> > There is this show on the discovery channel that
> >documents the training of Navy SEALS and Marines.
> >They're on Sunday, you mihgt want to watch them, I"m
> >not sure what time.
> >
>
> Uh. Yeah, I've seen that BUD/s show about the SEALs. It's really interesting, but I fail to see how it pertains to the discussion at hand. Unless you're using this show as a way of showing how the media correctly shows what training is all about. In which case you're right. Then again, this isn't boot camp you're watching. The men on that show have already been through boot camp. This is elite special forces training. Big difference. These men have already been indoctrinated into the military mindset, so there's not as much breaking down involved as there is building up (although they do intentionally try to break the men physically to see which ones can hang and which ones will give up.)


I've seen a show on the BBC following a group of new recruits in the British Army. There is little, if any, building up. Basic training is about beasting the newbies so much they break down, begin bonding with each other, and become one. The corporals and sergeants in charge of training said exactly that, almost word for word, directly to the camera. There is no building up involved. The men and women get built up again after they leave basic for their specialised training. A follow-up show had a captain saying something like "Basic training has broken them down. Now we need to re-assemble them into the sort of person we can use".

Dunno if that's what it's like in the US army, but I'm willing to bet there's at least some similarity. Break them down in basic and get them bonding, re-assemble them in specialised.

Zarniwoop