Posted on 06/28/2005 6:03:43 AM PDT by cll
FORT KNOX, Ky. (AP) - The recruits of Echo Company stumbled off the bus for basic training at Fort Knox to the screams of red-faced drill instructors. That much was expected. But it got worse from there.
Echo Company's top drill instructor seized a recruit by the back of the neck and threw him to the ground. Other soldiers were poked, grabbed or cursed.
Once inside the barracks, Pvt. Jason Steenberger says, he was struck in the chest by the top D.I. and kicked ``like a football.'' Andrew Soper, who has since left the Army, says he was slapped and punched in the chest by another drill instructor. Pvt. Adam Roster says he was hit in the back and slammed into a wall locker.
Eventually, four Army drill instructors and the company commander would be brought up on charges. Four have been convicted so far.
The tough-as-nails D.I. who berates and intimidates recruits with remarkably creative profanity is a familiar figure to generations of men who went through the Army or the Marines, and a stock character in the movies - ``Full Metal Jacket'' and ``An Officer and a Gentleman,'' among them. The idea is to break the recruit down, instill discipline and make him a well-trained part of a cohesive fighting unit.
But Army regulations in effect since 1985 say superiors cannot lay a hand on their recruits to discipline them. The Army's Training and Doctrine Command regulations also disallow any physical or verbal hazing, which includes ``cruel or abusive tricks.'' Vulgar or sexually explicit language is also prohibited.
The guidelines reflect some of the lessons of the Vietnam era and the changing culture of the Army, which became an all-volunteer force with the end of the draft and began accepting women.
The Army gets complaints of abuse by drill sergeants ``all the time, but we often find that they are not founded,'' said Connie Shaffery, a Fort Knox apokeswoman.
The Fort Knox case, involving a unit of the 1st Battalion, 81st Armor Regiment, was unusual, too, in that a company commander was convicted.
The abuse took place in early February. An Army investigation began the next week, as the company's leaders were removed and the 25 recruits were sent to another command. Six of the trainees have since left the Army, including two who went AWOL.
``It was just chaos - constant commotion, constant yelling,'' Sgt. 1st Class Paul Holley said. Holley said he had come over from another company that day to help out, but was quickly turned off by what he perceived to be abuse, and left.
``In my eyes, it wasn't the way I would conduct an initial pickup,'' he said.
Staff Sgt. Jason J. Harris, a drill instructor who has not been charged in the scandal, testified at one court-martial that it was the worst treatment of recruits he had ever seen.
Staff Sgt. David H. Price, Echo Company's head drill sergeant, said on the witness stand at his own court martial in April that he was ``burned out'' from being a D.I. for too long. He also said that he felt that the guidelines on abuse limited his ability to turn recruits into tough soldiers.
The evidence in the scandal included a 25-minute video - taken by a sergeant as the recruits stepped off the bus - that showed the recruits being poked, grabbed and berated. Recruits are often videotaped on arrival, and the footage is shown during their training graduation or at family days to show how far they have come.
Capt. William C. Fulton, 35, the company's commander, was convicted last week of false swearing and dereliction of duty for not halting the abuse. He was sentenced to six months' confinement.
Earlier this year, Price was convicted of maltreatment and demoted, as was Staff Sgt. Ricky L. Stauffer. Staff Sgt. Michael G. Rhoades was found guilty of maltreatment and impeding an investigation, and received a bad-conduct discharge. Staff Sgt. Bryan G. Duncan is awaiting a court-martial.
Harvey Perrit, a spokesman for the Army Training and Doctrine Command in Fort Monroe, Va., said there 120 allegations of abuse against Army drill sergeants in fiscal year 2004, and as a result 16 drill sergeants were relieved of duty.
So far in fiscal year 2005, there have been 42 complaints of abuse, and six sergeants have been relieved of duty, Perrit said.
Shaffery, the Fort Knox spokesman, said reforms put in place before the incident helped reveal the abuse. ``We are holding to the policies and systems we have in place now, which discovered this situation within six days,'' she said.
Enduring the stewardship of four junior Marine Drill Instructors was like living with four violent schizophrenics for three months. At graduation the four Marines in sgt stripes talking to my parents were not the same people (at least mentally) that got me through boot.
When I was a private I would hear the old timers talk about how the “new” Army was going straight to hell. When I made Sergeant I started saying it – I and a lot of other Viet Nam vets. I sat at The Junction Café after I retired and heard a young Staff Sergeant bitching about the “new” Army, and how it was going straight to hell. I wondered where he got off saying that – had he earned the right? Then I noticed he was wearing a Unit Patch on his right shoulder, denoting service in a combat zone. Yes, he had earned the right.
The “new” Army might be heading straight to hell, and that has been said for many years. The Army is a constantly changing institution. It has always been “going straight to hell”, but it always answers the call and just keeps on stroking - and doing a very nasty job very well.
"My tagline speaks for itself............."
How about this????
"The Air Force makes the world safe for golfers?"
NeverGore :^)
Perhaps it would be only fair to suspend Article 91 of UCMJ for all training facilities. This would really toughen up the troops.
CANNOT GET MY MIND AROUND IT.
GODSPEED!
I went through BCT in 61 at Knox and I had six cycles of troops as a BCT CO at Knox in 73 and 74. What is described in the article was not allowed back then and it surely doesn't build soldiers. What those Drill Sergeants did and what the Company Commander allowed was just wrong. The AP has nothing to do with it.
I'll bet this girly-boy was one of those punks driving around in those sissy cars with a tincan tailpipe that sounds like a Rwanda taxicab pumping out vulgar rap music at 140 decibels with a dozen piercings in his face smoking dope.
I went through Basic Training at Ft. Knox in 1983. The two Drill Sergeants assigned to my platoon did not need to curse at, strike or otherwise abuse recruits to teach us to be soldiers. The junior Drill Sergeant in another platoon was removed because he could not handle recruits without abusing them. Turning raw recruits into soldiers is a very difficult and demanding job and bullies fail miserably at it - they do not produce good troops, they create more problem children like themselves.
Many people who have not been there can not understand the difference between a tough, hard Drill Sergeant who does his job well and a stupid bully in a 'brown round' hat who turns recruits into discipline problems.
It's basic training, not a tea party. Get over it!
Someone who gets it. Thanks for your post.
Oh - you went through the easy boot camp. Dad went through in '51. He made me sit and watch "The DI" with Jack Webb everytime it came on, and would tell me how easy those boots had it.
Have you ever seen any Space Aliens?
No?
I rest my case.......
I went thru Fort Knox in 1960, I thought it was pretty tough, but the instructors never struck or hit the men.
Oh we got our steel pots rung by a swizzle stick but a climb up Agony , Misery or Heartbreak hills was the usual punishment. Sometimes I think I would rather have been hit than double timing up Agony.
That's cruel, but I'm still laughing.
``'It was just chaos - constant commotion, constant yelling,' Sgt. 1st Class Paul Holley said. Holley said he had come over from another company that day to help out, but was quickly turned off by what he perceived to be abuse, and left."
Sounds like my time at Ft. Leonard Wood. I don't know what this Sgt.'s problem is. The whole idea is to break you down and remold you into a soldier.
p,
Oh, it's not new at all.
I went through basic training in 1989, and none of the cadre laid a hand on a recruit beyond what was essential for training purposes. No foul language, no sexual language, etc.
Plenty of shouting though. And the bit another poster wrote about the cleaning rod upside the helmet was familiar.
But yeah, by and large drill instructors are skilled enough at their jobs that they can bring the best out of their trainees without having to beat them up.
PLEASE!
FIRST SMILE TODAY!!
Thanks for your post too. Those three hills are still there.
HEY! Just because you guys never got the hang of using the handle on the side of an easy chair...
Jarheads and Legs - geeze. Just because we were smarter than you...An Army or Marine squad takes a group of enlisted guys and one officer and goes out and gets their asses shot at. The Air Force takes 90 officers and 2,000 enlisted guys, and we send the officers out to get shot at. Sure, the fighter pilots get the glory and the women. But those of us who were jet engine mechanics - we got the beer.
Semper Fi! (for the Marine)
Ooh Rah! (for the Army)
Who had the remote last? (for the Air Force)
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