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Originally Posted by Chojin
That's right, McClain, I called you GAY.
TAKE THAT.
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Oh, I'll take it all right.
Anyway. I see what you're saying. And here's Navy boot camp in a big nutshell:
It's 8 weeks long and consists of a lot of physical and mental training. As most people are fully aware, the idea is to have them break you down and rebuild you the way they want you. A person is more apt to learn if they're taught to forget all the shit they thought they knew.
Anyway. Initially they take all your possessions, make everyone wear the same clothes, yell a lot, get in your face, make you wait and wait and wait in long lines, they shave your head, and for the first few days you don't have much sleep at all. Then they'll put you in a warm room and make you sit down at a desk. You're not permitted to sleep. No one is telling you anything and you don't know why you're even in this room. Then they tell you to get on your feet and move to the next room. Then they make you piss in a bottle. All the while you're being screamed at. "STAND ON THE RED LINE, RECRUIT! THAT'S NOT THE RED LINE YOU DUMB FUCK! MOVE YOUR ASS RECRUIT! MOVE YOUR ASS TO THE RED LINE!" Some guys get stage fright. Some guys cry. Most guys just piss, though.
You learn not to speak unless you are spoken to, and when you do address an RDC (Recruit Drill Commander) it's "Sir, yes sir" or "Ma'am, no ma'am." Just like you see in the movies.
Once the initial week is over with, it's a crash course in Navy lifestyle. You spend a good 5 or 6 hours a day in class or in some sort of hands-on training. You spend a good 2 hours a day working out. Always in the morning. You get 3 meals a day and you get about 5-10 minutes to eat, depending on where you're located in the serving line. Everywhere you go you're always standing in line. "HEEL TO TOE," they scream. I need to be standing so close to the recruit in front of my that my toes need to touch the heels of his boots. Literally. They also call this "nut to butt" for obvious reasons.
You are NEVER allowed to speak in the galley. There could be 300 recruits in a giant cafeteria and you could almost hear a pin drop.
There are only a few people permitted to speak and they are in positions of authority among the recruits. You want someone to pass the salt at the table? Knock on the table twice. Three times for pepper. Four times for napkins. So on and so forth. I don't remember exactly how many knocks equate to what items, but you get the gist.
RDC's are always yelling at you. More so if you don't pay attention or if you are bringing the rest of your division down. If one person fails in a particular area, the ENTIRE DIVISION gets punished. This is a method utilized to keep the recruits from fucking around. Someone is less likely to goof off or do something improperly if they know that everyone else will pay the price.
There were more instances than I can recall where someone tried to sneak in a cookie or some peanut butter. When they got caught, the RDC worked the shit out of everyone else but this one guy. He got to sit on the table and eat his peanut butter while we "made it rain". That's when they close all the windows in our barracks, turn up the heat and work us so hard that sweat starts dripping from the ceiling.
That peanut butter guy was a model of perfection the next morning. And it's because he was punished. By us.
Recruits aren't savage or looking for an excuse to kick the shit out of each other but if you're a fuckup you'll pay the price. It can be severe, too. Ever heard of a blanket party? That shit can break ribs. After a while you toughen up. Your skin gets thick. You're so used to doing push-ups and sit ups that you could get dropped and pump out 80 non-stop. It's almost nothing for most people toward the latter phases of boot camp.
All the learning is fast-paced because they don't have time to go over finer details. And they teach us EVERYTHING. Everything from how to steer a ship to how to put on a condom. I shit you not. And it all happens so fast, you don't have a choice but to learn.
Some people can't handle the emotional stress and find ways to escape. They think that boot camp is reality and that things will continue in the same fashion once they're sent out in the fleet. That's a huge misconception. EVERYTHING changes once you leave boot camp. Half of the shit they taught me wasn't even applicable, but that's not the point. The point is that they taught me to learn quickly and in certain situations not to ask questions.
The people that were resistant didn't make it. Their brains would give out and they'd just stand there shaking, or they'd threaten to throw themselves off the roof. They were usually processed out of the Navy.
In my boot camp tenure there wasn't a single suicide. They do happen, but not as often as your buddy lets on. Perhaps he did have a couple that decided to kill themselves while he was there, but it's not that common. And because I am a cynic, I think that anyone weak enough to kill themselves in boot camp could have been just as capable of doing as a civilian. Boot camp is just a catalyst.
If you keep your mouth shut and do what you're told boot camp isn't so bad. You take everything with a grain of salt and don't give up your inner individuality and you'll be fine.
I'm pretty sure your friend was confused about the black flag. Was he in boot during the summer months? The black flag is usually an indication that it's too hot outside for extensive physical activity. They don't need Recruits getting heat exhaustion or heat strokes.
Your sleep hours tend to get longer, and believe it or not, they give you AT LEAST 6 hours of sleep a night. Usually more like 7 or 8, but it varies. It wouldn't matter if they gave you 12 though, you'd still wake up feeling exhausted.
And no, most guys went the entire 9 weeks without getting a single erection. Heresy attributes it to saltpeter put in our chow but the government alleges it's a psychological effect.
There isn't a lot of down time but when you do have time to relax it's not against the rules to speak to each other. It's not like you never get to talk. That's not the case at all. When you're in your barracks you can gab all you want provided there isn't an inspection.
And if you "fuck up" you don't get sent to train with the Marines. I don't know from where the hell your boy pulled that one. If you fuck up, they either recycle you, meaning you're put back a few weeks in training, or they kick you out. Simple as that.
They can't beat you. Technically they can't even touch you anymore. The only people that die in boot camp are the people that kill themselves. And the only really difficult thing is the gas chamber. That sucked balls. But overall it's not that hard. It's just a phase. Anyone can do it.
)? Because they were nothing but broken, mindless robots who could not make decisions other than their programming if a situation arose. That's the last thing an army wants.
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