I can remember mine, particularly the inordinate care with which we had to make our beds each morning before inspection. Sheets carefully folded and ironed, blankets taut, corners ironed with shaving cream, the whole "package" so tight that the instructor could bounce a coin off it. The slightest imperfection and everything was ripped off and tossed on the floor. "Idle! Do it again - and do it right this time!" In those early days of basic training, we might spend an hour or more at it every morning before the instructors were satisfied.
Despite it being officially forbidden, most of us developed the habit of making our beds as perfectly as possible - helping each other to do so - and then sleeping on the floor underneath our beds, so as not to disturb their pristine inspection-ready status. One of us would keep watch for impromptu inspections during the small hours of the morning, which would always find us practicing drill or doing something militarily educational and/or useful rather than sleeping. I'm sure our instructors knew what we were up to, but if we made them look good to their bosses, they turned a blind eye.
I don't miss those days . . . but I couldn't help smiling, remembering them, as I watched this Japanese bed-making competition.
I could have used their skills during military basic training, that's for sure! I wonder how long it took them to get that good at it? And did they have to suffer punishment PT (or the Japanese equivalent) if they got it wrong?
Peter
7 comments:
Wow. They made it look so easy. I still use the usual sheets and blankets, bc I hate wrassling with the duvet cover all the time.
The thing I remember from basic was more the floor than the beds. We were rousted out at 3:30 so we could wax the floors. They were then buffed by hand.
In A.I.T. there was an empty bunk under mine, so I took 1 blanket and the pillow. This then took about 30 seconds to mace my bed.
It was a way to teach teamwork and attention to detail in the early days of training and/or a time filler in the schedule and also to teach that everyone will do the same task throughout the service in the same way. Also it was a way to see who could handle the stress of having to do the same task over and over.
I am so happy I got to miss that insanity by being in the USAF. We still had the silly basic training rituals in the late 60s, just not as intense. I guess that's why they call it the 'chair force'.
USN 16-20 here. We'd make it perfectly one time and then lay the fire blanket on top and sleep on that. We didn't have the bounce a coin test but they did slide a ruler along the top. Fun times!
AF Basic in '68 was definitely lower key than that
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