Leeruth trooper magazine version 2 copy 2

BOOT
The First Week in the Life
They want to keep you
on your toes, to keep you
uncertain of what is coming
next, because it is just one
way of breaking down your
resistance to them moulding
you the way they want.”
By Captain Kayley Nammari
The first few days at recruits are a
blur for everyone. Just like the lack
of schedule, it’s supposed to be that
way. You get there in the late afternoon
on a bus, before being herded into a room
where you are told in no uncertain terms
by the company commander that you
are now subject to the Defence Force
Discipline Act. They also emphasise the
point that you’ve signed a contract and
there is essentially no way out. In other
words “we own your ass, there is no
turning back, so you’d better get used to
it.” When that was over I remember being
in our hallway, with boxes lining each
side full of different uniforms. I couldn’t
understand what the hell the corporals
were yelling, all I know is I wound up
with the unfortunate position of being
at the front, so I just walked and grabbed.
I ended up with the smallest size of PT
shorts despite being a healthy 85kg, but
thankfully managed to get the right size
in everything else.
At’s the point of it all? they aim to
completely break a person down and build
them into what they desire from scratch.
The army here is more a moulding process
– similar methods are used, but rather than
breaking you they aim to just wear away
any resistance you have to the system and
modify your behaviour to what they want.
It is all a spectrum really – all armies use
similar methods, with the only variation
being how harsh it is. I think the whole
“breaking you down to build you back up
” is a massive fallacy, though. The forces
that use such methods without doubt
get amazing soldiers as a result, but the
problem is these soldiers can struggle to
fit into the real world once they leave the
service. When you leave high school, go
straight into the military and go through
brutal indoctrination training, by the end
of it you are exactly what they want. The
problem is, it isn’t what a lot of employers
on the outside want..
Whatever other purposes there may
be in indoctrination training (and there
are many) the biggest one is to have
you following orders without question.
They will make you do the most
ridiculous things at recruits, things that
serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever
just to fuck you around and annoy you.
The key thing is though, that you never
question any of it, no matter how stupid
or nonsensical it is. I remember them
making us switch everything in our room
with the room across the hall from us,
and putting a time limit on it. This was
at 8pm on a Friday night. After enough
of these exercises, even though you never
would have actually questioned them,
you lose even the thought of questioning
them. You just do it, and that is exactly
what they want. It’s known in the army
as “playing the game”. If you aren’t going