Army leaders want tougher basic combat training
Fox News says that the Army is contemplating a longer basic combat training (BCT) for recruits because the pool of recruits is out-of-shape physically and mentally.
The new BCT will place an added focus on strict discipline and esprit de corps through a greater emphasis on drills and ceremony, inspections and military history. It will also concentrate heavily on crucial battlefield skills such as marksmanship, physical fitness, first aid and communications.
Along with the new BCT regimen, U.S. Army brass is considering a tougher Combat Readiness Test, which would replace the current three-event APFT with a six-event test Army leaders believe better prepares recruits for the physical challenges of the service’s Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills – the key skills soldiers use to help them survive in combat.
“There’s going to be a much greater emphasis on fitness,” Volkin said. “Throughout the history of basic training, it’s always been about push-ups, sit-ups and the two-mile run, and that’s not a true test of fitness. This six-point test focuses more on core strength and cardio.”
Yeah, they have to do something with the generation that eat Tide Pods and snorts condoms. The generation that thinks their schools are prisons because they have to use clear backpacks.
The Army has to overcome the results of the draw down they experienced over the past several years and rebuild the force quickly and the best place to get new soldiers ready for war is in a longer more focused basic training.
Category: Army News
Funny, I seem to remember the physical fitness test including the bars and the run-dodge-jump as well… wasn’t till the mid-70s that it changed. “Throughout history” and Always” are such slippery terms around old farts.
In 1967 at Fort Leonard Wood it was: run, dodge, and jump – 2 mile run – horizontal bars – low crawl – and man carry. Remember it well
“Always” means “as far back as I can remember” way too often.
And some of us old farts remember our fathers’ stories of what they went through.
Regardless – good on Army for upping the game. Hopefully it will result in fewer American young men and women in graveyards before their time.
Bring back the spirit of the bayonet.
Best part of Basic. And get rid of those stupid rubber ones. And pugil sticks without the gay head gear.
You cannot have that super macho stuff, it will make the snowflakes feel uncomfortable if not “unsafe.” Their feelz will get hurt.
IIRC, in Ranger school they only gave us the pugil sticks and no helmets. One of our guys got a 25 point good spot report for breaking his Ranger buddy’s leg in a hand to hand fight-off.
The “rear strangle takedown” training was the coolest way to take somebody out.
I guess that can’t be used anymore because it isn’t fair to sneak up on some one.
Is it just me or does it seem like the Army always swings wildly between “we need bodies and we’ll take anyone with a pulse” and “we need to make cuts so anybody who is not a super-trooper gets kicked to the curb?”
I think the 3 event test started in FY 1981 (i.e. 1 October 1980) or thereabouts.
Reason I say that is that I was in Infantry OSUT from August to November 1980 (D-2-1, Harmony Church!) and our first PT test was the 5 event, while our last one was the 3 event.
I seem to recall the 5 event PT test as the horizontal ladder, the inverted crawl (crab walk), the run, dodge and jump, the 2 mile run and something else- can’t remember what the other event was. Situps maybe? I don’t remember it being pushups but it may have been.
Of course, back in those “manly” days we used to do the PT test in boots and fatigue pants, the only concession to comfort being that we were allowed to take our fatigue shirts and helmet liners off.
At BCT in ’77 it was a one mile rin, two miles only in USAREUR. Me, there was no need to test for pushups; had a few drill sergeants who made sure I could max that score. Damn near hourly. Or maybe I caused some of that…who knows.
Hey Martinjmpr,
[You and I were in the same AO (I know we’ve talked about that before)– remember “AO Eagle”??]
Anyway, anent the subject, our Drills called that particular event the the run, dodge and jump run, stumble, and fall.
Yes, the other two events were situps and pushups.
damn!
I did “strikethrough” instead of “strike”! That bit of mirth should’ve looked like this:
Grenade throw.
Why would anyone want to throw away a perfectly good grenade?
Are you bigoted towards frags?
Back in the late 60’s one of the events was the grenade throw with dummy grenades. I recall that as event no. 5. Those were the days.
Amen rgr, I went thru Dix in the winter of 69, how I hated that miserable place! New Jersey is still the biggest shithole I know. They should use it for bombing practice. I remember the grenade throw as being part of it as well. It did seem a lot tougher then. I went in at 6′ 3″ 135 lbs. and weighed 165 when I graduated! Must have been all those carbs??
It’s not just the Army; the Air Force does the same thing. They kicked out so many Captains and Majors a few years ago that they ended up promoting EVERY eligible Captain to Major last year and will continue to do so. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2017/09/18/all-eligible-air-force-captains-to-be-promoted-to-major-for-next-three-four-years.
I went through OSUT at Ft McClellan 87-88 and it was 2 mile run, push-ups and sit-ups. I vaguely remember a waist tape too.
Hanging pullup?
Circa 1976 combat arms OSUT Five Event Physical Fitness Test:
Run, Dodge & Jump, Horizontal (overhead) Bars, Inverted Crawl (crab walk), Sit-ups, and 2 mile run (1 mile for REMF units) in fatigues with black combat boots.
“It will also concentrate heavily on crucial battlefield skills such as marksmanship, physical fitness, first aid and communications.”
So what have they been doing?
Lopadickoffame’s, Care and Handling of Snowflakes, Avoiding Toxic Masculinity, and Organizing and Leading Drum Circles?
Honestly, I dunno. My son completed basic almost 10 years ago – and he’s been trained to kill the other guy and keep himself and his buddies alive.
@Mason – sexual harassment training and death by powerpoint….
Longer basic will not fix the related issues – they have gone to soft to accommodate all the snowflakes. Bring back the bipolar Drill Sgts so these young folks have a chance in combat…
My oldest son did basic 6 years ago and he was taught to kill people and break or take their stuff.
I saw where Units had to finish young Boots’ AIT for them because of there being so much pussyassed PC bullshit in Basic and AIT, getting mudda-fuckin’ RID of monkeyfucked horseshit like sensitivity training and going back to the Old School would be a good start.
they could take all the prior service Marines…. i mean i won the war in Iraq for the Army single handed, just ask me 🙂
Who else is in for a t-shirt that reads: “Afghanistan. We were winning when I left”? 😀
NVM, somebody beat me to it:
https://www.ironhorsehelmets.com/afghanistan-we-were-winning-when-i-left-t-shirt/
Not a very exclusive club, since we have been “winning” for 17 years and counting.
I’ll believe when I see it. For decades the requirements have been increasingly lowered across the branches. Doing military shit at boot though will certainly help. Not so sure about dietians and fitness coaches.
Kids these days need it. They arrive in the Army without having been taught what to put in their mouth. They arrive without having learned how to run, jump, and land—the absolute most basic starting point of any fitness regimen.
The Army tried (and failed miserably) to address this with the change from FM 21-30 (the old PT manual) to PRT and FM 7-22. That abortive effort amounted to little more that changing the sign on a failing business.
Any of you older vets ever have a trooper who’d had a femoral neck stress fracture while in basic? How about a dual FNSF? I started getting subordinates like that in the operational Army a couple years ago. It’s a growing trend, because Americans feed their kids garbage and can’t make the connection between our diets/exercise and things like childhood diabetes.
It’s alarming that the quality of recruit these days is so low, yes. But it’s even more alarming that these kids are getting seriously fucked up for the rest of their lives AND STILL PUSHED OUT INTO THE ARMY. I’ve had soldiers who couldn’t complete a single ruck march for their entire enlistment, not because they were malingering but because on the few occasions they did march, they were useless for the next two months.
What’s the answer? Well hopefully Americans will eventually wake up to what their diet is doing to them, but in the meantime the army has to try to find ways to turn out quality soldiers while at the same time dealing with social engineering projects from the Left.
Maybe doing some back squats and getting classes on nutrition will help. I mean, the fitness community has it figured out, why can’t we? Oh yeah, because our answer has been “oh running 10 miles a week is bad for you? Well all them fancy-shmancy scientist don’t know jack compared to my quarter-decade of leading Paratroopers, so you need to run more!”
The Army might want to consider doing something like the Marine Corps physical conditioning platoon at the start of their recruit training for a month at the start of their basic training. Get the people up, PT gear is uniform of the day, and concentrate on history and traditions, then PT, then more history and traditions, more PT, etc. That and running the Army like it is the Army, and not some failed mentally retarded socialist social experiment should get some good results.
Confiscate phones tablets and such. Make them write a journal every day. Sweep and clear for once a week for at least three weeks.
BCT a long time ago consisted of daily doses of Hell, interrupted by intense instruction in the essentials of soldiering. Fatties were escorted through the chow lines and what they could have was personally ordered by the drill sergeant. You worked before chow. You worked after chow. There was no comfort zone, no safe place. The drill sergeants were preparing men for war and all were war veterans.
I saw my son’s BCT company at Benning in 1994 in formation. They were all fit, most were over 5’10” tall. At the time, I thought, “I could conquer the planet if I had an Army of these guys,” compared to the draftees and smattering of RA’s in the ranks of the troops I led in the late 60’s to early 70’s in rifle companies.
The 6 event “Combat readiness test” is absolutely retarded.
It is an Obama era holdover. Do not let them lie to you.
For instance, it have the same standards for both male and female.
IMHO It’s a hell of a lot better than what we’re currently taking. Also, didn’t everyone here cry about different male/female standards for the longest time? Can’t have it both ways.
True Yef, but it is my understanding that they pussied down the men’s standards to match the womens. Wrong answer. A pound is still a pound, a mile is still a mile. Ain’t no girlie pounds that weigh 10 ounces, and ain’t no girlie miles that are only 880 yards long.
In the Army it’s currently all about numbers. Get ’em in an push ’em through.
It’s a big change from even a just decade ago and I do hope the leadership that only thinks in terms of numbers soon gets back to thinking about quality.
Have to wonder what happened – I graduated from High School in 1984, was one of only 4 that went into the military out of a class of 545. Graduated from Basic that fall, and the Army’s active strength was close to 1 million – they filled it with no problem. 35 years later, Army is half the size, US population is larger, and they can’t find quality recruits…
It has to do with well over half the population that would be eligible for military service being wastes of skin incapable of doing anything with their lives. Just oxygen thieves.
Good luck.
All anyone needs to do is park outside damn near any High School in the country when class lets out and see the tide of Porkers, Pencil necks and Tofu-fed Veal that emits from the doors to see how fucked this country is when it comes to fighting materiel.
I am shocked at the high percentage of “fat bodies” I see every year when the high school JROTC units and bands march by at our yearly Veterans’ Day parade.
Not just the physical aspect guys. I’m in healthcare,and you would not belive how “pilled up” our young people are today. Psychotropics out the ass. Seems like everyone has some type of mental issue. And then there’s the backdrop of screwed up pop culture, telling them that the USA is the most evil, “racist” country on earth.
This is what happens when Band Camp is an acceptable substitute for daily phys ed./s
But it’s not really hard to pass Basic Training in the Army.
You just make your bed real neat, remember to stand up straight and always answer every question with “Yes, Drill Sergeant!!”
It must be a different Army now. I didn’t go to BCT, but I went through 6 weeks of ROTC summer camp, and the only day that was easy was the day I stepped into my buddy’s car for the ride home. Band Camp it was not. Of course, it was the equivalent of Band Camp compared to Ranger School.
The Army has harder training for those who need it in their MOS training. After basic training they soldiers still have to train under a drill instructor for their MOS. If it’s a combat MOS they will be trained harder while in their school. Their shouldn’t be a basic training reform. This is probably going to turn out to make basic training easier than in the past.
Let me get this straight… The Army wants BCT to be more like USMC Boot? Um… I don’t have a problem with that.
I spoke to a PVT the other day and he was telling me about BCT. I can literally say that my summer working at a Boy Scout summer camp was more strenuous. Compared to what I went through in ’01, he was at a day care.
I mean, they don’t even allow fucking shark attacks when you get down-range! They were led by their Drills to their barracks, went through a show-down inspection, and then had free time to put their shit away. A fucking hour of free time!!!
THEY WERE ABLE TO DRINK SODA AT LUNCH AND DINNER AND ACTUALLY GOT COFFEE WITH BREAKFAST!!!
Okay, I’m done now.
You’re just a troll. I know people who went to basic training around that time and they didn’t let them have soda and coffee. It wasn’t easier than boy scouts either. Stop disrespecting, troll.