 These young Americans are sharing a great national experience. You will see them, hear them, and hear from them as they undergo this experience. As they meet the personal challenge presented to them. What they do, what they say, what they think. All this adds up to the story of Army basic training. You're at the reception station. Your first clothing issue, the comfort issue they call it. Enough to make you a soldier. Later you'll get the full issue. Now the length of one small building thin walls a few moments of time separate you from outside. And the challenge you're waiting you inside the Army. You get those dog tags and put them on. And you get that good old Army haircut. You're tested carefully to find your special talents, your own satisfaction in the service, and for your countries. You have directions. Part one, number reversal. Read the directions for part one, number reversal to yourself while I read them aloud. Well you're here. Really arrived. You can loosen up a bit now. Food. Food and company. Two good cure-alls for any doubts or miseries. And plenty of food and company. Step down the machine. Heels back, your foot over. You're at the reception station just a short time and you're feeling good as it goes along. Shoes. Boots. I want you to pick up two pair of combat boots. Shirts for every occasion, summer and winter. You haven't done much except sign your name and make work for the IBM machines. But here you are with the works. 85 pounds of it. Please move up the line. Take your bag with you. This really prepares you for what happens next when you join your company for basic training. Nothing could, because from now on, this is how it is. Alright. Here's what one recruit said later when it was all over. And from the moment you got off, you were screamed at and yelled at and everything you could imagine. It's really scared us. First squad leader, I want you to move the squad, pick up your duffel bag, with all your gear and follow Sergeant Cadillo into the building. Okay, first squad to a right. You be the flit man. You flit him right in there. Some of the guys were literally shaking. I mean, they made us run up the stairs with those big duffel bags. And we'd never even walk hardly with two of them. You ran. Either that or God knows what might happen to you the way you think. The weight that you've ever spent in your life. In those eight weeks, you're going to find out how to survive as an individual soldier and how to work that. Get your foot off that footlock. You've got to be physically fit to go into combat. You've got to be physically fit to survive in combat. And that is my job, to see that you are that. And then I'm sorry to wait. This is the fifth platoon. Now, I know that ever since you came in this army, everybody's been telling you what to do. Well, that's just the beginning because you haven't heard nothing yet. It hasn't stopped here and it never will. But I called you all together because I want to get an understanding. I want you to know me and what you can expect of me and what I will expect of all of you. You might find something to you. It is not meant to be pleasant to you. It is not going to be pleasant to you. And someday you men may have to face combat. And someday you're going to be in that situation where you're going to have to have this discipline. And when someone tells you to move, you've got to move or you've got to... I think I want you to get straight. I've only got one mission here. And it's not to become your dear friends. You left that when you left your home. My job is to make soldiers, fighting men, a well-oiled fighting machine out of you civilians. Now, don't if they... If you cannot solve them yourself. Get these problems, get... If I can't have the captain, the Red Cross... Any time that a non-commissioned officer or an officer walks into this bay, then at ease our attention will be called. And at that time everybody will be off of his... His bunk and on his feet. But don't think that just because you are here and we're working down on you, that we're beating down on you, that we're riding your back, that we're giving your orders, we're shouting at you, we're telling you what to do, what not to do. Don't feel that you still don't have some privileges as a soldier. Because as long as you act as a soldier, we'll treat you as a soldier. Any time you shine those boots. If I can look in your boots and see my face, then you've got a good pair of boots. And your boots aren't good unless they look better than mine. That's how I expect your boots. And I expect your general area around here the same way. Your bunk, when I flip a dime on it, it better jump right back in my hand. Because that's what I'm looking for. When I open that foot locker or wall locker, I don't want to see anything out of place. Nothing. Everything has its own compartment. Every place in your foot locker. That first day in the company. One old timer said that day was the longest month I spent in the army. It begins. First week, classroom work, yes. But this being the army, it really starts with drill, naturally. Right. Now, in working as a team, we're going to have this mounted drill. Now, this dismounted drill is designed to instill a sense of teamwork and a sense of discipline within you. By following a command that it is given. It also isn't, you know, from one place to another. Now, we can't just get you out of here in the street and say, okay, who am I to be going 45-50? That wouldn't work. We've got to get the whole company out of here and in order to do it, we've got to move in a military manner. And this is in the company formation. You're both in the same army, believe it or not. There are just a few weeks difference between you and them. And right in here somewhere, you get that rifle. All right, now, you just got these, these weapons. This is the best friend that you'll ever have. If you take care of it, it will take care of you. That means that you'll take better care of this weapon than you will anything else that you own. It's designed for one purpose, to kill. This is the business end, right here. This is the butt. Don't get those two mixed up. You put this against your shoulder. This goes towards the enemy. This weapon, actually, you'll learn more about in other classes where we have detailed instruction. One thing I want you to keep in mind is this is your friend. Treat it that way. And it'll take care of you. It may be your friend, but for a while during that first week it's like a sick friend. You lug it, tug it, throw it around. It weighs about eight pounds, the first hour. Then it seems to put on weight. Sometimes it also has a sharp blade on the end. The first week, at the end your feet hurt. You start to think again. That hurts, too. You're frightened when you come here. Nothing, you miss home a lot. Just the different people around you. Being told what to do and when to do it and how to do it all the time. Bang, the second week you're out on the range with the rifle. 25 meter train to fire committee, range number three. This morning you brought out here to learn how to fire the M14 rifle. In order to remove any, it'll now move you out on the firing line. Is anyone afraid to fire the rifle? You'd be surprised how much company you have. But the new Army train fire program puts you right on the firing line without a lot of preliminary do's and don'ts. To beat that fear and turn it into pride and skill. Is he ever going to squeeze that trigger? Only now does the recruit go back to the mechanic of the weapon. But then he almost lives on the rifle range. You will start firing at silhouette pop-up type targets. These targets have the added feature of being killed. When hit they automatically fall. This adds realism to your training and gives you immediate evidence as to whether each shot has been fired with the necessary accuracy. Discoge. This is learning to shoot in the tradition of the American frontier soldier. The kind who won battles from Yorktown to Incheon. Here's what one soldier said. I think the thing that means most to the train even, they get invasive is the qualification in the rifle. It's both physical and mental. You try your hardest to become as good a shot as you can. It's a thing you try and work for individually and also the physical marches to the ranges. That's the first exposure you have of the stranger's exercise they have here and the marches out there. They start about two miles and they end up about five. The ranges grow longer. The targets advance on you. They retreat. They're always surprising you. Popping up at different distances and you learn to advance on them. This is all leading up to a big day as one recruit recalled, your happiest day is a big day you go out to the qualification ranges and then you're biting your fingernails and you're hoping this and hoping that and just do your best and then you are qualified to wear a certain badge. The foxhole. Pick up your weapons, face down range and take up a good firing position. This afternoon you're firing record two. You have five seconds for your near targets ten seconds for your far targets. You move from foxhole to foxhole a few shots from each one at targets that come and go. Surprising you. Then you're out in the open advancing, finding and firing at those targets before they disappear. It's tough all right. Then it's over. Well I hit everyone on the last one it was up, it was a 350 meter and he said shoot that one. I said which one? You know what happened? He said that one, that was 350 meters and I looked out there for the rest of the time and I couldn't see that. Then four weeks of basic training are suddenly over. Four busy weeks have passed. You really feel like singing. Events no longer seem to float by in a blur. In the company day room you're surrounded by friends guys you'll never forget. The platoon. Your platoon. You're in the swing of things. You're living. Living outdoors in Bivouac. Out in the open. Up with the sun. Yes I gained 18 pounds as I've been here. It's eight weeks. Well that's a lot of weight. I haven't weighed that much until I left home two years ago. This is breakfast. You'd never eat like horses. But you're doing something else this year. Remember that first day of marching? Several years ago it seems. Your shadow's tall now and you're that way too. You've met the challenge more than halfway but you still have a lot to learn. Learn that the squad is the basic unit. The basic building block of the army. Any army. Just a handful of men. Like you. However before we go any farther we must ascertain the mission of the rifle squad in the attack. The mission of the rifle squad in the attack is to close with the enemy by means of fire and maneuver in order to capture or destroy him. Alpha team. Kins down the enemy, fixes them in position. Keeps them in their foxhole by their fire. Let's go. Undercover this fire. Manoeuvres around. Unseen body enemy to get a good crack at him. Trainee leaders chosen on ability give the orders. The army looks for leaders for NCO academies and office of candidate school. Prepare to throw. Here to fore in your basic training you have learned how to operate as an individual. Today you found out how important it was for a rifle squad to operate as a team. The success of the rifle squad depends upon teamwork. You've been hearing about this one since you got here. The infiltration course. I want to know, are you ready to call the course? It's about four feet over your head and you have to crawl under barbed wire through barbed wire sometimes over logs and it's the first time and it's true it if you stand up it will hit you by the chest. It's a lot of fun, you look back at it now and enjoy it. My knees rub against the ground that's all. See you in a little more. Next time I'll quit smoking. Charlie Hill presents y'all. Knees are a little bruised. Then it's almost over. The close combat course is almost like real war they say. A hill in Italy, in France, in Korea like the one your father crossed. Using real ammunition this couldn't be too much more real. Both the memory and the challenge are behind you. You can hardly believe it. Take the special training or go to the place they chose when they took up the challenge and enlisted a choice guaranteed by the army. Only graduation left. How can they be? Please be with you today. The day which I know you've all looked forward to for some time. The day in which you graduate from basic combat training. You came to us some eight, eight and a half weeks ago. Unsure. Afraid. Certainly unsettled in your minds. You've grown up. Those of you who are boys when you arrived are now men. Our soldiers in fact are as well as in name. You'll be leaving us now. Going to new posts, new stations, new jobs, new assignments. Many of you I trust will stay in the service. I can assure you that you'll find it rewarding, a rich experience and challenging. You are the leaders of tomorrow. Whether you stay in the military or return to civilian life. America today is great. She's strong. What she is tomorrow depends entirely upon you. This is a responsibility that you cannot doubt. It is yours, whether you desire it or not. You have the intelligence, the brains, and in some cases the skills. All you need is the will to keep America strong forever. Gentlemen, we're sorry to see you go. But wherever you go, good luck and Godspeed.