I went in just after 9/11. They were tough in the sense that they had high expectations and did not hesitate to pounce on even the most minor infractions. They shouted and cursed frequently. PT punishment (eg doing pushups or some other exercise) was usually the first resort for discipline. Sometimes I got smoked (read: exercised) so bad that I would rather they had just hit me and got it over with.
For the most part, they were tough but fair. I came away with it with definite mixed feelings about their methods. There were a few of them that emphasized obedience over reason and common sense, and I didn’t have much respect for them. Dealing with those kinds of people did not make me disciplined as much as it just made me pissed off and resentful. I generally respected my Drill Sergeants, but there was another platoon whose Drills were just dicks for no reason. Rumor has it that platoon deliberately messed up on their final inspection just to make the Drills look bad.
We had one Drill Sergeant that liked to repeat R Lee Ermy’s lines. Those of us who had seen the movie just laughed. He was nowhere near as scary as Hartman.
The “worst” punishment I ever saw was when one of the platoons (not mine) somehow acquired a bunch of sodas that they were not allowed to have. In addition to a world-class smoking, the Company Commander gave Article 15’s to like a dozen people. You get smoked, you get better, but paperwork follows you for a lifetime. It could be fifteen years later and you’d still have to admit that you got an Article 15 at some point. I doubt anyone would pay much attention to an Article 15 received during Basic, but if you are applying to a commissioning program or in the middle of a selective retention board (read: downsizing) and your packet gets compared to someone with a clean record, it might come to bite you in the ass.