How to make a bed like a Marine, as told by frustrated drill instructor

[AnthonyS]

My E8 CC had all red or blue insignia and stripes on his dress uniform. He reminded us daily that he had no problem decking anyone which is why he never got a good conduct medal. He really stood out at graduation.

[JC316]

It's about working well under pressure/duress. Doing exactly what you're supposed to do in the midst of chaos. The making of the rack in that particular way is part of uniformity.

I get that just fine, but it's impossible to do what you're supposed to do, when no one has told you how to do it. He is not giving clear instructions on purpose, he's just seeing how you're going to react while being yelled at.

That usually happens within a few minutes of stepping off the bus. Basic stuff like making the bed perfectly leads into marching in formation, small unit tactics, firearms training, grenade throwing, etc... If you can't make a freaking bed they aren't going to trust you with an M-16.

See above response. The bed making and the marching are completely useless, but it's about getting you to do it, regardless of usefulness. They don't want you questioning stupid orders, and again it's why I wouldn't last 5 seconds. It takes a certain type of person to be in the military, and I respect the hell out of that person, but I couldn't be that guy.

It's about learning to follow instructions. It's why military experience is often sought by employers. It's why ex military guys that don't even have engineering degrees are doing very well where I work. I get it, but I have no desire to relive it.

Again, I can follow instructions just fine when instructions are being given properly. Thats not the point of the exercise though.

[Sgt Beavis]

It's about working well under pressure/duress. Doing exactly what you're supposed to do in the midst of chaos. The making of the rack in that particular way is part of uniformity.

You forgot the most important thing here. It's about attention to detail. It's the details that make for survival or death in both battle and the day to day work. Especially in the fields you and I worked in, aviation.

I just found Basic a bit funny because all those DIs couldn't hold a candle to the ass chewing my Mom would give. That's the main reason I coasted through.

They don't want you questioning stupid orders, and again it's why I wouldn't last 5 seconds. It takes a certain type of person to be in the military, and I respect the hell out of that person, but I couldn't be that guy.

At least you're adult enough to admit it.

[helosailor]

You forgot the most important thing here. It's about attention to detail. It's the details that make for survival or death in both battle and the day to day work. Especially in the fields you and I worked in, aviation.

I just found Basic a bit funny because all those DIs couldn't hold a candle to the ass chewing my Mom would give. That's the main reason I coasted through.



At least you're adult enough to admit it.

That's true, I did leave attention to detail out. The only time we got "cycled" ("smoked" for the Army types) was when one guy had his sweater laid out for a seabag inspection when we were specifically told not to put it out.
And growing up with a Dad that had done two tours as a Marine DI prepped me pretty well too.

[LiveFreeOrDie]

Precisely why I wouldn't last 5 seconds in the army.

1. It's completely useless and I have zero patience for completely useless. A neatly folded bed has never once affected national security or the outcome of a war.

[Baron Von Crowder]

my brother put these on his, and slept on top.

[Baron Von Crowder]

my brother put these on his, and slept on top.

[BP]

Admiral McRaven was one hell of a sailor. He ran JSOC from 6/08-6/11 and planned the Bin Laden raid along with dozens of others. That and he really doesn't like John McCain!

[BP]

my brother put these on his, and slept on top.

The USAF calls those blousers. You are supposed to connect your shirt to your socks with them but most guys used them as you described. I know I did in ROTC.

[Chili]

Nice! I dig that. Paying attention to detail is definitely a good strength that I picked up from the Army.

In Army basic we had two wool blankets on our bed (I am guessing it's probably still the same). One was the normal blanket for the bed, the other was referred to as a dust cover and was placed over the pillow end of the bed. The whole time through basic and AIT (advanced training), about 4 months, we all slept on top of our blanket, and used the dust cover to actually sleep with. That way when we woke up in the morning all we had to do was tighten everything up from the bottom and put the dust cover back on.

BTW, making a bed nice and tight is pretty easy, as are hospital corners. That exercise in the first video was about following instruction, and that reporter sucked badly at it. She couldn't even remember to say Aye Sir when he would remind her.