What were the most memorable ways that a fellow recruit screwed up and/or pulled a wrong move at Basic Training, or other fields of military training?
It doesn’t have to be just at basic training; it can be at technical, flight, the Navy Nuke School, and other training centers recruits go to after Basic. (And even at officer academies.)
To give you an idea of what to tell us, some examples might be:
1. Attempting to try on their drill sergeant’s/DI’s/MTI’s hat.
2. After being ordered to clean someplace with a toothbrush, turned out to be their drill sergeant’s toothbrush.
3. Pulling a prank on a drill sergeant and being found out who the prankster(s) was/were.
Etc.
So please tell us what they did, and what their sanctions/punishments were. (If they instilled a group punishment, what was it and how did it feel for you?)
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@mammal Joining the Marines is definitely screwed up, but not the Air Force. They’re the poshest branch of all.
Never, ever, mess with a DI. It is the worst possible thing you can do. In Basic, your goal should be to blend into the “herd”, you don’t want him to even notice you. Don’t do anything to make yourself stand out.
@stranger_in_a_strange_land
>Don’t do anything to make yourself stand out.
Except be a leader for your fellow recruits, I suppose. That’s probably the only way a recruit can stand out that a DS/DI/MTI will appreciate.
> Never, ever, mess with a DI.
I know the Marines’ basic training is the toughest of ‘em all, but I’ll bet he’s referring to ANY branch’s instructor, whether they’re the Army’s DS, Air Force’s MTI, Coast Guard’s CC, or the Navy’s RDC.
Now @stranger_in_a_strange_land, if you were a Marine DI, and one of the recruits attempted to go after your hat to try it on, how would you punish him?
<<<Was a DI. Too many funnies, too little time. Not the right place for them, imho.
@EgaoNoGenki Demonstrating leadership comes later; you want to show a willingness to conform in Basic.Strive for perfection in all the drills, the “leadership game” comes later. I’m sure a Marine DI has many creative ways to deal with something like that, very memorable things I’m sure, physically unpleasant.
Right after our TI brought us upstairs they had us drop our stuff off in the day room, grab our shaving supplies and go shave “every piece of hair off of your ugly mugs”. One of the guys took it just a little too literal and decided to shave his entire face, to include the eyebrows. Well, our TI caught him just as he was done shaving the first one. After much yelling (TIs can’t really laugh in front of us that early in training), the TI stated that the guy was to be known as Uni[brow], and was to go through the entire training with only one eyebrow. Uni was required to shave the area above his left eye daily for the duration of basic. The sad thing is that I don’t even remember Uni’s real name… :-(
@EgaoNoGenki Are you aware that things like movies have very little to do with reality?
Now former recruits, in what ways did you screw up and get punished, if it’s not too personal to share?
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