Are US Marines really taught to shout "Kill!Kill!Kill!" ?
fred | 16.05.2003 02:07
At Marine boot camp it's constantly 'Kill! Kill! Kill!' There are contests to see which recruit can shout it the loudest. Every time you do a push-up you shout 'Kill!' I thought it was insane, but mouthed the word so as not to get in trouble.
Stephen Funk (ex-USmarine reserve) claims that :
"At Marine boot camp it's constantly 'Kill! Kill! Kill!' There are contests to see which recruit can shout it the loudest. Every time you do a push-up you shout 'Kill!' I thought it was insane, but mouthed the word so as not to get in trouble."
If this is true, do you feel OK about it ? Is this the normal practice in other army training ? Am I alone in thinking that military training has no need to go this far ? That the marines themselves are being insulted and degraded by being forced to do this ? Let alone what it does to their moral sense ?
And surely modern military operations require a subtler touch than this anyway ?
"At Marine boot camp it's constantly 'Kill! Kill! Kill!' There are contests to see which recruit can shout it the loudest. Every time you do a push-up you shout 'Kill!' I thought it was insane, but mouthed the word so as not to get in trouble."
If this is true, do you feel OK about it ? Is this the normal practice in other army training ? Am I alone in thinking that military training has no need to go this far ? That the marines themselves are being insulted and degraded by being forced to do this ? Let alone what it does to their moral sense ?
And surely modern military operations require a subtler touch than this anyway ?
fred
Homepage:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3025495.stm
Comments
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Full Metal Jacket
16.05.2003 03:22
An Australian veteran of the Vietnam war said to me that the depiction in Full Metal Jacket of the training was very realistic.
comradejosh
yes soldiers are trained to kill
16.05.2003 06:08
Yes part of basic training is to be trained as a killer.
You are being trained to be a warrior. Warrior's kill.
It is part of the psychological conditioning that allows you to be able to shoot another human being.
If you cant do that when you are in a combat situation then you are a danger to yourself and a danger to your fellow soldiers.
I didnt have to kill anyone. For that I am grateful.
Instead I wound up in a data processing unit for two years.
I suppose I didnt have to go into the army but it was the only way I could escape an abusive and alcholic father.
andrea pdx
No more War!
16.05.2003 09:20
Beat your machine-guns, into farming implements.
We have a World to save, from wanton destruction.
Don't fight, forgive.
Pretty Please?
Full Metal Jacket
16.05.2003 11:36
Phoebe
phoebe
Hmmm
16.05.2003 13:06
Steve Funk (cool name!) sounds like a nice lad but, well, maybe not too bright;
"it's not just the realities of the war in Iraq I oppose but war in general. I'm a pacifist and opposed to participating in a conflict situation".
So why join the armed forces????
Sean
Just curious
16.05.2003 13:25
I imagine that French or German or Russian (or Israelis) do not yell "KILL!" only becuase they don't speak English -- they'd be using an appropriate word from their own languages.
Was anybody under the impression that the purpose of soldiers was anything DIFFERENT? Killing the "enemy" is what they are supposed to do. Is anybody under the impression that this is some sort of NEW perversion? I seriously doubt that you would have heard anything different yelled (except for the language) when recruits were trained for the Roman legions, the Macedonian phalanxes, Greek hoplites, etc. etc. etc. and we can keep going back to Sumer and beyond.
Mike
e-mail:
stepbystepfarm@shaysnet.com