Posted on 08/23/2021 5:56:03 PM PDT by Apparatchik
Good catch.
“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.”
I had an uncle who was drafted for Korea. Like most people he had a tough time at first. He hated being ordered around. He shaped up and made it out of basic hating the DI’s.
He went to the 101st Airborne and hated the jump instructors.
He was one of the few from the 101st to actually go to Korea. He was a LRRPer and forward spotter for artillery.
He said by the time the shooting was over he was blessing every officer and non-com that had trained him.
They had conditioned him to act in an instant which saved his life several times. He never had to think about things. Such things as cleaning his rifle and keeping his gear in shape were ingrained habits, done without thinking.
Everyone knew he was tough before he was drafted. The army taught him discipline and focus.
That is missing today.
Todays soldier is soft by comparison to the old breed. Nothing more than jumped up SJW types in uniform.
There are still a bunch of hard men, and a few hard women, but they are the exception today. They aren’t wanted in the modern woke military.
I look to see more and more of them turned out to make room for the new breed of glassy eyed button pushers.
Generals George Patton, Walton “Johnny” Walker and Hal Moore are weeping in their graves.
There's a story about a Prussian major getting chewed out by a general for making what amounted to a suicide attack against a certain hill during the Seven Years War. The intention had been to have him attack a different hill, but the order had been drafted incorrectly. As the the General berated him for making what was obviously a suicidal attack, the major defending himself by saying "But general, I was just following the order I had been given", to which the general replied "the Emperor made you a major so you would know when NOT to obey an order."
Of course, the trick is that if you decide to disobery an order, you better be damn sure you're right.
1st Armored Division NCO Academy Nurnberg, GE 1989. I Never touched my underwear and socks display. I kept clean underwear and socks in a plastic PX bag inside my laundry bag.
I ended up winning the commandant’s inspection award, although it was partially as a Consolation prize. Commandant’s list cutoff score was 93% for my class and I had a 92.5% Any other cycle that year I would have made the list.
When I went to Air Force OTS in the 1980’s, it was already a corrupt place full of cheats and short cuts for the chosen.
I will tell you, when that photo came out, it rocked me to the core in a bad way.
I couldn’t believe-just could not believe people like this were not only tolerated, but even celebrated by some.
When I was in the USN, I remember someone had written “B.O.C.” on the door of a crapper in the head on the ship. A lot of young guys in the day knew that meant
Blue Oyster Cult...
But some graffitti wag later wrote vertically under the letters “Brothers of Communism” which I thought was funny, because I knew there were no communists, but it was some guy who knew it would push a button somewhere.
It did, and we had mandatory department level meetings all over the ship to talk about subversive things...
Watching the Army Navy game is a rude awakening to see what the academies are producing. Political correctness is the name of the game, not the best qualified. God help us if we ever get into WW 3. The military leadership is loaded with incompetent wannabes.
But while the overall discipline remains, the same emphasis is not placed on those incredibly mundane tasks once you are out of boot camp. The enforcement of rigid boot camp standards of perfection doesn't, and shouldn't, persist after boot camp except for special occasions because it would be a waste of time and effort better spent on doing your job.
If anyone wants to claim that they upheld formal CG-level inspection standards for all their equipment, clothing, and quarters every single day of duty, I'd call them a liar to their face.
Yep. There are consequences for disobeying orders. My point is the bed making has a purpose. It teaches the boot discipline. And they can say they actually accomplished something that day.
No. I’m a vet daughter/wife/mother.
“The military leadership is loaded with incompetent wannabes.”
When I was at Travis headed overseas for the first time, there was a Master Chief holding court for us youngsters. First man I ever saw that had the third award of the National Defense Service Medal: he had served in war II, Korea, and Vietnam.
One thing he told us was that the Navy went to shit every time peace broke out. The backstabbing office politicians crawled out from under their rocks, weaseled their way to the top, and ran the warriors out.
Then, when another war came along, they had to get rid of those guys and bring the warriors back.
I just hope we have that kind of time.
What an anti-military attack on some of our finest young people.
This is not cheating, it's a shortcut for young folks who accomplish more in a day than many can do in a month. The bed making thing has been going on for, one suspects, over a century.
Some things to keep in mind, every time you watch an academy football team, know that they all have passed, or will pass chemistry, physics, calculus, and a host of other difficult courses. They get four years to complete their degrees, and they owe a minimum of 5 years in uniform post graduation. If they want to save a few precious minutes by not making their beds, good on 'em.
As a comparison, wayyy back in the 60s, when I was in USAF Basic Training, we quickly learned to sleep on top of our bunks, using only the wool dust cover as a blanket. AM bed making was done in about a third of the time. And, every morning, the entire flight would shave with a few dedicated (and dirty) safety razors, keeping the ones in our footlockers in perfect inspection order. (hopefully not done today.)
We learned other tricks that would help us adapt to an impossible schedule. Good training. Among other things, we learned that we could do much in a shorter time than imagined, and there is some confidence to be gained by very young folks in need of confidence building.
I think some other people have answered your question in this thread. But no, very often you have to go along with the nonsense. It’s still good to be able to tell the difference.
If you don’t think the Left has infiltrated the military already, I’ve got Swampland in Florida to sell you.
Spencer Rapone. It took awhile, but eventually Mattis booted the communist “officer” out of the military.
He was stupid enough to reveal himself. Many others have gone stealth....live Yevgraf Zhivago...
"In bourgeois terms, it was a war between the Allies and Germany. In Bolshevik terms, it was a war between the Allied and German upper classes - and which of them won was of total indifference. My task was to organize defeat, so as to hasten the onset of revolution. I enlisted under the name of Petrov. The party looked to the peasant conscript soldiers - many of whom were wearing their first real pair of boots. When the boots had worn out, they'd be ready to listen. When the time came, I was able to take three whole battalions out of the front lines with me - the best day's work I ever did. But for now, there was nothing to be done. There were too many volunteers. Most of it was mere hysteria."
Exactly.
It’s about teamwork. Two people make two beds. The hospital corners are easier with two people. Use your 1/2 yardstick for the measurements and a hanger to help fold the corners to really make it tight. If you really need to make beds fast, use a team of four for each group of four beds.
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