ABSTRACT
In the old days—ten years ago—drill sergeants were still as loud and tough as Lou Gossett in the movie An Officer and a Gentleman. Now drill sergeants are more like supportive counselors at a summer camp, eager to avoid tension, please recruits, and build self-esteem. "Stress created by physical or verbal abuse is non-productive and prohibited", says an Army manual, casually dismissing five or six generations of training in which stress was considered very productive in turning out combat-ready troops. So niceness is in, discouraging words are out, and drill sergeants cannot touch soldiers, even to check their ammunition. Self-reported "feelings" in focus groups determine successful "soldierization" and proficiency in basic training, according to standards set by the US Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. Instead of military or combat criteria, unit cohesion was defined in largely emotional, civilian terms, whether trainees "feel very close" or "like and trust one another".
