Results of Action under the UCMJ!
I remember going through the infiltration course at Fort Knox many many years ago.
Back then infiltration course consisted of barbed wire obstacles over a sand and water course. The troops had to crawl the length of this course while live machine gun fire was sprayed over your head. I seem to recall we did it during the day and again at night.
Near the end of basic training I won the Colonels orderly competition and got to spend the say with the battalion commander. During that day he went to the infiltration course to observe a company of troops go through the course.
I remember he told that that fairly often a troop would panic and try to get up and get killed or badly wounded by the machine gun fire. He also said many lives in combat were saved because troops had been exposed to live fire in basic training.
He said more lives would be lost in combat if the training was eliminated to save the lives of those who panic and get killed.
I think he was right. If training is made safe enough so that no one ever dies in training, then many will die in combat from lack of training that could have saved their lives.
The Denham family who lived up the block, lost their eldest son to the same fate - "accidental drowning" at Parris Island.
In his case, the DI was found guilty, but it never brings the deceased one back. There were promises of improved training techniques, and to ease up when fatigue becomes obvious.
Given the rigors of basic at Parris Island, it sounds as thought they've returned to overworking the recruits.
I can only hope that this incident forces them to reevaluate their procedures and methods, once again.
I know - the Marines are tough, but do they have to keep killing them before they can finish training?
BTT