When I showed up for Army Basic Training at Ft Dix, New Jersey, on a spring morning in the early ’80s, I had a couple of advantages over a lot of the other recruits, and I knew it. I was a big, tough kid from a rural background, had self-confidence to spare, and wasn’t afraid of anything. Then I encountered Army drill sergeants, and a tactic that we later learned was called the “shark attack.” In this tactic, a group of drill sergeants pick a recruit and swarm him, shouting at the top of their lungs, at nose-to-nose range, frequently bumping the bridge of your nose with the brim of their campaign hat.
We knew it was coming. We expected it. But even for a big, tough, confident rural kid, it was a real eye-opener, and yeah, it made your pulse race a little faster. That was the point: To teach you how to deal with intimidation, with fear. It was a harsh practice, but it worked. Boy howdy, did it work.
Then, the Army dropped this practice. It seems that Basic Training was to be a kinder, gentler place, not a place that built warriors.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is now bringing that and other classic practices back – he’s going to let drill sergeants be drill sergeants again, and let them build warriors.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may bring back the practice of several Army drill sergeants swarming and screaming at recruits during basic training in what is known as a “shark attack.”
The practice, used at the beginning of training to establish dominance, was largely ended five years ago. But Hegseth is now looking into having the Army bring it back, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson confirmed to reporters Thursday.
“I can confirm that he’s going to be looking at basic training and making sure that the standards are where they should be,” Wilson said. “We want our warfighters to be strong, and that starts in basic training, and we want to make sure we really, again, go back to basics. And ‘shark attacks’ are going to be something that he is looking at reinstating.”
Basic training should be stressful. Recruits should be made to feel fear and stress. None of what they experience in any basic training company will come anywhere near the fear and stress they will see if they are ever in combat, but it’s the best preparation we can give them. They need to learn to deal with fear, with intimidation, with nerve-shredding stress, and to pick up, ruck up, grab a weapon and get on with the mission, because that’s the job.
Secretary Hegseth went on Fox News’ “The Will Cain Show” to give more details:
Secretary Hegseth said in part:
Drill sergeants will be drill sergeants with knife hands who ensure, who maintain good order and discipline and train up great recruits who will make great formations,” he said. “Just like we need military officers with that same rigorous discipline and background. So, we’re going back to the basics, and it’s bearing fruit.
That’s good news, news that will appeal to America’s veterans, who remember our own experiences – and how they shaped us.
Read More: OPINION: Why Pete Hegseth Is a Great Choice for Secretary of Defense
US Army Set to Expand Basic Training to ‘Rebuild the Force,’ but Details Are Scant on How
This is what’s needed. This is what works. This is how you build a military force that can accomplish its primary mission: To close with and destroy the enemy by fire, maneuver, and shock effect. If swarming recruits and tossing their bunks builds a tougher force, then that’s what needs to be done. The military is like no other organization; it’s all about the mission, it’s about protecting the liberty and property of the American people. Anything that helps in that mission is good. Anything that hinders that mission is bad. There can be no exceptions.
In the late 5th/early 6th century BC, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote of battle:
Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.
We need to build a force of fighters, and more, of warriors. This is a step in that direction.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s leadership, the warrior ethos is coming back to America’s military.
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