“We are BEYOND fucked.”

Seen on Twitter; Army Basic trainees being led in an MLK “cadence.”

A lot of people misunderstand military basic training; some never figure it out. Even as a 19yo punk going through Air Force Basic, I got some of it, more I figured out after the fact.

Basic attempts to do several things. Some of the more… basic include:

• Shocking recruits out of lackadaisical civilian attitudes, and getting them toreflexively follow the instructions of those with more experience or information. That might save your life in combat.
• Inculcating the habit of attention to detail, not because it much matters if your socks are folded “right” or your uniform gig line is straight, but because attention to detail becomes really important when working with high voltage, high power weapons, or high explosives.
• Learn teamwork, because you need to know that your fellows have your back, and they need to know the same of you; even if you don’t particularly like each other.

There’s so much more. If you want in-depth analysis of the subject, read almost anything by John Ringo. (If we wanted a real military, selected Ringo works should be required reading. Very selected, I admit.)

Part of basic training is the instructors leading by example. The instructors wear perfect uniforms to show that it can be done, and that yes, the rules apply to them, too. Marching, ditto. All of it.

Look at that idiot leading the recruits on that march. They are all masked. Pointlessly, being outside and spaced out, and cloth masks like that being useless. But Sergeant (I can’t actually make out the rank) Super-Spreader? No mask, no example but a bad one.

I guess ChinCOVID spreads selectively by rank. NCOs can’t get it; as a former TSgt, that’s nice to know.

What is seen in that short clip is bad, really bad. Everything else implied by what’s seen is so very much worse. “Fucked” doesn’t even come close to expressing how screwed up it is.