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Veteran Experiences Lead To Basic Training Revamping

March 23, 2010 - For the first time in 30 years the Army is changing basic training. These changes are based on the advice and recommendations of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The result is soldiers performing movements more likely to be found on a late night ab-sculpting commercial than in a basic training setting.

The Army's new basic training regimen focuses on building core muscles by having soldiers running exercises such as zig-zag sprints as opposed to 5-mile runs and bayonet exercises. Core muscles are the ones that will help soldiers perform critical tasks such as:

• Running across alleys;
• Patrol while wearing heavy packs and body armor; or
• Haul another soldier's body in need on help.

 The demands on today's soldier require them to be able to carry heavy loads while being quickly mobile under that load in highly stressful situations. All running activities and calisthenics are geared towards making soldiers stronger, quicker, more powerful, and more agile than ever before.

The suggestions for the Army's overhaul of their basic training came mostly from Drill Sergeants with extensive deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. One Drill Sergeant focuses his training on forcing recruits to understand they cannot rely solely on their weapon in combat.

Army basic training lasts 10 weeks and every exercise is spread out over those 10 weeks so as to allow maximum rest and recovery while they are being strengthened. A secondary aim of this revamping is to harden up those recruits raised in a more sedentary lifestyle.

The Army is focusing on dropping drills they view as outdated and put more focus on what soldiers need to survive in today's combat theater. Every exercise included in the Army's new regimen has a purpose, whether it is intended to help that soldier carry a weapon, lift, pull, or drag, it is necessary in today's battlefield.

This overhaul isn't so much the Army voluntarily adopting to the modern battlefield as it is the modern battlefield dictating what is necessary to the army - through a veteran's eyes.