This is Madness – or Culture Shock

So I arrived here a month ago, to acclimatize myself with procedures and expectations I was assigned to observe battle ready marine units doing their final training, spend some time on Titan at the HET center. So far, no problem, a week ago I actually got to do why I was here in the first place; first hand observation (with aim to later participation,) in Systems Alliance Marine Recruit Training.

Before I go on about the Systems Alliance training, I want to go over Hierarchy customs; this is mostly for those who are not familiar with it. In the Hierarchy you join the military at 15, the initial training is called boot. Many unfamiliar with the system assume that we get all our military training during boot.

Truth is of course that the training is spread over those fourteen preceding years. For example, many turian parents teach their children basic weapon discipline around five, this can include shooting targets but always includes on how to handle a gun safely. At a typical hierarchy school most children are taught how to march in formation by age 7, by age 10 they have taught them basic weapon sighting and shooting if their parents hadn't already taught them. If they are sent to 'summer camp' they will have undergone basic survival training. We also keep a record of most of this.

So when a new recruit arrives we as instructors have a couple of jobs; teach or refresh some of the details, spot potential special candidates (that is people who show aptitude that qualifies them for specialized training, like special forces, hastatim or officer training.) But first and foremost we train the recruit how to use the skills they have in combat scenarios by running a lot of combat simulations.

The typical Systems Alliance kid who join-up does not have those fourteen years of prep time. So he knows either very little or nothing. Spirits they lack even basic discipline or even know how to stand in formation. The System Alliance DI's do have a solution for these educational shortcomings,; it's called shouting.

Now I know what some of you are thinking; "When I was in the Hierarchy my DI shouted too," no doubt but we didn't shout at you all the frigging time, for three days straight. Shouting to get out of the bus, shouting to stand in formation, shouting to get inside, shouting to stand in line, shouting to sit in the chair and get an haircut, shouting to get out, shouting to call people to tell you've arrived shouting to stop calling. Shouting to look them in the face, while they're shouting, shouting for looking them in the face while they're shouting... My ears still ring. (That's another human expression I picked up.)

And it's not the loudly talking type of shouting either, this is the shouting at the top of your lungs until the rocks in your gizzard are pulverized shouting. Not only that but there's a general chaos going on, sending the recruits all over the place. Afterwards I asked one of the DIs, in private, why there was a lack of streamlining of the process, he said it was meant to be confusing. Well they got that right.

I want to however reiterate how abysmal the recruits are at this point. Most have zero prep, they didn't know how to stand in attention. Spirits they needed yellow footsteps at the start to know how to stand. You would think they would know the dress code or how to deal with that hair on top of their head but apparently not, instead they all get a haircut. None of them even knew how to handle the standard-issue rifle.

I hear someone shouting again so I'm cutting it short, but one thing is for sure I'm thankful that I'm Hierarchy, 'cause there's no way I would voluntarily join this crazy house.


PS, quick question to all Alliance people out there, will the DI keep shouting during the entire training or is this just a phase?

It's not a Hierarchy thing, it's a turian thing.

Go download a holovid of "grate apes" or "chimpanzeds"...these are what humans evolved from. You will notice that they're disorganized, loud, tend to listen to the one that yells loudest, and eat lice off each other's backs.

Compare to our ancestors.

We evolved as pack hunters. Group obedience and formation movement is natural to us. Humans have to make a habit of it, whereas we do it instinctively.

You'll find that some humans train their young in weapons handling - ref. "Georgia is a shithole, not too happy about Russia, Chechnya or Kyrgyzstan either" - it's just not the norm. Humans feel secure, they slack off.

Again, turian thing - we expect our chidren to handle weapons when they come of age. For Hierarchy, it's for their 15 years. For Sundowners, in defense of homeland. For Omega dwellers, to protect themselves on fucking Omega. Etc. I think very few turians have the luxury of complacency.

*

I fucking hated boot, particularly this one corporal who thought he was hot shit because he had a couple combat kills. My kill list was significantly longer, but of course I couldn't say that.

Thanks for the explosives training, boys.

I'm no genius on human evolution, but given what the scientists I've met think of the great apes, they apparantly had organised hunting, a fairly complex hierarchy, and had more stamina than anything on the planet. I honestly wouldn't call them disorganised, I would call them strategists in training.

As for your query, spirits, I once got in a shouting contest with a human drill instructor, which lasted for several hours.

I couldnt talk for at least a day afterwards, and he made me feel like I was less than a pyjack.

Well, back when I went through Basic, same thing, but there's one thing upon retrospect that got to me. It's the fact that when you come out of Basic? All the things they drill into your head, STAY there.

Edit: And yes, all the shouting is just a phase. Funilly enough, It is par for the course for Phase 1 of the SAMC's recruit training.

The shouting and confusing serves a purpose, well, aside from amking the recruits miserable.
The recruits must be able to communicate clearly under the noise of war (like heavy suppression fire). Being able to undertand your CO over the noise of a, say, a Tiger 4 suppressing an enemy with its auto cannons is important. And yes you don't have always the luxury of a helmet's head phone.
Think of it as a way to simulate the stress of a battlefield without letting the victims know. Like the insulting and belittling that is going on is not just because the DI hates your guts (well, not always).
I know it isn't obvious, but if you have a tour of duty or two under your belt the methods and the reasons behind will fall into place.

I do think you've got a point there, damn explains why they're so good at shouting.
On that last point I can only say that even as I find the idea that we gave those skill to a sepper sickening I can't help but think it must mean we trained you well if you didn't blow your face off.



Thank the Spirits for that. So what Phase do they do history training? Can't see it anywhere in my notes.


Not to turn this in a "our methods are better than yours," contest but in the Hierarchy we do all that by running combat simulations, you know when you actually have reason to shout, stress and where when you're not listening means you get pelted by low-velocity projectiles.

I'm very sure that my superior would have some serious questions regarding my ability to do my duty if he heard me shouting constantly at my charges when not in a combat scenario.

Combat sims are to advanced for the fresh meat, maybe not for you turians, but for people who never had handled a weapon before.
As Lode said earlier, a lot of the early training is about getting into habbits.
Also, boot camp would be the same without a DI shout at you. Where is fun in lining up your hapless victims next to an HMG range while instructing them about how to tie thier shoes?

In general? In high school. But you mean something more specific, aren't you?

Well you're right, if they can't even handle a gun they have no place in proper boot, that's what elementary school is for. If that would happen and you showed up at boot without knowing how to use a rifle we'd send you to remedial.


I mean the history of your unit and corps. The 91st for example has a ~14,500 year old history after the union of the nomadic Lefiax tribe with the Keruss valley tribe that was devastated by a marauder raid (Kinean by most accounts, although their records do not mention a raid on the Keruss valley. Maybe it's lost in one of the clay tablets that got destroyed during the eruption of the Tek volcano some about 200 years after the union.) Anyway after the union the High Chief recognized the request of the Chief of the Keruss to set up a standing army, that army became the 91st legion.

Obviously, we weren't called the 91st army at the time, the numeration comes much later after the unification war. Anyway that's all to say we like to keep record of things and part of the induction of new recruits is teaching them about the history of the Legion and Unit they are in. I would assume that you do the same, it was after all one of your philosophers, George Santayana, that said; "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

I assure you that Turians are equally good at shouting and that it is quite annoying.

Well we don't teach our children to use guns. SO most people walking into boot don't know shit about weapons or are about to learn they don't know shit.

The shouting also is part of the re-socialization that takes place during recruit training, which doesn't seem to be necessary for turians.



We do do a bit on the history of the SAMC and its traditions but the Systems Alliance is only decades old and the only units with significant history was those that the SA pinched from national militaries.

Well, Basic training's split into 3 phases. Phase 1 (with all the shouting, lasts 4 weeks.), Phase 2 (When you finally get Weapons training, and when you learn to work as a team, lasts 4 weeks), and Phase 3 (Which is more or less learning how to fight: squad tactics, sleeping out in the field, learning how to use an MRE, etc.). We then undertake a live-fire exercise known as "The Crucible", not to be confused by that thing we built during the Reaper War. The Crucible's 54 standard Earth hours, and has various obstacles and hardships. Recruits are limited to 8 hours of sleep total during the exercise, and only given about 2 and a half MREs. After the Crucible, Recruits graduate Basic, but they're not put into a unit just yet, as after Basic, comes the School of Infantry on Titan, since one of the credos of the SAMC is "Every Marine a Rifleman, every Rifleman zero-gee certified." And after THAT, is when you then get shipped off for training on your MOS.

When you Finally end up in a unit after all that training, that's when you'll learn about your unit's history.

I don't know that that's entirely fair, whose nearest quasi-sapient animal relative doesn't have some behaviours that look pretty embarrassing to us fancy stand-up-on-hind-legs types? Don't tell me you never thought mandible-preening was a silly looking thing for respectable animals to do when they're only a few percentage points of DNA away from being turians. Not excluding ourselves either, given what sar lin get up to. I'm sure chimpanzebras have sensible reasons for whatever they do. Tending to one another like that sounds like it would be quite a strong social bonding behaviour, quite aside from the health benefits.

Different cultures - just think of it as being like the three-month 'primer' courses the Hierarchy has for client species and the like, there's no shame in it.

Well new guy, at the risk of sounding a tad snobbish: no duh. Like the Sundowner (not the evolution bit which is sketchy as fuck personally but the part about kids not generally being armed or expected to wield weaponry at some point) and 1stSgt said: a big part of boot is getting the recruits acquainted with the notion that they are no longer civilians with everything that entails. How to stand. How to look. How to walk. How to talk. How to answer (and how to answer to whom). How to obey orders without question. How to properly utilize a firearm and munitions. How to act in a coordinated manner on the battlefield. And, most importantly, how to think. Not like Ninety seven percent of the SA population but like that hardcore three. All of that has to be instilled in a timely and effective manner.

Hence: the repetition, the PT, and the endless drills. And, of course, the psychological component; the indoctrination (not the Reaper kind, the much more mundane garden variety). Soldiers aren't just born, they have to be molded. And they have to be given the tools and support and awareness to deal with some rather nasty truths. Ie, people will probably be shooting at you at some point, you will be expected to shoot back, friends might die, you might die. And that's not even getting into the specialized variants.

Snipers, for example, are a whole 'nother ballgame.

This is kind of interesting-I don't wanna portray my experience as typical, but I know a heck of a lot of drell, and...our training for combat roles tends to be less...groupy.

Sleep deprivation and pain yes, but...yeah, nobody in this hall had to march in a group. (And we're ranging social hunter-gatherers, and no, we don't march naturally).

Can someone explain to me the purpose of that exercise? Granted, drell are almost never sent into combat in large groups...but it still doesn't seem that useful. Is it just a discipline-and-obedience thing?

Discipline and obedience, yes. There's no real direct combat advantage to the marches and parades (beyond looking pretty awesome when the brass want to show us off) and the things like being able to stand at attention even with flies crawling all over your face (fuck you Darwin Recruit Training Depot) unless you lock your knees and fall on your face (don't do that, I nearly broke my nose falling over once as a young Marine, always keep your knees loose), but it does teach you discipline and obedience in order to ignore all of the irritants.

Along with that marching, all of it, teaches you to be part of the group. Humans have always gone to war in groups from when we used to hunt with stone spears or whatever. A big part of Marine training is breaking down your sense of civilian individuality, the individuality that enables you to say 'fuck no, Sergeant, I ain't going into the dark and scary hole' and replacing it with a group mentality so you can act effectively as part of a unit.

To be honest, it does get used a lot by officers puffing themselves up or when the Corps wants to look pretty.

Is that an innate behaviour? I mean, obviously it's artificially instilled during training in this manifestation, but... it's tapping into and redirecting the 'tribal instinct', yes? A recruit comes to think of their military (or their branch or unit, whichever is the case) as their tribe, and then the deference to higher authority and willingness to self-sacrifice is rooted in evolved behaviour, is that what happens?

Not...really? It's not some kind of biological imperative at least not that I'm aware of beyond the whole concept of us being social creatures (and all the anthropologists in the woodwork feel free to commence the skewering, I'm just going off of what I know here). An argument could be made for it's inception and evolution as a societal construct but that's...not the same really. And still super debatable. But either way; at is core its mechanism than tribalism. I mean sure there are subcommunities: scout snipers are a tight knit bunch, so are recon, 1st SOAR, and the special forces groups. But overall it's not "I AM OF THE HEAVY INFANTRY TRIBE IN X PLATOON IN Y DIVISION". You're a cog. An interchangeable part of a greater whole. Noooooo that would be instilled too. The uh urge to throw yourself on the metaphorical bayonets for your brother in arms isn't so much genetically/memetically/whatever ingrained as cultivated. The average person off the street probably isn't going to do it. Marines have to have that trained into them.

eeeeeeeh

I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of using evolution to judge military behaviour. Some human societies are individualistic, some are collectivist. Group behaviour and 'tribal' behaviour may be evolutionary but...

The military uses a psychological process to make individuals into soldiers, capable of obeying authority and capable of overcoming resistance to killing. The SAMC is not reflective of humanity's evolution as a whole.

So no, I don't think it's an innate human behaviour at all.


Specialist units tend to serve longer together/be detached from their parent units/be regarded as odd as the average grunt so there's that.

The willingness to die for your brothers and sisters in arms isn't so much about instinct as the mentality-you don't want to let the people around you down and the experience itself forging bonds between you. I got a lot closer to one of my best friends after we spent a while in a foxhole getting the odd mortar round.

Hells, you just repeated what others said before you, you even say so yourself, so I'm guessing you like the sound of your own voice? So you're either a politician or a salesman (or both.)

Anyway thanks for the comments. I'm not sure the 'evolution' thing is what's really going on but I do like it as anecdotal explanation. The only thing I can add to the whole discussion is my own anecdotal experience during the war. SAMC units always felt slightly less disciplined during operations and improvising more than you would need, and relying more on the individual soldier as opposed to using the strength of the group. In my eyes I believe the human soldiers are slightly more individualistic compared to turian ones, this is not worse or better just different, and it seems to work for you, I'm just observing and remaking the differences between groups, not making a judgment call on an entire military system.

There is a strange reversal of this whole individual/group thing when it comes personal freedoms. I've been going through the regs, –slowly because there are so many– and it's really notable how much the personal freedom is regulated. The basic idea for this seems, from an outsiders perspective, to be as a way to manage the lowest common denominator by restricting or denying certain behaviors, instead of trusting on the individual to manage their own affairs.

Take drug use as an example, we allow our soldiers (and non-soldiers) to use recreational drugs that are mostly either illegal or heavily regulated in the rest of C-Space. We trust on the individual to manage this responsibly, so their use doesn't prevent them or others to do their duty. If they fail in doing so, we hold an intervention to get the person back on task. Others including humans seem to take the stance that since some might fail to keep themselves in check it is better to regulate or forbid drug use.

Yeah, about this one-have you ever been to an intervention that actually worked in this ideal-turian way?