In American media, Drill Sergeants are often portrayed as mean and shouty. Yelling at recruits / treating them like garbage.
The only thing I could think of is that they’re going for a “military service is hard so I’m going to make this as unpleasant for you as possible because life is hard” kind of thing, but couldn’t discipline be instilled in soldiers without the yelling and humiliation? Why is this the only way?
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People have written lots about training recruits to handle stress and be disciplined, but I think a part no one’s mentioned is training recruits to follow orders without hesitation or backtalk. An army does not want privates who question orders, or hesitate, or think “this is bullshit, I’m not doing that”. An army *does* want privates who obey their superiors automatically, on reflex. A Drill Sargeant who treats you worse than you “deserve” to be treated, right off the bat, is hammering home the fact that you obey, no matter what.
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