>> Narrator: It is the ultimate survival school, where soldiers learn to kill or be killed. They are 21st-century warriors, preparing both their bodies and their minds for battle. Now, "Combat Training" on<i> Modern</i> <i> Marvels.</i> <font color="#FFFF00"> [Captioning sponsored by</font> <font color="#FFFF00"> A&E TELEVISION NETWORKS]</font> (<i> whistle blows</i> ) (<i> grunting</i> ) >> Hit him! >> He don't want to fight! Hit him! (<i> whistle blows</i> ) >> Hit him! >> Narrator: In the U.S. regular forces, nothing compares to the physical training that a Marine has to go through. These recruits are fiercely attacking each other at close quarters with heavily padded pugil sticks. The red end represents a bayonet. The black end, the butt of a rifle. >> Don't just lay your stick on him, hit him! >> Colonel Craig Huddleston: At this level of combat, at the individual level of combat, it is desperate: eye-to-eye, man- to-man, you-or-me, live-or-die. >> Don't just lay your stick on him. Hit him! (<i> men grunting</i> ) (<i> whistle blowing</i> ) >> Staff Sergeant Darrin Wynn: There's no second place in combat, and that's kind of what I try to portray to them here, is that no matter how the odds are stacked against you, you still have to put out 100% effort or you're not coming home. >> Run! What are you waiting for? (<i> yelling</i> ) >> Narrator: Combat training has but one simple goal: to take a civilian with no military skills whatsoever and turn him into a physically fit, psychologically tough soldier, who is familiar with the tools of war and is willing to use them. >> Huddleston: If you run out of ammunition or you're engaged in a close fight, you may have to employ cold steel, an edged weapon. It's at that point that combat narrows down to the narrowest perspective-- man against man-- and it truly is kill or be killed. >> I want to see some good fights, do you understand that? >> All: Yes, sir! >> I want to be able to go home... >> Narrator: Military combat training has another objective: forging individual soldiers into a cohesive fighting unit that will stand together and not break ranks under fire, but the most important element is learning how to fight to the death. >> Do you understand that? >> All: Yes, sir! >> Dr. Richard W. Stewart: There's nothing like the stress of looking face-to-face with your enemy and physically grappling with him and-and killing him. That's the essence of what it is. You're taking someone's life deliberately and you can sometimes look in their eye and know who they are. How do you train someone for that? To become a killer when all of society's norms say, "Don't take life." >> With this strike-- >> Kill! Kill! >> Narrator: This is the first hand-to-hand combat training these new recruits get. >> With this strike... >> Kill! >> Strike! >> Kill! >> Narrator: At the Marine Depot, they learn the proper way to take on an opponent. >> Two things... >> Narrator: How to transfer their weight and put power behind a punch. >> The moment of impact, the moment of impact, do you understand? >> Yes, sir! >> Narrator: 35,000 civilians became Marines in 1999, 17,000 of them here at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, the rest at Parris Island in South Carolina. The government spent $46.5 million on Marine boot camp training in 1999. That works out to about $13,300 per private. Marine combat training not only takes place on dry land... by necessity, it also involves the water. >> Heads up! >> Huddleston: We need to be able to fight while we're wet, and we're teaching Marines how to survive in the water with all of their combat equipment, so onto land. >> Narrator: Some of these recruits are just now learning how to swim. At this pool, they are taught how to operate in water wearing a full load of combat gear and carrying a seven-pound M-16 rifle. >> Huddleston: Young recruit standing there, never been in water over his head for the first time, loaded down with 45 pounds of equipment, is told to step off a three-meter tower into 12 feet of water, and he does it. >> Narrator: Not everyone is tough enough to make it through this kind of training. The boot camp dropout rate is about 11 percent. The Marine Corps knows that it is part of a weeding-out process that determines who has what it takes. >> Huddleston: We must be prepared to fight, as our "M" says, in any clime or place, and we are. We've fought in the desert, we've fought in the jungles, we've fought in cities and towns-- we're ready to fight anywhere. (<i> automatic weapons fire</i> ) The challenge to our training is trying to replicate, to the greatest degree possible, this diverse environment: day, night, hot, cold, wet, dry. It doesn't make any difference. >> Narrator: If soldiers have to be ready for every type of terrain, they also need to be ready for every type of weapon. Since the beginning of the 20th century, combat training has included preparing for chemical warfare. Soldiers in World War I first began learning to put on gas masks to deal with German nerve gas. During the 1940s, American GIs continued this kind of training. The increasing use of chemical weapons today has made this combat skill an even more important part of modern Marine combat training. >> Sergeant Scott Scheidt: You can't fight in combat blind, so one of the things we try to do is try to take their attention away from those effects that's going on with it, because if they come into contact with a simple agent like this, and they see, no, they can't perform their job properly, that's a large problem to us. >> Narrator: At the Camp Pendleton Marine Base in Southern California, every recruit is subjected to chemical weapons training. >> One, two, three, unmask! >> Narrator: 20 men at a time are exposed to CS gas, a non- lethal, but extremely irritating substance. It stings the skin, the eyes water uncontrollably, and breathing becomes almost impossible. This kind of training is more than just instructing the proper way to use a simple protective apparatus. It teaches a person the ability to control the urge to panic under stress. No army had more discipline and self-control than that of ancient Rome. The Roman legions managed to rule the world by brute force, superb tactics and a fighting mentality that had been cultivated during extremely tough training. >> Stewart: It was said of the Roman army that their exercises were bloodless wars and their wars bloody exercises. It's because they had the essence of combat training. They knew that in order to train a soldier to fight as part of a team against an often valiant, overwhelming enemy, they had to teach them with all the realism possible. Unfortunately, most of the images we have of the Roman army and the way in which they may or may not have trained come from Hollywood spectaculars and the ways in which they portrayed that. We don't have a lot of evidence of the specifics of training, except that it obviously involved a heavy physical component, which was, yes, running, uh, lifting, uh, but also, a very mental component to prepare yourself to work as part of a well-oiled machine. >> Narrator: The Romans were fanatical about physical fitness. Their army became legendary for its tireless ability to march and to fight. >> Earl G. Skeens, Jr.: The Romans actually had physical training. They made them run. You did not see a fat Roman soldier, and of course, those soldiers that didn't seem to be able to undergo the strict physical training they had would, uh, would be punished-- literally beaten-- at times. >> Narrator: The Romans trained for and perfected the use of the phalanx, a formation of massed infantry troops bunched tightly together with their shields and spears overlapping. >> Stewart: For a thousand years, their military system was the wonder of the world because the way in which it trained them as a team to act as part of a machine with total discipline in realistic environments, so that no matter what enemy they ran against, uh, they had the edge over them. >> Narrator: That emphasis on discipline would also serve as an ideological example for history's most famous fighting machine-- the Roman gladiator. >> Alison Futrell: A gladiator was a highly skilled, very well- trained risker of death in a spectacular environment. >> Narrator: Gladiators were mostly slaves, criminals or prisoners of war. They were trained for combat in special privately owned schools. >> Futrell: The gladiatorial schools were, in some sense, prisons, in some sense, training schools. The gladiators lived in this school and they didn't go outside the school, so they're sort of self-enclosed areas where you'd have kitchens, you'd have bath facilities, you'd have training facilities, and the training area for a gladiatorial school was usually an arena. >> Narrator: Gladiators trained under the strict supervision of expert combat instructors known as<i> doctores.</i> >> Futrell: The word "doctor" in Latin simply means "one who is learned," and there were <i> doctores</i> in the gladiatorial school who were particularly learned in a certain kind of combat, a certain armature, and they were primarily responsible for the training of individual gladiators in a specific armature. >> Narrator: Gladiators trained with weighted shields to gain strength. In combat, they wore a visored helmet and carried a net or perhaps a trident, but their main weapon was a sword. >> Futrell: One of the clearest elements about the training is the presence of a big stake in the ground, sort of a practice human-- a big log, maybe around six feet above the ground-- that was there, basically, for people to attack. So people would get on their armature and they go attack the log and, on the basis of the marks left on the log, their trainers could tell where they're letting their guard down, where they need to watch, where they need to keep their eyes. Uh, so, not unlike, perhaps, training for football today-- whamming against something is a key part of the training of a gladiator, too. >> Narrator: The intense training of both the gladiator and Roman soldier would set the standard by which future armies would be measured. Next, knighthood, and teaching the art of killing during the Middle Ages. It is a Wednesday night in Houston, Texas. Members of HACA, the Historical Armed Combat Association, are holding their weekly meeting and learning about the medieval fighting skill of the sword. >> John Clements: HACA is an association of arms and armor practitioners and enthusiasts, scholars and researchers, studying medieval and renaissance martial art. We're not practicing it today as they did, for killing, but we can practice it in earnest, as a serious martial art, and as a method of self-defense. Not that anyone's going to attack us with a sword today. >> Narrator: Through the centuries, the image of the medieval knight has been highly romanticized into a figure of chivalry, but the reality is there were hard-core soldiers, who had to undergo hard-core training. >> Clements: The idea was not to deter an opponent, to dissuade him, to discourage him. The idea was to kill him. >> Narrator: Medieval warriors trained under the tutelage of fight masters, who were experts in the nuances of combat. Throughout Europe, their students were both commoners and noblemen. >> Clements: We know that, in the Middle Ages, starting at least in the 12th century, that there were fighting guilds and instructors of fencing who, uh, taught various martial arts, and these martial arts would consist of everything from the use of staffs and pole weapons to different types of swords and shields. >> Narrator: From the 13th century to the late 17th century, these early combat instructors recorded their fighting techniques in handwritten texts and images. Translated from Latin, this manual gives specific and detailed instructions in the art of attack. >> Instructor (<i> dramatized</i> ): Thanks to the push I give to your elbow, I think I'll cut your throat into two halves. >> Narrator: These manuals also showed that medieval warriors weren't above fighting below the belt. >> Instructor (<i> dramatized</i> ): When I use the body contact with somebody, I hit his testicles with my right foot. I'm going to knock you down to the ground and leave you with no defense, so I can hurt you. >> Narrator: During his class, John Clements explains one of the manual's violently effective takedown techniques. >> Clements: Stick it here, stopping the energy, coming up again. He can't cut. Cut me, please. Try and slice. He's not going anywhere. My body-- my leverage-- I have leverage, I have balance and my weapon is still free to cut him or to hit him or to disarm him in some way. Thank you. The underlying theme in all this is brutality and effectiveness. You weren't playing, you weren't putting on a show, you were trying to kill someone and stay alive, and anything goes under those conditions. And the manuals tell this pretty clearly. >> Narrator: In the Far East, martial arts of a different kind were developing along more spiritual lines. For the samurai, a mental state approaching meditation was essential in combat training. A Japanese samurai was a warrior for hire, dedicated to protecting the feudal assets of his master with unswerving loyalty and dedication. >> Tom Muzila: Typical samurai would probably train six or eight hours a day at that time. And, of course, they'd train with wooden swords-- which are called<i> bokkens</i> -- they trained >> Narrator: Samurais would practice individual movements with their razor-sharp<i> katana,</i> or sword, for hours and days at a time. Like the gladiators and knights, the samurai also trained under the guidance of teachers, or masters. Their incredible repetition also emphasized mental control, and the ability to attain almost a Zen-like state of calmness during battle. >> Muzila: Samurais' training had to be the most realistic possible, almost more strict and harsher than a real, live situation in combat, because the more they could make it real and face life and death in their training, when they really faced life or death in an actual match or duel, or on the battlefield, it would be very comfortable to them. It's easy to shoot at targets, but when you have somebody else that's shooting back at you, or a boxer that's just hitting a heavy bag when somebody isn't hitting you back, it adds a completely different level to that. >> Narrator: Eventually, gunpowder and firearms would render both the samurai and the knight ineffective. Improvement in weaponry called for a different type of training for the new armies of the new era. Coming up next: combat training In the late 1700s, the North American colonies of Great Britain were rebelling against the Crown. A new emerging nation was attempting to break away and form its own democracy on its own terms. The colonists were willing to fight for their independence, but they were not properly prepared for battle. >> Dr. Robert K. Wright, Jr.: The biggest problem that faced the Americans at the start of the Revolutionary War was the fact that there was no single way of doing training. Each different colony had a different manual that they used to conduct training. >> David Cole: The training for the individual soldier was reasonably simple. I mean, basically, all you had to do is teach him how to load and fire his musket and, uh, to operate under the stressful situation of combat. >> Narrator: The Continental Army got a much-needed shot in the arm from an unlikely and unexpected source. >> Wright: The capstone of American creative combat training in the American Revolution comes to us in the person of a fascinating German, Friedrich von Steuben. >> Stewart: And von Steuben, who was not a Baron, who was not "von," uh, who may not even have been an officer, certainly was never a general-- it didn't matter. When he came to America, he had enough chutzpah, enough gall to say that he was a Prussian trainer and that he could whip Washington's army into shape. The only reason he is such a hero, though, is he was able to pull it off. >> Narrator: Von Steuben literally wrote the book: manual number one for the U.S. Army. Its official title was <i> Regulations for the Order</i> <i> and Discipline of the Troops</i> <i>of the United States, Part One.</i> >> Cole: The first part of the book was to school the soldier, which taught the individual soldier how to carry his arms, how to load and fire his musket. >> Narrator: Von Steuben told Washington that, although his men were competent marksmen, they did not know how to use their bayonets effectively. In 1778, at their winter camp in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, von Steuben began instructing the Continental Army commanders. He broke down the complicated bayonet techniques that were practiced in European armies into a series of simple and numbered movements. They illustrated precisely how a soldier would grip his musket and how he would use the weapon in battle. Von Steuben's numeric instructional methods gave rise to the phrase: "Doing it by the numbers." >> Wright: The officers all agree, it's a wonderful system with one exception: they need to change the command after you say, "Ready," and before you say, "Fire," to "Aim." Steuben had done, like the Europeans, made it "present your firelocks," which means point it in the general direction of the enemy. The Americans say, "No, no. Even though it's not very accurate, we really do think we ought to point it at some specific guy." >> Narrator: Von Steuben made another strategic decision: moving the army off their flat parade grounds and training in the rugged territory nearby. >> Wright: In my opinion, Steuben's most important contribution to the American army's philosophy of realistic combat training is the introduction of the notion that you can only train in the broken, uh, ground, the kinds of areas where you really would expect to fight. This is the essence of what, in the late 20th century, came to be called "Train as you fight; fight as you train." >> Narrator: Under von Steuben's tutelage, the American army evolved from a ragtag bunch of militia in 1775, to an organized fighting unit. By the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, they were equal to any of the professional armies of Europe. With von Steuben's leadership, the colonies rid themselves of the British and became an independent nation. Von Steuben became an American citizen in 1783. A statue in his honor stands across the street from the White House. In 1802, the military academy at West Point was created to teach combat strategy to army officers. By the beginning of the Mexican- American War in 1846, the army was still small by modern standards. Only about 9,000 professional soldiers were under arms, but most were foot soldiers or cavalry troops who had practical experience fighting Indians on the frontier. Their primary training was in marching and drilling, and they were learning with new breech- loading rifles. At the time, Abraham Lincoln was a young congressman from Illinois. Less than two decades later, he would lead the country during the Civil War. >> Ted Ballard: There was combat training in the Civil War, but there was no standardization in that combat training. Very little troops, because of the national emergency, had the time to actually be in a camp of instruction where they were trained in combat methods. The result would be that the actual combat training would be combat itself. >> Narrator: In the 1860s, the country was ill-prepared for any war, much less a civil war. Most of the Union Army was made up of volunteer units. Their officers were ill-equipped to lead. >> Ballard: Most of these officers, uh, weeks before the unit was organized, were bankers, merchants, um, lawyers. Most had no prior military experience, so it was basically ignorance on their part. >> Narrator: The Civil War soldier's main weapon had been dramatically improved by adding grooved spirals inside the rifle's barrel. It increased both range and accuracy. >> Ballard: When the army is basing its strategy and tactics on the 18th century, and suddenly you have a weapon that, um, is extremely accurate up to 200 to 500 yards, there's a lethal range of 1,000 yards, uh, and you're still using these 18th-century tactics of shoulder-to-shoulder, firing into an enemy position 50, 100 yards away, uh, it's going to increase casualties. >> Narrator: While it would've made more sense, from a tactical standpoint, to spread out the troops and make them less of a target, the soldiers needed to be close together to hear their commanders. Moving them apart would've lost the key element of command and control. >> Stewart: That's also why you had to train them-- to stand in the face of withering fire, even when, in some cases, 40 or 50% of your comrades had just died the minute before. You had to still stand there and try to deliver that aimed volley fire. >> Narrator: It is not possible to teach the raw courage necessary to face such an onslaught of gunfire. Military leaders believed the only way to train soldiers for the intensity of the battlefield was through the constant repetition of drilling with rifles. The goal was that soldiers would develop the almost-robotic instincts necessary to survive. >> Narrator: It was the closest thing to hell on earth that mankind had ever seen. Combat during the First World War was unspeakably brutal and emotionally devastating. >> Col. Craig Huddleston: World War I, what was the nature of the combat? Well, it was large masses of men, perhaps in trenches, fighting at fairly close range with masses of supporting arms. The training reflected that. >> Narrator: Soldiers in the early 1900s had one basic weapon at their disposal: a rifle with a bayonet. Americans practiced in small groups at close range. British soldiers who had already gone over the top in battle and survived the trench warfare became their teachers. The recruits honed their reflexes by facing away from their instructors, then suddenly turning and thrusting their bayonets at a small loop on the end of a long stick. This helped them perfect their aim. Unlike their counterparts in the Revolutionary War, these soldiers were schooled in how to carry their weapon through simulated trench warfare conditions. Huge open fields were converted into gigantic mock battlefields. Doughboys ran across hundreds of yards of intricate obstacle courses, complete with rows of bayonet target dummies, as well as dozens of trenches, hills, and walls. They were being trained in the physical tools of combat. Unfortunately, there was no way to train for the devastating emotional and psychological effects of the First World War. "Shell shock," as it was called, claimed thousands of casualties. Training did take place, however, as part of the recovery process. Many shell shock victims were evacuated to hospitals where drilling and marching continued, in order to reinforce the idea that they were soldiers, and not The army tried to prepare its troops for the horror of battle by making its basic combat training as realistic as possible. But in World War I, as in all wars, the training could only go so far. >> Dr. Richard W. Stewart: No matter how realistic you try to make the training, even if you re-created the set of<i> Saving</i> <i> Private Ryan</i> for each one of your platoons and ran them through the simulated fire, or had occasional live bullets fired over their heads, the soldier will always think to himself during the training, "Well, this is still just training. Those shells aren't really out to get me." It would get his adrenaline flowing, focus his mind, so that mentally he becomes better prepared, but truly preparing? >> Narrator: Stronger soldiers have always made better fighters. By World War I, the military had begun to stress a greater amount of exercise and increased physical fitness during combat training. Army workouts can be traced to the gymnasium at West Point. During the early 1900s, cadets worked out with rings suspended from the ceiling. They also boxed and wrestled. For Army troops, the 1914<i> Manual</i> <i> of Military Training</i> recommended there be five 45- minute long workout periods a week. Many of the drills focused on agility training. It was thought that these kinds of exercises would help prepare a soldier to navigate the uncertain terrain of the battlefield. A primitive form of resistance training, such as lifting rocks, also helped create a more physical soldier. Unfortunately, the lessons of World War I were soon forgotten. >> Dr. Stewart: There was no attempt to train for the next war because, after all, World War I was the war to end all wars, so why bother? We cut the training back, we cut back on training dollars, training equipment, ammunition. >> Narrator: Germany did the opposite. Beaten and humiliated after World War I, it covertly militarized during the 1920s and '30s. German troops secretly trained with the Red Army in Russia. They would known as the Black Reichswehr, or Hidden Army. The almost fanatical training of Nazi soldiers mirrored Germany's patriotic fervor of the times. They were trained extensively in small units, with the express purpose of establishing a unique esprit de corps. At the beginning of the Second World War, the United States turned to the selective service system to rapidly replenish its military ranks. During boot camp, the military stressed basic physical fitness rather than combat stamina. >> Brigadier General John S. Brown: We had a more scientific appreciation of the value of exercise and sport, and cardiovascular conditioning. The basic training, whereas that averaged out to about half an hour of calisthenics a day. But for the World War II generation, a half hour of calisthenics a day was an impressive departure from their previous attention to calisthenics and sport-like activities. >> Narrator: Finding the proper equipment to train the massive influx of new soldiers for combat was difficult at first. >> Dr. Stewart: Still in 1941, even after we went to war, you had soldiers using small bags of flour as hand grenades. You had people using pieces of wood as simulated anti-tank weapons, tanks being made out of cardboard or plywood. You still didn't have what you needed to train realistically. >> Narrator: In fact, early shortages were so severe that the army was forced to use empty beer cans as make-believe mortar shells. While the U.S. was desperately trying to train hundreds of thousands of new soldiers, it recognized the need to train some elite troops in special combat techniques-- techniques that routinely went above and beyond the call of duty. For the Army, it's the Rangers. >> General Brown: The Rangers originated during the World War II period as a specialized unit adapted on the model of the British Commandos, who were intended to be a strategic asset that was used for tactical purposes. >> Narrator: Marine training is as tough as it gets for regular troops. But America's elite warriors are pushed to a higher standard. Since World War II, all of the branches of the military have developed special operations forces. In addition to the Rangers, the Army had the Green Berets, and Force. For the Navy, it's the SEALS, whose acronym stands for Sea, Air, and Land. Training of such elite fighting units is both constant and grueling. They specialize in guerrilla warfare, hostage rescue, and anti-terrorism tactics. All of their training prepares them for combat in almost any environment. >> Tom Muzila: The Ranger school, scuba school, visual tracking school, mountaineering school, hot weather survival school-- you're probably going at least 18 hours a day, and you're getting up 3:00, 3:30 in the morning. You're running ten miles, then you're doing patrols through the whole day-- small unit tactics, guerrilla warfare, basically, in every type of scenario possible, until late at night. During the Vietnam War, battles were fought in swamps and jungles. In the Persian Gulf, soldiers fought in dusty desert conditions. The consensus today is that future combat troops will need to know how to fight in an urban environment. >> Colonel Craig Huddleston: The world's population lives in cities. If you look back in history, the major fights that have occurred in urban areas have been incredibly expensive and violent-- Huay City, Stalingrad, Berlin. It's difficult to distinguish friend from foe, and the engagements are almost always at very close range. (<i> gunshots and yelling</i> ) >> At Camp LeJeune in North Carolina, a unique facility gives Marines a chance to train for fire fights on city streets. This is called MOUT training, an acronym which stands for Military Operations on Urban Terrain. >> Colonel Huddleston: The Holy Grail for combat training is to try to simulate combat to the greatest degree possible. The nature of combat in urban terrain places special demands on the techniques and the tactics and the procedures that you will employ there. (<i> gunfire</i> ) The confusion, the smoke, the rubble, the uncertainty, are also magnified in urban areas. >> Narrator: At this training facility, a computer system tracks marines with a gridlike network of infrared transmitters and ultrasonic receivers. A global positioning satellite follows each Marine's movements. Each electronic shot they fire with a specially equipped M-16 rifle, or each electronic hand grenade they throw, is monitored. The data is beamed by microwave to a nearby combat training operation center where every detail of the exercise is recorded and evaluated with computer-generated graphic animation. 21st-century combat warriors are training for future battles with the use of sophisticated weapons technology. In 1997, Cubic Defense Systems, a San Diego electronics company, introduced new technology to upgrade the laser- based mile system first introduced in the late 1970s. In the multiple integrated laser engagement system known as Miles 2000, infrared impulses replace bullets. During combat training, soldiers wear vests that are equipped with special target detection devices. Censors record each soldier's electronic player identification number, and when they are hit by the pulse of the electronic bullet fired by a Miles-equipped rifle, the system records and computes the casualty status of the hit. The guns are loaded with blanks to make the training as realistic as possible. >> Colonel Huddleston: Now you know if you've been hit or wounded or if someone's shooting at you, and it allows you to tailor your training to a simulated combat environment. It's a wonderful system. Uh, with the laser engagement systems, when you're out of ammunition, the laser doesn't work. >> Narrator: Miles gear can also be mounted on a tank's cannon as well as various other mobile weapons, allowing for full combat simulations involving entire tank battalions. Special pyrotechnic charges are fired to make these battles look and sound like the real thing. Thanks to modern technology, before tank crews train in field exercises, they can now get combat experience on a virtual battlefield. These modules are detailed replicas of real tanks. They are called close combat tactical trainers, and their computer-generated animation programs can be changed to create any kind of virtual battle scenario. >> I wouldn't want to be out there. Gunner, stable at two tanks, left tank first. >> Narrator: Computer hookups allow additional personnel from different military bases around the country to take part in the training simultaneously, sharing the same virtual terrain databases. >> Brigadier General John S. Brown: The soldier of the future will need to be a highly qualified and capable individual who is able to use modern technology adeptly. >> Narrator: Technology has truly revolutionized combat training. However, some wonder if it's too much of a good thing. >> Earl G. Skeens, Jr.: How much should we emphasize technology? Do we put all our eggs in the technology basket and, uh, give soldiers all sorts of equipment and methods to utilize this technology? And suddenly the technology breaks down. Is the soldier equipped enough to then go to the old-fashioned methods of fighting war? >> Narrator: Partially because of that concern, in 1996 the Marine Corps added what they call "The Crucible" to the end of the 13-week boot camp. It's part final exam, part military rite of passage. The Crucible begins at 2:00 in the morning and continues nonstop for two and a half days. >> Colonel Huddleston: The Crucible is the culminating event in Marine recruit training. It is the defining moment of the recruit's experience here in boot camp. (<i> yelling</i> ) >> Marine boot camp was already plenty tough, but combat training teaches individual fighting skills. The Crucible was designed to emphasize teamwork. >> Colonel Huddleston: Combat is incredibly chaotic, very confusing, physically demanding, stressful in the extreme. We can replicate some of those things in The Crucible. >> Captain Brent Ruth: There's some 3,100 square acres here, and they're going to cover 40 miles on their feet by the time they're done in these two and a half days. We're asking them to do things that, uh, they may not have thought were possible before. (<i> chanting</i> ) We're asking them to, uh, push themselves towards their limits. >> Narrator: Over the next 54 hours, these recruits will work, and they will sweat. Outfitted with a full combat load of equipment, they will march from rifle range to obstacle course, never resting for more than a few minutes at a time. A key element of The Crucible is sleep deprivation. These recruits are only allowed eight hours of shut-eye during the two-day period. The Crucible is long on training but short on rations. Recruits are allowed to drink plenty of water, but they're given only two small MREs, the military term for meals ready to eat. >> Get your mouth up out of the dirt. >> Narrator: In this scenario, a squad is given 25 minutes to get through an obstacle course laced with barbed wire, while carrying their weapons and loads of heavy equipment. >> Hello, you! That's not the only lane! Let's go! Go around him!! >> Staff Sergeant Terry Harrelson: If you're in a combat environment, especially when they get to the wire up there, we want to show them that whenever you move from obstacle to obstacle, you want to try to keep a low silhouette as possible. >> Narrator: One man is designated as a casualty. Others must drag or carry him to the end of the course. >> Are you going to let him lay there and bleed to death, or are you going to get him aboard the 8-0? >> Narrator: At the end of The Crucible, these men will officially become Marines. They will have pushed themselves to the limit, enduring the high stress of simulated combat, along with the physical challenge of food and sleep deprivation. During their military careers, they will receive more specialized combat training, preparing for the reality beyond all training. >> Colonel Huddleston: The nature of war's immutable. The fabric of war has not changed since the first two cavemen tried to beat each other with-with sticks. It-it's a combination of fear, uncertainty, the desire to impose your will on another, violence, directed or undirected violence. All these things remain today. >> Narrator: During the Civil War, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman said, "War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over." Across the centuries, the hellish essence of war has remained unchanged. On the battlefield, it has always been man versus man, kill or be killed. Nevertheless, if combat is an evil element of human nature, then training for it will always be a most necessary evil. <font color="#FFFF00"> [Captioning sponsored by</font> <font color="#FFFF00"> A&E TELEVISION NETWORKS</font> Captioned by <font color="#FF0000"> The Caption Center</font> WGBH Educational Foundation]
