I remember tons of grunts getting busted down to Private for DUIs and drug use before they were adversely discharged from service... after deploying to Iraq first. I’m not certain NSW follows the same policy. In fact in may be the opposite.
Low Recruit Discipline Prompts Army to Redesign Basic Training
- Thread starter Dame
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The times changed. I got to my first Infantry unit in March 2007 and it was a shit show. We had guys pissing hot for coke, weed, going AWOL, banging each others' wives, etc. They took their chances and paid their dues and carried on after their 45/45. Only the jail rats were chaptered out. 2009/10 rolls around, and if you so much as failed a PT test twice, you were gone. IMO, the old Army ways died during those years.
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Do you think it's because at that time the Army needed everyone because of the war?
I can remember platoons showing up drunk for morning PT on a near constant basis and Nlnobody batting an eye. 1st Sgts telling guys to make sure they wrap it before they tap a married woman whose husband's may or may not be deployed (followed by if you see me in any of the pictures you've found the wrong house). My last five months were spent on a near constant recall every weekend for drug tests because it was such a bad problem throughout our batallion. Only one guy got booted, and that was after finding several pounds of weed in his wall locker. We too had guys going UA getting 45/45 at most. One did it multiple times before they finally shoved him off somewhere else pending his dishonorable discharge. We had Docs giving classes to guys on how to use steriods and which ones are testable. Company level fights in the chapels between barracks on the weekends and nothing being done about it. Marines missing movements in foreign countries because they were still partying and received only 15/15. Air soft battles in the barracks. Paying off Gunny during room inspections by leaving Play Boys or any other type magazine on your rack for him to grab. I could probably keep going. All this during the height of Afghanistan and Iraq.
I won't derail this thread any longer, but my examples plus nearly every other problem in the military like this starts with shitty leadership. It is one of the primary reasons I did my 4 and got out.
That’s unfortunate. I suppose it’s unit dependent.
We had a bunch of guys get chaptered for pissing hot in my company. Weed, meth and exstasy were popular then. A lot of new guys from the mortar and scout platoon got booted after one bad UA, whereas right after deployment there was 13 guys in the company "pretty sure" they pissed hot, and nothing happened. These things go in cycles and are leadership dependent.
I'm very disappointed to read this. Not because I'm surprised...but because I was hoping things had changed. In my day, it was racial tension and drugs in the squadbay. The MPs would bring dogs in to sweep the barracks from time to time. The more things change, the more they stay the same. But we're discussing young men, some post-combat, bored with garrison, who train hard and party hard. I suppose some of it is inevitable.
I think shitty leadership is one of the problems...but I'd blame too much down time and boredom as well. You got to keep young trigger-pullers motivated and busy. Raking pine needles every day in the company area, field-daying barracks for inspections, doing bullshit every day just drives you crazy. Spend some money, let them shoot, blow things up, ride in helos/Ospreys, amtracs, APCs...if you can't keep infantry troops busy they will stagnate.
^Hell yeah! At first I thought you were going to say give them more details LOL
It's like the military has no budget for training. It all goes to gear and tech a lot of which isn't all that useful. Give me a couple hundred rounds a month and a short land nav course. I would have never left...
It's like the military has no budget for training. It all goes to gear and tech a lot of which isn't all that useful. Give me a couple hundred rounds a month and a short land nav course. I would have never left...
It was a pretty distinct time between 05 and 08, where the clowns were let in the door... I will say any man can be made to toe the line for awhile, but their character will always shine through. That said, their was a notable lower standard of training, skill and discipline in that era... regardless of recruitment and or training, or even unit standards... shitty people are shitty people. I know I took a kid behind a conex 08-09'ish, he sent me a email when he made SGT thanking me for that come to Jesus. I was proud to know he stuck with it...
D
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I think the change in the Army- going from tormentors to mentors in training- is a good idea. I will always believe that there is a time and place for an old school smoking. Not corrective training, real “sweet Jesus I may not live” smokings. I would still be a college educated grounds keeper if it wasn’t for that type of “event.”
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Since you are not yet in the military, there is not much you can contribute to this thread.
If your brother wants to join the site and get vetted, he is more than welcome to share his own personal stories.
Edit:
Stop skipping around the chain links in command.
Train leaders to be leaders
Help instill some comradarie
Be accountable and hold people accountable
And please show the hell up on time once in a while, maybe.. please?
Stop skipping around the chain links in command.
Train leaders to be leaders
Help instill some comradarie
Be accountable and hold people accountable
And please show the hell up on time once in a while, maybe.. please?
How long have the safety glasses been standard? I have noticed that the Canadian armed forces always wear them. (I live in Canada).
I am pretty sure we did not wear them in basic training, even on the range, and that was 2008.
I am pretty sure we did not wear them in basic training, even on the range, and that was 2008.
Yeah, I'm not sure on basic training, but they became the standard around 03-04 in Iraq.
I've met at least one soldier who has sight in one eye because of his eye pro. While I'm not a huge fan of trying to "turtle" our guys into safety...eye pro is a no brainer. Want to discuss the merits of side plates? I get it. Eye pro? You lose me there.
D
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The last NCOIC of SURT was a huge stickler about eye pro. He had good reason- he has scarring all over his face from a hatton round shattering a surprisingly tough bolt on a door. If he didn’t have his eye pro on he would have been blind. Couple that story with my first tab, Andy, who had his eye almost blown out right before I showed up when he took his eyes off due to them fogging up while he cleared his saw and a round cooked off 10 inches from his face. 90 days of con leave and two suregeries later he kept the eye but still.... eye pro all the way.
I have to get permission from him to post here, but I've got pictures of my PSG after he was blown up by a 300lbs VBIED, burns and shrapnel all over his face and body. Kept both eyes, although one did take damage. He was wearing his eye pro and took a direct hit, as in about 10m away, rolled the engine block off his chest, direct hit.
Eye pro can be a pain in the ass at times, but it's a must and anyone not wanting to wear it is a damn fool.
Eye pro can be a pain in the ass at times, but it's a must and anyone not wanting to wear it is a damn fool.
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