Recruit Training - Preface

Preface

Recruit training varies by nation according to the national requirement, and can be voluntary (volunteer military) or mandatory (conscription). Approximately 100 nations have voluntary service, including the United Kingdom and United States. In voluntary service an individual chooses to join, and thereby agrees to subject himself to the process of building an organization where everyone's life is dependent on the person next to him. This voluntary status has changed the culture of military service.

Recruit training is oriented to the particular service. Army and Marine recruits are nearly always trained in basic marksmanship with individually assigned weapons, field maintenance of weapons, hand-to-hand combat, physical fitness training, first aid, and basic survival techniques. Navy and Coast Guard training usually focuses on water survival training, physical fitness, basic seamanship, and skills such as shipboard firefighting, basic engineering, and signals. Air force training usually includes physical fitness training, military and classroom instructions, as well as field training in basic marksmanship, and first aid. In all training, standard uniforms are issued and recruits typically have their hair cut or shaved in order to meet grooming standards and make their appearance as uniform as possible. Recruits are generally given a service number. Recruits come from different levels of culture and society and thus recruit training must merge divergent trainees into a useful team. A national basic training will include provision for the basic needs of the recruit - food, shelter, clothing - and these will meet certain unit standards and unit requirements, such as 'mobility' for an infantry unit. A recruit therefore will be 'issued' basic provisions or equipment according to the requirements of the unit and taught responsible management of these provisions.

Recruit training has changed over the years as tactics of war have changed. Infantry units no longer attack in mass formations, however, to move units around a base, formations are useful and practical. A combat soldier on the ground may call-in artillery and/or air strikes, requiring a more intelligent and thinking recruit than ever before.

Recruits are typically instructed in "drill": to stand, march, and respond to orders. Historically, drills are derived from 18th-century military tactics in which soldiers in a fire line performed precise and coordinated movements to load and fire muskets. Although these particular tactics are now obsolete for the most part, drilling trains response to commands, assisting in training the recruit to act unhesitatingly in the face of real combat situations. All militaries in the modern world have learned a service member must think and choose what is right on behalf of his team members and his nation, and often these are critical decisions. Drill also enables the modern infantry soldier to maintain proper position relative to his peers and thus maintain the shape of his or her formation (arrowhead, line abreast, etc.) while moving over uneven terrain, or in the dark of night. Drill serves a role in leadership training. Combat situations include not only commands to engage and put one's life in danger, but also commands to disengage when military necessity so demands. Drill conditions the soldier ideally to instant response to commands, is essential for military function, because without it, a military unit would likely disintegrate under the stress of combat and degenerate into a mere armed mob. According to Finnish Army regulations, the close-order drill serves four functions:

• is essential for the esprit de corps and cohesion for battlefield conditions

• gets the recruits used to instinctive obedience and following the orders

• enables large units to be marched and moved in an orderly manner

• creates the basis for action in the battlefield.

Aspects of basic training are psychological. The reasoning is that if a recruit cannot be relied upon to obey orders and follow instructions in routine matters it is unlikely that he or she will be reliable in a combat situation where there may be a strong urge to disobey orders or flee. The recruit who cannot work as part of a team (the unit) and comply with the routine tasks of basic training, therefore, is more likely to place him/herself, comrades, and the mission in jeopardy. A recruit who agrees to serve in a combat unit will experience a unique level of 'agreement' among participants, termed unit cohesion, that cannot be equaled with any other human organization as every team member's life may depend on the actions of the recruit to his right or left. This unit cohesion is fully developed in special forces and commando units.

The process of transforming civilians into military personnel has been described by military historian Gwynne Dyer as a form of conditioning in which inductees are encouraged to partially submerge their individuality for the good of their unit. Dyer argues that this conditioning is essential for military function because combat requires people to endure stress and perform actions which are simply not present in normal life. For this reason, military units are not comparable with civilian organizations as the life of each participant is on the line and often dependent on all the others.