Question re "drill instructors"
Discussion
Pretty much as above, if I was standing on a freezing cold parade square in the driving rain and some Berk kept being out of synch with everyone else you can bet your life I'd be a funny shade of purple and shouting till I was hoarse.
Like all similar jobs I would imagine the people who would be able to deal with stupid on the monumental level they will experience daily would be no good at instilling discipline and a tinge of fear, and everyone else within days be so sick of stupid they would fall in to the traditional stereotype.
Like all similar jobs I would imagine the people who would be able to deal with stupid on the monumental level they will experience daily would be no good at instilling discipline and a tinge of fear, and everyone else within days be so sick of stupid they would fall in to the traditional stereotype.
Drill Sergeant is very specific in the UK to the guards division.
The British equivalent to the American bootneck DS is a cross between the Drill Instructor (loud, rigid, considers parade drill the most important thing in the world, and usually armed with a stick that's 50% yacht varnish) and the Directing Staff (DS) who instruct at basic and promotion courses (PNCO, JNCO, SNCO). Traditionally these courses have been an absolute beasting, but slowly leadership and mentoring is becoming more of the objective.
The British equivalent to the American bootneck DS is a cross between the Drill Instructor (loud, rigid, considers parade drill the most important thing in the world, and usually armed with a stick that's 50% yacht varnish) and the Directing Staff (DS) who instruct at basic and promotion courses (PNCO, JNCO, SNCO). Traditionally these courses have been an absolute beasting, but slowly leadership and mentoring is becoming more of the objective.
As stated previously - you have to be broken down before you can be built up.
Our drill sergeant introduced himself a cross between our mother and God - but there was no compassion. If you did what was asked you were ignored. If you cocked up then you got the full hairdryer treatment, or worse - and this was the 1970s, before Heath and Safety and any perceived "rights". If you were ordered to do something then you did it - but you did have the right to question it afterwards. Not that anyone did.
The barbers were cut from the same cloth. They'd sit you in the chair on arrival, and ask you what you wanted. Then they'd give you a shearing. The recruit before me had shoulder length hair (well it was the '70s). Great pleasure was taken from giving him a half-head buzz cut, whilst leaving the other side long, then going away for a couple of minutes to let him enjoy the 'before and after' before coming back to finish off. My, how we laughed.
The rock apes who trained us on the ranges were sadists too - they particularly enjoyed exposing us to CS gas during gas mask training, and considered it their duty to ensure that we got a few good lungfuls before letting us out of the gas chamber. My, how we cried.
Night exercises in Sherwood Forest one snowy December, while camping for a week, anyone? Wet, cold and muddy, and no way to get dry - or to clean up because the wash tent disappeared in a gale on the second night.
Character building. But you tell the youth of today.......
Postscript. We got our own back on our DS though. We were his last intake, and he was due to go on a tour of duty before retirement once he'd finished with us. We clubbed together and bought him a gold lighter, which reduced him to tears...... So I guess they are human after all!
Our drill sergeant introduced himself a cross between our mother and God - but there was no compassion. If you did what was asked you were ignored. If you cocked up then you got the full hairdryer treatment, or worse - and this was the 1970s, before Heath and Safety and any perceived "rights". If you were ordered to do something then you did it - but you did have the right to question it afterwards. Not that anyone did.
The barbers were cut from the same cloth. They'd sit you in the chair on arrival, and ask you what you wanted. Then they'd give you a shearing. The recruit before me had shoulder length hair (well it was the '70s). Great pleasure was taken from giving him a half-head buzz cut, whilst leaving the other side long, then going away for a couple of minutes to let him enjoy the 'before and after' before coming back to finish off. My, how we laughed.
The rock apes who trained us on the ranges were sadists too - they particularly enjoyed exposing us to CS gas during gas mask training, and considered it their duty to ensure that we got a few good lungfuls before letting us out of the gas chamber. My, how we cried.
Night exercises in Sherwood Forest one snowy December, while camping for a week, anyone? Wet, cold and muddy, and no way to get dry - or to clean up because the wash tent disappeared in a gale on the second night.
Character building. But you tell the youth of today.......
Postscript. We got our own back on our DS though. We were his last intake, and he was due to go on a tour of duty before retirement once he'd finished with us. We clubbed together and bought him a gold lighter, which reduced him to tears...... So I guess they are human after all!
ThatGuyWhoDoesStuff said:
Mort7 said:
As stated previously - you have to be broken down before you can be built up.
Ah - the mantra.When you drop off your kids for their first day of school, do the teachers scream abuse at them to 'break them down before building them up?'
ThatGuyWhoDoesStuff said:
Ah - the mantra.
When you drop off your kids for their first day of school, do the teachers scream abuse at them to 'break them down before building them up?'
Totally different.When you drop off your kids for their first day of school, do the teachers scream abuse at them to 'break them down before building them up?'
If someone wants to run off and cry to mommy because the angry man in the hat shouted at them they would most likely be a liability to themselves and others in a real situation.
My problem was trying not to laugh!
ThatGuyWhoDoesStuff said:
Why's it different?
We recognize that the concept of 'breaking someone down to build them up' is completely stupid in every other walk of life - so why the hell does it suddenly make psychological sense in the military?
We don't do it for Doctors or pilots - what possible use is there in doing it in the army?
Pilots go through a lot of stress testing too, different type of stress testing but they still get put under pressure. We recognize that the concept of 'breaking someone down to build them up' is completely stupid in every other walk of life - so why the hell does it suddenly make psychological sense in the military?
We don't do it for Doctors or pilots - what possible use is there in doing it in the army?
It's all it is.
You learn to ignore it.
ThatGuyWhoDoesStuff said:
I know in great detail what pilots go through.
It is absolutely contrary to any doctrine of drill instruction.
Different courses for different horses.It is absolutely contrary to any doctrine of drill instruction.
Pilots tend not to work, eat and sleep as a unit.
Thats what it's all about.
If you don't get it you don't get it, but it works.
Angry DIs are more an American thing.
Brits are more into sarcasm and improbable feats of anatomy.
As for where they learn it:
https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/threads/the-brit...
Brits are more into sarcasm and improbable feats of anatomy.
As for where they learn it:
https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/threads/the-brit...
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