Is it okay to use a "smoke" session as corrective training? What creative exercise did you hate the most?

Making "Sand Angels" accompanied by "rain." Lying in the sand, doing flutter kicks, and repeatedly throwing sand into the air --"team building" one will never see in the civilian world!

As the Originator of the "Magic Bullet", when you see Soldiers being smoked in FULL Dress Blues after a ceremony, in a volleyball pit, you're now entering a new realm of suck. BTW no you don't get to take them to CIF and exchange them. They get cleaned, they will be HIGHLY pressed and back on your ass for the next one. But as a well seasoned JE screw up, I wouldn't know anything about that.

When I was stationed in Germany, we ran 5 miles out to the orchards by our 1SG. When we got there, we had to crab walk for seems like forever. Then a series of mountain climbers, front-back-go, bicycle kicks and several others. We then ran the 5 miles back. Good times I tell ya!

It depends.

There is nothing wrong with an "Objective Lesson" to reinforce Corrective Modification of Behavior.

First we must ask ourselves:

1) Is this going to do anything? If yes continue to 2). If not, find a different method.
2) Will the troop find it so abhorrent that they will never want to do it again? If yes continue to 3). If not, find a different method.
3) Are you willing to be there with them the entire time? Not necessarily do it, but be there. Never put a subordinate through anything you wouldn't do. If yes continue to 4). If not find a different method.
4) Will it be challenging? This is essential. It has to be CHALLENGING. Not just tedious. Challenging promotes Growth. Tedious promotes Hatred & Fear.

As an example.

I had a young Marine who started showing up late. Not "a lot" late, but a little late. I needed to take corrective action. So I had him show up at the base of Recon Ridge in Horno with an E-Tool and a bucket at 0800 on Saturday morning. For those not familiar, Recon Ridge is a "Firebreak" that goes up the mountain outside the camp. It's about a mile to the top.

His task was to fill said bucket with the Etool and meet me at the top at 0830. Meet me at the appointed place and time with proper equipment. Basically it was a "Movement Exercise." Since it was only a mile, he had plenty of time. At 0830 we dumped his bucket and I told him to me at the base of the hill at 0900 with a full bucket. We did this all day, taking at break for chow. Up and down that hill we went. Dirt & bucket.

Never had a problem with him being late again. Nor anyone he worked with.

When I was an E3 at Hurlburt Field, there were brown concrete bricks lining the road at the back gate. My "extra duty" consisted of painting these rocks blue and then a couple of days later repainting them the original brown.

1975, while at Ft Devens the MP raided the Medics barracks and confiscated the weed, to teach us a lesson about the evils of weed the CO used the smoke session of forcing us to observe the burning of the weed, we all stood directly down wind. Great Training.

My first smoking I got for outshining my TL. They way he set up our MMT was just plum stupid, but I did it anyway. I booked my happy arse to each new piece of cover, up the hill and to the objective, WAY ahead of him (and I was carrying more weight than he was). When the SL saw this, and asked the TL how this was possible, the TL called me over. I simply explained that a rush to cover is exactly that; a rush to COVER, not dash for a couple seconds and then lay down in an open field where you can get picked off by even a rookie marksman. The SL asked my opinion on the exercise as a whole, and how we performed. I wasn't going to lie. I gave him my honest opinion. I even gave a couple ideas to improve for the next time we ran through it. Skip ahead about an hour, and there was little PV2 Pietrantonio low-crawling all around our Company patrol base, stopping every hundred feet to do a set of 10 Burpees and then squat for 60 seconds. This went on for about 10 laps around the PB, and by then end of it, my entire body felt like jelly. However, my satisfaction was complete when the TL ran the exercise exactly the way I suggested it when we went back through it that night.

AIT 2014 August, Ft Huachuca, Sierra Vista AZ. We got dropped on our way back from class (around 1600) near all the other MI buildings, in full view. Concrete had to be cooked to 120 degrees and we held in the front leaning rest UP position for about 5 min. Felt like 30. Not as bad as most, but my hands, against the air, felt like 50 degrees cooler air than what it actually was for about an hour afterward.
But the absolute worst was at basic at Jackson around may or June. More than 3/4 of the company fucked up, and we ran, with full battle rattle, something similar to shuttle sprints for about 15 min. Anyone lagging behind would in turn feel the wrath of DS Hamilton's fury with more sprints. Can't remember the range we were at, but I never wanted to go back.
I think a soldier fell out with heat stroke from that little fandango

Once, when a Boot Camp sister-company beat us in a academic test score, our two Company Commanders MASH-ed us ("Make A Sailor Hurt") in the following manner:
1. We donned all of our "outer clothing" on top of our dungarees (utility coat, pea coat, rain coat, watch cap).
2. The CC's turned the heat up in the barracks as high as they could make it go.
3. We did push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks and running in place in 10-minute increments with 2 minutes rest between each.
4. We did this routine for 90 minutes.

We realized that the CC's let us stop and open the windows when over half of us had puked - IN PLACE - or become immobile.

I did learn one thing. A crew that undergoes such suffering has only two options: become one crew incapable of giving up; or quit - as a whole unit - and resign itself to whatever punishment is coming.

We chose to suffer rather than quit. After that - for me - quitting or watching a shipmate quit was never an option. Came in REALLY HANDY at Nuclear Power School.

I didn't score the run time that I had guaranteed to my team leader. The result was me doing "Joe-Joe the duck's," and donkey kicks by myself, with nobody around. I didn't have anyone to push me, I just had to do it myself. I had a feeling he was looking so I just kept going. I was already sore following the APFT, but the worst part was me being left to smoke myself. I hated that guy so much, and I think I still do.