Her response was shocking. Most new 11Bs are between 17-20 years old. So it was not uncommon for me to get a soldier who was way overweight from day one in his unit, a unit which could deploy to war in 18 hours. Numbers count in peacetime. I think the article overstated the 3rd and 4th attempt issue.
Basic training is designed to introduce and indoctrinate the recruit into the respective service.
Some guys learn quicker than others and may have civilian experiences that are applicable to the military, specifically they were athletes or shooters or hunters. That does not necessarily mean they will be better soldiers in the long term. The central issue is that there must be a rigid enforcement of the minimum standard of performance. If it takes the guy 5 times to qualify with his weapon or pass an APFT, then fine, so long as he legitimately qualified or passed. If we did not offer second and third chances, we would lose a staggering amount of quality soldiers who are just late bloomers.