Comments on: Old School versus New School

By: Maj Pain

Maj Pain — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 07:17:00 +0000

would say, make the time fit the crime. I’ve seen where Marines drop their rifle, you will hear other Marines say “Follow it” meaning start pushing out 10 or so, to help yourself remember not to drop the damn thing that may save you. Me, I like to kill with kindness. Example: I had four knuckleheads that routinely screwed up. Instead of hammering them above my pay grade back at the time, I simply told them, I will see you Saturday morning in your “Alphas” uniform. Sat morn came at 0630 and I picked them up in my Alphas. I didn’t tell them where we were going but I didn’t have to as we pulled up to the Veterans hospital. I told them, now you go in there and tell all of those warriors in beds fighting for their lives how you are disgracing their corps and why you are really there bright and early Sat morning. They all got more than they expected when we left talking to those heroes and the ride home was very silent. I din’t have any problem with them after that. However, a good ass chewing will fix the rudder of any rank Marine. Trust me, many of you haven’t had a real good ol ass chewin before either. Semper Fi

By: LL

LL — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 02:12:40 +0000

Jim Rip, so sign up for the membership thing. Now that I have a clue, I promise not to delete your entry. I’m up to 9 people who couldn’t bother to introduce themselves. haha

By: Jim Rip

Jim Rip — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:48:03 +0000

By the way LL. I miss the old blog. Sorry you had to go private it made my day happier on more than one occasion.

By: Jim Rip

Jim Rip — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:40:11 +0000

Chief, I must admit that I have encouraged my fair share of soldiers to low crawl across a parking lot to retrieve ‘forgotten’ headgear. Never the same soldier twice. Overlooking the small infractions always leads to larger ones so I see it as prevention.

By: Recently Retired Navy CPO

Recently Retired Navy CPO — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:07:46 +0000

That Dude and Jim Rip both have great points. Every person is different and there are just as many leadership tools to use. Some you just talk quietly to and tell them how dissapointed you are. Others you put them in a room with 15 angry Chief Petty Officers. Both you hope gets the point across.

Jim, headgear or Covers as we call them has ALWAYS been a pet peeve of mine. I will cross a huge parking lot to correct that foul up.

By: Jim Rip

Jim Rip — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:02:42 +0000

Why do they make so many different sizes of screwdrivers? Because each tool fits a specific need. Same with troops. Corrective training can take many forms and can save a soldiers career. Small corrective training delivered at the exact time of the transgression is extremely effective in preventing it from reoccurring in the future. Getting rid of a tool that works in ridiculas.

There was a time when NCO’s would routinely correct soldiers who were tip-toeing over the line of proper conduct. It was common to see a soldier in the front leaning rest outside the PX because he/she was not wearing headgear. Now it is more common to see NCO’s walking without headgear.

By: That Dude

That Dude — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:29:16 +0000

It’s the same way you handle your kids. Some will respond to a soft-voiced verbal lecture, some just HAVE to have their backsides warmed before they pay attention; some are scared to death of losing ‘privileges’, some could care less. It’s all about fitting the punishment to the personality of the individual. And not going overboard with whatever works.

By: LL

LL — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:19:52 +0000

So a follow up question triggered by the last 2 responses, is it maybe the difference between combat MOS and non-combat, with the grunts pushing more physical? Just hypothesizing.

By: Recently Retired Navy CPO

Recently Retired Navy CPO — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:21:41 +0000

In the Navy once you leave boot camp, punishment tends to not be physical. For the most part the punishment has to try to correct the problem at hand, and since we’re not as physical as the Army and Corps it doesn’t make sense for us. That’s the New School philosophy. Old School would be to a good butt chewing then whoop his a$$. Maybe assign more duty (old and new school).

I can see how physical punishment can become abusive. It doesn’t matter whether it’s perceived or reality. The line, unfortunately in today’s Military is crossed when the abuse is perceived.

By: David M

David M — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:23:29 +0000

I want to clarify one thing.

We did drop each other for push-ups but not as punishment. As CJ noted, we were constantly evaluated on how many pushups we could do, with the assumption being that the more pushups you could do, the better the soldier you were. But I can’t recall any examples of being dropped as punishment for something I screwed up, and I know I never dropped any of my soldiers as punishment.

It was as another noted willing accepted and not as a form of punishment.