CHALLENGES

Some days I wonder - if we truly grasped the enormity of the task...would we think it impossible?

So far, 1,200 have graduated basic training and another 2,500 are in training. The monthly pay ranges from $120 for junior enlisted to $240 for senior officers. The attrition rate is 20 percent to 25 percent...

Equipping the battalions with new gear will take a long time, and will be costly. Instead, some of the hardware will be updated weapon systems. For example, Eaton said, updating a 50-year-old Soviet T-55 tank runs about $1 million, versus buying a new M1A1 Abrams for $600 million...

In addition to training in tactics and procedures, the soldiers also are schooled in tolerance and values, Eaton said.

“This is not the old Army … that oppressed and terrorized people.”