You might want to avoid Starbucks today

[sarisataka]

314. Thankfully no,

they are given training before deployment. Four- five years back, it was a month in the home state, about a year at a base for training then another month in Kuwait, training along side a unit that was returning home to get the most up to date information on what the situation was like.

Even so, I voiced my opinion that the state of affairs was disgusting. (Well I guess I did use some other adjectives as well. There is a reason I never made it higher up the rank table) My opinion was that we were lucky to have the luxury of so much time to train these soldiers in things they should already know but, in a 'real' war situation they would have to deploy as is. I believe I did use the term cannon fodder...

I am told, by friends who still serve, the situation has improved but many soldiers still need training on basic skills before deployments. It is an outrage that we spend so much money on the military to buy sexy toys for the generals and admirals to put on recruiting posters but when it comes time to train the troops in occupational and war fighting skills we are often told there isn't any money in the budget for that