting cuddley and huggable.
Well, that makes SO much sense, doesn’t it? We should all just be nice to one another, and really – just offering the Very Bad Guys on the other side of the hill some smokes and beer should put an end to warfare, shouldn’t it?
Does the Sun still come up in the West these days?
What makes the green grass grow
Bullshit, it makes the grass grow green, Bullshit it makes the grass grow green. This was part of a rhyme we used to say when I was a kid BUT I forgot how the rest of it goes. Any of you who grew up in NYC during the 1950’s remember the jingle. To make their training cuddly, the recruits should be trained to sit in circles around a roaring camp fire and sing Sara Sponda Sara Sponda and bang sticks on the ground to keep the rhythem up. I would gladly get out of retirement and supply the sticks. Am wondering how many sticks I can get out of each stick ball broom handle. You can watch it on youtube.
It’s Blood, Blood
BHWHAHAHAHA !!!!!
So, let me see if I gots this straight. Supply will now be issuing blankies from Bed, Bath, and Beyond; instead of lighting the smoking lamp, it’ll be scented candles. No more OD green boxers, it’s lavender, lace trimmed, french high cuts. Gone is the Area of Responsibility, we now have our very own safe space. The K9 Corps will be in charge of the puppy issue. Uniforms will be tailored in such a way to bring out the color in the trainees eyes.
The destruction of America marches on. Che, Fidel, Mao, and Nikita would be so proud.
The only way America will truly be destroyed is if we quit and we can’t have that. As far as I’m concerned, this fight is only just getting started.
We can’t repair what’s been destroyed but we can rebuild it better the. Before
Exactly. And we better get started now. No one said this was going to be an easy fight. In fact, this fight is just getting warmed up and from what I can see, the Left has already made their choice. And they will suffer for it, one way or another. As for Che, Fidel, Mao, and Nikita, they can kiss my Virginian ass for all I care.
It is part of Gramsci’s march through our institutions in order to turn us into compliant subjects in a commie style totalitarian state as part of their plans for a new world order.
I always remember my ride in the cattle car to my Sand-Hill “starship”. I was in the back, and patiently waiting my turn to exit through the center doors, when the rear doors (who knew there were doors on the back), opened. This very angry Drill sergeant who had to be at least 9 feet tall screamed something about taking our time, and we have all day.
Next thing I knew This very large DS was helping me to exit the vehicle in a very expeditious manner…I went flying through the air with a duffle bag on my back, and on my front. Then someone asked me if I needed an extra pillow, or my pillow fluffed while I was taking a nap…I scrambled to get up and drag my bags to the open bay on the bottom and make nice pretty lines of Soldiers! After that they were very nice and polite in helping us to get integrated into the Army! “Rock of the Marne”
Rock of the Marne? I was also 1/38 for OSUT. THey pulled us off the cattle car and had us in the formation area screaming and dropping us left and right. I had checked every button on my uniform before we got onto the truck, this Drill walked up to me and did a ninja move, slid one finger under the flap of my breast pocket and the entire thing was instantly unbuttoned, I got dropped for failing to button my uniform, did my push ups and then got lined up in what would become our roster order and hustled up to the top floor.
The funny thing is, we had all heard about the shark attack when we were still at Johnson Hall and even knowing didn’t help.
“GET YOUR GOAT SMELLING ASS OFF MY CATTLE CAR”!
I didn’t even make it to the pavement I was doing pushups on a pile of duffle bags.
I went face down trying to get over them…
And then got a few footprints in my back as folks tried to run over me.
Buddy is only half the word b=ut what did we know then…?
The old adage, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” has long since been forgotten.
Once they learned (when you figured it out), they just stole your shit when you were down.
There is always a thief in every batch…
Sand Hilton.
We visited it occasionally to clean it. We were out in the field much of the time.
Seemed right to me, but I live pretty good in the field, and have been since age 6. The city kids… suffered miserably.
1/50 Hell’s Kitchen here.
Clowns hit the floor fast.
The duffel bag ups and downs and the two hour smoke that followed.
Some dudes claimed heart trouble, asthma, etc. Hell, one dude took off running.
What a shit show.
And the worst was the guy who somehow became attached to the pole in the truck and could not get off. Not a good way tyo start….
Getting screamed at by angry drill sergeants when the trainee bus arrived at Sand Hill or Harmony Church at 0400 was part of the molding and transition process we all had to go through to learn and train to become Infantrymen at the Benning School for Boys. The new trainees will be poorer without that experience…
Combat Historian wrote:
“train to become Infantrymen at the Benning School for Boys…”
You watch what happens next.
Fort Benning will be renamed.
Infantryman will become an obsolete term.
Benning School For Boys will be flagged as a *fill in the blank* term…
So Sad.
“Infantryman” may become obsolete and changed, but somehow I think “Queen of Battle” will stay.
Just curious here: how many of this drill sergeants developed excessively high BP and had a stroke or dropped dead from screaming bloody murder at you dipshit junior dorkwads?
Just askin’. Make it a good story, okay?
I remember the Senior Drill Sergeant at Ft Polk in ’72 getting on the case of one Drill Sergeant at the range telling him it was no longer allowed for him and others to use their 5 foot long walking sticks as “attention getting devices”.
This same Senior Drill earlier had gotten 100% signup from our class for Savings Bonds by taking us on a long run in the summer sun then putting us in a classroom, closing windows and turning off the floor fans and telling everyone nobody could leave for chow until we all signed up.
How about the personal effects inventory. One guy had a towel from holiday inn. A Drill said “Look everyone here’s a thief”. “No my sister gave it to me”. “Oh your sisters a thief.
The two weightlifting surferdudes from California.
O. M. G.
When the DS dumped out the suitcases, they were almost all pills, the bodybuilder supplement type, plus jars of protein powder.
DS Apeshit Appoplexy.
sharks wept at that attack….
It was a few days before it all checked out and the “Druggie” cloud was lifted.
But the look of horror on those two faces when all that shit hit the trash can…
Now that is funny. Reminds me of “Private Benjamin”.
So sad. The things and events that terrified us back in Basic, we now look back on as “Good Times”.
Exactly ^^^^^^
Shared adversity is what creates a strong, cohesive team. In basic training, the shark attack, yelling, berating, getting “smoked”, etc. serves two purposes, weeding out the weak and building a cohesive team of soldiers through their shared hate of the drill sergeants. The kinder, gentler approach will always fail, regardless of what progressive society believes. Human nature trumps social justice always.
Kinder? Gentler? Like SGT Hulka had to do? I’m sure he thought someone in the 5-sided nuthouse had gone way overboard.
Although I’ve never heard it characterized as such, I see the shark attack as a recruit’s initial lesson in situational awareness, a particularly pithy lesson for those who dozed in class or goofed off in gym during high school or college.
One learns immediately that fearfully bad consequences will befall those who don’t pay very close attention to their surroundings and listen closely to every single word that is said to them.
From that first simple but harrowing lesson all else begins to form and grow. Without it?
Poe,
Speaking of gym in school. True (war) story.
7th grade basketball tryouts. We were going back and forth between some court drills, and then, back into the wood bleachers for instructions on the next drill. We were clearly told to listen and keep eyes on coach. At the other end of the gym were 7th grade girls trying out for something I don’t even recall.
I was in a trance stare when I heard “OLDMANCHU!!!!” (not putting my real name). As I snapped my head back towards far left, I was instantly met with a line drive BASKETBALL directly into the bridge of my nose!
Coach had times a perfect throw with a perfectly delayed screaming of my name so that the ball was in flight already and arrived as I lined up on it perfectly. My scrawny ass rag doll whipped backwards into the open backed bleachers and I damn near fell through the opening!
I didn’t make the team either.
Heh…I caught my line drive basketball in the back of the head in eighth grade from one pissed-off Willie Brown who claimed I fouled him. I went face-first into the floor and wore a crown there for the next sixty-plus years until I had to have it pulled with all the others because of throat cancer therapy.
I’da kicked Willie’s ass except for the fact that he’d been held back three times and was the only full-grown man in the eighth grade…
😜😜😜
Ouch! Sad to think that the days of junior high line drive basketballs to the head are probably mostly extinct. Haha.
I had no chance of kicking my large coaches ass. I was just trying to maintain not falling through the bleachers and start bawling in front of my peers!
A fresh recruit stepping off the bus on day one hour zero of basic training should quickly learn with no doubt that his Drill Sergeants are capable and willing to devour his soul.
Pink stress cards should and will do away with mean DIs plus safe space zones should take care of the rest
A lot of us saw something like this. Army or Marines.
Uh, Oh…
“A lot of us saw something like this. Army or Marines.”
Mason initially commented: “I didn’t know this originated with the Army infantry. They did it to me in USAF basic. I thought it was part of the standard military training”…
*smile*
“Funniest Drill Sergeants in One Video”
IMHO….
You know what is worse than a Male Drill SGT?
A Female Drill SGT.
I saw them in action at Fort Action Jackson, South Carolina.
They were BRUTAL…and yes, they were DIs of an All MALE Basic Training Company…
Never Mess With Women Drill SGTs
I was far more afraid of the female TIs than the males. Eventually, after several weeks, we started to see some humanity and humor from the male TIs. The females were all business.
IMHO the Black Female Drill Sergeants were the most vicious right alongside the Ginger Females!
Loves those Hollywood movies where every recruit, including the streetwise New York miscreant, goes to MCRD San Diego. Not to mention arriving to the Depot during daylight. Hack never met a Marine that did not arrive at Parris Island or San Diego at 0 Dark 30. Knew one Marine who was born and raised in San Diego. Asked him what it was like to report to MCRD. He said they kept him at the AFEES (now known as MEPS) until about 02:00, put him in a car, drove him over to the Depot, and dumped him in the swarm of guys getting off the bus.
Okay…
Am really scratching my head over this one.
Two Soldier with only one week of Basic Training at Fort Sill, OK (Home of the KoB!) saved a fellow Soldier’s life after the Soldier tried to hang himself:
“Two Fort Sill Basic Combat Trainees Receive ‘Battlefield Promotions’
https://www.army.mil/article/239194?fbclid=IwAR1qX5IGdew0h3LsyTWv2DcgNXtSgjbEb0mTavNjXm38Ub3DOlMi3FPK5D0
I commend the Soldiers for saving a fellow Soldier’s life.
What I don’t understand is this comment from the posted article:
“A/1-19th FA will graduate in November. The captain said the suicidal trainee is in a medical facility and is doing well. He is expected to eventually begin BCT.”
WHAT?
The Army is going to let the Trainee who tried to commit suicide continue Basic Training?
What am I missing?
“What am I missing?” Well, ninja, FIRST thing is a decent writer for the article. You know, one that can actually put the details into the story. Then you need an understanding of what Basic Training has become. All of us old dogs are scratching our watches and winding our azzes trying to get that understanding. Wish us luck. Remember, for a number of us it has been 50 or more years since we have BTDT. Reading between the lines on that story had me all the WTF??, the whole time I was reading it. I had Basic at the Fort Hard Knocks School for Wayward Boys, Kaintucky in July and August. Every single Cadre Member of B/10/5 was a Viet of The Nam Times Vet…every.single.one! Even the clerks and cooks. Some had multiple tours. Misery, Agony, and Heartbreak Hills, with a ruck/combat load that weighed more than I did for the most part, are burned into my muscle memory banks for all time. Other things are blurry, but not those road marches. And neither is the emphasis that was placed on learning the lessons that were being taught. I did not want a piece of Purple Cloth Bling, nor did I want a CMH (Coffin, Metal Handles). SFC Sanschagrin (sp?) and SGT Mitchell took particular note of the future Gun Bunny, mainly, I think, because other DIs didn’t think the little wormy fella was gonna make it thru it all. It wasn’t the size of the dog, it was the size of the fight in that little dog. Artillery AIT was a breeze compared to Basic. Only thing I didn’t like about Ft. Sill was the lack of trees to let that came early winter wind roar across the plains. Again, every Cadre Member was an Artillery Combat Vet and was determined to teach us what we needed to know to not only fight but to survive. An Old Soldier that I still carry much respect for in my heart was SFC Sledge, a Black, 3 war Vet GA/Bama Man that pointed out to all of us that the… Read more »
KoB:
THANK YOU for sharing your memories.
To this day, I will never forget what one of our Drills told our Company…
He said you will always remember your Drill SGTS…ALWAYS…
So true…I still remember their names…have a vague memory of the Company Commander and 1SG, but still remember those two DIs…
Both of them were Vietnam Vets as well..
The funny thing about those two was that one was from Maine, the other from the Virgin Islands…
You can only imagine the frustration we felt trying to march or run cadence with their “unique” accents (with apologies to 26Limabeans..😉)
Gotta love our Country with all Diversity when it comes to dialect..I still chuckle when folks point out that they don’t understand what Southerns say when speaking…
I tell them “No problem. Just say “ROLL TIDE”!!
Thank You again.
😉😎👌
gabn/hbtd/rtr
Ft. Polk in 75 was the same all combat veterans. They were closing down the Infantry School and we were still in WW2 barracks, 5th Mech was moving in. Never saw outside the post, which I latter found out was a good thing. At the time it was kinder time, the cadre could not hit you (in theory) for screwing up. I think we were the last to get bayonet training at the time. The cadre was hard but fair.
I read that earlier and was going to post something up on it. I had to wonder the same.
Fort Dix, then Fort Benning 1978…
There was zero cuddly factor in either location which was damn fine with me…
I was there to prove I was tough enough for the infantry, not because I needed a fucking hug to ease my tender sensibilities.
1978?
Wow…you ARE a Youngster!
Thank You for sharing!
FORT Lost-in-the Woods, 1991, SONOFABITCH, I finally feel like a Young-‘un!!!
22 weeks?
WTF?
I get an OSUT run, but 22-weeks?
Maybe a more physically disciplined Soldier will emerge? Who knows.
I seem to be the odd man out here. I don’t remember any “shark attack” or yelling at all. I don’t even remember my DI in basic even raising his voice, though I am sure he did. I do remember my DI in AIT throwing a blackboard eraser at me once for falling asleep in a class (he had already put me at parade rest for doing it). He just glared at me, no shouting that I remember. I do remember being somewhat surprised that I was not yelled at or harassed like the movies showed. Maybe I was just too traumatized by the whole experience to remember. The Mess Sergeant in basic tried his best to make up for the lack of hostility in the DIs. No swearing or profanity, but “Meathead” seemed to be his favorite word.
I never saw an obstacle course, either. I was rather looking forward to that after watching all those John Wayne movies.
I’m even odder than you, Tim. (Smile)
No “Shark Attacks” at my Basic at Ft. Campbell and when I got down to Ft. Rucker, no DI’s at all for AIT. This was during the time frame of February – June 71.
Obstacle course was the single best thing in basic. Shooting was fun too, but the obstacle course is like an adult playground.
It takes tough men to make tougher men.
I have not one damn complaint about the way I was treated at Fort Benning, The Home of the Infantry, back in 2002. In fact I would like to personally thank DSs Dubalak, Brown and King along with the rest of the US Army’s finest at D co 2-54 IN for attempting (and slightly accomplishing) at making me that tougher, better man.
Mailed Foot, Gentlemen.
Infantry Leads The Way!
OK, Back to the funny DIs video.
I don’t remember if it was here or someone commenting on the videos but, the story went…
“It was like a car accident. I could see it happening and there was nothing I could do about it. I saw 1, then 2 then 3 DIs coming at me and then if was a nightmare.
They lit into me and I could even possible take all the screaming of instructions they were telling me to do. I tried to form some semblance of activities, jump, prone, stand, respond, anything, but the screaming at like 2 inches away from all sides of my head was unbelieveable. The drill sergeant’s hats were so tight around me, you could have shielded yourself from rain underneath it.
The one thing I can remember clearly though, and I am pretty certain of it, that one of the Drill Sergeants, after a few minutes must have run out of things to yell at me and I swear to God, he was yelling his grocery list at me.”…
I absolutely remember reading that and laughing so hard I almost pissed myself…
😀 😀 😀
I started to poke fun at the editors of this site for mistakenly adding a duffelblog.com article … but apparently this is real.
Beyond weak.
Wow, 22 weeks for Infantry OSUT. I went through IOBC, jump school, and Ranger school in less than 22 weeks. Maybe it so much longer now to accommodate all those power points on sexual harassment and all the proggy non-discrimination and diversity crapola, like the proper care and feeding of a lesbian, non-cis-gender tranny, who is two spirit.
Infantry OSUT back in 1979 when I went through it was 11 weeks. The additional weeks would be worth it if they were going to add in more training on survival, fieldcraft, close combat, use of enemy weapons, etc. Instead, I’m afraid it will probably be spent on EEO, diversity, sexual harassment, sensitivity, tolerance, etc, as predicted by you…
The NDSM Brotherhood is not pleased to hear/see that the official Fort Benning biography for the Infantry School CSM says he is a three (3) time recipient of the NDSM despite having his service start in 1990./s
Wow…
Claw is absolutely 100% correct on this…He nailed it.
https://www.benning.army.mil/Leaders/CSM-Fortenberry.html
What exactly is so special about the NDSM that Senior NCOs/Officers embellish this award?
Anyone here remember the “famous” Joe Gainey?
😉😎
He needs to fix the punctuation in his bio.
What a clown.
I love the smirk.
Spec e-9 “Carrot Top” Flournoy did the same thing (two stars on the NDSM) back in the day.
In case anyone does not remember Carrot Top Flournoy:
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2016/05/05/csm-counseled-on-appearance-following-social-media-firestorm/
Her picture still evokes horror.
😉😎
The Brotherhood will also never forget that the 3rd SEAC “John Wayne” Troxell, practically branded into the forehead of every military member (from 2015 to 2019) that it was OK to embellish the NDSM when he himself wore two stars on his NDSM despite starting his service in 1982, a full eight years after the Vietnam Times eligibility period ended./s
Let me at ’em. I would be one of those who actually DID earn a coupla stars on that thing. All it meant was that I was old and continued to report for duty. Nuttin’ special, unless you claim it when you didn’t earn it. Those who do are very special, just not in a good way.
Can confirm.
You’d figure a Sniper School Instructor and a Liberal Arts Baccalaureate would, I dunno, f**king proofread.
Butt Eye donut eerhur, bust imma knot the Manure Centur of Most Excel-lance CSM.
Ymmv
I’m counting 2 not 3 is there another link ??
Skippy:
His bio states a NDSM with two Bronze Stars (which means Three NDSMs as Claw pointed out):
https://www.benning.army.mil/Leaders/CSM-Fortenberry.html
He joined the Army in 1990.
It is simply a new approach to training. It might work, it might not. If it does, great. If it doesn’t, go back to what seemed to work before. For those of you who have an aversion to this because it seems like we are abandoning tried and true methods, keep two things in mind: 1). Although we’ve used the Shark Attack for years, there is no actual evidence that it does what it is supposed to do, mainly because it is not an actual part of the POI and there are no specified training objectives. Granted, part of this is because no one has ever done an actual study, but… 2). We have done studies on outcome based training like the events in the First 100 Yards, and there is actual evidence that they do instill discipline, teamwork, and attention to detail. We know this because it is based on similar events used at SFAS, the Q Course, and leader training (both officer and enlisted) across the Army. As far as ‘brass or people with PhDs’ coming up with this, most of the training is developed by Senior 11 series NCOs at the Infantry School that endorsed this, to include this guy: https://www.army.mil/article/239135/infantry_school_ends_traditional_shark_attack_adopts_new_way_of_instilling_warrior_ethos_in_recruits I have no doubt, however, that NCOs across the Army, to include plenty of serving Drill Sergeants at Benning, are going to let their leadership know what they think about this one way or another. Just yesterday I talked to a former BCT battalion and former BCT Brigade commander about this, and they disagreed on the idea. One (the battalion commander) thought it was a bad idea, and the other (the brigade commander and former enlisted Infantry Marine) thought it was a good idea. No matter how we do it, the goal is to create the best trained Soldier in the time we have. Trust me, this will be studied, and they will look at every aspect of Soldier performance at the end of BCT and AIT, or in this case OSUT. PT scores, WTBD performance, ACFT scores, marksmanship, DS evaluations, etc. etc. The AITs that… Read more »
” For years now the overwhelming answer has been …and physical fitness.”
“convinced the CSA (GEN Milley at the time) that 14 weeks wasn’t enough, so we expanded it. ”
Somehow those statements do not fill me with confidence. They do, sadly, tend to reinforce my cynicism about the competence of our military leadership.