Brutality in Basic Training

[Ltdave]

it was BRUTAL when i went through Air Force Basic Training...

the vending machine in the dorm broke down and all we had for the day and half it took Civil Engineers out to fix it was warm beer...

nah, just kidding. the machine had good insulation and it stayed fairly cold as long as we didnt hold the door open too long...



this is a little on going joke a retired Air Force MSgt and i have with a co-worker who was an 2nd class Petty Officer in the Navy...

[Michaelp]

Basic at Ft Polk, 1966, Inf AIT Ft Gordon, Jump School, SF.
Never saw anything approaching any kind of brutality.
Some tough things in SF, but it was training for tough stuff.
Marine friends of mine, same period, describe actually being kicked, punched, and often mistreated.
I know them well enough to believe them.

I have talked to a couple Foreign Legion vets.
They use one word to describe their experience-"Brutal."

[dave]

It is nowadays.

Now days they just throw you out!

[Tailback]

Leonard Wood C 2-10 July 1987

I was 125 pounds soaking wet going into basic. I was in between two fat boys in my squad, they got half rations, I got double rations. I ended up gaining 10 pounds of pure muscle. They lost a lot of baby fat.

[Richard Turner/Turner Saddlery]

Hey Hal, I was with Alpha-11 at McClellan. Sep 78 to Jan 81. Headed to W. Germany after that. Mike

Hey Mike, did you have a Drill Sergeant by the name of SFC Groober or Grover? He was about 6'3" and real lanky, sandy hair, and wore those issue black horned rimmed glasses.

I was in Alpha-12 at McClellan Jan 78 to Mar 78. I believe he was the Senior Drill of either Alpha-10 or Alpha-11. He was real comical and reminded several of us of the character Lester Gruber on McHale's Navy. I was one of eleven Marines assigned to Ft. Mac for MP School and they assigned all of us to Alpha 12. They said the reason they assigned us to the same platoon, was because we didn't know how to march (the Army way) and screwed everyone else up. It was definitely apparent when on the march as they had to put the Marines at the rear of formation because when the command "Mark Time, March" was given, in Marine fashion, we would halt and begin marking time as trained. If we were marching in front, and "Mark Time, March" was given, all the soldiers would continue to creep forward and pile up at the rear of the Marines, a real cluster foxtrot. We were always training in close proximity to A-10 and A-11, so SFC Grover would constantly come over to our platoon and harass or joke with the Marines. We were billeted in the old wooden barracks adjacent to the 1-2-3 Club.

Was also assigned to McClellan in May 80 for Physical Security School and Oct 83-Jan 84 for CID School. A lot of good memories as McClellan was only 60 miles from home.

Richard

[coastie]

USCG BASE ALAMEDA, March 1966.
CAKE WALK!.....Except for the run to and from the grinder-bad knees.
the only recruits behind me and half a dozen other bad runners were
guys being helped by some one else holding them up to keep on going.
Went in at 6-3, 155--former swim team-came out at 175.
Now that 2nd class yeoman with the "new" Covair Convertible....
Thank God he didn't have a platoon.
Oh, we were the first class to not have to row a boat.
All that Boy Scout merit badge wasted!

[coastie]

Now my late Father had his WWII story.
Went for Naval Air Cadet Training. After a year and some they cut the class
by 50% by drawing numbers. Late 1944?
Those worthies got sent to Great Lakes Basic and encountered a 1st class PO
Who tried to be brutal. With in a week that guy was busted and sent else where!

[5MadFarmers]

Aw, yes, initial training.

Round about nine the instructor would saunter through the place suggesting that perhaps, if it wasn't too much trouble, we'd rise and eat our breakfast. After the delightful breakfast served by our manservant George, we'd perform our morning toiletries followed by a shave and heated towel treatment by ever faithful George.
With the morning routine complete we'd either head to the green for a leasurely 18 rounds or perhaps a round of cricket if we were feeling more ambitious that morning.
After a nice lunch on the veranda, George ever dutiful, we'd spend some time with our correspondence and then prepare for the evening festivities. Suitable attired we'd head to the ballroom for an entertaining dance and drinks with the lasses from the local boarding school. Of course the sport was to separate them from their chaperones but I suspect those old gals were entertained by it all as much as we were - thus a nudge, nudge, wink, wink in their duties. Before turning in we'd have an apertif on the veranda while George heated the bedsheets for us.

Maybe I'm mis-remembering it. I have a faint memory of a haircut which resulted in a certain diminishment of my debonair factor but I suspect I've blocked that part.

Forgot the "brutality" bit. They made us do our own caddy duties! We kept a stiff upper lip throughout.