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).