How to get cut loose from the military

Factual Questions
41

I was in Navy bootcamp in the mid-70’s as well. In my boot company we had people discharged for; Inability to learn to swim; never able to pass final PT test; unable to learn to read at a 6th grade level. And one kid who didn’t even get assigned to a company - during the 2-3 day in-processing period, he just sat in the corner crying.

In addition to these that definitely got sent home, there were a few others who almost got booted. The one of these I remember best was a guy who had been arrested for some sort of general mischief and was given the option by the judge of 6 months in jail or enlistment in the Navy. It turns out that this is somewhat improper, but I don’t know the specific laws involved. IIRC, because he chose the Navy, the judge ruled him not guilty, so he didn’t have a criminal record. Maybe this would work for your character.

42

I just talked to my dad, who worked at the Navy basic training facility in San Diego in the mid-70s. He was a Battalion Commander (they have since changed the terms for Navy Basic), with several companies full of recruits under him. He says that they definately had a separation like the Entry Level Separation, although he isn’t sure that that was what it was called at the time.

But it was definately a separation that put no ‘blame’ on the person, nor on the Navy. It was basically an annulment of the enlistment contract – the only lasting impact would be that his record was flagged so that he could not try to enlist again in the future.

Dad said the most common reason he encountered for this separation was that the recruit couldn’t manage the classwork required – mostly because they could not read at the level needed (about 6th grade). But there were other guys who just had an obvious bad attitude that no amount of counselling or punishment could improve. Some people are just not meant for the service.

Dad is positive that such a separation would not come up on a criminal check – since there was no ‘blame’ attached to it. He suspects, though – and I agree with him – that it would be revealed on a Secret or Top Secret security clearance check.

43

“Recruit Smith, we’re processing you for discharge. Report to exit processing in building 212C immediately.”

“But why, Sargent? I ain’t done nothing!”

“We already have enough (blank) in this man’s army. You’re one too many.”

Fill in the blank as necessary.

When I went through boot camp, only 60% of our company passed recruit training. The reasons were varied:

One guy was hated so badly by the others that he kept being attacked. He was a total jerk, who couldn’t adapt to living with others. He was basically sent home for his own protection.

Three guys went over the wire, heading to the airport (boot camp in San Diego was directly under the airport). Two made it, and were brought back the next day by MP’s. They both continued with training, and would have passed except for their involvement in ‘giggle night’ (more on that in a minute). The other guy got caught by the Marines – the field between us an the airport was the Marines boot camp. He came back in 2 weeks, but he wouldn’t stop crying and they sent him home.

One guy wouldn’t stop masturbating, and someone from the outside kept sending him porn, more and more cleverly secreted in packaging. He wasn’t just masturbating, he was flagrant about it – and when confronted would blatantly say “hang on, I’m almost done.” He left too, I’m not sure whether to home or psych.

Another one refused to shoot during rifle training, eventually convincing them he was a conscientious objector and leaving that way. He’d joined the Navy so he wouldn’t have to shoot anyone, but he’d been classified as a Fire Control technician. He thought that meant Fireman, until he got to boot camp.

Several guys left for medical reasons, sleepwalking, peeing the bed, and a few injuries. One guy got blisters so bad from walking that I don’t think he ever marched with us, but he graduated anyway, somehow.

One guy got caught stealing, and when they searched his ‘B’ drawer (the only locked personal space one could have) they also found a big bag of pot. Drug and other criminal cases, they locked you up, then discharged you after your sentence.

One of the guys bought 200 hits of acid off of a cook in the mess hall, resulting in ‘giggle night’, when a few dozen guys were tripping their asses off, and couldn’t sleep. Very weird night. They all got rounded up just before graduation and sent off somewhere.

44

In 1969, I went through Marine Corp boot camp and I really didn’t see any easy way of getting discharged or just leaving although I’m sure some managed. If you couldn’t make it through basic training they would put you in what I think they called the motivation platoon. This was usually for the overweight guys and screwups.

Back then, being hit or kicked by the D.I.'s was not uncommon. I was a house mouse so I spent time cleaning up the D.I.'s quanset hut and once saw 3 guys having to stand at attention while one D.I. walked up and down in front of them hitting them in the solar plexus screaming at them to stand at attention.

From what I understood, the motivation platoon was ten times worse.

No one wanted to go there so everyone kept their mouths shut

45

Blisters were a normal part of Army basic training. When I went through it at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri (“Ft. Lost in the Woods, Misery”), we were always asked if we had blisters prior to marching. Then you got to stay back and do stupid landscape work. I think most of us had blisters, but lied about it. Bad thing in retrospect, but they did try to protect us. Me? The pain hardened me. I ways always the first one back on “time trial” marches throughout my whole career (usually 10 miles, sometimes more), and always came back with blisters if they made us wear boots (incredibly, about half the time, we did it in our running shoes!). It made me feel good to consistently be first, because I was always a crappy runner who ran only as fast as required to pass my P.T. test. Usually the only people behind me were the old guys who didn’t have to do it as fast.

46

At Lackland AFB (the base single-handedly responsible for permanently jading many new Airmen upon their first visit to the great state of Texas) if you get blisters, they send you to Sick Call to get a Blister Pack, basically a ziplock bag with moleskin, ointment, and I think maybe some bandaids or tape, along with printed instructions on how to use it. I suppose it’s possible to get blisters bad enough for a marching/running waiver or an ELS/Medical Discharge, but I’d never heard of it happening.

47

That might be good. I am thinking that the character could spend most his time arguing with everyone that they weren’t doing things correctly. He gets his information from comic books, action movies and other reliable sources of information. He spends the remaining time whining about how he doesn’t want to do PT, etc. He basically thinks of himself as Rambo, but is soon pegged as a flake by most people. After getting kicked out of the army, he brags to anyone who will listen that he was in the Delta Force or the Green Berets or some other elite unit but was kicked out because he was too good and became an embarrassment.

He knows better than to mention his army career (about ten days long) on his application for a warehouse security guard and so gets the job.

My next problem is to figure out how his background shaped his personality. I was searching under narcissistic personality disorder for example backgrounds but I mostly turned up DSM-IV descriptions of the disorder.

Thanks for all your help,
Rob

48

Have you tried searching something like <narcissism case histories>? (Putting “case histories” in quotes narrows things down considerably.) Looks like you might find a few things of interest that way.

Alas, the only card-carrying narcissists I can think of who have gotten a lot of ink (besides the usual Hollywood suspects) are a gal named Marguerite Oswald and her youngest boy, Lee Harvey. Though I doubt you’re interested in that sort of a plot twist. . . .

49

Basic Training at Fort Sill Oklahoma - 1980’s -

There were a few guys (IIRC three or four) who boloed in basic marksmanship. They were looking to get out and may have found their way. They still had to go through all the PT and marches and while we were training they were engaged in engineer details (landscape enhancements). After graduation on the bus ride out I passed by them. They still hadn’t been discharged.

On the bus i sat next to a fellow who was discharged because he was illiterate. He claimed that he could read and write but he wasn’t fooling me.

Hope that helps.

50

Slightly off topic I heard about a Royal Navy sailor who tried to "work his ticket by claiming to suffer from incredible sea sickness,in a way it worked as he was given a discharge from the R.N. but totally illegally they made him sign the enlistment papers for the R.A.F. before they gave him his discharge.
In the Brit Army nowadays it seems that their are a fair amount of recruits who cant hack it but dont want to go home and tell the folks that they quit so they keep fucking up in training hoping that the Army will tell them to leave but the Army wont do this so they keep getting backsquadded again and again until they eventually end up being hidden with the sickies as though they were injured.

Just fucking QUIT for fucks sake you useless shower of shit and stop wasting the Armys time and the taxpayers money.

I’m getting grumpy,time for my afternoon nap.

51

Just as an aside, how about this to avoid the military?

52

BTW, this character isn’t really trying to get thrown out and he really loves to talk the talk. He just can’t walk the walk, so he gets kicked out almost immediately.

Thanks,
Rob