 This is a game of war. The bullets are real. Make a mistake and you're dead wrong. The Army calls it basic training. It is in fact a time of trial. A time to separate the men from the boys. Separately, as boys they come. Together, here they will become men. The Army they say is a machine. The induction process moves with production line proceed. The gentleman here to take a mental test. This has determined what you are best qualified to do once you are inducted into the service. A school that you attend on this test will follow you throughout your military career. Are there any questions? From fathers and uncles they have heard the legend, if you can walk, you can march. Yet for every hundred accepted, forty-five are rejected. The production line ends here, in a private room. Your nose is a throat couple. The nose was had a deviant septum when you had it. September of 1960. How do you feel, gentlemen? I'm fine. Pretty good? I'm glad to have you. I don't feel that good. You are about to be inducted into the Armed Forces of the United States. You will take one step forward as your name is called. In such step, we'll constitute your... The average age is twenty-three. The youngest is nineteen. They come from city and farm, slum and mansion. And almost to a man, they would rather be somewhere else. Yet, they are here. All right, now, covering the Army and Men's Dome, we'll cover that one behind the other, straight down behind each other. Soldiers now, in nothing but name, they await their transformation. Swiftly and efficiently, it begins. Within seventy-two hours, the process will be complete. When he leaves here, each man will at least resemble a soldier. He will be clothed and tested for the interview. Each man's personal history will be recorded. His hobbies classified, his educational level determined. He will be reduced to a number, then elevated to a name. 692118, is your identification number? You are single? No prior service? Part of each man's basic issue is a quarter of a pound of paper. His 201 personal records file. The last entry at the reception station is made here, at classification and assignment. In terms of business management, the Army is a paradox. First, it hires a man, then it finds out what he is best qualified to do. But at the beginning, each man has an opportunity to influence the course of his military career. Okay, Farrell, I see Alps County School as 123. 115 is passing, so you are eligible mentally to apply for Alps County School. Thomas J. Farrell, 21, civilian occupation student. Would you like to apply for Alps County School? No, I would. It's her! Take your seats, men. Men, it's with a great deal of pleasure that I have an opportunity to officially welcome you to B-4-3. A company where you're going to be taken. You're eight weeks of basic combat training. A winner never quit, and a quitter never wins. First, Lieutenant Randy Peeler is 27 years old. He's airborne qualified in the graduate of the Army's Rigorous Ranger School. Like almost every man in the company, he was drafted. On your feet! On your feet! On your feet! With those lights on, on your feet, on the floor! Week 1, day 6, 0500 hours. Five o'clock in the morning. What you're about to see is part of the actual day-by-day process that will transform these young men into soldiers. You will see it happen exactly as it happened. Nothing has been changed. Nothing has been added. For the next eight weeks, this barracks will be home for 48 men. The third platoon of Company B. Fourth battalion, third brigade, U.S. Army Training Center at Fort Ord, California. Okay, let's go. You've got about two minutes. In the five days they've been in the company, they've been issued rifles and field equipment and have received instruction ranging from military courtesy and first aid to the care and maintenance of personal belonging. I'll be glad when this goes in. Every Saturday for the next eight weeks, there will be an inspection. This will be their first one. Ready! Is your footlocker here? The clothing looks pretty good. Do you have a Bible? Yes. Are you religious? Yes. My hand! The overhead ladder is one event of the physical combat proficiency test. Minimum requirement, 36 rungs in 60 seconds. Three yards out and 20 yards back and 36 seconds to do it. Sergeant Jerry Crowder doesn't expect anyone to pass these tests. Not the first time. For him, they are a way of finding out who needs his help the most. Crowder is 28 years old. He is an expert infantryman with 10 years' service. He likes his job. The mile run ends the test series. It foreshadows what the next seven weeks will demand. For some, the run proves their ability to endure. For others, it underscores their need. For Tom Bright, it ends his brief career as temporary sergeant. Week one is over. Week three, day two, 0800 hours. The M14 is a 7.62 millimeter magazine-fed gas-operated air-cooled semi-automatic shoulder weapon. It takes a little time to get used to it. For nine days, Company B will all but take up residence on the rifle range. Eight hours a day, every day, will be spent with a weapon in their hand. In the ten days of training, each man must master this, the basic tool of the infantry. Drill Sergeant Crowder can help, but in the end, each man must win his own lonely duel with the target. Maximum score is 84. The minimum accepted, each day on the range, ends the way it began, with a long walk. It's five miles back to the barracks. Time allotted, 45 minutes. The daily run has become a challenge. For each man, it is a chance to prove he is as good as the next man. The run is also an object lesson in teamwork. For those who choose not to maintain the pace, Drill Sergeant Crowder has little patience. You're a team, you're not an individual. One man on a team pulls out and the entire team, ineffective. Get up there and form action right. Forward! Some men like Joe Hudson are slow to develop physical endurance. Lacking in muscle, they draw strength from thigh. The run is over, the lesson is not. You know you can make it out there, there shouldn't be any doubt in your mind. You better give your mind, you go get your step in shape. Because you've got just about five rough weeks coming up. Five of the roughest weeks. You're not going to make it if you don't do it. You better get out here on your own at night and run up down this street three or four times. You better start building that wind up. Because as I told you before, we're a team, we're not individuals. We're a team. Self-confidence is a byproduct of basic training. It takes a lot of it to learn how to kill a man. Let's do it, guys, prepare that, fighters! Let's make it in there! Quicker, you! 30 hours. In small units of squad or platoon size, the men of Company B receive instruction in subjects ranging from military justice to what to do if you become a prisoner of war. Play of apparent friendship caught some American bruises off guard and many never recover. Did not know the hard door... Written tests determine the effectiveness of instruction. Sample question. Any commanding officer is authorized to impose non-judicial punishment under Choose One Summary Court Martial Article 15 under the Uniform Code of Military Justice Special Court Martial for Company S.O.P. Firegroup, stand, cut! Graded exercises in the manual of arms are conducted by each drill sergeant. For most men in the 3rd platoon, the proficiency tests provide an opportunity to prove to Sergeant Crowder that they have listened well. Inspection! That man should be able to balance the weapon. Entire group. Port! Seems so simple, the act of saluting. So unimportant. Yet through this simple ritual of military discipline, each man learns a respect for authority and perhaps an understanding of it. For each man one day may be called upon to lead other men. And it is a truism of military history that to command one must first learn to obey. Commander of the Relief, post number five. Joe Hudson is 21 years old. When he was inducted, he weighed 176 unevenly distributed pounds. He has lost 28 of them. A veteran of five weeks, Joe is so far met every demand the army has set for him. Now, he must pass a test of his own choosing. Come on, come on! Get him! This is the confidence course. No one is ordered to attempt these obstacles. Each man is free to accept or refuse the challenge they offer. Some men ignore them, but for a man of pride, there can be but one choice. To try. First time. First time. Joe! Yes! Megan, you got it, Joe. Kick off the side pole. Joe, Joe, would you believe? This is made three times. A quitter never wins, Lieutenant Beeler said. And a winner never quits. Joe Hudson is ready now to put the slogan to the test. Oh, too! Climbing a ladder, walking a beam and sliding down a rope may not seem like much of an accomplishment. But for Joe Hudson, it marks a day that would otherwise be known only as day two, week six. Week seven, day two, 14, 30 hours. The closest thing to real training ever gets. Live ammunition, five-man fire teams, and a pockmarked hill deep within the military reservation. Post-combat, they call it. For the men of the third platoon, it's an afternoon in the sun. Cocky and confident. They think of themselves as battle-hardened veterans. When a run like this would leave the men of the third platoon exhausted, now it's a way to work up an appetite. For two nights and three days during seventh week, there's a camp out called a Bivouac. The food's hot and there's plenty of it. Lots. Wow, you can just pour it. Both Dick Callies and Gary Steeleberg have discovered the two-way magic of army food. Callies has gained eight pounds. Gary lost 10. Are we going to move out of here? Ed Hendrickson and Jim Hawke are a study in contrasts. Ed is a high school dropout. This is the last night of Bivouac. All that remains is the gentle walk that will take them back to the barracks in the morning. Six, seven, day four. 0800 hours. Breakfast was served at 0530. Sunrise was 0618. Field equipment was packed and checked at 0745. Missing? Three field jackets, four protective masks and two mess kits. Not a bad record for veterans. Tom Bright basic is compressed into seven weeks, the experiences of a lifetime. He rose to leadership, was defeated, yet remained to learn and mature. In the raw material of youth, Drill Sergeant Jerry Crowder has begun the process that may shape them into men. It began in fear, graduated to respect, and perhaps may end in friendship. No matter how it ends, however, one thing is certain. They will never forget it. Check it before they put it back in the weapon. After 44 days, Sergeant Crowder's job is almost done. It will end as it began, here on the dusty ground of physical training area number one. No man can graduate from basic training without meeting the minimum requirements of the physical combat proficiency test. Any man who fails will be given one additional chance the following day. If he fails then, he will be recycled and must undergo additional training until he can. On this field in the afternoon of day six, week one, the men of the third platoon found out what the army expected of them. The expectation must now be fulfilled. Maximum score is 100. Ed Hendrickson made 70. This one's easy. Bright picks up a few extra points. Gary Steeleberg is averaging 80 points in event, more than enough to pass. Tom Farrell scores the minimum. He'll have to pick up points on the next event. The enemy is timed. The distance is only 40 yards, but for a maximum score, it's got to be done in 23 seconds. To pass, you must do it in 36 seconds. The mile run is the wind-up. The last chance to meet the minimum, 300 points. Or be recycled. The official score will not be known till morning. Each man, however, has kept his own tally. Tom Bright, 307. Dick Calley's 456. Gary Steeleberg, 464. Bobby Hubbard, 472. Joe Hudson, 303. Jim Hawke, 410. Tom Farrell, 317. Ed Hendrickson, without a smile for the first time, scored 327. They all made it. Day four, we gate. I have assignment instruction. The speaker is Company B's top sergeant, Armand Bee. I will call off the names, and I will call off the MOS that you're going to be trained in. Or if you're going to OJP on the job training. You keep me from having to stand here until each of them, for one of you, what the MOS means, you can go up yourself and look on the board, find that MOS, and you can say what that training is. Bright, MOS-91E1. Kelly's, OJP, MOS-51Z2. Farrell, here, OJP, MOS-70A1. I got it. I made it. Ooh, I don't have to worry. Specialist in Fort Riley, Kansas. What I'll be is something like a company clerk. But that's on the job training. I don't have to go through any AIT. These were actual assignments. Forty-eight men in the third platoon. Forty-one will be in combat support. Seven in combat arms. In their Class A dress uniforms for the first time, the men of the third platoon abandon the barracks. This is the last time they will march together. No longer will the platoon be a team. Today is graduation day. Day five, week eight. And the brand of these new soldiers. New soldiers. This is your ceremony. A ceremony which is designed to recognize publicly your change of status. From that of basic trainee to trained soldier of the United States Army. To each and every one of you, very best of the third brigade. Good luck. The Army is full of slogans and time-honored clichés. Perhaps the saddest one is this. Transfers cancel friendships until the next post do we meet. In a typical basic training unit like Company B, about half the men will go to advanced individual training in armor, artillery, engineering, infantry, or signal corps. And many will end up in combat arms units in Vietnam or elsewhere. For every man in combat, however, there are seven men who back him up in supply, transport, medical aid, food and equipment. Those of the odd. One man in every eight will serve in the combat arms. And it's the man at the front ultimately who gets the job done. What you have just seen was a true story. Eight weeks in the lives of 48 new soldiers and the men who trained them. For Lieutenant Randy Peeler and Drill Sergeant Jerry Crowder, there will be other cycles. Other young men. For the moment, however, duty hours are over. Today is Friday, September 23rd. It begins again.