Implement Victory Forge and make it the high point of basic combat training. The result is a combination of team-building events and tactical lanes. The final march started at 12 kilometers, but now averages 15. Training companies, he added, routinely come out of Victory Forge looking like rifle platoons that just finished two days of combat operations. Victory Forge ends at night, and the soldiers gather around a forge.
Flames spew from the top as the battalion commander puts the soldiers' experiences into perspective.
But then, he says, they went through the fires of Victory Forge. And as he speaks, he reaches into the forge and pulls out a sword. Then the drill sergeants go down the line and congratulate the soldiers. They are being told this by someone they really respect. It means a lot to them.