The Soldier and the Buffer. The most plagiarized Basic Combat Training urban legend.

MSG Martin C. — Sat, 14 Jun 2014 19:52:05 -0400

I will begin by saying that suicide is no joking matter, however I don't recall a time in my 15 year Army career that I have not heard someone tell the story of how a trainee in their class attempted suicide by wrapping the cord of the buffer around their neck and jumping out of the window; however it was so long the trainee broke both of his legs.... I cannot stand anyone telling this because I have heard it from so many people at so many different times and places that it would had being impossible for all those people to be in BCT at the same exact time. During my tenure as a DS I never had this particular incident. So how about it RP have you heard such tale? And if so are you willing to put and end to the madness?

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 5 at 2014 8:39 AM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 08:39:00 -0400

I like the one about the AIT students at Ft. Rucker, who were trying to strip the old wax off the hallway in the barracks. Apparently, since Ft. Rucker is the home of Army aviation, one of the students got a hold of JP-4 and decided to use it as a wax remover. The JP-4 was laid down, and a as the buffer was going over the fuel covered floor, a spark from the electrical outlet, where the buffer was plugged in, ignited the floor and exploded, sending several of the AIT students to the hospital.

Response by SPC Jeffrey Hunter made Aug 5 at 2014 10:09 AM

SPC Jeffrey Hunter — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 10:09:46 -0400

What in the hell????????????? I had the time of my life in basic, made me a man and my mother could never live it down, I'm sorry a trainee had to go through someone such as that.

Response by SFC Mark Bailey made Jan 8 at 2015 10:13 PM

SFC Mark Bailey — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 22:13:47 -0500

Yes, but not a suicide actually
A PV2 in my Rifle Company tied one around his waist at the Starship we were at.
(E-5-1; Ft. Benning GA, graduated May 1982)

He was on the 3rd floor landing and jumped up on the ledge
He threw the buffer out and it crashed to the ground... because the cord was too long...
...and he was still holding onto the support upright as several Drill SGT's converged on him.

I can still remember Drill SGT Kennedy screaming, "I'm gonna throw you off that ledge personally maggot..!!"

We honestly all thought he did it on purpose just to try to get a TDP discharge.
He was still on guard duty as we graduated

Response by SGT Michael Glenn made Jan 9 at 2015 11:12 AM

SGT Michael Glenn — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 11:12:40 -0500

Nope...never heard this one before....would be funny to watch, but im just morbid that way. I think even the most seriously distraught person would have more common sense than this and how in the world did he get it to wrap around his neck in the 1st place????

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 27 at 2016 7:24 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 19:24:03 -0500

MSG Martin C. I've never heard of this before. Thanks for sharing it.

Response by SSG Darrell Peters made Jul 9 at 2019 12:35 AM

SSG Darrell Peters — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 00:35:52 -0400

I was there when it happened not once but twice. I was on the Emergency Room Staff Fort Gordon at the time. Or at least a similar incident. The kid tied the buffer electrical cord around his neck and threw it out the second story window in one case, the buffer had an extremely long cord and the kid was ok. The kid probably got the idea of hearing similar stories. The second case was at Fort McCoy WI technically this wasn't a suicide attempt but more out of curiosity. Some numbnuts wanted to know just how long the buffer electrical cord was since he heard this legend and through the thing of the second story fire escape after tying it to the top of the fire escape. Here is the thing in all my years working in Emergency Medicine I have dealt with "copy cats' Since these copy cats are part of a medical record they never see the light of day.