Originally published in MilitaryWeek.com, 05 May 05

Beyond the DropZone

W. Thomas Smith Jr.

Preparing young Americans for battle
An exclusive interview with Brigadier General Abraham Turner

Brigadier General Abraham Turner has an enormous responsibility. As commanding general of the nation's largest U.S. Army basic training base – during one of the most critical, evolutionary periods in the history of the Army - he oversees the entry-level training of approximately 50 percent of all Army recruits (including 69 percent of all female soldiers), many of whom will be deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and other hotspots in less than a year. But the South Carolina native has proven to be more than up to the challenge. As a combat infantry officer, master parachutist, Ranger, and pathfinder, the 6'5", 50-year-old one-star general has seen action in three conflicts – including a combat jump over Panama during Operation Just Cause in 1989 – and he has commanded combat training units at all levels.

In January 2004, Turner became the first African-American general to command Fort [Andrew] Jackson, S.C., a 52,000-acre Army base bordering the state capital of Columbia, where, in a bit of irony, the first pre-Civil War secession convention was held in 1860. Five years later, another U.S. Army general, William T. Sherman, swept through the same city and surrounding backcountry during his march to make "the Carolinas howl."

Today, between 35,000 and 42,000 recruits attend basic training each year at Fort Jackson before being assigned to various posts throughout the Army. Training lasts nine weeks (Navy boot camp lasts eight weeks. Six weeks for the Air Force. Twelve weeks for the Marine Corps.)

In an exclusive interview, Gen. Turner discusses – among other things - new developments in the preparation of young soldiers to fight-and-survive on the modern battlefield, the issue of female soldiers in ground combat, and the changing nature of armed conflict.

SMITH: As commanding general of the Army's largest basic training facility, what are you doing to better prepare new soldiers for the dangers they will face in the current war on terror.

GEN. TURNER: We are doing many things, many which weren't even considered a year or so ago. Prior to 9-11 the Army felt it was training its soldiers adequately to meet and defeat any foe on the battlefield. Post 9-11, we found ourselves in an environment where battle-lines between friendly and enemy were no longer clearly defined. This was and is an environment wherein every soldier – regardless of his or her military occupational specialty (MOS) – must be prepared to fight as an infantryman.

So, we've had to re-look at and re-tool the way in which we train our soldiers - not just infantrymen – so that all of our soldiers can face the rigors of the contemporary operating environment: That is the environment soldiers are facing in the regions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

SMITH: What has changed, specifically?

TURNER: Based on input from the operational units in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have identified and incorporated into our entry-level training a series of 40 warrior tasks and nine battle drills that soldiers must master during their existing nine-week program of instruction. These are the combative tasks and skills that we believe they need to be able to survive in the new environment.

We also want to ensure that the soldiers are trained to a level of proficiency that does not require the receiving unit to have to retrain them once they get there. We are taking the load off of the operational forces.

SMITH: What do the tasks include?

TURNER: Each soldier is required to learn to use a variety of weapons and complete an advanced marksmanship course not normally taught under the previous program. We now know that a soldier, regardless of his or her MOS, may find themselves in an environment where they may have to use a wider array of weapons. Included in the 40 tasks and nine drills are how to clear rooms, call for fire [using radios and other communications equipment], react to direct and indirect fire, develop land navigation skills, operate vehicles in a convoy, react to unexploded ordnance hazards, react to ambushes, react to chemical attacks, render first aid, and evacuate the wounded, among other skills. These are skills normally taught to those in combat arms units. Now, we are teaching all of our soldiers the same. In order to produce a combat efficient warrior on the battlefield, we must ensure that each soldier knows how to perform these tasks. And all of the tasks are to be incorporated into the current nine-week period we call basic combat training or BCT.

SMITH: Let's talk about convoys and convoy escorts, sir. With the exception of infantry and special operations, convoy duty in Iraq is some of the most dangerous work faced by American soldiers. What are you doing to prepare them.

TURNER: A number of things. First, we now have convoy live-fire exercises. This is where soldiers are participating in a regular convoy in the back of a five-ton truck, and they have to engage pneumatic pop-up targets that we have on the range. They have to engage these targets with live ammunition. They have to react to an [simulated] IED [improvised explosive device] that incapacitates the truck. They have to dismount the truck and move to a support-by-fire position on the ground to protect the other soldiers in the truck and the vehicle itself. It's really dynamic training.

SMITH: How much of this "convoy training" do new recruits receive?

TURNER: They get a full day on the live fire range. But the train-up to it is a series of training sessions, at least three additional days worth of preparation. Also, understand that in order to be able to fire at your targets, you have to first qualify with your weapon. So during the qualification phase we develop such skills as reflexive fire, which is basically like reactionary firing.

SMITH: Describe reflexive fire.

TURNER: Reflexive fire is a technique in which the soldier, who is carrying the weapon at a "low-carry," is trained to instantly bring the weapon up to the ready position and fire into a target without aiming the weapon from the shoulder and without his cheek on the rifle stockwell. It's a quick fire method.

SMITH: Is it shooting from the hip?

TURNER: Well, we don't call it shooting from the hip, because in much of the reflexive firing you actually bring the weapon up to shoulder level. But certainly it is a quick fire method of engaging the target without making a slow well-aimed shot.

SMITH: What is the effective range of a soldier employing this method?

TURNER: The targets are relatively close. We don't expect the reflexive-firing soldier to hit a target 300 meters out, but certainly 50 to 100 meters. And certainly in close quarters as when a soldier is clearing rooms in a building. This is one of the critical skills that our soldiers must develop and maintain, considering the types of close-in fighting that soldiers have experienced as they've operated in places like Mosul, Tikrit, and Baghdad.

SMITH: Is reflexive firing new to the Army?

TURNER: Not new to the Army, because many of our operational forces – Rangers, 82nd Airborne Division, the 101st, the 1st Cav [Cavalry] – train soldiers on reflexive fire, but it's never been done before here during BCT at Fort Jackson.

SMITH: What about basic training in counter-terrorism?

TURNER: Our training includes operating traffic-control points, searching vehicles, searching individuals moving in-and-out of compounds, handling EPWs [enemy prisoners of war]. That training is extensive, from day one through the end of the ninth week.

SMITH: Have you increased the time-length for basic training?

TURNER: We've added one day, that's it.

SMITH: If you have incorporated these tasks into your nine-week period, what have you cut out?

TURNER: Ah, good question [laughing]. The previous nine-week period included time for counseling, reinforcement, remedial training, and personal time that we've had to reduce. Now, much of that time is taken up by skills-training or classes. We now train all day on Saturday, and we have increased our field time from three days to between seven-and-11 days.

SMITH: So you have eliminated some of the softer, feel-good training.

TURNER: That might be a typical reaction, but you must understand that what you refer to as "soft time" is also very important. Most people do not realize how much of an art–form it is to transform a person from a civilian to a soldier. A drill sergeant does not have a formula to follow that will lead him to success with any and all soldiers. This business is not a science, but an art, and no two training cycles are alike. A drill sergeant can conduct the same type of preparation for a given training cycle, do the same type of counseling, commit the same number of hours to it – let's say on qualification with the M-16 – then do the exact same thing with the next cycle and get different results. This is because all people are different. Motivations are different. People come from different backgrounds. Sometimes you'll have a platoon in which the composition is much different from another platoon in terms of ethnicity, religion, or average age of the soldier.

SMITH: What is the Army doing in terms of entry-level training that the other services might consider for their own training?

TURNER: Well, they should certainly take a look at the tasks and drills we now require every soldier to master. In the current environment we are in, the mere fact that you're an airman in a rear area or a sailor at sea does not mean that you're in a safe haven. The enemy's hatred for us is based on an unwillingness to accept that our way of life is viable. He thinks nothing about dying for his cause. He chooses when, where, and how he will strike, and he usually tries to choose softer targets.

You see, an infantry platoon is a hard target. If the bad guys go after an infantry platoon, they know that platoon may take them out before they've accomplished their mission. Infantrymen are trained to fight off attackers and defeat them. The bad guys know this.

SMITH: The Marine Corps approach to training is different than the Army's.

For instance, Marine boot camp is gender-segregated. If training men and women separately in the Marines is working so well, why does the Army not follow-suit.

TURNER: I've been in three combat zones in my career, and I can tell you it is a misnomer to believe that just because there is an [all-male] infantry force operating in a certain zone that we won't have females nearby or assigned to the unit. In every case, we have female soldiers supporting the infantry effort, either in a logistical, communications, or medical mode. And to believe that the infantryman is the only one in harm's way is simply not so. Our female soldiers endure some of the same hardships and certainly some of the same dangers as some of our infantrymen particularly in an environment as we are currently operating in which no lines are drawn.

So to answer your question, I am convinced that gender-integrated training works for our Army, because we have integrated organizations.

Even in male-only units like infantry and other combat arms, you'll have females in the vicinity.

Gender-integrated training gives the men and women the opportunity to train together and begin working together as a team. And the standards we expect are the same. The only difference being in the U.S. Army Physical Fitness Test.

SMITH: Then why are females currently barred from serving in ground combat units like the infantry?

TURNER: Because we, as a nation, have not decided that we are willing to put female soldiers in infantry units, and that's not a decision for Abe Turner to make. But in this contemporary operating environment, we have to ensure that female soldiers are just as prepared to operate and survive in that environment.

SMITH: What do you personally bring to the table in terms of training the 21st–century American soldier?

TURNER: I think it's more about what the drill sergeants and the lower level commanders have brought to this, which is an appreciation for what must be done to prepare our soldiers to be integrated into an operational unit without any additional training being necessary by that operational command.

Now, what do I bring personally? An understanding of what these soldiers need based on my own experiences in combat and as a training company and brigade commander. I bring a commitment to them and a belief that they're serving for the right reason. And I bring an understanding that their parents play a vital supporting role in all of this. Let's face it; parents across this nation know that there is a possibility that their loved ones will be sent in harm's way. Yet, we have literally thousands of parents attending graduation here at Fort Jackson, every week, supporting their sons and daughters. That's an important fact to consider.

I talk with moms, dads, and grandparents, many of whom have tears in their eyes from pride and appreciation. They're grateful for what we are doing here. They know we are serious about protecting our nation. They also know that we are preparing their soldiers – their sons and daughters – so that their chances for survival on the battlefield are maximized… that they are the best chances possible.

I take this job and what I do very seriously. I don't like what I do. I love it, because I love soldiers.

SMITH: Do you not find it sweet irony that here you are, the first African-American general to command this base in the heart of the Old Confederacy some six miles from where the Confederate battle flag still flies over the State House grounds?

TURNER: Yes [laughing], I'm proud to be the first African American commander of Fort Jackson, but my job here goes beyond my ethnicity. I'm also proud because I represent all of our soldiers, not just the African Americans.

I came to the Army on the shoulders of a lot of great mentors, coaches, teachers, and commanders of all ethnicities – Black, White, Hispanic, Asian – who took the time to nurture the leadership qualities they saw in me. They gave me the opportunity – to use the old Army slogan – to be all I can be. I learned at an early age that the color of one's skin doesn't stymie growth or hold anyone back who wants to step out and do more than just what is considered to be the norm.

So, yes, I am proud. I'm also used to that question [laughing].

But understand this: I serve everyone.

SMITH: Where do you see the U.S. Army ten years from now?

TURNER: We will be a transformed Army. You know the Army is moving toward "Units of Action" and "Units of Employment" [smaller, faster, more easily deployable brigade-sized modular task forces with increased firepower], the UAs and UEs. We will be capable of reacting quicker and with more punch than ever before. These modular, more-compact forces will be sized so that we can get them aboard the aircraft or ships available to us, and they will be specifically matched to specific threats, instead of moving these huge corps around that we now have.

SMITH: Can we win this war in Iraq?

TURNER: We can, and we will.

SMITH: Is that just a politically motivated feel-good answer or are you convinced, and why?

TURNER: No, it's not just a feel good answer. I am absolutely convinced for two reasons: First, we are winning right now. You read the papers. You know what's being reported out of Iraq. And second, we have the best soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines on the planet. There is not another force out there like us with the technological edge we have and the unmatched quality we have in our people. There is no other military force – including an army of insurgents – in the world that can stand up to ours.

SMITH: Thank you for your time, General.

TURNER: Thank you.

— W. Thomas Smith Jr., a former U.S. Marine infantry leader, parachutist, and shipboard counterterrorism instructor, writes about military/defense issues and has covered conflict in the Balkans and on the West Bank. He is an award-winning author of four books, the co-author of two, and his articles have appeared in USA Today, George, U.S. News & World Report, BusinessWeek, National Review Online, CBS News, The Washington Times, and many others.

W. Thomas Smith Jr. can be reached at wthomassmithjr@yahoo.com.

© 2005 W. Thomas Smith Jr.

W. Thomas Smith Jr. story archive

"Hunt for the Somali Pirates" airs soon on the National Geographic Channel.
When Somali pirates hijack the Maersk Alabama -- and international headlines -- Navy SEALs launch a sneak attack to rescue the ship's American captain. Pirate Hunters recounts the harrowing five days from hijack to final fatal shots, and reveals sophisticated Navy SEAL training methods that prepare the world's most elite reconnaissance teams for daring missions with no second chances.