Devildoc
Verified Military
No More Bread and Water: U.S. Navy Scraps an Age-Old Penalty
Never that unfortunate, but wish I had the option a time or two....
Never that unfortunate, but wish I had the option a time or two....
I think the effectiveness is not just short term but, long term as well.
You ask most people down the road who are staring promtion or reenistment in the face with negative paperwork and they might wish they had some sort of quick punishment like this.
They do mention this in the article, it does sometimes suck that leadership is quick to react with administive paperwork that winds up exacerbating the problem. You can bounce back from an NJP, it just means you have to work that much harder. I heard CCU was potentially rearing it’s head again... [GROUP=][/GROUP]
Being in the Army and not the Navy, I never put anyone on bread and water. But I think you can get just as much accomplished with a summarized Article 15 and some extra duty, and have something to show for it at the end, than you can with putting people on bread and water. Having this on the books is either representative of something antiquated and no longer used, in which case we don't need it, or it's multiple lawsuits waiting to happen, in which case we don't need it. So, either way, we don't need it. Put those Sailors on scraping barnacles or chipping paint or whatever the Navy equivalent of painting the rocks around the company area is, and put this punishment in the past where it belongs.
14 & 14 with some one on one supervised extra duty (not just a shit detail) with a squared away NCO, works wonders for straightening out a young problem child. Sometimes you have to just spend a few days one on one, explaining the bigger picture and how the game works.
That said, I wouldn't do well with one of my soldiers being put on a water and bread restriction. I would probably get my ass in trouble sneaking them food, I'm not about to demand discipline and their best performance, or else I'll starve you. That's counter productive to the bond I need to build, to get that kid to bound towards incoming gunfire, or go through a door.
A lot of times we forget, the kid is being yeld at all day, he is brand new doesn't know how the system works, first time away from home, being asked and forced to do things they don't want to, treated like a 5year old. It's only human nature to want to resist that, to be angry, or to go full retard anytime you have personal time. A little compassion and heart to heart can do wonders in that situation.
Of course there are also times where you just have to put your rank on the line and put a boot in someone ass. Some hard heads only learn through finding out who the alpha male really is. I've got no problem with that either... but I'd probably be going to prison if I was serving in today's Army.