Recently, while we were discussing how to avoid deployments and having our nails done, a group of us staff officers talked smoothly about the subject of this thread. The rest of them being afraid to go public, I was nominated to defend the "Warrior ethos".

I was involved with basic training just after 9/11 and during the first part of OEF. It stunned me the number of recruits we had who had never:

1. Been in a fight.
2. Touched a weapon.
3. Exerted themselves physically.
4. Experienced muscle soreness.
5. Played organized sports after the 6th grade.

Now, these were in the minority, but it was a sizeable minority. There were a lot of Klingon-speaking, Doom-playing, Rambo-wannabes who had watched the entire Star Wars cycle but had never been challenged physically, mentally, or spiritually. Moreover, they had been raised to think that effort was just as admirable as success, and winning isn't everything. Well, in war, as Al Davis said, "It is whether you win or lose."

Basic training did challenge these folks - in some ways - but there was a lot of restraint imposed. Drill sergeants were warned about placing undue stress on the 'soldiers' - you couldn't call them recruits; I remember one who tried to motivate his charges by offering to have sex with their craniums should they fail; he disappeared overnight. The obstacle course was nicknamed Disneyland, because it offered the illusion of peril while being so padded, prtoected, and otherwise watered-down that it was pretty much impossible to hurt yourself.

The amazing thing is that a lot of these kids felt cheated when they graduated. They'd seen and keyed themselves up for Full Metal Jacket and found Gomer Pyle instead. They wanted to feel as if they'd come through a crucible, not just had the officially-approved 'Crucible Experience'.

Anyway, that was probably the end of the pendulum swing, and we tried to make basic better by reintroducing hand-to-hand combat, spending more time in the field, making the O-course a little more threatening, etc. It wasn't much, but we were fighting a deeply entrenched 'safety' and 'respect' culture. I hope even more progress has been made since I departed.

So cut the Courtney Massengales of the world some slack. Sure, its a little corny, and we don't really want to produce ravening Huns, and true warriors make crappy soldiers, by and large. But I for one am glad to see the institutional army turning (even if only tentatively) toward reinstilling the idea that being a soldier means something more than learning a trade and big bonuses