WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th April, 2020) The US Army imposed a two-week pause on sending enlistees to boot camp to create a "bubble" of virus-free recruits, Army Recruiting Command chief Gen. Paul Funk said during a Defense Department briefing on Monday.
"Once they head out of that 14 days of controlled monitoring and there are now no symptoms and COVID-negative [test results] we move them into what we call our controlled bubble where we now begin to now do collective training," Funk told reporters.
The initial screening will consist of frequent interviews, temperature monitoring plus clinical tests before recruits are shipped to boot camp, Funk said. Once there, basic training will be modified so that all classroom learning will be moved to the first two weeks of eight-week training, where courses will be taught outdoors whenever possible and social distancing will be rigorously observed along with other virus mitigation measures, Funk added.
At that point, newly minted soldiers who again test negative can begin the final six weeks of training with rigorous physical exercise and other drills intended to develop a team-oriented military mindset, Funk noted.
Prior to the pause, about 54,000 recruits had already begun basic training, of which 102 tested positive for the virus and 12 have recovered so far, Funk said.
