Army infantry school is doing away with 'mean, nasty' shark attack methodology at basic training

Stars & Stripes ^ | By JENNIFER H. SVAN | STARS AND STRIPES Published: September 18, 2020

[central_va]

keep wanting to make this out as a social experiment.

It IS a social experiment.

[Night Hides Not]

The Army treated me very well: paid 100% for college, though I paid for my room and board with summer jobs and ROTC monthly stipend.

The Army did allow me to use my accounting degree. My last two years in Germany, I was Assistant S-4 & Property Book Officer, and S-4. PBO was normally a warrant officer slot, but I agreed to fill in for what was expected to be a couple of months.

The replacement didn't arrive for six months, and hoo boy, the Old Man was getting nervous. He brought in the expert from Group HQ during the 4th month to inspect the books...he wanted to make sure he wasn't going to jail...lol.

The actual outbriefing was brief: "Colonel, your books are in better shape now than they were when LT NHN took over."

I admit to being a PITA as the S-4, I told Group HQ off on quite a few occasions, with the complete support of the Battalion Commander. I knew budgeting, financial management, and accountability better than they did.

LOL, I was able to "massage" numbers on training reports, to make our actual vs. budget numbers look better...not perfect, just better, good enough to limit the questions put to my boss by the Group Commander.

When I was training my replacement, he just couldn't understand how those numbers looked so good. Finally, I just said, "on several occasions, I pulled a few out of my rear." He got pretty angry at that, just as the XO came in. XO shut him down, "if (now) Captain NHN said he did that, it was because he was justified in doing it. I trust him 100%, which is more than I can say for you!" Ouch.

There's quite a few stories from my time in Germany. Alas, I fully understand they're interesting only to me. However, here are the subject titles to my best ones:

A 2nd Lieutenant in the "Eagles Nest", i.e. the Wing Command Post at Hahn AB.
A Day in Koblenz with my Platoon (Konigsbacher Brewery tour)
Three Months at a German range 400 miles from home, and the scheisse I got away with as the acting commander.
How sticking up for Reagan in 1980 earned me a seat at the Stammtische.
How I survived a drinking game with Germans on NY Eve 1980...I still don't believe it.
How I was able to get an aircraft diverted to our air base, after it took off from Crete.

They're all true, though time has worn off the rough edges. lol

[CodeJockey]

[CodeJockey]

[laplata]

Thanks.

[Elsie]

Most cases they choose to be queer

[11th_VA]

I thought Full Metal Jacket was about the Marines, not the Army, and I also thought the kind of physical punishment the DI in Full Metal Jacket dished out was banned years ago

Physical punishment comes in different forms. They could (45 years ago) still make you endure an hours of full out physical activity, and I heard from others they would sometimes 'stage' a physical confrontations after long marches - when troops were exhausted, and didn't recognize the 'plant' in the unit.

[Elsie]

yup