Army pauses weapons immersion training

[drillsgt]

Where was the senior NCO? This doesn't seem to be an incident without warning signs?

Sometimes the other trainees might see something but I doubt the drill sergeants noticed anything. There are usually only 12 drill sergeants allocated to a company, so three per platoon, and that's if you're lucky enough to be at full strength. Even then you may have one or two off from overnight duty, someone may be at a school or other tasking, leave etc. It's not uncommon to have one drill sergeant for a platoon of 55-60 trainees. It sounds like this happened right after morning PT which is a particularly chaotic time so i'm not surprised they took that opportunity to skate. I've never seen an awol take their rifle though, he probably would have been discovered sooner though if he hadn't taken it.

 

[r3126]

Were you mentally ill?

Well let's see. My oldest served 8 years under Obama 19D. While in his basic training he had a nut case that threatened to kill everyone in his platoon because he wasn't told Cavalry Scouts had to use weapons and kill people so he was going to kill everyone in the platoon if he wasn't released. They did nothing and this guy finally got a loaded rifle yelled they were dead the guys dog piled him took the rifle from him. Then and only then did they decide he needed an evaluation. MP's showed up took him away. As far as he knows he got a section 8. So yes better mental health evaluations are needed. Especially with Gen Z recruits.

Let's see... Basic training... Access to ammo/loaded rifle? Where were the DI's? If true, what is this Army coming to?

 

[DadSmith]

Let's see... Basic training... Access to ammo/loaded rifle? Where were the DI's? If true, what is this Army coming to?

It's true I don't think my son would lie about such an event. Not much a Drill Sargent can do when an crazy jumps up and does something like that on the firing range. Luckily there were others in his platoon that took matters into their own hands. The problem is he had threatened to do this for weeks, why wasn't he pulled out then?

Now Gen Z is enlisting God only knows what will happen. I suppose more of these unstable kids going nuts is my guess.

 

[HoughMade]

knee jerk reaction

Yes. They have to appear to be doing something.

I have a sneaking suspicion that there's a drill or 3 that have some explaining to do.

And when I went through, access to ammunition was tightly controlled. We had our rifles a lot. We had ammunition on the range only...and there is no indication this chowderhead had ammunition.

 

[Brad69]

Drillsgt,

Did the Army get rid of the SDS position ?

I see you points about weapons immersion I was on my last cycle or so and was the 1SG. Beyond burnt out after almost four years non stop in the BCT environment. I was involuntary extended for a third year. On top of it I wasn’t a Volunteer to start with.

My information is dated but Privates are same since the Stone Age. The DS are always stressed often under strength. It’s not fun chasing 50-60 Privates around all day and well into the night. You really just notice the top performing ones and the “chumleys”.

I was lucky back in the day we could recycle a knucklehead or trainee discharge them and for the NG guys we could do a state recall.

 

[drillsgt]

Drillsgt,

Did the Army get rid of the SDS position ?

I see you points about weapons immersion I was on my last cycle or so and was the 1SG. Beyond burnt out after almost four years non stop in the BCT environment. I was involuntary extended for a third year. On top of it I wasn’t a Volunteer to start with.

My information is dated but Privates are same since the Stone Age. The DS are always stressed often under strength. It’s not fun chasing 50-60 Privates around all day and well into the night. You really just notice the top performing ones and the “chumleys”.

I was lucky back in the day we could recycle a knucklehead or trainee discharge them and for the NG guys we could do a state recall.

At Fort Sill the senior in the platoon is referred to as the SDS but at Benning it's not taken that seriously, each post seems a bit different. True about the top performers or the duds, i've had trainees on graduation day that i'm like who are you lol.

 

[rooster]

i've had trainees on graduation day that i'm like who are you lol.

that was the goal when I went through , blend keep a low profile. Squeaky wheel gets the grease and I didn’t want no extra.

 

[teddy12b]

The military is run by politicians. Some of those politicians where brass on the collar and have to suck up to higher up politicians so they get a newer and shinier piece of brass on their shoulder. No offense to anyone who went to basic at Jackson, but I don't think the majority of the troops there are heading into combat arms. Even still, they should still absolutely be trained on weapons.

I like this guys video's and I think he sums up the issues here pretty well: