July 2,
2008: Continuing to learn from experience
in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Army is increasing its basic training from
nine to ten weeks. For the last eight months, thousands of troops went through
the ten week course, and were then tracked as they went off to their
assignments. This was to test the concept, and apparently the extra week was
worth it.
The
additional week is not just being used to enable trainees to learn their basic
military skills better. Commanders and NCOs in combat zones have been
complaining that many newly recruited combat support troops reach them
not-quite-ready for combat. The problem, it turned out, was lessons being
learned, but not pounded home so they would still be there when the new soldier
reached the combat zone.
There is
also a growing trend for new recruits (and young people in general) not being
in good physical shape (fat and weak). An extra week in basic helped out there
as well. And many combat veterans believe that the combat support troops,
especially those running convoys, or otherwise outside the wire (working
outside base camps) just have not had sufficient training in combat basics.
Once
soldiers graduate from basic, they go on to specialized training, which can
last from a few weeks, to a year, depending on their. If they are going to Iraq or Afghanistan, they usually get some
combat training before they leave the United States, or (usually in Kuwait)
before they arrive in bandit country.
The
additional basic training week is, in theory, to instill basic combat skills
early on. These skills are expanded using an additional week or so of
additional combat training for some combat support troops before they hit the
combat zone. The additional training is also meant to improve the discipline
and general military effectiveness of new troops. During the 1990s, basic
training was watered down quite a bit, and that resulted in new recruits coming
into their first units still acting a lot like civilians. The army has been
trying to rectify that ever since.
