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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They can be. Mine were, but that was infantry over 20 years ago. As I understand it the recruits don’t go into cattle trucks, don’t have pine needles with their CS gas, and get smoking breaks if they’re stressed out…
We did have a drill sergeant dislocate a soldiers arm in the gas chamber when they refused to take off their mask. Granted he lost his “cap” in a disciplinary move when the soldiers’ parents threatened a lawsuit.
Some of them become a bit more careful in their treatment after one of the kids committed suicide by stealing a round from the shooting range, though.
They were just doing what they were taught from their experiences to create battle-ready soldiers.
Rock of the Marne, ‘94
Screaming at people is a safe way to train them to deal with stress. The point is to train people to perform while still highly stressed.
if you cant even handle some guy yelling at you, than you will be utterly useless in an active combat situation.
it’s to filter out the weak.
War involves lots of yelling, and failing to adhere to discipline and notice small details can get someone killed, and often many other people around them as well. Basic training exists to ensure people can respond to that pressure in a competent manner.
I went thru Army basic in 2006 at Ft. Jackson and it wasn’t even considered a difficult program compared to others. They yelled all the time but one thing they never did was lay a hand on you. The yelling wasn’t so bad but the lack of sleep and physical exhaustion all the time catches up with you quick. It took about 6 weeks but eventually it starts to become routine and barely phases you. At some point all you can think about is, “when can I eat more food” and “dang that MRE looks mighty tasty.” Except the veggie omelet for which I’d prefer death first.
In reference to another comment, their insults are quite inventive and punishments are varied. One DS asked some of my battles if they liked sugar cookies. They responded that they did so he smoked them in the sand pit while spraying them with a hose so they could be turned into sugar cookies.
I went to Paris Island back when Krulak was commandant and the corps was in the early phases of transitioning to the “Crucible.” There was a lot of confusion on how to treat recruits and much of that showed in how the DIs treated us. They were from a different era, and weren’t allowed to make direct physical contact, but a small water cooler could hit you in the face and no one would say a word. Even in sere training, the old salts were only allowed to lock you palcons and use “open hand” contact. They rarely played by that rule, though. Sorry if I didn’t fully answer your question. It’s just how I remember it.
2008, Navy. Had an RDC yell in my face during the first 15 minutes. After telling everyone to practice our 1000 yard stares he screams at me to look at him. When I did he screamed “NEVER FUCKING LOOK AT ME AGAIN!”
Same RDC a few days later was inspecting someone’s rack; had bad corners, he very calmly said “With patience, the elephant fucked the ant.” Then he walked away.
ET1 Valdespo was a crazy guy.
I went to boot camp in 2002. Our drill sergeants were mean as hell until we reached the (white phase) when we were given live ammo on the range and a live grenade to throw at another range.
Basic training is designed to be stressful but able to be completed by the vast majority of the group. It’s what gives a sense of camaraderie and accomplishment among young adults.
The training is particularly effective for getting people to risk their own lives to save the lives of their group. It’s been honed for centuries.
It depends on the service you’re joining, and even then it depends on what *part* of said service you’re joining, but the answer is a combination of “yes and no.”
For example, if you join the Marines or any of the Army’s combat arms jobs, it’s going to be a *lot* like it is in the movies. Same with some of the military academies.
The reason for this is two-fold: to “break you down” and build you back up as someone who can actually *take* being screamed at, and to induce stress you aren’t prepared for.
For “breaking you down,” it isn’t to break your spirit as a human being, but it *is* to transform your mindset from “unique individual” to Soldier/Sailor/Marine. In the field an awful lot of extra niceties are stripped out of language, because nobody has time for that. You don’t have time to observe social graces when you need to move you ass as quickly as possible in order to keep from getting it separated from body by enemy fire. People aren’t going to say “please” when they need you to dig a hole, they’re just going to tell you to dig the fucking hole, and probably call you a fuckstick in the process. Your average civilian will take offense at that, and rightly so; it’s fucking rude. But raw communication isn’t even going to register on the nicety meter for your average troop. In fact, most troops would think that someone doesn’t like them if they don’t call them something derogatory on a regular basis.
For the stress part, let me put it this way: everything you do, no matter what your job is, result in dead people. You a medic? You’re patching up the guys who go out and kill people so they can go out and kill more people. You a cook? You’re keeping the guys who kill people nice and strong so they can go out and kill people. You a finance clerk? Cool, you’re making sure the people who go out and kill people are getting paid so they don’t have to worry about it, keeping their focus on killing people.
And coming to that realization is *stressful as hell*, as well as the realization that there are people who are trying their dead-level best to kill *you*, in return. The human body can’t accept that level of stress right off the bat; you need to build up a resistance to it, learn how to cope with it (without drugs), and how to channel it into something productive. That’s something that begins when you get to boot camp and are told “you have five seconds to get off this bus and you’ve already wasted three!”
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