Army Cancels "Shark Attack"

[Mister Sin]

https://www.military.com/daily-news...moves-toward-kinder-basic-training-start.html



I may be in the minority when I say I disagree with this move. I wasn't in the Army, I was, however, in the Navy and while we didn't have the "Shark Attack" I would say every branch has something Similar. Its about breaking habits and misconceptions immediately.

Its about weeding out the weakest right off the bat. I recall pulling up to Great Lakes and having RDCs come on the bus screaming to get off, getting us all huddled into a hall where the commanding officer greeted us....it was calm while he talked. When he was done the shit hit the fan.

Weighing in, stripping all civilian clothes and sending them home, replacing with navy duds, hair cuts and drug test....I remember an RDC screaming at my dick cause I was struggling to piss. Lol...I recall the "moment of truth" where they threaten criminal action if u lied about ur medical or anything else...my recruiter warned me of this before hand. It was another step to weed out the weak. Was surprising how many stepped up and were never seen again.

83 men in division 219 with me. And we started with over a hundred on those two busses. Over the course of RTC you bond and grow with fellow recruits. You need the right people there. I cant see how not having that rough start and trimming the fat is a good thing.

 

[IowaRam]

think we started with about 90 , graduated less then 70

 

[Mister Sin]

I actually just watched a video on YouTube about 40 minutes long that was the first week of Navy RTC and it was awesome. It was within the last few years and it seems damn near exact to what I did in 15 years ago. Lol it was really fun watching it. I would suggest doing that for whatever branch you were in. Especially the people fucking up. Lol my recruiter told me before hand, be in the front of the middle in everything. You dont wanna be first and u dont wanna be last. Get through without them ever knowing you were there. I ran five miles a day before bootcamp. I actually left basic in worse shape than I went in at. I could have crushed nearly everyone physically but I heeded his warnings and stayed at the front of the middle. Lol

 

[Corbin]

Lmao you damned squids call it a Shark Attack? I was wondering wth you were talking about I until read the article.

It really makes me laugh knowing the things they keep doing to water down boot camp for the sissies that graduate now. Hell I’m old asf and don’t workout no where like I should and can still pass the physical req’s to graduate any bootcamp today.

i don’t get it? They lessen everything and think that’s supposed to help? How about keeping others from killing or raping their fellow service members.

 

[Mister Sin]

@Corbin I dont call it Shark Attack, that was the Armys term. Lol

 

[IowaRam]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLJ8ILIE780

 

[Mister Sin]

Also, should say...I can not pass any physical requirements anymore. I'm good and fat!

 

[Loyal]

I flew from Oakland, CA to Minnespolis/St Paul to connect for a jet going to Chicago Ohare. I was wearing a windbreaker in January when I left Oakland and it was -50 wind chill In Minneapolis and warmed up to -20 windchill in Chicago. They loaded all of us long haired hippies onto military shool buses and everyone was talking shyte. We pulled up to the gate of RTC Great Lakes and as we were waved through by the sentry, it got dead quiet on my bus. All these bastid recruits were standing at attention on the grinder in dungarees, dixue cups and pea coats that were frosted white with snow on one side an nothing on the otherside. We in our civilians clothes, long hair and scrubby beards ran to a place and were given pea coats without buttons and cold as hell.

They did the whole speech about having that last chance to turn in contraband (knives, pot pipes, drugs)and it was overflowing. Then we got the :We are gonna find out if your queer or pot smokers, so you might as well tell us now,"speech. Then all of us that were doing 6 years for schooling were told how stupid we were becuse they didn't have to give us shyte! lol. After getting screamed at for a whle as we did paperwork, we ended up in our open bay barracks. That was about 3am and reveile was at 5am. The lights went out and I heard guys starting to cry in the dark.

It was 3am on January 9th, 1983.

 

[ozarkram]

I always enjoy these stories. And how each generation feels the newer one is a bunch of pussies. (back in my day) My father was career Army. And did quite well considering his education. Some backstory my father came out of the mountains of appalachia. He was poorer than poor.

He joined in 1955 at the tender age of 16 or 17 not quite sure, but he said he was 17 and his father signed off on it. Now my dads father was what use to be called a rounder. Sometimes he was home sometimes he wasn't mostly he wasn't. So dad had been the man of a rather large family since he was about 11. The military was his ticket out.

Whenever I would ask my father about when he went in and his basic. His eyes would light up, "Son they gave me new clothes. New clothes, new boots,new shoes and the food all you could eat. I truly couldn't believe there was that much food in the world and all you could eat. " But dad what about the other stuff. " Son I was 17 I could run all day and never break a sweat and I had been called a lot worse back home . "

His only regret was the old DI made him shave everyday. Now dad said when he went in he didn't even have peach fuzz. "Boy you will shave every morning.' Later in life this would force dad to shave twice a day which he hated .

Funny how people look at the same thing differently.

 

[Mister Sin]

My first day of basic was May 31, 2005. And the food was fucking great!

 

[Ramhusker]

Oct 3rd, 1978. Made friends on the plane and bus but then they took our clothes and shaved our heads and I couldn't find anybody I had just met. Basic seemed so harsh at the time. But now looking back, it was a piece of cake.

 

[Mackeyser]

I flew from Oakland, CA to Minnespolis/St Paul to connect for a jet going to Chicago Ohare. I was wearing a windbreaker in January when I left Oakland and it was -50 wind chill In Minneapolis and warmed up to -20 windchill in Chicago. They loaded all of us long haired hippies onto military shool buses and everyone was talking shyte. We pulled up to the gate of RTC Great Lakes and as we were waved through by the sentry, it got dead quiet on my bus. All these bastid recruits were standing at attention on the grinder in dungarees, dixue cups and pea coats that were frosted white with snow on one side an nothing on the otherside. We in our civilians clothes, long hair and scrubby beards ran to a place and were given pea coats without buttons and cold as hell.

They did the whole speech about having that last chance to turn in contraband (knives, pot pipes, drugs)and it was overflowing. Then we got the :We are gonna find out if your queer or pot smokers, so you might as well tell us now,"speech. Then all of us that were doing 6 years for schooling were told how stupid we were becuse they didn't have to give us shyte! lol. After getting screamed at for a whle as we did paperwork, we ended up in our open bay barracks. That was about 3am and reveile was at 5am. The lights went out and I heard guys starting to cry in the dark.

It was 3am on January 9th, 1983.

heh... you guys went to Great Mistakes? LOL

Cuz I went Nuke, I went to NTC Orlando (when it was open). Joined in Jan '91, went to boot from mid march to mid may, same year.

All the same stuff, tho, except for the cold.

Having come from SoCal, it was the rain for me.

In SoCal, the rain comes in with a drizzle and gets stronger. In Eastern PA, it was quick thunderstorms.

Noooooo, Florida gotta be extra and have rain that falls so straight you can walk into and out of it. Is still one of the strangest phenomena I've ever personally encountered.

Also, I hacked my boot camp. Other guys were miserable, but I figured it out and it was really fun.

 

[Loyal]

heh... you guys went to Great Mistakes? LOL

Cuz I went Nuke, I went to NTC Orlando (when it was open). Joined in Jan '91, went to boot from mid march to mid may, same year.

All the same stuff, tho, except for the cold.

Having come from SoCal, it was the rain for me.

In SoCal, the rain comes in with a drizzle and gets stronger. In Eastern PA, it was quick thunderstorms.

Noooooo, Florida gotta be extra and have rain that falls so straight you can walk into and out of it. Is still one of the strangest phenomena I've ever personally encountered.

Also, I hacked my boot camp. Other guys were miserable, but I figured it out and it was really fun.

I was a nuclear field ET, and all of those in the Nuke program went through boot camp, BEE, and ET-A school...after that was Groton, I believe..

 

[Mister Sin]

I was a nuclear field ET, and all of those in the Nuke program went through boot camp, BEE, and ET-A school...after that was Groton, I believe..

Great Lakes is the only camp now. I went to Groton, Connecticut for A-School.

 

[Dz1]

Man I went thru 52 weeks of AIT at Bliss had Marines,Elite Cilivan Trainers GS blah blah who told the Commader at Bliss F Off and on it goes.

Did my 28 mile track thru basically White Sands hills because I was a Top Secret missile guy. Hawk missile stuff.

My Marine Bros who went to 29 Palms know it. This was early 80s.

Never heard of Shark Attack. Did it exist who knows lol.

All I can say us top level guys knew how to burn Magnesium, 5000 plus, Yeah Baby.

 

[Mackeyser]

I was a nuclear field ET, and all of those in the Nuke program went through boot camp, BEE, and ET-A school...after that was Groton, I believe..

In '91, it was Boot (Orlando), NF ET-A school (Orlando), Nuke school (Orlando) and prototype was Idaho (that was still open) or Charleston, SC.

The stories about prototype in Idaho were... nightmarish... especially if you were there between Jan-Mar... frick. 90 min ride in a yellow school bus with no insulation and you better not miss the bus, b/c even IF you could drive out, there was no on base parking for Nukes. Miss the bus once and it was a serious UA fuck up.

I was one of the few married guys and apparently they gave married guys with good grades preference for Charleston due to housing. I was about to grad ET-A school with honors before it all went to shit.

Also, at that time, married guys had duty preference in assignments and nearly all of them wanted boomers for the regular schedule... which worked out b/c not many of the single guys liked the idea of never seeing another port.

I'd heard stories of "rotten Groton", but I don't think any of my instructors went there, so compared to stories from "Great Mistakes" and Idaho prototype (too much PTSD to make up a nickname, apparently).

 

[Loyal]

In '91, it was Boot (Orlando), NF ET-A school (Orlando), Nuke school (Orlando) and prototype was Idaho (that was still open) or Charleston, SC.

The stories about prototype in Idaho were... nightmarish... especially if you were there between Jan-Mar... frick. 90 min ride in a yellow school bus with no insulation and you better not miss the bus, b/c even IF you could drive out, there was no on base parking for Nukes. Miss the bus once and it was a serious UA fuck up.

I was one of the few married guys and apparently they gave married guys with good grades preference for Charleston due to housing. I was about to grad ET-A school with honors before it all went to shit.

Also, at that time, married guys had duty preference in assignments and nearly all of them wanted boomers for the regular schedule... which worked out b/c not many of the single guys liked the idea of never seeing another port.

I'd heard stories of "rotten Groton", but I don't think any of my instructors went there, so compared to stories from "Great Mistakes" and Idaho prototype (too much PTSD to make up a nickname, apparently).

I ended up being a conventional field ET and went to a shore duty right out of "C" school(s) at Point Loma (Naval Ocean Systems Center). I worked with engineers making new expensive toys for warfare. Since we supported them, we got every other Friday off because they had them off. We had 14 section duty and all of us lived off base, paid for by Uncle Sam.

Livin' the dream in San Diego at 21 years old....