For those of you wanting to reach Will, our favorite Seaman...

It's considered a privilege to be able to eat stuff like that. At this point, it's doubtful if he's even allowed to sit at the tables in the barracks. As time goes on, you earn privileges. If I remember right, it's after week 4 that things lighten up a tad with getting your ass kicked in for no reason but the drilling (marching/rifle handling) never lets up. There's a rite of passage and I think it's 4-1 day (week 4, day 1) where you get slaughtered badly. You're pushed to your breaking point in the barracks for hours and hours (after a rigid inspection where basically everything is wrong) then they play "Proud to be an American" and put the flag in front of you and everyone breaks down and cries then it's over. Not as cheesy as it sounds but it's a rough day.

Will is probably worrying more about getting the knot-of-the-day right and his gig-line straight.
 
Ah yeah it was Psychonaut and not Lord Foul who was in the Navy. Silly, silly me.

Karen, if you send him an empty Skittles bag, I'm sure it would make his day. He'd definitely have a good laugh.

Ahhh, the 4 week point. It's true that they start to ease up on you after that. You're starting to become a human being again instead of the dog shit on the bottom of their boots. Oh the inspections...ugh. The fucking Queen of England could eat off of the floor for it being so clean, but you'd still be wrong for something. They'll find something.

LOL @ the gig line comment...hahaha!!!! "TAKE THAT FUCKIN' COVER OFF INSIDE, GODDAMMIT!!!" THWACK!!! Smacked in the head with some object.

After basic training, it's so ingrained into you to take off your hat indoors that I still do it to this day. Granted, not with the lightning speed I did when crossing the door thresholds in basic, but still...

Also, I still to this day adjust my gig line. It feels awkward to have my belt buckle not perfectly symmetrical with my fly when dressing up.
 
Psychonaut, did you ever have a woman TI/DI? Those were the WORST. They were mean as shit and would scare the shit out of you. I dunno, but a big black guy bowing up to you threatening you just wasn't nearly as scary as a chick with a 4 octave scream who's shorter than you totally ripping into you.

I always had a hard time to keep from laughing when people were getting yelled at, especially me, but the most unnerving were the ones who DIDN'T yell. The ones who would calmly come up to you and speak to you like a normal person so you let your guard down a little bit, and then they whisper in your ear, "If you don't shave that little patch on the side of your face that you missed this morning, I'm going to cut it off with my fucking pocketknife and make you fucking eat it." And then they move on to the next one in formation.

*Shivers*
 
Ooooohhhh I wanna know!!!!!! I can TOTALLY see you making some kids shit in their pants!!!!

Seriously, female instructors were fucking scary. What was more unnerving was when you got past the 4 week point, sometimes you had to pull guard duty in their dormitory/barracks. A lot of times you'd have several drill instructors and then they'd get their own flight/platoon/whatever and would leave. I remember being scared to death of this chick TI from the first couple of weeks I was in basic, but then I had to pull guard duty for one of her baby flight new recruits towards the end of my basic training. At that point, they let up on you and treat you quite nicely, like a human being again, which just made it even worse. It was this sense of unpredictability that was so unnerving, mainly because until the 4th week, you couldn't get recycled, which is like being held back if you didn't make the cut. After the first 4 weeks, you were fair game. You were walking on eggshells with every single thing you did, scared to death they'd say, "Ok. You fucked up one too many times. I hope you like basic training because you're gonna go to your baby flight and have another 3 weeks of basic tacked on to what you've already done.

I knew a couple of guys who got recycled in their 6th week of BT. Ugh.
 
I wasn't the super-scary ones, like those butch-girls who act like men, I actually hated yelling, but I was super assertive and tried to keep 'them' in control with as little yelling possible.
The thing is about being a Sargent, is to NEVER show emotions, be 5 steps ahead of your soldiers, get their full and unconditional respect, and never let them get away with anything.
Sure.. sometimes you have to yell... meh, it's such a show :lol: At the end of the day we would all go to our rooms and all of us officers and sargents made fun of everybody hahaha
 
Yeah I was like that with my troops as well. I treated them with respect and in turn they didn't try to fuck me over, not once. They did everything I said, when i said, and I rewarded them as such. You shouldn't have to explain why you're giving orders, but I always gave a brief explanation just so they could understand better what I wanted, and as usual, they came through for me. You'd be surprised how many high-ranking people have yet to figure that out. I had more problems with the retarded upper enlisted and our omnipotent cadre of ossifers than I ever did with lower enlisted. A mid-tier NCO is the worst rank because you have to balance the idiocy of children with the idiocy of manchildren.
 
Det Som Engang Var said:
I respect you guys so much. I could never withstand that kind of mental abuse.
Click to expand...

It's not that bad, John. You've probably withstood much worse. Training in the military is all a mind game, and when you complete that game, you're "one of them". Suddenly everyone who was a complete and total dickhead to you in training is suddenly praising you and giving you respect that you EARNED. It was the first time in my life that I truly felt like I had accomplished something all on my own.

It's more than a simple pat on the back for a job well done; you entered into a fraternity of millions of people before you and millions more to come after you. That feeling never goes away, and I miss it to this day. I decided to get out because my life was going in a different direction, but that doesn't mean I didn't love every day of being in the military. Sure, some days I hated the unit I was in, but the military was probably the single best thing that has ever happened to me. It turned me into a man, made me more responsible, made me a little more selfless, and much more disciplined even to this day. Fuck I miss it.

I would highly encourage anyone of any background to join the armed forces if they want structure, discipline, and pride in their lives. The problems that arise are only when people abuse the system or take advantage of their position...but that's what the Inspector General is for.
 
Dead Winter said:
It's not that bad, John. You've probably withstood much worse.
Click to expand...

Undoubtedly. Realistically, there's nothing that could ever happen to me again in life worse than what I've already endured.

I understand what you're talking about with everything. My father is still set in his military ways, even when he was an addict. I learned a lot about it from him.

It's just... not for me I think.
 
Well, these days it's not what it used to be. They're run like corporations now, which is mainly why I got out.

Still, if I had it to do it all over again, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Lately I've even been dreaming about it.
 
Dead Winter said:
It's not that bad, John. You've probably withstood much worse. Training in the military is all a mind game, and when you complete that game, you're "one of them". Suddenly everyone who was a complete and total dickhead to you in training is suddenly praising you and giving you respect that you EARNED. It was the first time in my life that I truly felt like I had accomplished something all on my own.

It's more than a simple pat on the back for a job well done; you entered into a fraternity of millions of people before you and millions more to come after you. That feeling never goes away, and I miss it to this day. I decided to get out because my life was going in a different direction, but that doesn't mean I didn't love every day of being in the military. Sure, some days I hated the unit I was in, but the military was probably the single best thing that has ever happened to me. It turned me into a man, made me more responsible, made me a little more selfless, and much more disciplined even to this day. Fuck I miss it.

I would highly encourage anyone of any background to join the armed forces if they want structure, discipline, and pride in their lives. The problems that arise are only when people abuse the system or take advantage of their position...but that's what the Inspector General is for.
Click to expand...
Jiu-Jitsu makes me feel exactly like this. You really do earn a special kind of respect from the people that you literally physically fight with 3 times a week. We make SOOOOOO MUCH FUN of each other it's retarded (and I love it)!

This is the same concept. It's discipline and learning it can come in many different shapes and sizes.
 
^ That's something I WILL do some day. I've been wanting to take Jiu Jitsu since I was 8 and met a sensei who was a friend of my dads. He was the only man my dad has ever befriended that could best him combat.
 
I never had a female DI. I don't know if they mix them now or what but we had a "sister company". They had female DI's but rarely were we mingled for anything. I got yelled at by a few (nothing too bad) but usually they'd just pull one of those street marks from that gay folder you always had stuffed in your back pocket. Anyway, when my Master Chief DI found out, it was ugly. DSIT. Divisional Sidewalk Intensive Training. I'll never forget it.
 
From Facebutt:
"Will Bozarth: I only haev 10 min on here. Update: During Week 2 of training, I had a bit of a breakdown from the stress and screaming. As a result, I'm now waiting to get sent home. I'll be home in roughly 2 weeks."

Just when I had sent him a letter! :loco:
 
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