Foxholes and Dogtags

The BCT Video

I got this video of my company during Basic Training, and unfortunately, it is in VHS. Meaning that in the last eight years, its deteriorated in quality, not that it is high quality anyway. The best part of the video is Shake Down because you see the Drill Sergeants in full Drill Sergeant mode and the privates are acting like, well, Privates.

The rest of the video is pretty much an incompetent cameraman capturing soldiers for five minutes straight shooting modified AT4s and yelling "Backblast Area Clear". WE got the point, thanks. We don't have to see every private in the company shoot the stupid thing, because unless you are firing a real AT4, it ain't that exciting.

The gas chamber is pretty good too. You get visuals of privates running screaming out of the gas chamber and throwing up. And the drill sergeants are all laughing. The Drill Sergeant comments are the best part.

They could have just done a video of my drill sergeants yelling at us and it would have been better then what they gave us.

It is a trip viewing it with a hat now, becuase I'm looking at it from the Drill Sergeant's point of view rather then the privates'.

I'm capturing it on my computer before i lose it, and I think I'll do an edit and get the good parts and cut the rest of the crap. And the good part is the gas chamber and all of the drill sergeants yelling.

All About Privates

I've always felt an inclination to post about one of my favorite types of soldiers in the army.

The Private.

Specifically, the Basic Training Private, the brand new recruit who has just joined the army and is hungry to find out as much information as they humanly can about the jobfield they have entered. They are hungry for knowledge, and they will absorb everything they can if you let them.

Of course, there is the Post Basic Training Private, which is an afflictions some privates achieve once they have completed Initial Entry Training (but some are effected as early as Advanced Individual Training), which means they are morons, but I digress, I will hit up on those in a minute.

First and foremost, I hate the name of the rank Private. I know its been around a long time and is a distinguished rank of a soldier newly enlisted in the armed forces, but maybe its humiliating nature is the purpose of it. Well, when speaking of Basic Training War Stories at random moments in a civilian population, you have to emphasize that you are talking about soldiers and not your own genitalia. More then once I started telling a story about my privates and I had to emphasize that I was not talking to my nether regions. I don't think I would have this problem if I was doing this gig full time. Maybe I should call them something else.

I guess I can now understand why Drill Sergeants come up with interesting terms to call Privates, like Puke, Crazy or Retard, because Soldier is generally reserved for a specific time in their training, kind of an initiation phase where they have accomplished a certain point where they have earned the title of Soldier. In Fort Leonard Wood this is generally after the Night Infiltration Course whereas in Fort Jackson its after Victory Forge. Privates get all excited about the time when their Drill Sergeant starts referring to them as a Soldier.

Eh, should be easier when I hit the trail this summer. I'll have to come up with something interesting to call them. Suitably downgrading and nothing the brass can know about. Privates like to be called Killer.

Anyway, the thing about Privates. There are obviously different kinds of Privates. In basic training you have all different kinds. You have the needy ones that want to get their drill sergeants attention and are always asking about something. You have to watch these ones, because if you let them, they will suck all your time from you as they rant about how they aren't getting a fair shake from their battle buddies, or their battle buddies are picking on them or they just don't get along with anybody.

Then you have the privates that want to impress you. They are always seeking to get your attention as they crave your praise. These don't generally show their faces until white phase, as they are generally to petrified through Red Phase.

You also have the privates who won't shut up. They are always getting into trouble because they don't know when to keep their trap shut. They are generally motivated with a lot of energy and absolutely zero discipline. They are generally really young and absolutely excited about being in the military.

There are also the privates who's goal in life is to get by from under the Drill Sergeant's Radar. Now, in Vietnam kick your ass no love from the Drill Sergeant military era, this is an admiral goal because if you can get through basic without the drill sergeant knowing who you were, well, that was something else. We don't have that kind of military anymore. I'll tell you about Drill Sergeant School, it was all about Acceptance, Understanding, Recognition and Appreciation. I don't think the military knew anything about that during the Draft Days. Now its all about their feelings (besides, technically you can't call a private anything but Private, Warrior, Soldier or their last name) so after Red Phase, its ok for the Drill Sergeant to know your name. The problem with these kinds of Privates is that they just scrape through basic achieving the standards but don't strive to excel because they might get noticed by that big bad Drill Sergeant (I'll tell you, I'm not that scary) which will make their life a living hell. This means they are going to be shammers throughout their military existence.

I'll tell you a little story about a Private I knew. She decided to go to Basic Training being the latter kind of private. Just do what she had to do so that the Drill Sergeants wouldn't know who she was. Turns out, she couldn't get through the first day as an anonymous face. It probably didn't help that she was the kind of private that couldn't keep her mouth shut, had zero discipline and was always getting in trouble. Well, after her first goal was whole heartily bashed into rubble, she spent the entirity of Red Phase getting smoked to the point that she was forced to get disciplined and kicked her motivation into gear so that she would be noticed for the right reasons.

This soldier was later chosen to be honor guard and was chosen for Promotion by her Drill Sergeants.

Yeah, that was me. Undisciplined, didn't know when to shut my trap, always smiling and giggling but hella motivated Private Erickson. I guess I wasn't the needy private, (drill sergeants hate those) but damn I wanted to do everything to impress my drill sergeants and gain their favor, even though I often times found myself compelled to fall asleep during one of their briefings.

So the motivated yet undisciplined Private is not a lost cause. If they can turn that motivation to their favor, they generally can excel. In fact, I think the motivated yet undisciplined private is my favorite kind. They are generally very willing, yet they just need you to smoke them a few times, get them pointed in the right direction, mentored and coached and they generally become outstanding soldiers. Of course, their battle buddies are generally pretty soar with them due to the mass punishment they force on everyone during Red Phase. Peer pressure is a great motivator.

Of course, then there is the unmotivated soldier who is fully capable of doing everything you ask of them, they just don't give a damn and basically have the attitude of F*** you. Drill Sergeants hate, I repeat HATE these kinds of privates. These are the privates you want to jump and perform a Rear Naked Choke upon.

Of course, you have to watch it because if the leadership is poor, any soldier can become this kind of soldier. I've been this kind of soldier because of lackluster leadership in the past. Of course, I was not quite a private, but being treated like a private when I had stripes made me a freakin' unwilling and able soldier that wanted to go postal. But a Basic Training Private shouldn't enter the service like this. It is the Drill Sergeant's job to make these soldiers willing.

Peer Pressure sometimes helps. If you can get the loyalty of your soldiers, they will help you with these little bastards and get them all on the same sheet of music.

There are other kinds of privates too, the older, more mature soldiers that often come in as Specialists and generally keep out of the radar because they are squared away and do everything they are supposed too. They often find themselves thrust in leadership positions. Drill Sergeants like these soldiers because you can count on them, and they provide mentorship to the younger, inexperienced and undisciplined privates.

These soldiers generally don't get affected with the Post Basic Training Irresponsible Private Disorder that I was telling you about earlier. So, let me tell you about when Privates get stupid.

A Private fresh out of IET is a freakin amazing thing. For one, they think they are the shiz because they are in the army. They like to wear their uniform in public and want everyone to know. They are uber motivated and are just excited about getting out into the world with a regular paying job. Most of these privates, especially the Singles right out of high school, have no concept of money management and spend all the money they earned in Basic Training buying expensive cars and a bunch of crap they don't need. These are also the soldiers that end up with massive debts. I have talked to a few soldiers who have been in the army and have some rank on them and are STILL paying for their misdeeds and stupid acts committed as Privates.

Stupid Privates.

Fortunately, as a Drill Sergeant, I don't have to really worry about my soldier's finances, unless I come across the soldier who is having their paycheck taken by a loved one back home and leaving them broke. I've heard stories.