Tips for Successfully Completing Boot Camp
artofmanliness.com
artofmanliness.com
Having personally been through boot camp, and situations after that that made boot camp look like a day at the beach, let me provide some "amendments" to this nonsense.
First, some perspective: Nothing you can do in civilian life is applicable to the "challenges" of combat, and therefore the experience of boot camp that is designed to prepare you combat. I'll make an exception for people fighting terminal diseases themselves, or helping their young child fight. Aside from that, recognized that your current challenge is not really compatible.
That said, here is what you can truly learn from military training:
1. It can always, always, get worse. Way worse Appreciate the benefits of where you are at all times, and dwell on that, not on how shitty your situation is.
2. Follow fucking instructions. If you do not understand the instructions, ask for them to be clarified. Repeat until you do understand, regardless of how uncomfortable this is. Do not do something you don't properly understand. (Note: if you do this a lot, either you or your boss probably sucks at their job. Odds are it is you. Find a new job.)
3. Make sure your buddy is okay, even before you are okay. If everyone spends more time looking out for their buddies than they do looking out for themselves, everyone is actually stronger than any individual can be. You are as strong as the weakest member of the team.
4. Your mind will want to quit way before your body needs to. Ignore it.
5. That guy with all those stripes on his arm? He's been doing this shit forever. He's not perfect, but he knows a ton more than you do. Odds are he can help you if you listen to him, and ask him questions.
6. Smile. Bootcamp is often motherfucking funny, and no matter how bad it is, nobody is trying to actually kill you.
I'd also add 7) Learn how to fight without holding back reserves. Fight with everything.
Good lesson for life too. Be slow to anger and strike, but when you do, make sure nobody is getting up.
I would personally add: 1b) No matter how bad the situation, chances are that you and your comrades will crack jokes about it within 3 months. (Probably doesn't always apply, but certainly in regards to bootcamp/exercise)
I think Army is one for every 3 years of service.
Commonwealth Armies use chevrons, or "stripes" to the layman. Americans (except the USAF/Navy, for some reason) flip those upside down to be different. Other armies use different things, but basically, more == higher.
Of course we also have crowns up here in Canada just to confuse new recruits. :-)
This one is really important during the tear-gas part. I remember mistaking something the drill gestured (probably clear your masks) as remove masks and I got a bit extra. It was a very effective sinus clearing!
You'd be surprised how many people don't.
This is also drilled to paramedics/policemen/firemen over here. First make sure you are well and safe, only then move to help your victims/colleagues.
Of course it's not completely without applying your brainpower. Putting on your gas mask is done exactly as you describe - you first. Maintaining your fighting effectiveness is often the best way to help your unit out.
But there are many times in combat where soldiers do things completely without self regard solely for the betterment of their friends. Read a few MOH or VC citations for examples of why this attitude is so prized.
Of course, since the only battlefield I have been was a paintball one, I do understand and respect your experience and advice.
example :
5. Don’t be a “grab-ass.”
Story - guy hits another in line with his helmet (grab-ass), the DI saw this and made them continuously hit each other and it was a funny sight for the rest of the men.
"Life Lesson" - Life lesson for today: Discern when to use humor on the job. Even if you’re just standing in line, apply yourself to the task and maintain your focus.
Resolution : If you can get away with being humorous, do it. If you get caught, you didn't discern the right time to use humor on the job, and thus were being an unfocused grab-ass.
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I'd say a better life lesson here is to take responsibility for your actions and never act without understanding potential consequences. The soldier that originally started the helmet hitting should have taken the heat solely for starting the ordeal.
Not how it works. In battle, one man's screwup can get the whole team killed. So it's up to the whole team to stop that one man from screwing up. Everybody works as a unit.
Another thing about the military that people don't understand is just how wide of backgrounds that recruits and conscripts come from. There's smart people in the military, and there's very very dumb ones. The military can't turn dumb soldiers into smart ones, but they can make procedures so simple that even the dumb ones can follow it. This combined with the first dynamic explains why the military seems as crappy and backwards in its training as it is.
"Life lesson for today: Approach your training with humility, a willingness to follow directives, and an immediate respect for your leaders. One day when you’re in charge, you can do things your way. Until then, do things their way."
I didn't really like that life lesson. Since I'm only 24 I might be too young to appreciate this lesson. However, I feel that following directions from anyone should always be followed carefully. Remembering three things:
1. The person who is giving you directions probably has a lot of experience and knows what he/she is talking about.
2. It's still just a person. A fallible one. And limited by their own knowledge and skill.
3. Failing is actually a good thing. And you will appreciate and understand your teachers point of view if you fail in the manner she/he is trying to avoid.
EDIT: Finished reading the article and mostly didn't like it. Most of the article is about not thinking for yourself and just doing what everyone else is doing/saying/telling you until you are 60 and can make everyone do what you want. All this might be a great approach to achieving a high rank in the military or in a rigid corporation. However it seems really dull and boring, and I strive to fight this kind of attitude since it will solve none of the bigger problems in society.
Also, respect is earned, it is not given away or it is meaningless. A person in a leadership has to earn respect, and he has to earn it from everyone. Simply giving it to them because they are in a leadership position means nothing.
There's a reason, why it is useful to have disciplined soldiers - it saves lives on the battlefield.
That's not to say, that you want drones. It just helps the group (not each individual soldier) if - at times - everyone just does what he/she is told to do.
Sure we do--remote-operated variety, please. ;)
Increasingly, wars are won by geeks who think independently and subvert conventional authority. That was almost as true in WWII as it is today, arguably all the way back to ancient Greece.
If you find yourself in a situation where (as run4yourlives put it) you're the guy who has to man a machine gun to cover your company's retreat, you are indeed a victim: not of the enemy's actions, but of your own leadership's incompetence -- or worse, treason. You have made a monstrous mistake, one that you will have had many opportunities to avoid.
It's interesting to read this article back-to-back with this one: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21768668
War is a racket. Avoid wars, if possible. If you can't avoid them, don't be cannon fodder, and resist anyone's attempt to treat you that way. This policy scales remarkably well.
Pity this article has such poor examples. Like the guys who hit each other with their helmets, or the one with the ice cream on his head.
You aren't supposed to live every day like you are in combat. The body can only take so much stress. This isn't even done in the Army/Marines.
However, when the shit hits the fan, your advice will do nothing but get you, and more importantly, the people relying on you, killed.
The reason you do not analyze/question orders is multi-fold, and includes:
1. You are in a poorer position than the person giving the order to understand the overall situation. (Note, this is also why western armies tend to push responsibility down to battlefield commanders where possible.)
2. Acting decisively with speed and momentum is more important than making the "correct" move.
3. (Poorly understood by civilians) Your life continuing may not be part of the objective of "success". In essence - sometimes leaders need to sacrifice good people in order to ensure the survival of the group, or the completion of an important objective that ensures the larger group is not defeated. For example: you may encounter a significant force that you need to withdraw from. This withdraw may be impossible unless someone with a machine gun covers it from a high point. Recovering this person following the withdrawal may be difficult or need impossible. You might happen to be that person. While this sucks for you, your inaction will result in 30 people dying instead of just 1-2. That's the call combat leaders make. Nothing in civilian life compares.
I still find the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq so odd, why would anyone sign up to go fight over there? By now more people must have died in Iraq than being killed by Iraqis in the US.
No. Business is not the military, and they are not that similar. In business, money is how we keep score. In war, death is how we keep score. Failing is a deadly mistake in war.
Oh, and humility never hurts, even if you're not good enough to be humble ;)
Working for a start up can be hard, and there will be some difficult tasks that just have to be handled. Something like Marine boot camp helps you put the tough problems into perspective.
...and yes there is nothing more pointless than arguing with a drill instructor.
Congratulations on winning the birthplace lottery, btw.
So any website that references a distinct sex is sexist?
The site could just as well be called "Hey guys! Here's how not to be an asshole and perpetuate the typical male stereotype." But that's a really long URL to type.