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Hate Torture? Consider Boot Camp
The Los Angeles Times ^ | December 14, 2005 | Max Boot

Posted on 12/14/2005 2:41:02 PM PST by kellynla

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To: martin_fierro

what time is hume on there. whyaintchawatching?


41 posted on 12/14/2005 3:13:39 PM PST by xsmommy
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To: PeterFinn

"A pal of mine who did it years back (early 90's) snuck off base during the exercise (you could say 'AWOL')and checked in at a nice hotel and kicked it for a week while the rest of his team got 'captured'. Then he dirtied himself up, snuck back on base, and ended up with a commendation in his jacket for evading one of the best S&C teams in the world. He should have been cashiered but he cooked up some cock and bull story that mostly got a wink and a nod"

Your buddy is full of it. The "excerise" part is held out in the middle of the desert or way up in the Maine woods. You don't even know where the hell you are when it starts!


42 posted on 12/14/2005 3:17:06 PM PST by Wristpin ("The Yankees have decided to buy every player in Baseball....")
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To: TheGunny
Are our forces abroad fighting like they carry yellow stress cards in their pockets?

Not from what I've seen. Why did you think that I meant that? (Army doesn't have Gunnies, and I wasn't talking about Marine boot camp anyways).

When I went to Navy boot in San Diego, every now and then some idjit would go over the fence - into Marine boot camp. We were told that if anybody did that the Marines would keep them for 12 weeks, and make them go through Marine boot camp. Then they would give them back to the Navy, where they'd spend some time in the brig, and then go through 8 more weeks of Navy boot camp.

We did have a couple of guys jump the fence, but never that one! I always wondered why they would jump the fence anyways. All they had to do was refuse to obey orders and get a general discharge. Jump the fence and you do time in the brig, then get a discharge that maybe is a bit worse than a general discharge.

43 posted on 12/14/2005 3:18:07 PM PST by wyattearp (The best weapon to have in a gunfight is a shotgun - preferably from ambush.)
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To: wyattearp

Maybe the Navy still does the stress cards, but the Marines don't and as far as I know the Army and AF don't either.


44 posted on 12/14/2005 3:19:14 PM PST by RJS1950 (The rats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
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To: chudogg
can say for a fact Fort Benning, Georgia, doesn't have stress cards because I've talked to at least one person from every graduating class in the last 2 years. Though, I've also asked people who went to Fort Jackson which is supposed to be the easiest (yeah i know, Relaxin Jackson) and i have never heard of these stress cards from them either.

I worked in a Infantry One-Station Unit Training company at Ft. Benning from late 1997 to early 1999. There were no stress cards there, I guarantee you. Around the beginning of 1999, my unit (1-38 IN) transitioned into Basic Training (non-MOS specific) from Infantry OSUT. We got an influx of drill sergeants from Ft. Jackson - they didn't have them there either.

It amazes me that no one ever asks why NOT ONE of these cards has ever appeared.

45 posted on 12/14/2005 3:20:52 PM PST by Terabitten (Illegal immigration causes Representation without Taxation.)
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To: xsmommy

I *am* watching, ya Jagoof!

Got it goin' in a little window here on the side.


46 posted on 12/14/2005 3:22:52 PM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: wyattearp

I remember that at San Diego back in 69-70. It was a lot of fun to watch the poor dumb swabbie get put into a Marine platoon and have to endure our training, even if only for a day. They truly thought that they had entered the lowest level of hell.


47 posted on 12/14/2005 3:24:12 PM PST by RJS1950 (The rats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
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To: wyattearp

Hey, ask your nephew sometime about Hydration Formations! LOL!


48 posted on 12/14/2005 3:26:28 PM PST by chudogg (www.chudogg.blogspot.com)
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To: wyattearp

A friend of mine just enlisted in the Army and will be leaving just after the new year. His recruiter just told us that he was under the impression that stress cards were still used at the "co-ed bootcamps" but not at all of them. I have no idea which Army bootcamps are co-ed or exactly what he meant by the term.


49 posted on 12/14/2005 3:29:07 PM PST by gnarledmaw (I traded freedom for security and all I got were these damned shackles.)
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To: kellynla
Blog Fodder....

Cheers,

knews hound

Latest article"The Rope a Dope Gambit"
50 posted on 12/14/2005 3:32:12 PM PST by knews_hound (i know my typing sucks, i do it one handed ! (caps are especially tough))
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To: gnarledmaw

Co-ed boot camps are boot camps where there are both men and women in the same company. My nephew was in one of those, so this is starting to make some sense.


51 posted on 12/14/2005 3:33:03 PM PST by wyattearp (The best weapon to have in a gunfight is a shotgun - preferably from ambush.)
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To: BigTex5
Bring back the good ol days when a 1/3rd of your platoon washed out the first couple days.

Why? What a waste of resources. This military is different than what was drafted or even joined in the VOLAR army times.

52 posted on 12/14/2005 3:33:45 PM PST by Eagle Eye (There ought to be a law against excess legislation.)
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To: wyattearp
All they had to do was refuse to obey orders and get a general discharge.

What?? When was this? If I had known it was *that* easy, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble.

What about Article 15's? What about Courts Martial?

53 posted on 12/14/2005 3:37:19 PM PST by Gay State Conservative
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To: Gay State Conservative
What?? When was this?

I was in Navy boot camp in 1980. The Navy figured that they weren't worth the trouble. If they wanted out, it was cheaper and easier in the long run to just get rid of them.

54 posted on 12/14/2005 3:44:42 PM PST by wyattearp (The best weapon to have in a gunfight is a shotgun - preferably from ambush.)
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To: Eagle Eye

There will always be a certain percent of recruits that are washed out for a varity of reasons. There were before and after the draft as well as now.


55 posted on 12/14/2005 3:45:35 PM PST by RTINSC (Being Offended is the Natural Consequence of Leaving Your Home...)
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To: Gay State Conservative
Don't know what you mean by "put hands on" but the UCMJ has always forbidden any kind of "assault" of any uniformed member,including trainees.

Same policy.

While at boot camp an older recruit (29 years-old) had been made our platoon leader. The guy was a psychotic a**hole who threatened and/or hit anyone who didn't jump to his tune.

About three weeks in we went for our CS chamber training. On the way out of the chamber this dude goes down on his knees blocking the way out for the rest of us. The DI grabs the back of his collar to bring him to his feet and get him moving. The guy comes up swinging. His fist missed the DI's chin by a hair, but flipped the DIs campaign hat off his head. His asst. DI called us to attention and about faced us just as our platoon bully received some tree-to-tree counseling. We got to hear the guys head thud against a couple of tree trunks behind us.

Two day later the guy was out of the Army on an undesireable discharge. We told the assistant DI we had no intention of saying anything other than the DI was defending himself. We would gladly have helped kick that guys ass. All my DI's were pretty cool. Hardasses, but cool.

56 posted on 12/14/2005 3:45:41 PM PST by PsyOp (The commonwealth is theirs who hold the arms.... - Aristotle.)
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To: kellynla

I'll be d@amned. I was tortured by the U.S. Government and didn't know it.


57 posted on 12/14/2005 3:45:46 PM PST by OldPossum
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To: wyattearp
I was in Navy boot camp in 1980. The Navy figured that they weren't worth the trouble.

Hmmmm,interesting attitude.I joined (Army) in '69 when the attitude wasn't so "progressive".If you had a pulse,you were in for the duration.Also,the dishonorable discharge was given out often and was something that was feared by anyone with an IQ over 40.

58 posted on 12/14/2005 3:50:44 PM PST by Gay State Conservative
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To: RTINSC

That differs from what the poster to whom I replies was referring.

The "Good Old Days" when DI's beat recruits; when a third of the platoon washed out in the first week, when blanket parties were routine....wasn't as real as people remember.


59 posted on 12/14/2005 3:51:36 PM PST by Eagle Eye (There ought to be a law against excess legislation.)
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To: chudogg; gnarledmaw; RJS1950; TankerKC; Terabitten; BigTex5
As for the "stress card" issue, you can do what I just did (thanks, gnarledmaw, for the idea). Call your local Army recruiter.

The guy that I talked to said that as far as he knew, the "stress card" had been done away with. However, he has been out of boot camp for quite some time now and isn't sure that they don't still do it. He did say that he was in a training facility and a guy pulled one on him once. He is checking around to see if he knows anybody that kept one, and asked to have me call back in a few days for a copy of one (if he can find one).

Don't believe me? Call your local Army Recruiter and ask. Phone book, under "Recruiter".

60 posted on 12/14/2005 3:52:17 PM PST by wyattearp (The best weapon to have in a gunfight is a shotgun - preferably from ambush.)
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