Erb said a few lessons have been learned so far in the initial semester of the boot camp. Administrators will look at having future classes of cadets spend more time at Fort Pickett being immersed in boot-camp logic. Extra staff members may be added, meaning more drill sergeants with more ideas and energy to reform cadets. While community support has remained strong, 1st Sgt. Brown and Sgt.
Sites worry about producing a quality product for the community.
Focus has shifted away from pushups and forced marches to civics and drug-abuse classes. Instructors here hope the cadets who finish the program will be model students and citizens in the real world. Those that are recycled will just have to try again. A second class of cadets already is forming in another part of the Fray Center where they are not being drilled physically, but being prepared mentally for the challenges they will face in August. Besides the regular distractions facing teen-age boys in spring time, such as the high school girl's tennis team practicing about 25 yards away, living under the scrutiny of courts and school administrators takes its toll on the cadets.