This is for the Drill Seargents out there, what is the method to the madness on day one of basic? Are you looking for weaknesses, Strengths?

It's just to let them know that they are in the Army now. Your no longer at home with mom and dad as a civilian. It's shock and awe. I'm not looking for weakness, that's a give in. It also can weed out certain individuals right away.

Letting them know they are no longer on the "block". It's also a way of setting your power base - "the DS is now in charge of your life". It also gives me a way to see how the trainees reacted. A lot can be learned from the first day.

Shit, day one? We're just trying to get the paperwork done on time. Now the first 72 hrs is another story...

Yes to both, but also I was identifying those with more leadership potential for positioning my platoon, watching for any potential issues/problems. Shark attacks etc were always fun but primarily we were looking to establish the status quo and looking at who were our strongest and weakest we'd been given that cycle. That's just my perspective, others most likely have their own motivations

It's all about shock and awe, as well as to start establishing the chain of command, so that new trainees begin to recognize who is who.

There are no strengths or weaknesses on day one everyone is pretty much the same. we are trying to turn kids that have been playing video games and telling their parents no for the last 18 years into members of a team that may have to give up their lives for the good mission. Intestinal fortitude

Organized Chaos. Takes new trainees out of their comfort zone. It attempts to break alliances formed in processing to that point and in my case at least, I created so much chaos that it bonded all the recruits against me (authority) rather than among themselves. Misery loves company. If I could focus their contempt toward me as their Drill Sergeant in a way that preserved their respect for me, I could start them forming bonds with each other. This ultimately facilitated training greatly.

The purpose is to quickly adjust your mind set to the team concept

Weeding out the weak ones. Seeing who can take it and who will fold.

In my opinion it was to confuse them and make there minds go through all of the human emotions at one time. Scared of what might happen, confused as to who is yelling and why, mad at the DS for yelling and at the guy next to him for messing up, etc etc. they will eventually learn to slow everything around them down and deal with stressful situations.