Posted on 08/23/2021 5:56:03 PM PDT by Apparatchik
You took the words right out of my mouth.
Maroon and Gold wool blankets. Kind of scratchy.
“The moment the “hack” was found out”
It’s probably been going on since the day after tape was invented.
Corfam shoes were originally regarded as cheating, too.
My younger son was with Marine Presidential Security Forces for a couple years and was stationed at 8th and I barracks in DC. Their rooms were subject to regular inspection, but there was one temporary clothes enclosure which everyone decided was off limits. It was about the size of the small shower in an RV. The inspection included checking the underside of drawers for dust.
Same thing when I was in the corporate world. They spent more time developing excuses for not getting the work done, than getting the work done.
That’s right - any nincompoop can blindly follow every order given. I ignored dozens over 25 years on active duty, because I was paid to think.
You are so tired you could sleep anywhere! Besides, in south Texas (Lackland AFB) during the summer the floor was cooler.
“Future leaders who will duct tape problems under the rug until we cease to exist as a Country. They’re doing it now. All the way to the frickin top”
In the military, it is important to distinguish between that which is important, and that which is meaningless chickenshit invented by some Chad with an 80 IQ.
Keeping the gear up and running: important.
Repainting a berthing compartment while in a combat zone: meaningless chickenshit.
I’m confused, obviously. So when a higher up orders you to do something, you get to decide if it’s meaningful or chickenshit and act accordingly. ?
Back in ROTC, if you tried to not make the bed every day, your instructor yanked the sheets out. Usually in the morning as everyone is getting up they’d look in the rooms and yank any sheets that looked too perfect for waking up in. God help you if they caught you sleeping on top of the bed.
My Dad didn’t do much to prepare me for Basic Training.
He did tell me to make my bunk tight because the Captain would come to inspect and would bounce a silver dollar on the bed. It would have to bounce up a certain number of inches.
I told him that was the old Army and surely they didn’t do that any more.
I was the acting Squad Leader for our first inspection.
The Captain walked into the barracks flipping a silver dollar.
He flipped that silver dollar onto my bunk.
It hit and just laid there.
I’d read about people going crazy. I watched that movie about Jekyll and Hyde.
First time I’d ever seen someone go crazy in real life.
My bunk flew like it was an Air Force bunk.
I took the first of many ass chewings.
He was a master of ass chewings.
My Dad really laughed when I told him about my bunk.
Rapinoe. Rapone. Gee, one might think there was some connection of some kind.
The larger issue is that the cadets and the cadre both saw the beds looking sharp as the objective. The point of hospital corners is the demonstration of following directions, getting into a military mindset where the individual is not the center of an individual's universe, adherence to routine, and attention to detail. There are many ways you can accomplish it, and cleanliness doesn't even have to be a part of it, but taping comforters and letting taped corners continue after the word has gotten out, is a huge miss of the purpose.
There was a saying going around the Marines and later the Army when they switched to suede boots instead of polished leather: take the shine off the boot and you might just take the shine off the Marine/Soldier. That was also dumb thinking, but at least it understood there was more to clean shine and iron than having shiny things.
Keep telling stories about your buddy. Keep his name alive and he'll live with you.
Like so many things in the military, a good idea was taken too far.
A tight bunk was initially important for a good reason. It probably made a lot of sense at one time. Maybe it was used to teach the importance of attention to detail.
I served during the black boot Army.
Shiny boots were very important.
The reason shiny boots were important was because the leather polish contained chemicals to help waterproof the boot and preserve it.
Boots are really important to the Infantry.
Checking for shiny boots was a quick way to make sure Soldiers were taking care of their boots and their feet.
It started as a good idea.
Then, it went too far.
Soldiers were judged by their boots.
The shiniest boots would show the best Soldier.
Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.
Soldiers were painting this compound on their boots and then baking them.
They would crack when they were actually used.
That meant that Soldier didn’t have a spare pair of serviceable boots.
It went too far.
I heard a podcast interview a former Special Forces soldier. He said that as a junior enlisted man in Germany, in the 1970s, the entire squad (platoon?) kept their rooms inspection ready at ALL times by the simple expedient of sleeping in cots set up at night in nearby spaces. The starched-board-hard uniforms and spit shined boots were never worn, but left on display in their rooms. They kept a couple of changes of uniforms and their every day boots with their cots.
Bingo. Ours were OD green. Everything in the army was.........green. And comfort was your own personal problem. Don’t like sleeping under a Brillo pad? Then freeze.
Bingo!
The point isn’t to prove you’re capable of making a perfect bed. It’s to prove the 20th time you do a rote task you’ll keep an eye out for every minor detail. It’s a mental conditioning task.
If someone can’t make a bed with hospital corners they should doubt their intelligence. I never thought of not sleeping in the bed and making it in a few minutes in the morning.
> That isn’t ingenuity, that’s laziness and corruption.
Yep, do they think they’ll be able to do the same thing for every battle and the enemy won’t find out? That’s the underlying purpose of the entire exercise.
You a vet?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.