Armed forces initiations

[cyberblue]

I saw a bunch of Royal Marines in Singapore force one of their own to eat a shit butty, washed down with a pint of piss. I would have refused and taken a beating.
Apart from that l saw no serious bullying other than the big guy picking on a smaller one stuff you get everywhere even in Civvy Street.
No initiation ceremonies but unclean people got a 'Regimenal bath', chucked into a cold bath and scrubbed. Thankfully not common.

Seen someone getting" scrubbed" while in training at HMS Ganges
Turns my stomach thinking about it now
Who decides who gets "scrubbed" and who doesn't ?
Poor fu*ker must have been traumatised

 

[Mike Cledford]

Seen someone getting" scrubbed" while in training at HMS Ganges
Turns my stomach thinking about it now
Who decides who gets "scrubbed" and who doesn't ?
Poor fu*ker must have been traumatised

Not sure probably some little weasel who winds up the mob. Putting boot polish and tooth paste all over some one and scrubbing in off with a bass broom was going to be very painful and take the skin off.
Basic training was a lot tougher in those days but l am grateful l never witness nasty bullying.
I bet they never had officers flashing their tits on your boats.

 

[FantasyIreland]

I saw a bunch of Royal Marines in Singapore force one of their own to eat a shit butty, washed down with a pint of piss. I would have refused and taken a beating.
Apart from that l saw no serious bullying other than the big guy picking on a smaller one stuff you get everywhere even in Civvy Street.
No initiation ceremonies but unclean people got a 'Regimenal bath', chucked into a cold bath and scrubbed. Thankfully not common.

'Mingers'

I dont know about now.....but still reasonably common in the early 90's,unfortunately.

 

[Bluemanc100]

Seen someone getting" scrubbed" while in training at HMS Ganges
Turns my stomach thinking about it now
Who decides who gets "scrubbed" and who doesn't ?
Poor fu*ker must have been traumatised

When I went on my trade training in the RAF the discip Sgt gave us a briefing on day one of the course.. He said if somebody on the course smells, tell them.... one guy was a biker and didn’t have the best personal hygiene so we all told him and taunted him about it... some 40 years later he’s still a biker but heads up a motorcycle lobbying think tank in Westminster... but bathes regularly I hope ;-)

 

[Mike N]

What an utterly depressing thread.

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Not RAF or quite as related by my university’s football teams (men’s and women’s) managed to land themselves in deep shit (literally) when one of the initiations was to piss all over one of the women, and someone curled one out on her.

Fucking oddballs.

Do they need a defender? Asking for my mate

 

[paulchapo]

What an utterly depressing thread.

Sadly it is yes. I think you can put all the disciplinary proceedings in place in the world, but if you put large groups of young men together in a macho environment bullying and odd rituals will take place. This will be going on elsewhere but kept quiet.

When I first went away to sea in 1974 the training wasn't too bad and there was over 500 16-18 year olds in dorms of 16, if the dorm was full. Some of the ships could be a nightmare. You could drink 24/7 back then, so long as you could do your job nobody batted an eyelid. There was quite a few fights and if you beat somebody in a fight you had to be wary of the midnight creeper. That was the person you beat sneaking into your cabin in the early hours and setting about you with a weapon. At that time lots of people went missing at sea. There used to be a monthly seaman's paper that came out and it always had a list of deaths in it. A fair few were classed as " Missing at sea, believed drowned or killed." This was someone who when the watchkeeper went to give them a shout in the morning wasn't the in their bunk and was never seen again. Sobering.

 

[inchy14]

Well said Jim, some of the so called jokes and making light of it was quite disturbing to say the least. It's that sort of mindset that means this shit carries on and on. Anyone who has done any sort of service will have witnessed or been subjected to some not pleasant stuff all dressed up as banter, part of being accepted, initiation ceremony, they can call it what they want. It is sadistic bullying and they know the victim of it daren't say anything as they will be ostracized or worse. I never saw anything this bad thankfully but a blind eye was turned to some stuff that crossed the line from a supposed bit of "fun."

'Banter' is arguably one of my most hated words. It usually means upsetting some poor **** but tough shit they'll have to deal with it.

 

[Mike Cledford]

'Mingers'

I dont know about now.....but still reasonably common in the early 90's,unfortunately.

They were something else which l durst not mention as it will get taken the wrong way on here.
Each company had a duty Sgt and Cpl who slept in the company lines so any drama could be nipped in the bud. Usually.
We did have an episode where after the NAAFl closed a group went into the POL store to taste the wares. One pissed soldier pinched an APC and careered around for 30 mins or so causing damage to walls, squashing cars and knocking over every set of goalposts he could find.
Apart from that it was usually quiet and no known bullying;) of course Internet bullying is getting worse. There was an interesting piece on radio 4 about the increase in the pandemic.
It certainly shocked me.

 

[WestGorton]

Just don't join. It won't change.