Army changing their basic training

They'll never make it without monkey rolls.

Too piggy back on this a bit....

I think a bigger issue, for me atleast growing up, was the constant threat of lawsuits. You play tackle football, some angry mom comes running down threatening to sue parents if their kid gets hurt.

You wrestle around, parents threaten to sue over a black eye.

We wern't allowed to play Red Rover because it was too dangerous.

A lot of people label my generation (and the ones coming up) as lazy because we didn't play outside. {censored}. I wanted to play outside, but nobody would let me. Couldn't play baseball without helmets, can't play tackle football, Basketball sucks when your 10 and nobody can shoot, definately can't play hockey (too physical, too dangerous in the street and too expensive). What the hell were we supposed to play?

air, you're not suggesting we start taking training lessons now from the LOSERS ('80s Afghanistan, 'Cold War')?!

Also - somewhere in US or our territories-protectarates we've got to have enough sand for troops to simulate walking in, don't we?

it is already happening. Pavel Tsatsouline in already working with US special forces, SWAT, Fire Departments and police departments.

Pavel was a form USSR special forces operator and trainer. he now lives in the states splitting his time between St. Paul Mn and California.

Personally I wish the cold war was still going strong. U C, back in the cold war days everyone had to pick a side. all these little piss ant dictators and terrorists have come about because of the cold war ending. No longer do they have to face the freedom loving countries b/c they have all split. Europe no longer has a threat in their backyard so they no want to compete against the US. The former French President Jacque Charock(sp) wanted Europe to rival the US for power. PersonallY I think the US should leave NATO. The French, Germans, Dutch, Belgians all condemn the US for its military spending, while simultaneously cutting their own military spending because they know by treaty the US is obligated to defend them. That couple with the fact the US employs 80,000 German at just one air base is the only reason they like us. if the US withdrew from germany unemployment would sky rocket. however there will be a day when this dream of mine comes true because the US economy is about ready to collapse
within the decade.
all these freedom fighters(aka thugs wanta bes) came about because the USSR was in desperate financial struggles. what did the soviets have to sell, lots of tanks and AKS. look around the globe at the hot spots and what weapon do you c them all carrying ? The AK because it is cheap to buy.

still, the russians r so far ahead of us when it comes to training. they kick our butt in weight lifting, wrestling, may of the field events. heck when is the last time the us medaled in the hammer throw.

the only lesson we can learn from those losers as you put it is, do not depend on a military industrial complex for the majority of your jobs. I think we are going to lose in Afghanistan and Iraq myself. you cannot give freedom to people they have to want it for themselves. this and the fact they are an inferior group of people in the middle east is why. Lawrence of Arabia told the middle easterners you will be little people in the world because you focus on little things like being mad at so and so because he hit your great, great grandfather with a rock in the 19th century.

I know this is going to sound a bit weird. But, as a former soldier (late 80's; some of the last of the Cold War Era soldiers) I find the article a bit disappointing. All of this so-called 'new training' was taught to us. My question would be, "When did it stop being taught"?

I went through basic training at Ft. Bliss, El Paso, Tx. We did some of the standard drills talked about in this article. But, we also had to do sprints, lift and carry each other for 100yrds, etc...
I didn't even know what a piloti was until I joined the Army. And, there were many days that I wished that I had never found out what they were, either. We did aerobic exercises. Please don't think of that crap you see on TV done by Richard Simmons and a squad of obese people. We did advanced aerobics taught by a certified professional. She- yes, she- used to reduce some soldiers to near tears.

Also part of basic training at Bliss was two weeks of desert training. We were put through all kinds of hell out there- including hill assaults, marches, etc... wearing full MOPP gear.

As far as BUFFs (Big Ugly Fat *uckers) went, they were put on strict diets, put on road guard duty during marches and made to do way more exercise. I can't think of any one of them that didn't have to go get their BDUs exchanged for smaller ones outside of two weeks.

I never had to go into combat. So, I don't want to seem like I'm second-guessing a combat veteran. But, I think the guy may be missing the point behind bayonet drills. Something like less than 2% of combat kills are made with bayonets, iirc. But, part of bayonet training is to psychologically prepare you to kill someone at close quarters- same as hand-to-hand combat. Our Drill Sgts. referred to it as 'cold steel & close quarters' and/or 'being down to brass balls & bayonets'.I can understand his point if bayonets no longer easily fit on soldiers' weapons anymore. But, bayonets fit just fine on the M16 that we carried. And, it would have taken nothing short of killing us to get one of us to surrender it.