The Need for Discipline in the Military
The first time I was deployed to Iraq, I realized the military had lost a lot of its discipline since my time in the Navy from 1988-1995. One of the first things we were taught in boot camp was discipline. We were taught what the military expected from us and when it was expected.
Discipline in the Navy
At that time, sailors were very proactive in getting the job done. The Navy taught you discipline through pride, and you did what you were told no matter what the task was. One of the first things we learned to do was keep a clean uniform. We had to iron our uniforms and we had to shine our shoes. There was no such thing as boots that didn’t need to be shined.
It didn’t matter where you were, you carried an iron and a shoe-shine kit wherever you went. There was no showing up for formation, or anywhere, with a wrinkled, sloppy looking uniform or dirty looking boots. For most of us it was a sense of pride. We took pride in our uniform being neat and pressed. We took pride in our shoes looking like mirrors because they were so shiny.
We were also taught to arrive 15 minutes early to appointments and there was no such thing as showing up late either.
The other thing was respect. That meant when you were told do something, you did it. You didn’t question why, you didn’t complain, and you didn’t do it halfway. You didn’t disrespect your authority figures. No mouthing off and no talking back. You said “yes sir” or “no sir.”
What Happened?
However, there’s such a lack of discipline today. I believe this is caused from many different reasons. One is accepting mediocrity due to laziness.
Many soldiers today don’t even know what an iron is or how to shine their shoes. This causes them to show up to formation with sloppy looking uniforms and dingy boots. And the higher-ups accept this simply because it’s a different era. A lot of the military personnel are lazy and they’ve been forced to accept this. They’ve accepted this because it’s easier to do so than to continually discipline the soldiers over subordination.
Because of this normalcy, the senior person in command is often disrespected by their subordinates and this becomes embarrassing to the senior person. The military has let-up on their standards of discipline and they’ve begun to accept many things that they wouldn’t have in the past.
For example, boot camp is by far easier today than it was years ago. The military has relaxed a lot on the rules they once had. Disciplinary punishments were far more strict if you disrespected a senior commander, you were liable to get an article 15 and you’d receive 45 days restriction and 45 days extra duty. Today, you’re just liable to receive counseling for that.
Changing Times
The big thing we deal with today are cell phones. It seems that everywhere you look there’s a cell phone in somebody’s hand causing a distraction during meetings or even while a mission is being prepared. Of course, back in 1988 we didn’t have cell phones. We were lucky if we got to make a phone call, and there certainly wasn’t any Internet or Xbox.
I honestly believe that a lot of it has to do with the use of cell phones. Why? Well for me it’s simple. The easy access of cell phones have caused so many distractions. People spend so much time on Facebook and other social media apps and this ends up wasting people’s time. And this comes from a pure lack of discipline throughout the military. We have lost the art of proper discipline. This needs to start in boot camp.
We have relaxed the rules so much that soldiers continually disrespect their seniors and constantly complain when they’re asked, or told, to do something. The rules that used to be upheld need to be returned and we need to go back to discipline being an important part of boot camp and the military.
Bring it Back
Discipline is what the military was known for and that needs to comeback. The military needs this reputation so soldiers are more motivated to do things with a sense of pride. So they’ll wear their uniform and represent the military with a sense of pride and professionalism.
Discipline is one of the most important parts of the military and the military has always been known for its discipline. It’s important that we take it back. Civilian employers have been known to hire, and prefer to hire, military personnel due to their discipline. It’s time to be known for this again.
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- What’s Missing in Today’s Military: Honor - March 19, 2018
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