British Army Has Gone SOFT 

If you don't have discipline, your soldiers will be running away from battle.

I did my Reserves Training around 6 years ago, and it was actually quite intense. Trained by experienced regular soldiers, the days were long and we got shouted at, sweared at etc. It worked to install discipline and woke a lot of people up to what the Army is like. Also we had to fit 8 weeks of soldiering into a 2 week course so the corporals had no time for laziness or people who didn't listen

I joined the Army at 16 Junior leader at Folkestone in 1988 it's all I've ever wanted to do. It was a culture shock at first but I grew to love the discipline and had some great NCO's they were tough but fair. Regular exercises and Room inspections, kept on are toes all the time, I remember are first exercise and my mate left some rubbish in the field and the Cpl made us tab back to the barracks while the others laughing at us on the 4 toner's, it taught us a lesson straight away. It has changed from what I've heard but not for the better.

I went through basic in the 1970s. By the end of the first week we were going on 12 mile speed marches. From the beginning we did a lot of marching drills and every time we made a mistake it was the whole platoon would do 20 push-ups which is really 40 push-ups. We did push-ups 10-20 times per day. We were very sore. We were also tearing down and putting our weapons back together. You didn't dare give your DI any crap. Every week we did at least one 12 mile speed marches. By the end of the 2nd week we would zero in our weapons. We had inspections at least twice a week and the DI would tear out stuff apart. But I came out a better man for it.

As someone currently rejoining, this is what worried me. Last time Pirbright was tough, I learned so much so quickly and progressed so quickly. I just feel like this time will be a cakewalk.

My grandfather (WWII veteran) told me many years ago when he heard that some armies were doing away / reducing how drill sergeants or instructors would yell at trainees.. that it was a mistake. He was screamed at routinely in his basic training for WWII.. he said it holds an important battlefield preparedness.. when the fighting starts, things can quickly turn into an utter maelstrom of chaos, shouting, panic, screaming... spending weeks or months with a drill instructor screaming in your face acclimates you somewhat to what combat can be like, where people might be screaming left and right at you to do something, go somewhere, etc... if you learn how to stay calm and operate when a drill sergeant is screaming at you, there's a good chance you will remain relatively calm when someone is screaming orders at you during a firefight.

We had a guy who had his locker almost everyday get most his locker pulled out and sometimes even thrown out the window. Used to have regular beastings. Also show parades of your whole room (lockers, beds the lot) out on the parade Square in the middle of the night. This was 2004/5 you laugh when you look back at it but it's kind of what we expected when we went in. Didn't expect hugs and kisses and pats on the back.

School sounds more strict

I joined in 1980 JLR RAC in Bovington did 9 1/2 years Adult service, was hard from the start but it was gradual so , it worked , depending how much you want it , We lost a couple of blokes, but we all stuck together and it worked , I later joined the Fire Service at 30 no problem there with the recruit Course , know retired but the training and some of the people joining FS shouldn’t be there , it’s a simple as you join these jobs you may have to put your life on the line and they don’t want or understand that , All of these types of jobs are going to be worse off from having the training watered down , and standards wether disciple or skill levels are dropping .

Screaming in basic training does 3 things; Make you used to unnatural and loud sounds, the act of screaming makes you more susceptible to suggestion and trains you how to block out that sound and confusion to think clearly.

It is the same with the police. One student officer had a comfort snail (giant land snail). A parent turned up at a sudden death scene because little Jonny had called home because they found it all too much. Another parent who had come to collect their not-so-little one got bent out of shape because they were still at a job, which meant they would be late off. Uniform standards aren't enforced, either shave every day or grow a beard, and boots are not cleaned daily, but then the modern black-wicking shirt and body armour are not the same as a white shirt, tie and tunic. Even in the promotion pictures, the female officers have loose hair hanging under their hats.

If SUTS/Recruits are not being beasted, disciplined now at day 1 they wont soldier when needed. They will not be prepared for combat. "Train hard Fight easy"

I was in the army during op Agincourt. They don’t make em like they used to

Hi. im an pensionerd old swedich officer , and i will tell you how we did with lazy ,obstinate soldiers .First ,our soldiers then did 9 month to 15 month depending of what category they were, When i hade a soldier that was negative or obstinate. we often marched out to shooting range or the battlefeild. that guy got a cardboardfigure in full siluette and a iron pole. and than we marched out and after an hour we had rest but not that lad he had to go out a sertain amont of steps do a hole with the pole and put down the figure. the rest of soldiers trained astimate the distance to the figure and even had some treate . when the rest often ten minutes was to end, you called back the soldier with the figure and beginn march again.no words. and i can say when that guy turned on the light and understand why he done that you got a nice diciplined soldier ,some after a day and some after a week. another alternative was that such guy got two mines at 10 kg eatch to were all day. and you can use thouse mines to digg them down and learn the pluton how to do but when you go its the lazy solder that carry them. i dont know if you can do so nowdays but in 70,80,90 we could. third variant is to set them in a bus or ather vehicle drive out 25 km dropp them of and say" the day is over when you get back". let the bus live first and half way he stops with a refrechment place. water. and strong lemonade. its important they drink you will not have half daed solders back home. well its usefull. but follow the law.

I did 10 weeks at Catterick. Came out on the end of last month. I understand completely what you are saying. Week 1 is bs. Week 2 is ok. In my opinion 1 week for weapons handling is ok. It was fine. Most passed it. However 2 weeks would be better. Week 4 in adventure training bonded the platoon. However we were too chilled out after that. I will admit to that. One thing that I will say is that for the BCD and navigation lessons, we were all shattered and did not have anywhere near enough time on it. I found bcd easy but navigation I struggled with. By about week 5 PT ramped up. I heard the Platoon Sergent say how badly organised it was. Ie a tab on monday and a tab to exercise on Tuesday. Then battle PT after a exercise. Possibly a purpose behind that although a lot of people got injured. We did not get mucb range time. I think we went about 3 or 4 times. The DCCt was done 6 or so times but it just wasn't the same. For our Platoon, drill was ok. But for others, they were shit. The RAC in perticular were shit at this. They were also odd on exercise. My section bordered them on the first 5 day. White lights and noise. Was on stag when they got contacted. Good entertainment. All in all, I found it 'fun'. We had no 2am inspections. I never did bayonet training but the lads did say that it 'pissed them off'. Overall good fun. Learned a lot. Didn't really want to leave.

Capita getting a contract for recruitment was the worst thing

I was at depot PoW Div in 1977. Apart from the occasional and I suppose deserved dig . We were actually treated pretty well. Then again with the whole of society from home to school to neighbours, giving guidance and instilling discipline and respect from the start made the transition simple. Bloody training staff selling overpriced mandatory shite still irks me.

Went through in 87 Queens Div ,, Thrashed for the first six weeks coveralls and skinheads . You had to earn your regimental beret which installed pride and progression , the pass off at week six was a goal to achieve . After a long weekend it was still relentless although i learnt to get by getting to the battalion was another new learning process , sympathy in training was zero unless you went to the padre or wrvs or med centre and even then reporting sick was frowned upon . No2s with wash shave kit enough to not go. Made you toughen up and produced some top tough guys at such a young age with respect for rank and time served, not saying this was right but on operations it worked and many years on bonds are forged and as we progressed up the ranks we cherry picked from our inspirational guys and passed on the wisdom but to hear this is sad and at what point did this turn.

Isn't this a sort of preparation for conscription..thinking that, if there's a casual approach to military life then it could more favourable to conscript and attracting potential recruits.

Thanks for telling us the situation in the british army.

The worst thing about what is happening in a less aggressive training is the troopers wouldn’t be able to depend on each other that they wouldn’t crumble under the pressure and you would lose your life because of it. Like you said, they don’t measure up and never would. They don’t have it in them.

You are absolutely correct it's made to easy for the new recruits now. I remember way back in day how tough it was. I made many mistakes like you do and I was so afraid to make the same mistake again and if you did you was given hell.

I joined the army in 1998 retired in 2022 and served in a front line infantry units. While I was doing a promotion course in about 2002, we were warned of about a possible deployment to Iraq. One of my instructors was a Falklands vet. His opinion was that the army was too soft and not prepared for a war. I deployed to Iraq in 2003 and spend some where close to 20 years in and out of varying conflicts, trust me every one I served with was more than capable of what was asked of them. I was also an instructor in depot around 2006 ish to 2009 ish ive been through training and taken guys through training so I have a good understanding of how it works and why,...I remember seeing guys far junior to me 'hazing' younger guys about how hard it was for them compared to current training (at that time). Its a load of bollocks, the stuff they were saying wasn't true. I was more senior and hadn't ever seen the stuff they were claiming. I witnessed this several times and wasn't shy of called guys out on it. Its a classic macho thing where guys want to prove they had it tougher. More often than not its because the guy making the claims missed out on some thing and they are trying to make up for it with bull shit stories. yes training in the (late) 90s was different, in my opinion the guys I took through training weren't as robust, but they were far more intelligent and were expected to know and think more than I was rather than being as robotic as 'in my day'. But the outcome was just as capable a soldier, if not better. I personally expected my training to be tougher...it was tough, but not what I expected, so thats also not unusual. I am retired now so no doubt out of touch. But I know for sure that this feeling that 'in my day it was tougher' has always and will always be there. Just trust, that when it come to the crunch, people step up to the plate....always have, always will.

I passed my combat infantryman’s course in 1994 - we had two platoons of 45 originally and by phase 2 we were merged into one platoon. From that Platoon 13 of us passed out. It was very hard. Discipline was hard and it wasn’t uncommon to be punched by training staff. Heavy weight carries were horrendous but when I got to my Bn they were even worse 😂. It was hard but effective and we joined a Bn of seasoned soldiers ready to do the job. It should be hard - your risking lives by making it easy.

If you want to avoid this shit, train for a couple years and join the paras or the marines There is no space for soft there. Its the tradition.

Very worrying buddy I served in 2001-2007 and it was really intense I did Harrogate aswell when they just moved from old blocks to new

Ive served nearly 20 years in RM... Yes it is has, embarrassingly soft

Really chill locker and block inspection. Fuck me, if im ever a screw at a training establisment i'm going to be hated and if im not i did a bad job.

I served back in the 80's and there is absolutely no comparison with training then and training now, i even watched a program the other day about Colchester nick ( the glass house) even there they've gone soft and woke.

Hi guys! just to let you know I'm going to start running again because next year I'll be doing the half marathon in combats in aid of charity for our ex service personnel.it's going to be tough because I'm a lot older now and I haven't done any long distance running for a very long time but I still have the same determination to succeed and not to fail, which was drilled into me when I was a soldier. I'm planning to do many more half marathons and who knows the next time I may do my next run in full kit minus the SA80 + MAGS .

I did my basic as a RTR/RAC soldier in Catterick in 1979. We had QDG DS and yep we got beasted. We had to bumper the floor with giant tins of yellow wax. We had lockers thrown out the windows etc etc etc. Whats the point of having some wet snowflake soldier infact I hear they even have split arses in teeth arm units these days.... bring back the Army as it was

I did 16 weeks in Pirbright in 99. First four weeks was just being ragged and drilled. Think they called it AFC. It was f@cking brutal. Then went on to do CMSR for 12 weeks again it was hard but at least you learned about weapons etc

5:38 Those that do get through get through, some get sent back round. Overall it takes fewer man days by not slowing everyone down.

Pirbright....... mid 1980`s The Guards Depot, and all that involved at the time, extremely hard and to be honest a brutal training regime but turned out some of the most robust and disciplined individuals I've ever had the privilege to serve with. What you are talking about is not just happening in the military, it is happening in the Police, Fire Service and probably all other places of work. It is a generation thing and I really don't know how to fix the problem because it is a problem not just within the military. Can I just thank you for raising this as it is really hard to accept this decline in everything that is important to me and are the qualities that I have lead my life by.

Idk if can but can you give this advice to the high ups in the army or get a friend to do.

To be fair he could be fairly in shape already and also can you get more than one account in these videos just make it more fairer

I was in 64 to 70 we never had sleeping bags loved the banter when we was getting marched you hear face the front c--- in the morning wakey wakey hands off cocks hands on socks lots more we had respect for other ranks they got there stripes for a reason

the kids today could not fight a cold let alone a battle

The instructors are under pressure to get people through training because of the lack of numbers so countless people are getting past without discipline or professionalism, I'd prefer if they fucked them off. Not only when it comes to mental discipline but also pt, about 7% from my experience just about pass the RFT tab 2km in 15mins with 20kg

Interesting stuff. I joined Royal Navy early 1998. Screamed at straight away in new entry by the CO. CPO Hanks new entry Chief. Absolute twat if I remember rightly. Just humiliated certain people, especially me as a 16 year old. Kit muster after 5 days and believe me it was strict. Plus you had to wash and iron your kit - no washing machines at all through training. Impossible demands really from instructors but that’s how it was. Weapons training from a royal marine sgt, who I’m sure was nuts. We had like 4 days before weapons handling test. Training was very tough. Very tough. Got through it alright didn’t get back classed. Discipline is needed. Back 25-30 year ago, get to a unit and you were a twat you would have got your lights punched out. I’m sure some people would agree. However, through the years, almost all old sweats say the same thing ‘harder in my time’. Just look at operations in last 20 years. The armed forces can cope, and I believe they do it well. Generations change. People are not robots like 30 year ago. Access to media and personal opinion has grown and encouraged. With that, the armed forces surely has to grow with it. Might be wrong?

Same issue in the us military

You mean basic training has gone soft?

Ngl they need to change the recruitment system. Discrimination against tattoos etc are ridiculous. Some of the hardest most loyal men I know have tattoos and the army would be a hell of a lot better with men like them in it. Rather than clean shaven none tattoos. It's 2024 and the army still think they are in the 1960's.

They could face the enemy in suspenders and thongs flying the rainbow flag The politicians have destroyed everything that made us proud of this country

It was soft on 2000

We are always in a pre war era?

Can't believe the Army is making Snowflakes. God help us. How can this prepare you for combat the squaddies wont be mentally resiliant enough.

We both know there is a time and a place for everything. Humiliate a soldier for minor stuff? No. Humiliate them for fucking off during watch or with weapons? Hell yes. If you can't handle being yelled at you shouldn't be in the military - if it becomes a war it'll be a hell of a lot more then yelling you deal with. It sounds like you need an introduction to military training camp - something to get the civvys in shape with and get the mentality introduced. US is doing it for those who are overweight.

The issue is that there's a massive disaprency between old crusties who think tougher always means better and new age pencil pushing officers who just want to meet recruitment quotas, and will change, scrap or soften training until they do so. I'm convinced that there was much that went on in previous years' training that did little to actually improve recruits, and really only caused injury and unnecessary abuse of young men and women. With that being said, the way forward isn't to compromise training simply to recruit barely deployable soldiers. There are certain people who walk into recruitment offices who have no real intent on becoming proper soldiers, and no amount of training will change their attitude. Training should make the recruit stronger and smarter. Sending 10 physically fit and trainable soldiers to the field army is a much better investment than 30 physically fragile and lazy soldiers who won't deploy anywhere and get paid tax payers money for 4 years.

Oh no that's not good. The US army teaches new recruits who's boss then in week 11 the drill sergeants don't want us to be scared at this stage. So they speak at normal volume to teach us how to use our weapons and be professional about it. We truly need our British brothers and sisters to fight along side us in battle, not to run away when things get nasty. But run into the heel of bullets and bring the fight to the enemy and not run the opposite way.

Here is the thing, i went through in the early 90's, and i have no doubt it was easier than the 70's/80's. and harder than the late 90's/00's. we used to slag off the playstation generation and their duvet's. But....we went to war, several times with that playstation generation.... and they were good. They needed leading, but so does everyone in the early days. so asking myself was our method better? and thinking back to range days! I hated them! The beastings ramped up to the point you were about throwing up on the firing point... was i a better shot because of that? No, i was worse, i had to relearn everything because i was just turning live rounds into empty cases. It was another year maybe two of actual coaching to become shit hot. when i became the leader i took the coach and nurture approach in all areas including group culture. were my guys soft? FAFO, they would eat you alive. so i think as long as the culture is there, and Team's - Section's - Platoon's are allowed to develop their culture, and their spirit in all the good military ways, these young guys won't let us down when it comes time to stand up My only worry is that, i know there's a fine line between character building and bullying, but i do feel a good FAFO attitude has always been the backbone of military discipline.

Yes it's gone woke and the first contact with the wagners and chechins will be a complete shit show.

Went in 89

Yeah true right British army gone totally soft

Ye but all that stomping about and shouting is pointless i think personally. If you put someone on edge there not going to preform well its all on the person i guess 🤷

Before i watch the video, I was still angry about the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814 So I think America Should invade the United Kingdom and Make the United Kingdom a part of America and have their citizens be subjects of America's will. If The Kingdom kingdom has a Weak army, Then who would win the US Vs the UK 2024 War? If their Four Vanguard-class submarine were located and Destroyed they would be Defenseless to a Nuclear strike. Name Pennant No. Builder Laid down[3] Launched[3] Commissioned[3] Status Vanguard S28 Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, Barrow-in-Furness 3 September 1986 4 March 1992 14 August 1993 In active service Victorious S29 3 December 1987 29 September 1993 7 January 1995 In active service Vigilant S30 16 February 1991 14 October 1995 2 November 1996 In active service Vengeance S31 1 February 1993 19 September 1998 27 November 1999 In active service Following the defeat of American forces at the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, a British army led by Major-General Robert Ross marched on Washington, D.C. That evening, British soldiers and sailors set fire to multiple public buildings; including the Presidential Mansion, United States Capitol, and Washington ...

Not soft mate just different

This is all by design. As sad as it is to say, this is what happens when the world hands over their ability to make decisions to a corrupt government. Woke culture has destroyed the modern world and will continue to do so if we as men let it. I went through Royal Marines Commando Training in 2005 and then went onto UKSF selection in 2010 and 2011. I left the military in 2012 and it is sad to hear what it has become. These courses were the hardest thing I have ever done, but like you said, it made me the man I am today.