Blanket Parties. Have you experienced one?

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 01:15:05 -0500

During your days in open bay dorms,   have you or another person ever been the recipient of such a thing?    What is your take on them today,  would they not be illegal?  Likewise, wall to wall counseling?

Response by A1C Michael David Severson made Dec 6 at 2013 6:57 PM

A1C Michael David Severson — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 18:57:04 -0500

I was the recipient of one of those. Not cool. And other things that were not cool either. Officially, I can see they would not be condoned or endorsed, but the impossible task of being the man against several others who would tacitly deny such an act taking place proved frustrating.

kind of like the mysterious way that my civilian clothes suddenly appeared in my dirty clothes bag during Basic, which led to me being summarily dropped from bypass training because of my Civil Air Patrol background.

All our civilian clothes were LOCKED in a storage area adjacent to the day room for our flight, so I would like to know how that came about. Did my TI conspire to do this, or was there a key that other airman recruits had access to, which they brazenly took and then searched for my baggage to find my stuff, and then put it in my dirty clothes bag, which was subsequently "found" by my TI who inspected my gear and living space while I was returning from drill with the assistant TI, and I was singled out, and taken up inside our dorm and confronted by all this alone, while everyone else was outside.

And this same TI also decided to violently rip a handful of chest hair that was above the neckline of my T-shirt under my fatigue shirt, and insisted that I had not properly "shaved" that morning. It had been there before, but why was that done then?

I did exactly what I was asked to do, and never was one to cause trouble, and because of my CAP background, I demonstrated solid military bearing and compliance with what I was asked to do.

So, there is a lot of things that just simply do not add up back then, and it still bothers me to this day as to why this nonsense went on, unless bullying was encouraged, and my compliant behavior was viewed as being passive or submissive behavior that was not liked. Who knows? I have no idea, and my training records were not a part of the data I requested from NARA 2 years ago. That is a bit telling also.

So, that was my "welcome" into the Air Force...

Response by SFC James Baber made Dec 7 at 2013 8:43 PM

SFC James Baber — Sat, 07 Dec 2013 20:43:26 -0500

In basic, we had a guy that never showered or washed his clothes regularly and we were in an open bay and the smell was horrible, we actually received a blessing from the Senior DS via the access to the lye soap and scrub brushes. The guy came up from fire guard one night was gang tackled, drug into the shower and scrubbed from head to toe with lye soap until his body was red. Needless to say, he changed his ways fairly quick as none of the DSs believed when he complained about what happened. I saw him about 5 years after that at another duty station and he was probably one of the cleaner cut soldiers I knew then, always pressed BDUs and spit shined boots.

Response by 1SG Robert Mirra made Dec 8 at 2013 7:19 PM

1SG Robert Mirra — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 19:19:42 -0500

Oh yes, The poor kid was in pain

Response by 1SG Robert Mirra made Dec 8 at 2013 7:20 PM

1SG Robert Mirra — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 19:20:35 -0500

Oh yes I do, The poor kid was in such pain

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 8 at 2013 8:46 PM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 20:46:58 -0500

I was very easy to get along with and I usually had males and females come to me for advice. Some people are hesitant to ask questions or confident enough to confide in someone. If they feel safe they will generally open up. And was as NCOs have the responsibility of being that go-to person.

Being an E-5 barracks and a weather forecaster to boot, many of the troops were in awe but I also listened and that sometimes is enough.

Response by SGT Bryon Sergent made Mar 14 at 2014 12:18 PM

SGT Bryon Sergent — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 12:18:14 -0400

Yeah we had a "Dirty" as the drill's called it. We were told after a field problem that if "dirty" didn't get a shower we would all get smoked the next day. Well we went to the DFAC got green scrub pads, scrub brushes and powdered soap and put it all in the milk crate. We then went against the drill and said to the man dude need to shower or stuff is going to happen and we are going to get smoked. well dude didn't shower so we had a 2 hr smoke session after training day was over. After lights out we grabbed his sheets, and him carried him into the shower, then proceeded to turn on all the water, and dumped a whole box of soap on him. we ( the platoon) then started to scrub every part that we could get to, he was clean once we were done. Never had that problem again.

Response by PO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 1 at 2014 4:17 PM

PO1 Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 16:17:43 -0400

Never experienced one. However, I will confess to instigating one. Onboard ship we had an individual who refused to do anything regarding a fire drill, no matter how much NJP / extra duty was assigned to him. After months of dealing with the less than useful individual we had an actual fire onboard and this individual refused to do anything....which ended up with two other individuals being badly burned. Two nites later, the individual that refused to partake in any drills or participate when the real thing happened learned a very harsh lesson. Did I feel badly? Absolutely NOT. Do I regret doing it? Even today, many, many years later I still feel that less than useful individual deserved much more than he got - in spite of the broken bones and bruises he suffered.

Response by SPC Kara Sport made Apr 26 at 2014 1:10 PM

SPC Kara Sport — Sat, 26 Apr 2014 13:10:15 -0400

No blanket parties but I remember plenty of epic group punishments thanks to those that didn't want to bathe or behave in basic.

Does remind me of the film "Full Metal Jacket".

Response by SSG John Erny made Feb 18 at 2015 1:48 PM

SSG John Erny — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 13:48:54 -0500

We gave a guy that every one picked on out of fun a fake blanket party, we put rolled sock in a sock. The big guys pulled a blanket over him and then the rest of us looked at him and started swinging. He thought it was real at first and started screaming. We stopped because every one was laughing so hard we could not function. Rigger AIT 1989

Response by PVT Tim Thomas made Aug 20 at 2017 4:24 PM

PVT Tim Thomas — Sun, 20 Aug 2017 16:24:24 -0400

Yes. 1977. Ft. Jackson S. C.
Terrible an unlawful. Recruit's ACTION'S
Unfortunate. Wish Pentagon would act on this. Going on for countless years. Army has lost many a good should.
Who can I contact in ARMY or write.
334-58-8967.

Response by AB Daniel Cory made Dec 20 at 2019 8:27 PM

AB Daniel Cory — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 20:27:57 -0500

I was in basic training I lost my lives dream because 5 guys felt it necessary to pound on my head when I was asleep an lost my hearing 38.5 yrs lava finally realised it happened an 5 guys had to go through the whole base an tell them what they had done an easy recycled to day one an to day have hearing loss it took 38 yrs to get acknowledge that it happened I am owed for all that as far as I am concerned those guys got off easy why do I suffer when they have a life this sucks