The pussification of the Army drill sergeant
It’s not just the Marines that are phasing out all that mean language, now the Army’s in on the game of being nice to recruits. We wouldn’t want them to learn that the world outside is harsh and unforgiving.
Military.com has the story;
Army drill sergeants who model themselves on R. Lee Ermey’s ruthless Marine Corps drill instructor in “Full Metal Jacket” are on their way out the door.
Those noncommissioned officers have for generations been a new recruit’s first real introduction to the Army, and they have famously been known to scream, curse and physically punish trainees. But Army planners are hoping that instead of the stereotypical screaming drill sergeants in round brown hats, the new crop of NCOs will act more like strict football coaches.
“They’re not trying to make the walls sweat, they’re not throwing trash cans,” Command Sgt. Maj. Scott Beeson, the top enlisted leader at the Army’s Center for Initial Military Training, or CIMT, told Military.com in an interview earlier this month during the Association of the United States Army conference in Washington, D.C. “All that stuff is slowly going away.”
The shift follows substantial changes in the Army’s physical training. While recruits may have to endure less screaming at boot camp, the new training has effectively made the fitness and marksmanship requirements for recruits more demanding.
The loud and brutal drill sergeant was seen as a way to toughen up fresh recruits and prepare them for the harsh realities of war, from the jungles of Vietnam to the post-9/11 battlefields in Afghanistan and Iraq. But that thinking is changing, and many in the service believe a less harsh approach may actually be more effective with recruits.
“The naysayers who we were initially fighting against didn’t believe this new way of doing things,” Beeson said. “Gentler isn’t the right way to say it; it’s just dignity and respect. People desire structure, and we’re trying to give it to them. We’re just not being assholes when we’re doing it.”
Ah yes, we have to show the useless, weak-willed pond scum that is a fresh E-1 from the street respect. Respect is earned CSM Beeson. Fuck your feelings.
So glad I’ve ETS’d.
First they get rid of shark attack, now this…
Knife hands are now “hate speech”.
And probably racist.
We tried this betweeen WW2 and Korea; it’s part of what led to TF Smith.
“You get a Binky and a Blanky, you get a Binky and a Blanky, everybody gets Binkys and Blankys. A Camp Fire, with S’mores, and the singing of Koombaya will be held just before lights out. The Cadre Room is your Safe Space.”
Think I’ll curl up in my DD-214 Blanky and take a nap.
Was going to mention the Koombaya but it’s already in so how about the Troops singing Sara Sponda Sara Sponda Ret Set Set around the campfire. Was thinking of going into the wood dowel business and sell the Army 12 inch wood dowels that can be banged together while sitting around the campfire. How many of you remember the song. from the 1950’s. Hot Rod Greasers need not reply.
Beeson looks old. Like really old.
And another thing, by the looks of him I find it hard to believe he buys into this nonsense.
Hoes be f**king for a buck, getting strange for some change, will holler for a dollar.
I’m not saying this has anything to do with money but it 100% because of money.
The guy’s got TWO mustard stains on his master blaster wings and two CIBs. You’d think he’d value a little harsh language.
Next up, the US Army asks enemies to fire water pistols, not real guns, because bullets might be seen as lacking dignity and respect.
Business Insider in on it about how well this deters our enemies, by golly:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/minutes-hours-nuclear-bomb-critical-181019914.html
Every time I think the Army can’t fail anymore, they go ahead and prove me wrong.
The inability to ‘shake hands’ with extreme stress, stare it right in the eye, and threaten to dork it right in the squeakhole is to the detriment of national security via subversion of the Army Values:
-Loyalty
-Duty
-Respect*
-Selfless Service
-Honor
-Integrity
-Personal Courage
*”Treat people as they should be treated” should not be misconstrued to mean ‘a lack of strengthening’. Love sometimes is ‘tough love’.
The DI screams “Get your head out of your *ss!” so ya don’t get killed later. Just sayin’.
You make training as hard as possible to weed out those who will fold, or worse, get their mates killed, in actual combat. Pretty sure there is no equivalent to ‘feewings’ in Russian or Mandarin.
Are you saying they’d kick “Emma has two moms’s” face in?
How dare you?!
Yeah, but hows that working out for them lately?
We’re about to see. Big things a’happening in that AO.
Considering the tit for tat and the surge, it’s about to get really ugly.
At some point a bigger man needs to vie for peace and end this immoral conflagration.
TF Smith 2.0 comin’ up…
Meanie! 🙁
I like the ad, but considering how well they’ve done in Ukraine this might be a bit of bullshit.
Well, the war-war might be on now.
Let’s hold judgement until after the assault on Kherson.
The Army tried that nonsense between WWII and Korea. They wanted to make the young soldiers’ lives less stressful. With the result, along with almost no money for training, that most of the young draftees sent to Korea for the first three months of that war got wasted, or captured. or both. Failed miserably.
They should just do what the Russians are doing. Tell then to grab their shit and get on the bus to the Ukraine. No training needed.
If Russkies can drink, they can go into combat… Germans only killed ’em at a 4:1 ratio, that’s all.
Their leadership ain’t gettin’ any better either:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/russias-military-leadership-only-become-152113135.html
Unfortunately, a 4:1 kill ratio doesn’t mean much when you’re outnumbered 10:1.
That’s how they roll.
Saw on another site (with a Ukraine forum) the conscripts are issued helmets that look a LOT like the former East German military helmets. Also a video where they were instructed to use feminine hygiene products, which they are told to find themselves, to stop bleeding on injuries.
Old gear from WWII:
In their defense the US was pushing that stupid shit for a while too.
I mean, if a Drill Sergeant yells too loud, it might scare the recruit. If a recruit gets scared, then they can’t train.
I wonder how these pusillanimous privates will react in combat when there are more loud noises than just one guy in a scary brown hat yelling at them.
Dude, kids get PTSD from havin’ to think these days.
I remember basic back in 72 when the Drill Sergeants carried big walking sticks as “attention getting devices”.
I remember the night infiltration course. The drill sergeants were carrying cleaning rods, which I thought was odd. After the machine guns started firing they began the liberal application of the motivation rods to the thighs and buttocks of those less motivated to complete the course.
What I found interesting from the article is that the Army has established a 90-day pre basic training Fat Bodies /English-for-Dummies course to lose weight/improve ASVAB scores.
My one question is this: If those enrollees don’t show improvement and are administratively separated prior to reporting for basic training, do they get an NDSM and an Army Service Ribbon?
Inquiring minds want to know./s
Project 100,000 redux?
Project 100,000 calories.
Especially for some:
For the Love of God push him back into the Ocean.
That has to be 2 web belts to go all the way around Pvt. Super Snickers.
An Army of Wuss
Glad all my family members are out – Army and Navy.
Airborne Son is actively discouraging young men from even thinking about the military as a career.
Can’t say as I blame him.
Glad I’m on retirement leave. Not every Drill Sergeant is a foul mouthed in your face type, but we need them. I got sent to Sand Hill in my late 30s, and after my first pickup I decided I’d be the quiet, intimidating DS and let the 20-somethings do all the yelling. It worked, because when I got a little more animated the Privates knew they’d screwed up.
New Trainees need a harsh reminder of what they committed to and where they are, especially in today’s world of entitled teenagers. Basic shouldn’t be a place where Mommy’s Boy gets his hand held by Drill Sergeant Friendly. I’ve seen firsthand how disrespectful these kids are, even years ago. When they turned AIT Drill Sergeants into Platoon Sergeants I heard endless stories about PVTs not respecting their NCOs like they previously respected their DS’. The hat and the badge signify someone who is the epitome of professionalism, but can also tear apart your world. Even some regular NCOs admit apprehension being around a DS.
And because I like talking about “Drill Sergeant Giggles” (the guy in the pic was a meme for a while),, I served alongside him. He was the 2007 Fort Benning Drill Sergeant of the Year (DSOY), but he didn’t have many fans in The Old Guard (TOG). He’d served in Caisson Platoon IIRC before becoming a DS, then did at most one cycle before going to the School (this was just before all DS Schools were shut down and the DS Academy at Ft. Jackson opened). While a Drill Sergeant Leader he competed for and won the Benning DSOY. He came back to TOG in ’08, effectively avoiding deployment, though he did finally go to Afghanistan as a 1SG. To this day he lacks a CIB, which is a rarity for an Infantry SNCO.
He seemed squared away and was able to effectively help some Soldiers, but a 1SG I had later on told me “Giggles” had become persona non grata in TOG due to his attitude. Other TOG guys say the same. Then again, who am I to critique? He’s a CSM now and I’m a retiring SFC.
Our World Has Gone Insane…
Mental Issness Is A Terrible Disease.
Please Stop Giving These People Arrention.
“In one bizarre posting to TikTok, Dylan Mulvaney explains how ‘she’ had been carrying around a selection of feminine hygiene products despite not being capable of menstruating”.
“She”” calls “hers genitals a “Barbie Pouch”:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11322215/Ulta-beauty-faces-BOYCOTT-inviting-controversial-trans-influencer-Dylan-Mulvaney-podcast.html
Sick. Disgusting. Disturbing.
Please Vote In November
Jeezus Effin Christ. What the hell do they want the military to do? Nice the enemy to giving up? I hope to hell these “New Army” soldiers can pull the trigger when the shit hits the fan in some sandbox
My guess is this is a direct response to their inability to recruit the traditional candidates. Conservative, patriotic, strong, determined kids from flyover country want no part of a military that calls them white supremacists and domestic terrorists and insists that they play the woke game and pretend that biology doesn’t matter.
So, the powers that be have decided they need to appeal to the half-caf soy latte crowd that retreats to their safe space when someone speaks to them too harshly…hence the kindler, gentler drill instructor.
I wonder if they start changing some other things as well. Are the “General Orders” going to be changed to “General Suggestions” or “General Requests”?
So, no more pt’ing until their asses are sucking buttermilk?