The Navy and Military overall is soft. We are frickin warriors are we not?
"Hazing" is a term invented by our weak leaders over the years to describe male warrior bonding and aggressivess designed to build unit cohesion.
Lableing "hazing" on these activities is simply a layer of "CYA" that is most prevalent in our leadership and is the MAJOR reason that across the board, retention rates suck and people leave the services period.
They join expecting a warrior kickass aggressive outfit that they think will fight the current adversary only to discover that they could have been a civil servant and done what we are currently doing now, without the BS of being a continual experiment in society.
My son has more unity bonding, "hazing" experiences in his frat in college and they are not expected to go fight a war.
This is what you joined, new warriors!
I'm just riding it out till retirement. Enjoy!
I agree and disagree with your assessment. Do I think hazing should be tolerated? No. Do I think the current definition of hazing is too liberal/general? Yes.
Some traditions walk the fine line, but as you point out - build warrior bonding, unit cohesion, and morale. Pinning the blood stripe on after being promoted to Corporal is one. I still have fond memories of walking the gauntlet, then afterwards to be welcomed to the fold in the E-Club with a group of NCO's over a beer. However, I could walk afterwards. I had a friend that couldn't move his legs after walking the gauntlet. I had to drive him to the barracks, and help him walk into his room, and then do it all over again the next day. That's not what I would call "welcoming".
Of course, the pendulum has shifted so far the other way that now anyone whispers the word hazing and everyone jumps through their ass to correct it. I had to do an investigation in the Battalion when one Marine told his 1stSgt he had been hazed. He was moved to H&S Company, and I recommended punishment for the Marines involved - because based on my investigation they crossed the line. The H&S Company 1stSgt came up to me a couple of weeks later and told me that he overheard this kid saying that he really didn't like the Marine Corps or the Infantry and was merely waiting to claim he was being hazed in H&S Company "just like I did in Bravo". It pissed me off, because he worked the system.
