5 of the biggest gripes troops have about the infantry

Being in the infantry is a tough gig. Despite that, many of us chose to hold an MOS that requires us to serve in what's considered the backbone of the U.S. military. Now, you would think, having been around for a few hundred years now, that our military would have things all figured out, right? Wrong. Many of the ground pounders have had the same gripes and complaints throughout the years.

These are just a few:

Too many hand-me-downs

The Marine Corps is the most underfunded branch of the military as they fall under the Department of the Navy — which is also expensive to maintain. Since the Navy sure doesn't split their government funds down the middle, only a very small percentage of grunts get new gear.

So, to save money, many infantryman commonly receive what the Army doesn't use anymore. Bummer.

Being at the armory in general

Many of the troops at the armory have plenty sh*tty schedules. They've gotta be around when infantrymen need to check out weapons and they've gotta be around when it's time to check them back in. In general, there's not a whole lot of excitement going on. So, armorers like to f*ck with the infantryman. How? By not accepting their clean rifles on the first few attempts.

On top of all that, the armorers are rarely on time to the weapons facility in the first place. So, it's time again to hurry up and wait.

Hey boys and girls, this is what "hurry up and wait" looks like in the military.

Hurrying up and waiting

For a country that can deploy to a war zone at a moment's notice, it's pretty surprising how inefficient the logistics can be on a smaller scale. Many of the lower enlisted troops know how it feels to "hurry up and wait" just to get word of what's going to happen for the day.

Nobody likes to wait around to get a table at a restaurant let alone to figure out what they need to get done for the work day.

How important it is to wear black socks over white ones

Outside of it being officially part of the uniform, we couldn't find a single reason why grunts are required to black socks. In reality, black socks are pretty rough on an infantryman's feet for a few reasons:

1. Reportedly, the black dye in socks isn't as healthy for sweaty feet. Conversely, white socks, for the most part, lack artificial coloring.
2. Black socks attract more heat, which makes feet sweaty and, eventually, soggy. This can cause ailments, like athlete's foot, down the line.

Some commands get pissed when they see their troops wearing the offensive white socks on a hot day. Why?

They PT until there's something else to do. Then, they PT some more.

All the time wasted in the field

Grunts love to blow sh*t up. The idea of rigging an object to explode is written somewhere in the infantryman's DNA. It can be freakin' fun to shoot some well-dialed-in rifles and launch grenades at a static target, but first... you need to hurry up and wait some more.

When grunts get out into the field, they sometimes end up doing nothing as they wait for the officers to show up.