Recently, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has argued that during the Biden years, Army basic training became too soft and lost some of its hardcore edge. He wants basic training to toughen up. Which brings us to a phenomenon in the Army I’ll call the Hardcore Paradox: Soldiers enjoy comfort and dislike pain, stress, and suffering, but they like to be able to honestly say they’ve endured the hardcore.
Perhaps nowhere in the military is the paradox so prevalent as basic training. Trainees often talk enviously about how much harder basic training was when their fathers or grandfathers endured it. When I was at basic in 1999, an officer spoke with a handful of us trainees about how he hoped to have air conditioning installed in the barracks. Air conditioning would have been amazing in the hot, humid Missouri summer, but all of us protested, sweat rolling down our backs, “Oh, no, sir. We’re fine without it!” The hardcore paradox.
Or take the example of the “shark attack,” which is one of the practices the War Secretary advocates resuming, in which one angry drill sergeant, yelling at a brand new trainee about an infraction, is quickly joined by two or three additional furious drill sergeants, all screaming at the trainee at the same time. Through it all, the trainee must maintain his military bearing. I experienced this one myself. Upon arriving at basic training, we were ordered to run out of a truck with our arms wrapped around a heavy duffel bag packed with our belongings. I scrambled out into the bright sunlight, but slowed to adjust my hold as my bag slipped.
Instantly, a drill sergeant shouted in my face, “Why are you moving so slowly!”
Before I could answer, two more drill sergeants joined, and I was screamed at in full scary surround sound.
Avoiding direct eye contact, the way we’d been taught, I tried to explain that I didn’t want to drop my bag, but I quickly realized this wasn’t a discussion. I secured my bag and ran from the sharks. I was terrified, but I’m glad I endured it.
There’s also talk of reinstating the practice of tossing the barracks. Trainees are required to keep their bunks made and all their belongings precisely arranged in their lockers. Socks rolled and in perfect lines on a certain shelf. Uniforms on hangers spaced exactly two inches apart. Paper, pens, and a Bible only in a certain drawer. Drill sergeants, spotting infractions, sometimes throw everything onto the floor, forcing trainees to quickly put it all back in perfect order.
My company was pretty far along in the basic training cycle, feeling reasonably comfortable with the strict routine, even to the point of complacency. Some of the clean socks in my wall locker weren’t even rolled! At evening chow, we overheard gleeful drill sergeants talking to one another. They’d noticed sloppy lockers. They were going to toss the barracks.
That night, they tore through like a hurricane. Even the super soldiers whose lockers were perfect had their stuff dumped.
I stood at attention while a huge drill sergeant threw my boots and uniforms onto the floor. Next, he grabbed my Bible and was just about to throw it. He stopped, realized it was the Bible, and carefully and respectfully placed it on my bunk. I hoped he’d be impressed by my religious devotion and end his rampage. Instead, he scattered the rest of my belongings. “This is a mess, Private! Pick it up!” It took a tedious and frustrating hour to make it right, but I felt as though I’d become more like a real soldier, having endured a rite of passage.
Military recruiting struggled under former President Joe Biden, even when drill sergeants were at least somewhat less intense, but under President Donald Trump, with drill sergeants turning up the heat, recruiting is way up. One would think more people would sign up for an easier basic training experience, but the opposite seems true. That’s the Hardcore Paradox.
Trent Reedy, author of several books, including Enduring Freedom, was a combat engineer in the Iowa National Guard from 1999 to 2005, including a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
*Some names and call signs in this story may have been changed due to operational security or privacy concerns.
