repeated blanket parties should indicate to the sgts that
the kid had a problem that peer pressure was unable to address, and he should have been evacuated to a medical facility. very definite failure of the leadership.
NOTE ~ this goes on in civilian life. We had a martinet former Navy officer who had to deal with a member of the staff who developed epilepsy after brain surgery to remove a tumor.
His thought was that the man should be self disciplined enough to overcome his seizures ~ so he used every which way he could think of to punish the guy.
We eventually got rid of the martinet but not before the fellow with epilepsy died of a terminal seizure.
I despise martinets of course, and cannot be counted on by them to go along with their little games. They sometimes detect that but usually they are so caught up in the glow of their own internal fame they make mistakes.