I know someone has been either part of a good chewout, have seen one, or heard one from your "boss", my chief told us today that he made a guy wet himself, just by chewing him out; the lesson learned don't sexually harass four females in the same class or ever....a chief will find you and bring the "Chief Smash".
It's not really a chew out, but one of my infantry drill seargents used to get drunk and drive out to our bivouacs and beat up on the "problem recruits" once in a while. It was kind of funny, but not really... We all "rolled with the punches" (all pun intended) and suffered through it. Thankfully I have an IQ slightly above 0 and didn't ever get pummeled. I'm not sure where the Army digs up it's infantry recruits, but a lot of them weren't too bright...
So, Donal, was Apollo astonished and did Dionysus think you mad? Perhaps that is why they named you the Lord of Balance?
Sadder still is that it wasn't limited to the recruits. I had, at different times, Team Leaders, Squad Leaders, E5's & 6's and such who'd been in for 12, 14 years (very telling in itself), who were dumber than a damn box of rocks. Luke knows of some of the same ones, actually. I'll never forget doing the good ol' bounding overwatch up a hill in Germany, and after my 3-5 seconds of humping that M249 (just glad it wasn't a 60) at top speed, I plop down behind a tree, and there, in my face, is a flare ... which of course is "training" for "booby trap." Hadn't gone off (prob a good thing for me), so I yell over, "Sergeant, I gotta booby trap over here!" The response of the man charged with getting us through combat missions alive? "Well just yank it out!" And so I'm staring at him: :| Seriously - Errrrrrrrrm .......... As a side note, very early on I adopted the saying: The only requirement for getting into the infantry is a PULSE. In dire enough circumstances, there might be a waiver for that. And IN ALL FAIRNESS, I was ALSO fortunate enough to have damn-straight, high speed, squared-away M-er F-ers for leaders too! (But the other ones really were a concern.) :shock:
I never took the ASVAB in highschool so when I went to MEPS, I had to take it there. Not to brag or anything, but I scored a 98. The soldiers that worked at the MEPS told me I was crazy for going into the Infantry. I was Nasty Guard and my recruiter told me it was "like playing GI Joe" on the weekends... What a @#$! jerk... lol. Oh, well, it was a great experience. And I am deeply envious of the physical condition I was in back then...
If your AFQT was 98- that ROCKS! If your GT was 98 that is good, but not a rocket scientist type score. I think I saw one or two 99 AFQTs in my years of leading recruiting for the Cal Guard in the greater SF Bay area. I saw way more 1s unfortunately.... In my experience the Infantry has two types of Soldiers in the ranks. The very smart ones that joined for the shortest enlistment period to get the GI Bill (or sometimes they read too many adventure books and decide to be HOOAH) and then there are the guys that didn't have line scores to do much else (cook or infantry whadda ya want kid?). It did make it tough for very intelligent guys like Lulu sometimes. I am not sure if Lulu remembers SGT Berry (aka Yoda) or SGT Spruell (aka Kong), but these guys were rocks with lips. It was fun to listen to them try to read something out of the regs or receive written counseling though.
I'll have to dig my paperwork out and take a peek. I need to get my DD214 out anyway. Virginia takes that in lieu of a safety class for issuing concealed weapon permits. I took the ASVAB back in 1995 but I do remember the MEPS folks being pretty surprised at the score. Hell, I was too! I joined the Nasty Guard at a period in my life that was completely self destructive - drinking too much, failing relationship, failing out of college... I credit the Army with being the catalyst that turned me around. I was never a good student, but in all honesty, your Father's game always captured my attention and I credit it with being the exercise that my limited intelligence got. I am certain that is a view shared by so many people, and, quite frankly, why we all honor him so much.
