Hate Torture? Consider Boot Camp

The Los Angeles Times ^ | December 14, 2005 | Max Boot

[kellynla]

HOLD THE PRESSES. I've discovered that the use of torture by the U.S. government is far more pervasive than previously believed. There are major facilities all over the country where thousands of men and women who have not committed any crime are held for prolonged periods while subjected to physical and psychological coercion that violates every tenet of the Geneva Convention.

They are routinely made to stand for long periods in uncomfortable positions. They are made to walk for hours while wearing heavy loads on their backs. They are bullied by martinets who get in their faces and yell insults at them. They are hit and often knocked down with clubs known as pugil sticks. They are denied sleep for more than a day at a time. They are forced to inhale tear gas. They are prevented from seeing friends or family. Some are traumatized by this treatment. Others are injured. A few even die.

Should Amnesty International or the International Committee of the Red Cross want to investigate these human-rights abuses, they could visit Parris Island, S.C., Camp Pendleton, Calif., Ft. Benning, Ga., Ft. Jackson, S.C., and other bases where the Army and Marines train recruits. It's worth keeping in mind how roughly the U.S. government treats its own defenders before we get too worked up over the treatment of captured terrorists.

With all the uproar over torture, you would think we handled prisoners the way Saddam Hussein did. The former dictator's trial has featured copious testimony on how his goons raped, mutilated, beat or murdered those who fell under suspicion of disloyalty. This type of treatment — fingernails pulled, electric shocks applied, sharp objects put where they don't belong — is what the word "torture" commonly connotes. That's not what American operatives are up to.

[wyattearp]

In boot camp nowadays, if you don't want to be messed with by the DI you just hold up your "stress card". "Sorry sir, but I'm just too stressed to comply with your orders right now".

Boot camp isn't the way that it used to be.

[A.A. Cunningham]

No "stress cards" at San Diego, Parris Island or Quantico.

[tfecw]

In boot camp nowadays, if you don't want to be messed with by the DI you just hold up your "stress card"."

I think that extends outside of Bootcamp as well. I think the wording was like "I'm stressed i need a 15 minute break." I'm not too sure how the story went, but i got the impression you pretty much kissed away your career wanted even more trouble, you pulled the card.

I remember my dad telling me a young female private pulled the "card" on him, he he told her to report back in 15 minutes.

[gondramB]

There are lots of things that are legal and ethical if the parties consent that would be illegal and no-ethical if done non-consenually.... Like boxing, sex and NFL training camp.

[ghost of nixon]

This is in the LA Times? I can just imagine all the liberals out there going nuts over this.

[grobdriver]

Forget boot camp.
Try SERE school.

[Terabitten]

The stress cards are an urban legend.

From snopes.com:

Claim: Recruits in basic training are issued "stress cards," which when waved at demanding drill sergeants immediately entitle recruits to gentler treatment.
Status: False.

Examples:


[Collected on the Internet, 2002]
I have heard that during Clinton years, the Army issued new basic training recruits "Stress Cards" at select training bases as part of a test program. If the Drill Sergeant yelled too loudly or instructed the recruit to do anything that might cause them undue stress, the Private could simply hand the card to the Sergeant and they were to cease the offensive behavior.

---

[Collected on the Internet, 2000]

I read about them but they weren't using them when I was in. If I remember correctly, it was a little yellow card that they gave you. Apparently if things were getting tough for you in basic, you could flash the card and the DI would back off and give you a "break" so you could compose yourself. The standing joke was that the color of the card spoke for itself... The idea, if I remember right, was heavily criticized (and rightfully so, what are you going to do in real life when the bullets start to fly, pull out the stress card and hope the bad guys stop shooting at you?) and the idea was eventually canned.

---

[Collected on the Internet, 1999]

[The stress card is] a card these kids get when they go through basic training. when they are feeling overwhelmed or stressed out, they are to give it to their DI's (or whatever the call em now days) for a 'time out'.

my friend john, who was a 10 year enlisted veteran in the combat engineers who had done some 'hard time' in somalia (you remember the infamous fire fight over there involving the rangers) told me a story about a brand spanking new PFC who, during a field exercise, came up to john with this 'card' and said, "sgt, i need some time out. my stress card says im entitled to some time out." john, bless him, grabbed the stress card, tore it to bits and informed the kid, "stress card? you're in the REAL army now, kid. this is what i think of your &*^% stress card." Rip! Rip! Rip!




Origins: This is one of those tales that has the smallest kernel of truth to it, but that truth is almost unrecognizable in the form the scuttlebutt has since taken.

For a few years during the 1990s, the US Navy did issue "stress cards" to new recruits, but they weren't the "Get out of jail free" coupons military lore has since turned them into. Rather, these cards listed names and phone numbers of resources the newcomers could contact "if things pile[d] up." The cards were strictly for informational purposes: they informed recruits of available support services.

Navy trainers began reporting that some of the recruits had taken to raising their cards while being disciplined, as a way of signalling for time out. It's unclear whether any of those enduring basic training really thought that was the purpose of the cards or whether this was just standard armed forces jackassing, but the Navy took no chances and got rid of the cards.

This short-lived experiment with providing recruits with clear information about whom to contact when things went bump in the night has morphed into an unflattering and unsettling illustration of today's soldier as a creampuff. Notice how the story has mutated into one where the drill instructors are portrayed as honor bound to obey the cards when they are displayed to them, an aspect that wasn't part of things during the real cards' short life. The story has also widened its net; what was a Navy hand-out has, in the world of rumor, become a card issued to Army and Marine recruits, making this an Armed Forces-wide phenomenon.

[BigTex5]

Nope it sure isn't. I was appauled when I heard this about a year ago from an Army buddy. He even said the DI's can't touch them anymore and that the trainees can and will write up a DI for "infringement". Bring back the good ol days when a 1/3rd of your platoon washed out the first couple days.

[chudogg]

Urban Legend.

[kellynla]

"I can just imagine all the liberals out there going nuts over this."

don't forget that there are more registered Republicans in CA than any other state in the union...and since you are the "ghost of nixon" I won't tell you where you hailed from. LOL

[wyattearp]

No "stress cards" at San Diego, Parris Island or Quantico.

Sorry, my bad. ARMY boot camp. My nephew joined a few years ago.

[wyattearp]

I'm not too sure how the story went, but i got the impression you pretty much kissed away your career wanted even more trouble, you pulled the card.

My nephew (Army) said that nobody had the nerve to pull it when he was in boot camp, but just the fact that it is there at all is absurd.

[Right Wing Assault]

This is in the LA Times? I can just imagine all the liberals out there going nuts over this.

That's what I thought. But maybe it's an LA Times plan to try to get the US to water down our training even more. Sounds more like them.

[InsureAmerica]

Contact your representative to pass legislation to change these stress cards to 'i am a p**sy and don't belong here' cards...

[chudogg]

Did your "army buddy" have "Drill Instructors" at the same "Boot Camp" that WyattEarp is referring too?

lol

[wyattearp]

Not true. My nephew had them when he was in Army boot camp. That is where I found out about them. I just sat there with a stunned look on my face. I asked him if anybody used it. He said "NO WAY; only a total pu$$y would use it". That doesn't change the fact that they existed.

[wyattearp]

Urban Legend.

No, it isn't. I heard about it from my nephew when he was in boot camp. Not an urban legend at all.

[airborne]

Some of the training I had in Recondo School seemed like torture, but I knew what real torture was.

Sleep deprivation isn't torture. But it is effective.

[wingman1]

"This is in the LA Times? I can just imagine all the liberals out there going nuts over this."

I agree. I was thinking the very same thing.

I was so starved in Basic at Ft. Bragg, that I even ate calve's liver. Now that sure as hell approached torture.