Low Recruit Discipline Prompts Army to Redesign Basic Training

[King of Fists]

We could do that but we would need to draw back our military engagements. I would support pulling out of Japan and Germany but that is what it would take. We need a lot of troops using our current model

I'd be all for that!

 

[Mark Cutting]

I saw you post that earlier. I just meant that my first hand knowledge of basic is what I was basing my earlier post on, and I'm not close to anyone who has gone to Army basic recently.

I posted that for perspective. That's all. Times have changed dramatically.

 

[BangersAndSmash]

I'm not saying none of your concerns are valid, but keep in mind "Kids Today..." has been around forever.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/52209/15-historical-complaints-about-young-people-ruining-everything

France, 1771:
"Whither are the manly vigor and athletic appearance of our forefathers flown? Can these be their legitimate heirs? Surely, no; a race of effeminate, self-admiring, emaciated fribbles can never have descended in a direct line from the heroes of Potiers and Agincourt..."

USA, 1904
"Never has youth been exposed to such dangers of both perversion and arrest as in our own land and day. Increasing urban life with its temptations, prematurities, sedentary occupations, and passive stimuli just when an active life is most needed, early emancipation and a lessening sense for both duty and discipline, the haste to know and do all befitting man's estate before its time, the mad rush for sudden wealth and the reckless fashions set by its gilded youth--all these lack some of the regulatives they still have in older lands with more conservative conditions."

Different Centuries, Same Shit.

 

[uncommon]

i think peace time is one of the biggest reasons able bodied men arent joining.

1. i would be afraid that joining would be incredibly boring for years on end like cleaning toilets. (we all know we arent fighting lava monsters every night like the commercials) and after the service is done you are still.going to be relatively broke.

and 2. hot women are going to marry rich dudes. they arent scared of the threats abroad. you are more likely to get spit on by a purple haired feminist when you get back.

those would be my biggest roadblocks to joining.

and i think the internet solves both of those problems for most people unfortunately.

we need a real enemy to solve the recruit problem

 

[JosephDredd]

Then we are going to have to bring back the draft. Can you imagine the outcry if we did that.

Or we could improve society. I'm sure people who want to protect their country make better soldiers. All the draft would do is drive up the already-ludicrous suicide rate, amongst civilians and soldiers.

 

[usmctanker242]

They teach kids to calm the fuck down in schools because there's 20 of the little bastards in a room and they're trying to teach them something not because there's a secret cabal of female teachers who control the american eduction system from their 2nd grade english classroom

This is where I feel like males and females shouldn't necessarily spend all day together in the same classroom. Males have more energy and need to expend that energy through physical endeavors, and when they're all put on Ritalin so they'll sit down and shut up you've got a serious issue. I'm not saying it's some kind of underhanded thing with female teachers, but females tend to be much more reserved and placid when compared to males. Most kids don't see a male teacher until they hit middle school and by that time they've had no choice but to be meek and passive. Lots of families have two working parents so boys generally aren't doing anything energetic in the evening time either. Add into this the "helicopter parents" who wont' let their kids go outside and do anything because they're terrified of abductions, and you've got a perfect storm for the pacification of male youths in this country.

It's not much of a wonder why males have no confidence because they've never had the opportunity to showcase their physical prowess or do anything aggressive. A great case in point (anecdotes don't mean shit, I agree) is my nephew... kid was kept inside all the time and had only female teachers. I went home to go visit and my nephew is 10 years old and can't ride a bike. I blew a gasket and bought him a bike... a few days later I check back in and he's got training wheels on it, so none of the kids around the neighborhood will allow him to ride with them. Just unreal and my brother couldn't give a shit either way. So my nephew sits inside all day, no friends, and plays video games. I tried getting him into BJJ or even TMA but his parents were too "busy" to give a shit.

I can go on and on but there's a whole multitude of reasons kids are physically inept these days and I believe I've given my opinions on the matter.

 

[JohnnySagebrush]

Good lord that post is a giant generalizing mess

The commies did it.
LMFAO.

 

[Stoic1]

I wouldn't join the army for 20 to 30k a year either.

Would you join if you got $25k a year, your housing was paid, your food was paid, 100% medical and you got the GI BILL that will give you somewhere close to 40k in school benefits?

Okay, now add some job training. Veterans hiring preference when you get out.

Also get to shoot stuff, blow shit up, jump out of helicopters, etc.

You get paid to work out for an hour every morning. FFS.

 

[PainIsLIfe]

Friends something is going to give soon. 1/3 of high school students are not qualified to even try to enlist mostly due to weight problems. Most that can do not want to join. The few that do are less disciplined than their fathers were. The question is can we undo the damage that has been done to our society before its to late.


https://www.military.com/daily-news...ers-prompts-army-redesign-basic-training.html

Who exactly are they recruiting that can't throw a grenade 30 yards? I mean it must happen, but in my mind it seems impossible.

 

[Mark Cutting]

This is where I feel like males and females shouldn't necessarily spend all day together in the same classroom. Males have more energy and need to expend that energy through physical endeavors, and when they're all put on Ritalin so they'll sit down and shut up you've got a serious issue. I'm not saying it's some kind of underhanded thing with female teachers, but females tend to be much more reserved and placid when compared to males. Most kids don't see a male teacher until they hit middle school and by that time they've had no choice but to be meek and passive. Lots of families have two working parents so boys generally aren't doing anything energetic in the evening time either. Add into this the "helicopter parents" who wont' let their kids go outside and do anything because they're terrified of abductions, and you've got a perfect storm for the pacification of male youths in this country.

It's not much of a wonder why males have no confidence because they've never had the opportunity to showcase their physical prowess or do anything aggressive. A great case in point (anecdotes don't mean shit, I agree) is my nephew... kid was kept inside all the time and had only female teachers. I went home to go visit and my nephew is 10 years old and can't ride a bike. I blew a gasket and bought him a bike... a few days later I check back in and he's got training wheels on it, so none of the kids around the neighborhood will allow him to ride with them. Just unreal and my brother couldn't give a shit either way. So my nephew sits inside all day, no friends, and plays video games. I tried getting him into BJJ or even TMA but his parents were too "busy" to give a shit.

I can go on and on but there's a whole multitude of reasons kids are physically inept these days and I believe I've given my opinions on the matter.

Ever bang a wook ?

 

[Mark Cutting]

Would you join if you got $25k a year, your housing was paid, your food was paid, 100% medical and you got the GI BILL that will give you somewhere close to 40k in school benefits?

Okay, now add some job training. Veterans hiring preference when you get out.

Also get to shoot stuff, blow shit up, jump out of helicopters, etc.

You get paid to work out for an hour every morning. FFS.

Some people don't understand that.

 

[PainIsLIfe]

I don't know about entitled but there can be no argument that there is a massive issue with the lack of physicality in modern youth. We need to have a massive overhaul of our PE programs k-12. Less AP classes and more running. Plus we need more contact sports which require us as a society to say co-ed contact sports are a bad idea. Boys should be with boys so they can read their max performace on the field.

While I don't disagree with needing more PE, in the previous decade or 2 we decided that we needed more AP and stem classes to keep up with the Asians.

 

[PainIsLIfe]

Would you join if you got $25k a year, your housing was paid, your food was paid, 100% medical and you got the GI BILL that will give you somewhere close to 40k in school benefits?

Okay, now add some job training. Veterans hiring preference when you get out.

Also get to shoot stuff, blow shit up, jump out of helicopters, etc.

You get paid to work out for an hour every morning. FFS.

If it's you're only way to college or you aren't intellectually up to the task of college then it might be an option, but you have to weigh the risk.

My son joined; against my advice, and it worked out fine - although he spent a yr in Iraq and saw things young men shouldn't.

 

[KILL KILL]

If they're having problems with the grenade training I think they should look into outsourcing consultants from Sweden, I understand even segments of their civilian population are pretty well versed in the art of the grenade...

We had one kid that, for some reason or another, looked as if he had never actually thrown an object in his entire life.

This was during infantry school, when we trained with the dummy grenades (blue bodies).

That poor fucker got made fun of so bad.

 

[Teppodama]

@KILL KILL Throwing an object seems like such a basic motor skill that most children should have experience with in some capacity. Not necessarily focused experience like they might receive as someone in sports that require throwing, but just in general. Makes me shake my head sadly to be honest. Throwing, climbing, running, and lifting are the most fundamental of motor skills. What the hell are we doing to ourselves in the West...

 

[PainIsLIfe]

Why in the hell did these things lose focus, especially the bolded, anyways?

I don't get that. My oldest went through Benning in '08 and it certainly wasn't an issue when he was there.

 

[Chesten_Hesten]

Army of the future will be conscript, with small pockets of shock troops. Either that or extra-mechanized.

 

[ShinkanPo]

I'm not saying none of your concerns are valid, but keep in mind "Kids Today..." has been around forever.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/52209/15-historical-complaints-about-young-people-ruining-everything

France, 1771:
"Whither are the manly vigor and athletic appearance of our forefathers flown? Can these be their legitimate heirs? Surely, no; a race of effeminate, self-admiring, emaciated fribbles can never have descended in a direct line from the heroes of Potiers and Agincourt..."

USA, 1904
"Never has youth been exposed to such dangers of both perversion and arrest as in our own land and day. Increasing urban life with its temptations, prematurities, sedentary occupations, and passive stimuli just when an active life is most needed, early emancipation and a lessening sense for both duty and discipline, the haste to know and do all befitting man's estate before its time, the mad rush for sudden wealth and the reckless fashions set by its gilded youth--all these lack some of the regulatives they still have in older lands with more conservative conditions."

Different Centuries, Same Shit.

Or that Men are getting more effeminate progresively each century maybe the Cave Men like the Neandearthals are the real alpha, we should just eat war food half cook and howl at the moon at night.

 

[tramendous]

Friends something is going to give soon. 1/3 of high school students are not qualified to even try to enlist mostly due to weight problems. Most that can do not want to join. The few that do are less disciplined than their fathers were. The question is can we undo the damage that has been done to our society before its to late.


https://www.military.com/daily-news...ers-prompts-army-redesign-basic-training.html

Who cares. Wars will be fought by nerds behind laptops soon anyways.

 

[Mark Cutting]

We had one kid that, for some reason or another, looked as if he had never actually thrown an object in his entire life.

This was during infantry school, when we trained with the dummy grenades (blue bodies).

That poor fucker got made fun of so bad.

I played baseball for 13 years... first time with a dummy grenade I spiked it bout 3 feet in front of us. Durrrrrrr