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War can't be waged without combat troops. The method of transforming ordinary young men into soldiers is called "Basic Training". At Parns Island Marine Training Depot in South Carolina 18-year-olds are subjected to brutal but precisely calculated'
regimen. At the end of it, these young men have been thoroughly indoctrinated with a new set of morals which enable them to kill other human beings—identified by their
superiors as the enemy—on command.
As Gwynne Dyer comments, to become a soldier "doesn't require a special kind of person—anybody's son will do"
This is episode 2 of the seven-part series "War" (see "The Profession of Arms" also screening in this year's Festival).