I have nothing but respect and admiration for our military members both past and present. I think it's very important to recognize what they go through and sacrifice while serving our country. However, my son wants to be a combat medic when he gets out of high school. He's wanted this for about 2 or 3 years now, which means naturally, he's been looking up tons of boot camp videos.

No doubt boot camp is a challenge, but compared to how it used to be, I was shocked to see some of these videos. I'm all for fair treatment, but keep in mind what they are training for. Our enemies train night and day to kill and torture them. Can you imagine how hard training in countries like China and Russia would be? More concerning, imagine how hard terrorist organizations train. These guys are prepared physically and mentally to take their own lives just to hurt a few citizens. Making our training easier does not prepare our kids for what could potentially happen. If anything, it makes them more likely to fall victim to it.

I'm looking at this strictly from a parental perspective. Drill instructors can't make physical contact? They can't insult them? Recruits are allowed time outs? I'm sorry, I want our kids to be treated with respect, but not when they are training to be put in one of the most hostile environments imaginable. If my son is going to be in that situation, I want to know he and all the soldiers around him are 100% prepared to handle those kinds of stress levels. A battlefield doesn't get time outs and our enemies don't care if their feelings are hurt. Boot camp is supposed to be hard, hostile, degrading, and mentally and physically draining. It's that way in order to protect our kids and mold them from children to Marines and soldiers. A transformation like that, in only a few weeks doesn't just happen by accident. Steel doesn't become steel under mild conditions. Children don't become ready for battle taking 15 minute time outs. Again, this is all coming from a concerned dad who's son is only a year and a half away from enlisting. Does this worry anyone else, or am I being unreasonable? Maybe the videos I've seen are just misleading?

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