DOD

‘Drill Sergeants Are Back’: Hegseth Reinstates Practices To ‘Make BASIC Great Again’

8 August 2025

By Virginia Kruta | Daily Wire

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed on Tuesday that he had overturned a recent order banning traditional tactics used by drill sergeants to train new recruits, a move he says will ensure soldiers are equipped for battle.

On July 30, Col. Christopher J. Hallows, Commander of the 197th Infantry at Fort Benning, Georgia, issued a memo banning “bay tossing,” according to Just the News. The practice involves drill sergeants entering trainees’ bunk rooms — called  “bays” — unannounced, inspecting wall lockers and bunks, and then flipping over mattresses and lockers that don’t pass muster, and loudly ordering trainees to quickly clean up the mess.

Hallows said bay tossing violated Army values and amounted to “abuse” of the trainees.

“Abuse of Trainees undermines the trust of the American public by violating Army Values, disrupting military order and discipline, and destroying a positive training environment,” his memo stated. “Our mission is to provide competent, capable, well-trained Soldiers of good character, ready to fight and win our nation’s wars … there is no greater obstacle to the effectiveness of the IMT [initial military training] environment than the improper treatment of Trainees.”

Hegseth disagreed, however, and reversed Hallows’ order.

“Bottom Line: Make BASIC Great Again,” a Pentagon source told Just the News. “Tossing bunks is back. Drill sergeants are back. Getting cursed at is back.”

A Pentagon source told Just The News that Hegseth’s decision was rooted in a desire to ensure that “the people we want to recruit want to be challenged, and the tougher the training the more cohesive the units are … We don’t want to have training that is designed to breed undisciplined people and recruit those that gravitate to wanting to be wimps.”

Hegseth also signaled openness to reviving “shark attacks,” where drill sergeants greet recruits upon arrival at training camps and order them to do push-ups and other tasks before they’ve even set their bags down. The exercise is meant to gauge how recruits handle pressure and chaos.

The practice was largely ended in 2020 and replaced with an exercise referred to as “The First 100 Yards,” a slightly more organized and structured training exercise designed to build camaraderie and encourage teamwork under stress.

“‘The First 100 Yards’ is a U.S. Army Trainees first exposure to their Basic Training (BCT), Drill Sergeants, and their first opportunity to begin their transformation as members of the world’s most potent and lethal fighting force,” the U.S. Army Center for Initial Military Training posted on Facebook. “‘The First 100 Yards,’ a homage to their lineage of closing the last 100 yards of the fight, incorporates teamwork into a competition that features mental and physical challenges on the day they arrive to their basic training company.”

According to Jennifer S. Gunn, the director of public affairs at the Maneuver Center of Excellence and Fort Benning, the initial bay-tossing ban stemmed from a specific incident in which a trainee’s personal property was damaged — and Hallows had initially endeavored to prevent that from happening again.

“I can confirm the memos are authentic and were the result of a recent review by the brigade command team,” she explained. “During a recent training cycle, an instance of corrective action violated regulation and resulted in damage to both government and trainee personal property.”

First published on The Daily Wire

What People Are Saying:

“This is superb. Shark attacks are a core method in developing a soldier’s combat readiness. Enlistees that do not posses the ability to remain collected under immense mental/emotional pressure are a liability to mission, team, and self. “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.””

“Heads up Sec Def. My son is currently in Infantry basic at Fort Benning. No shark attacks. Multiple Drill Sergeants with full beards. Full beards. I’ve gotten 20 phone calls from son in 2 1/2 months. Crazy, from a retired infantryman of 22 years. Full Beard…………..”

“The purpose of boot camp is to TEACH. The purpose of a drill instructor is to TEST… not necessarily what is taught, but the soldier’s grit. If the DI can’t do their job properly, boot camp is a bust, and trust me, combat isn’t the place to find out if a soldier’s grit will stand.”

“I was in for only 27 years and currently work on an AF base as a technical instructor. The lack of enforcement has led to a force that is sloppy, unprofessional and void or the ethics that used to be the standard. Starts in Basic Training….please!!!”

“Thank you! This is so long overdue. We desperately need more disciplined soldiers coming out of BCT. While you’re at it, let’s stop integrating males and females into the same platoons at Basic. It only creates a lot of chaos. AIT, absolutely integrate, but not BCT.”

“In the cauldron of stress fighters are created. Stress tempers the spirit and reveals / grants competency. It creates warriors that win, never quit, and understand the mission. Well done Sir.”

“During my last stint on the Trail as Drill Sergeant, I remarked that I had been to Summer Camps as a youth that were tougher than what Basic Training had become. Thank you @PeteHegseth ! Oh, and I would once again ban cell phones during Basic.”

“Good! Make our armed forces great again! It saddened me to see the disgrace our forces have become, soft, undisciplined, DEI ridden, and embarrassment the leadership had become with no real focus on war fighting and readiness.”

“Basic was difficult at the time, but when I look back on it with an older man’s perspective, I see the genius of it. I owe much of what I’ve achieved in my life to the severity and guidance of my Fort Benning drill sergeants. I’m a better man, husband, and father because of it.”

“People joined to follow the footsteps of their parents and grandparents. They’ve heard the stories, they’ve seen how it changed lives, and they want it for themselves.”

“💯 I gave been saying this for over a decade about Basic as I have seen it go soft. Need to start tough to finish tough. If recruits cannot handle a little pressure and a few private duffle bag insults they can’t handle combat.”

“Love this! Too many recruits are getting injured quickly because they were selected for quotas, not readiness. I’ve seen it myself and found it absolutely shocking.”

“Pete this is the best thing you could have possibly done for this country and our military. Make those soldiers suffer and get tough. Drill Sargents are the backbone of a good military. Very proud.”

“If you train warriors like activists, don’t be shocked when they fold under fire. Basic Training isn’t a safe space. It’s where weakness gets burned off and warriors are forged. Start soft, finish dead. Kill the woke war machine.”

“Facts. You train killers, not kindergarten teachers. This isn’t a yoga retreat, it’s the damn military. You want warriors who break bones, not whiny brats who break nails. We need battle-hardened machines, not sensitivity seminars. Bring back the pain, the grit, the discipline — strip the softness out and forge real savages who finish the job without blinking.”

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