October 12, 2007:
The U.S.
Army is extending basic training from nine to ten weeks. This will be done as
an experiment, beginning next month and
ending in March. Then the troops who went through the ten week basic will be
observed over the next year to see if the extra week made much of a difference.
The additional week is 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. Some blame this on lowered recruiting standards.
Until recently, less than ten percent of army recruits had been high school
dropouts. But in the last decade, that has grown to 24 percent. Same thing with
those receiving "moral waivers" (for having a police record). That has gone
from 4.6 percent four years ago, to 6.2 percent. 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 would help 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 for the last six
years.