Someone tell me this isn’t true, please… because if it is, I’m just gonna hurl.
My sister and I were talking about Fox’s “Boot Camp” (the only reality show I’ve wanted to watch, by the way. “Save the drama for your mama!” hehehehe) and she was reminded of a radio show she heard recently where they were talking about the new boot camp rules for the Marines. Apparantly, in an effort to be, oh, I dunno, LAME?, there is new sensitivity being shown the new recruits. They now (god, I hope this ain’t true! ) have “stress cards” - if your drill sargeant is freeaking you out, you present your “stress card”, it gets stamped or something, and you are left alone for awhile.
ARE THEY FUCKING KIDDING?!?!?!?
Now, anyone around here knows that I feel no kinship with the military. But I do respect it, and I’m damn glad there are people who are into it. And I recognize what it is for and what it takes. And this is just INSANE. If these ninnies can’t handle getting screamed at, what the fuck would they do with mortar shells falling around their heads, eh? You suppose they’ll be issuing “Stress cards” during WAR???
This is just completely whacked. Stupid, dangerous, and idiotic. This is no way to make a soldier. You can’t take the military discipline and stress? THEN GET THE FUCK OUT. Don’t drag the whole system down with you! Trust me, I would be whipping out my “wuss card” 10 seconds after I got off the bus…WHICH IS WHY I NEVER GOT ON THE BUS IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! (Not unlike the first flakout on Boot Camp last night…what the hell was she thinking if she’s that much of a wuss? How pathetic was she?)
Jesus… someone please tell me this isn’t true. Because if it is, Patton is spinning so fast in his grave he’s halfway to China… (God, I love that line from the movie, don’t know if Patton himself actually said it:, something about not winning a war by dying for your country, you win a war by making the OTHER guy die for HIS country…)
Well, as far as I know this isn’t a current practice. A few of my friends are joining the marines once they graduate, and they would be pissed if this was the case.
My friends think “Boot Camp” is the most pathetic tv show. It disgusts them to see boot camp training watered down so much. It also made them quite mad when they heard “Save the drama for your mama”. That’s nothing like how drill seargents act or talk.
I was in the Army, and I always heard talk about “Stress cards” that were about to be implemented, as well as supposedly “low stress” basic training that was being tested. Never saw anything official or anyone who had actually seen a stress card (or attended a “low stress” boot camp). This was 5 years ago, but I think the whole thing’s just an urban legend.
First I went to Dow Jones Interactive, which maintains a database of every significant daily news publication in the United States, and searched back two years using “stress+card”, “stress+card+Army”, “stress+card+Marine” and “stress+card+military.” No hits.
Then I went to the DoD site and the Army site and the Marines site and the Air Force site and the Navy site. Huh. No mention of any major changes to basic training procedures, and certainly no mention of any “stress cards.”
What’s that? Stoid and her sister believe whatever nonsensical crap they hear on the radio, scoring points for igorance? Quelle fucking surprise. :rolleyes:
Oh, and Patton was a general in the United States Army. I doubt he much cared how the Marines trained their soldiers. Army and Marines have a rather notorious interservice rivalry.
I read somewhere that the recruits weren’t told what they were going to be doing just that it was a reality show that would test them and there was a big cash prize at the end.
Details like the four people screeching for hours on end were left out.
Well, they had to have known something, don’t you think? Except for miss Flake, the rest were all very gung-ho about sticking it out for the sense of accomplishment, or some such madness. Most people wouldn’t be up for that shit, even for that kind of money. And there was the one gal who bitched about the flake, saying if she was going to flake that fast, she should have left the spot for someone else, which leads me to believe they did know something.
I would imagine they also had to sign some pretty detailed release forms, holding the producers harmless for mental anguish and so forth.
I missed the first 8 minutes or so, so if they explained everything then…
And don’t you have to wonder about the screechers? Wouldn’t that just trash your throat after awhile?
It’s an urban legend. I remember hearing talk about stress cards back when I was active duty. It’s one of those stories veterans like to tell each other to illustrate how much ‘softer’ recruits have it now.
Anyway, doesn’t matter what the morons in charge do, the DI’s will still manage to do their job. There were restrictions on how many push-ups they could make us do in Basic (ex. only 10 at a time for the first week, 20 second week, etc.) so they invented things called ‘4 count push-ups’ which were essentially 2 pushups which counted as 1. When we really screwed we got to experience 6 and even (on one particulary memorable occasion) 8 count pushups. Alternatively, the DI would make you do 10, have you stand up, then drop and do 10 more until he was satisfied you’d learned your lesson. They also couldn’t swear at you so they simply made up crap and screamed it at us (‘knucklehead’ was a fav)–that worked too although not as well as the real think IMO.
This was Army Infantry Basic–don’t know about the other MOS’s in the Army or how those insane bastards in the Marines do things. And I’m not even going to mention the Air Farce and sailors b/c we know how easy they’ve got it…
I read that too. But then I realized that I read it here. In the Pit, even, I believe. Was it fenris that started that thread about this show? Whoever it was, that’s who I heard it from.
The beginning of the show said nothing about them not knowing what they were getting into. They used that phrase in the commercials, but it may not have been meant literally.
And now, for a semi-hijack:
Holy HELL, that was a badly done show! I was laughing my head off all the way through. They want so badly to be the next Survivior. Fox is so thoroughly unable to produce anything remotely resembling drama. I could go off, but I’ll spare you. It was like watching a bad parody of a reality show.
Wait a minute. They couldn’t swear at you? In infantry basic training? Maybe there is low-stress boot camp. When I went through basic, every other word out of the drill sergeant’s mouth was “motherfucker” or “shithead” (for the first few weeks, anyway). IIRC, there was no limit on the push-ups, first week or otherwise, either. We had a drill sergeant that even used physical force on a couple of guys - when they reported him; he was simply transferred to the platoon across the hall. This wasn’t that long ago - I can’t imagine things have changed that drastically (then again, they were still allowed to ask if you were a homosexual on the enlistment form when I signed up, so who knows?).
You know, as I sit here and recollect, one thought bursts into my mind: Jesus, how I hated the fucking military.
If my Drill Instructor had been unable to swear at us, he would have been unable to talk at all. Our First Sergeant made the statement: “The Colonel wants you fuckups to quit swearing so goddamn much. I’t getting on his fucking nerves so knock the bullshit off dickweeds.”
One line from basic that I will never forget.
Oh yeah, we were also able to have smoke breaks and did our PT in boots. None of this sissy issuing of sneakers and pt uniforms (shorts, sweats). Full uniform and most of the damn time with rifles to boot.
That said, my Dad, an ex-Marine, told me that if I ever joined the Marines, he was gonna shoot me and then disown me!
Well, in '94 there were no “Stress cards” at Paris Island, though we would hear stories about then in the years after, though never from and fresh boots, always from dis-enchanted and salty E-4’s.
The “mothers of America” have definitely screwed up Boot Camp. If you ever hear stories form the real old timers, man, that place was a boxing ring. I got hit twice, once in a good natured way that sting took the wind out of me. I sure as hell didn’t mind. I would have been disappointed to have gone through basic training handled with kid gloves.
Stoid hit it when she spoke of the disconnect between mothers wanting their precious chilren not to be harmed by the big bad DI’s, when the reality is that they are, and have to, break the recruits down. Everything is done for a reason.
Anyhow…to the show, I was laughing through the show. T’was funny. Some of the lines and things they made them do were straight flash-backs. The “seat-feet” thing and the “too slow, get back” was a riot.
