Re: Re : Chits

Anyone who has been in the military can admit to having had at least one
idiot superior but, they are rarer than the number of idiot bosses you
find
in civilian life  Also the porpose in prade drills, the so called
systematic
humiliation, and senseless tasks is not to breack down individual
initiative
but to break down the normal me first behavior of most civilians.  The
military requires a level of team spirit beyond anything most sports
require
Prade drills are about thinking as part of a unit... how does what you
do
affect those around you.  The systematic humiliation isn't...
humiliation,
at least when I went through boot  it wasn't; and that was 10 years ago
before the newwer (not a real word but it is 2 am here) more sensative
army
came into being you do get yelled at you do get very audibly
corrected...
and when you show initiative that helps the team meet an objective you
are
praised (though in boot it is hardto recognize it as praise :)).  Most
of
the senseless work is not sensless.. it fosters team cohesiion by
encouraging a limited us against the brass attitude.. ask any officer
what
woories them more having the men bitch about this or that thing or not
bitching at all... and see what response you get....
As a grunt you are the expert on the ground... you are expected to use
you
training and personal initiative to acheive the objectives set by your
superiors who are coordinating the big picture... they don't need the
little
picture... that is what you take care of... they train you to deal with
the
details of the little picture so they can count on the big picture
coming
out for your side.  That is why you don't question LEGAL orders even
when
they seem stupid; not doing them can screw the big picture which can
kill an
lot more people than if you had just used your initiative to acheive the
objective.
Thats why when the too conflict  you go with orders. 9 times out of 10.
At 08:45 AM 6/23/97 +0300, you wrote:
>On Thu, 19 Jun 1997, Jon Holloway wrote:
>
>>	Marines. Any professional soldier will tell you they are trained
to 
>>	think AND obey lawful orders. 
>
>So, what do you do when those two conflict?
>
>That's right, obey the orders. No reasoning, no backtalk, just obey or 
>face court martial.
>
>Obedience is of primary importance. Initiative is a nice plus for 
>situations when there's no one around to order you (which gets more 
>common in the higher ranks, true).   
>   
>Part of military training is designed to break down initiative, e.g. 
>parade drills, systematic humialiation, senseless tasks.
>
>It may get better as time goes by, but basic training is very much 
>centered on showing the recruit his place in the system and killing any

>initiative or free thought -- and with that in conscript armies like 
>ours, dies the professional expertise the recruit had in civilian life.
>
>And please don't tell me you've never had an idiot for a superior
officer.
>
>-- 
>maxxon@swob.dna.fi (Mikko Kurki-Suonio)	   | A pig who doesn't
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>