Soldiers endure blistering heat in basic training

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- It's 8 a.m. Row after row of soldiers in uniform plunge bayonets into rubber dummies. Sweat beads on brows. The recruits scream, parry and thrust.

Then, from a shaded booth, a drill sergeant orders a halt -- and a drink. In unison, more than 200 privates lift their canteens toward the sun.

Fort Leonard Wood, just west of Rolla in central Missouri, will train more than 18,000 new soldiers this year, 3,000 more than last year and the second most in the country.

There is no busier time at the Army post than summer. Teens just finishing high school report for basic training by the thousands. They must be readied for the front lines.

So the Army has learned to cope with the heat. Doctors and leaders have developed schedules, tests and rigid charts to guide them through the hot, humid Missouri summers.

Recruits start workouts before dawn, pause at noon and work into the night. They are told when to drink, and how much. They sweat, stink, suffer and keep working.

"It almost feels like you're breathing through a straw out here," said Chris Billadeau, Fort Leonard Wood's military police safety specialist. "But the training must go on."

Wednesday's routine began at a cool 78 degrees -- Heat Category 1, according to the waterproof card carried by every trainer. But drill sergeants from the 35th Engineer Battalion's F Company knew what was coming.

They were worried for their soldiers -- and with good reason: By the time the company prepped for the bayonet obstacle course, clouds had lifted.

"Fill up both your canteens clear to the top," a drill sergeant ordered.

Recruits crouched under the 4-foot-tall canvas sacks of water, then lined up for a cup of neon yellow sports drink.

"Drink that down, private," barked another drill sergeant. "Hurry up! Pretend it's beer! Shotgun it!"

Heat injuries are cumulative, leaders said. These soldiers could work hard today, they said, because the week had been easy enough so far.

But by 10 a.m., the temperature had risen to the upper 80s. Sergeants ordered recruits to roll pant and sleeve cuffs before running up the obstacle course logs, hopping over fences and crawling through barbed-wire.

Still, it was better than some drills.

"I'd take this over a rifle range any day," said Staff Sgt. Mark Haliburton, a St. Louis native and one of Leonard Wood's more experienced drill sergeants. The helmet holds in heat, he said. The body armor adds 35 to 40 pounds. The metal of the gun burns. Sweat stings your eyes. And you're lying in the dirt.

The obstacle course, however, was difficult for some.

By the end, soldiers hung their heads. They stripped off helmets and vests, emptied canteens over their crew cuts and cheered when the water truck sprayed the troops.

Then they put it all back on.

These soldiers had to march back to their barracks, roughly a mile away, as the sun climbed in the sky.

"It might be 97," said Dario Cardona, 18, from Iowa City, Iowa. "But it feels like 110."

They'd be OK, Haliburton said. Lunch is a strong motivator.

Red faces lined up in formation.

Recruits steeled their wills and wiped sweat from their eyes.

One put his hands on his knees.

Almost done.

And then the drill sergeant started to call cadence.