BOOT CAMP GOES SOFT

EMPATHETIC DRILL SERGEANTS MAKE BASIC TRAINING EASIER, BUT THE RECRUITS MAY NOT BE READY FOR WAR

As a group of Army recruits relaxed last month in a grove of tall oaks at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., finishing their catered lunch of roast turkey, scalloped potatoes, green beans and apple pie, Captain Lee McQueen's cell phone rang. The call was from his commander, warning that a practice assault planned for the base's bayonet-combat course might have to be called off: the mercury was creeping into the 90s. McQueen's team of drill sergeants--those fabled hard-noses delegated to whip raw recruits into shape--went into action. They dutifully set up a "wet-bulb globe-temperature-index calculator" and tested the air. Sure enough, it...

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