The Army wants to make basic training tougher to prepare its newest soldiers for a major conflict...

WOuldn't kill the little brat's to learn what we went through in the 60', and '70's.

Army Basic Training serves the purpose of preparing soldiers for hostile and unwelcoming environments. It places a demand on preparedness to face an enemy of the United States at an individual level that is crucial to part of a team whose goal is the same. To enact softer, more gentle, soft handed techniques in this preparation is remiss in the duties of ensuring the soldier is capable of individual mental and physical fortitude within the team. My son is in AIT right now, every night he calls me and tells me how disgusted he is by the quality of those to his left and right. How they address leadership and how leadership addresses them in return. He says that when a soldier told the platoon sergeant to "Go F--k" himself that the NCO could do nothing more than give a counseling statement. Another thing that is really killing our military (and this goes with all due respect to our commissioned personnel) is the fact that the officer needs to let the NCO conduct his/her tasks and drills and stay out of the mix. Address and redress of any failure should be taken up between the 6 and 7 element at the lowest level possible. Main thing, stop coddling the soldiers. In combat, I never saw an award for second place or a participation trophy for the looser... I only saw my fellow soldiers being shipped back home with a condolence letter to the family rubber stamped by the president. Take it as you will but we have become soft around the middle. Politics has absolute zero room in the military, political correctness even less.