Army Mulls Redesigning Basic Combat Training, General Says

The U.S. Army will take a hard look at Basic Combat Training to see if it's producing soldiers that are disciplined enough for the operational force.

"In October, we are doing a complete review of the Basic Combat Training period of instruction, what we train in the 10-week red, white and blue phase," Maj. Gen. Malcolm Frost, commanding general of the U.S. Army Center of Initial Military Training, told Military.com on Thursday.

"Are we doing things in the right sequence? Are we doing things we don't need to be doing? Should we have more redundancy in some of the basic things the operational force expects?"

The top two things commanders in the operational force want to see in new soldiers is discipline and physical fitness, Frost said.

"Quite frankly, the operational force says 'give me a physically fit -- grounded in the basics of weapons proficiency, fitness, etc. -- and a disciplined soldier and we'll train the rest," Frost said.

The review will focus on weapons proficiency, physical fitness, communications proficiency and medical proficiency.

"We are going to look at this from the foundation of shoot, move, communicate, treat ... the basic four things every soldier needs," Frost said, adding that discipline, warrior ethos, ethics, values and teamwork will also be of key importance.

As far as other training goes "we have to ask ourselves why are we doing this if it is not creating that foundational soldier ... that is fit that is proficient with their weapon, can communicate with communications gear and have some basic medical proficiency," Frost said.

For instance, Frost said, right now for weapons proficiency and marksmanship the graduation standard is for soldiers to understand how to zero and qualify with the Close Combat Optic.

"Is that really right or should a soldier be able to zero and qualify on iron sights? Because you don't know what type of optic they are going to get."

Maj. Gen. Pete Johnson who commands the Army Training Center at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, will lead the review.

"He is the only two-star that is the closest to soldiers every day in this environment," Frost said. "He is there at Fort Jackson with two brigades and their entire mission is Basic Combat Training."

The findings of the review will have to go up the chain of command before anything is approved, Frost said.

"We want to make sure that they are grounded in those basics," Frost said, emphasizing the basics of shoot, move, communicate and perform basic first aid.

"If they can do those things, then that is what we want to deliver to the operational force and that is what they are asking for."

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.