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From: Officer XYZ
Date: 31 Oct 2000
Time: 21:31:05
I agree that simply putting on a beret will change little. It is important to recognize, however, that General Shinseki realizes there is a problem and is willing to take steps to rectify it. I think this is an important step. One great thing about the beret is that it will not be awarded until recruits complete basic training and possibly even AIT. The intent here is to give a sense of meaning and pride to new soldiers. What remains to be seen is if the leadership will follow up with a real fix of the nuts and bolts of the basic training problem, which is that it is much too easy to complete. Basic training standards have been lowered to a ridiculous point in the name of meeting recruiting quotas. We are recruiting low quality individuals, giving them low quality training, and then passing them off as soldiers and sending them to the field, where they become an incredible burden on commanders who have to deal with the resulting discipline and training problems. I say if we don't have at least a 20% attrition rate in basic training, we aren't doing it right. If we don't fix this problem, the beret will be cosmetics indeed.