6 reasons you can never trust recruits in boot camp
SUMMARY
Sometimes, the greatest source of frustration is your fellow recruits. They tend to do stupid sh*t and the great lengths they go to keep their own hands clean may result in everyone else's getting dirty.
Boot camp is absolute hell when you first arrive and, by the time you leave, you'll think the whole thing was a joke. After graduation, you'll be so overwhelmed with joy due to the fact that you're leaving your drill instructors behind that you may forget about the bullsh*t you had to endure because of fellow recruits.
Consider this a reminder.
No one wants to get smoked
When you get to boot camp and you finally meet your drill instructors, they make it abundantly clear who is in charge, what the rules are, and what happens when someone breaks those rules. Their favorite method of disciplining recruits is to take them to a sandpit and make them do push-ups, mountain climbers, crunches, etc., until they (the drill instructors) get tired. The fear of such retribution can turn even the most stalwart into a snitch.
Everyone is out for themselves
The fear of getting into any sort of trouble often causes recruits to be selfish. They don't want to be associated with the turd in the platoon and can get smoked just for being friends with them.
Everyone is a liar
Recruits want to avoid the quarterdeck or an extra watch during the night, so they learn to lie their asses off. The sad part is that drill instructors will know you're lying and you'll be seeing the quarterdeck anyway.
Chances are, you'll get caught.
They want to get away with stuff
Even though the rules are very clearly laid out for every recruit, they still want to find ways around them. For this reason, they'll sell someone out in order to achieve their goal — going as far as hiding their candy wrappers underneath your pillow.
They want less work
The desire to skate starts in boot camp when a person realizes just how difficult it is to be in the military. In the search for less work, a recruit might take on certain jobs, such as scribe duties, to assign others watch at night and "accidentally" forget to put their name on the roster.
They just want to go home
Let's face it — everyone hates every second they spend at boot camp, away from their families and private toilets. So, some recruits will lose the motivation to finish training and start acting like idiots. Guess who's ultimately punished for being their rack-mate?
At the end of the day, you're all after the same goal of earning your place, but that doesn't mean everyone wants to take the honorable route to get there.
Hopefully, if the jokers do make it, they'll learn how to do things the right way by the time they hit the Fleet Marine Force.
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