From NYPOST.COM
A new Army program gives “lower-performing” recruits 90 days of fitness and academic instruction before boot camp and has been whipping soldiers into shape and shoring up the military’s ranks.
https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1641104585484914689
More than 5,400 soldiers have graduated from the program since being implemented in August at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, boosting the Army’s recruitment goals, which had fallen short due to low unemployment and wariness of military service.
Pvt. 2nd Class Daysia Holiday described the program as “basic training without the yelling.”
Before taking the course, Holiday had tried in vain for two years to pass the Army’s academic test.
After 90 days of instruction, she raised her score by 20 points.
Holiday, 23, is now finishing her advanced instruction at Fort Lee, Virginia, to become a power generation specialist tasked with maintaining engines and other equipment.
The Baton Rouge, Louisiana native said the course helped her set an example to her younger siblings and help them avoid the fate of her peers, many of whom never graduated high school, some of them winding up “dead or in jail.”
“We helped each other out throughout basic training, so it was easy,” Holiday said of her fellow struggling recruits. “All of us actually passed, so it was a good experience. And we all keep in touch.”
The program — which involves classroom, fitness and discipline training, and instructions on everything from how to make a bed to wearing a uniform correctly — has helped graduates get a “leg up” in boot camp, said Army Secretary Christine Wormuth.
“During basic training, certain young individuals who show a little bit more leadership skills than others get selected to have leadership positions,” she said. “And what we’re seeing is the kids coming out of the prep course are often the ones who are being chosen for that.”
Almost 8,400 recruits had been admitted to the program as of March 17.
Sixty-four percent of them had graduated to basic training, where their retention level of six percent was about the same as those who had not been prepped…. (Read more)
