What are some of the most effective punishments when a subordinate screws up in the military?
An example of collective punishment courtesy of Terminal LanceHere are some of the most effective punishments based on receiving and giving them:CleaningJoin the military they said, you will do awesome things like fly a KC-130J they said! Except they left out the fact that you will be scrubbing toilets until it looked like it came from the Home Depot. They were countless moments where I remember raking rocks because I chose to do my job instead of help clean for the potential visit of the Secretary of Defense, or because my senior Non-Commissioned Officer thought I was lying to him. I guarantee that I never made the same mistake twice again after having to spend time on my knees cleaning the porcelain until my face reflected in it.Collective PunishmentAnyone in the military can attest that this happens one too many times. Thanks to some idiot who decided to beat up a stripper out in town, everyone in the unit (or entire base) now has to get a class on how to treat a local with respect. Or not be allowed out in town for a certain period of time. While I lucked out in not having a situation like that happening to my unit or base, chances are the culprits peers and NCO’s were taking him or her through a nice round of exercising as a form of “policing” our own people, instead of letting the command do it in the form of a knee jerk reaction.Speaking of exercise…..Motivational PTWhen I was a boot stuck doing Camp Guard, the Sergeant of the Guard was fed up with all of us doing shenanigans that was smearing his reputation as a leader. Who could blame him when one of us managed to sneak liquor back into an alcohol free barracks after the 4th of July weekend? He threatened that the next moron who did anything remotely stupid, was going to go on a brutal combat conditioning exercise with him and that the only way that he would stop is when the poor culprit was vomiting all over the ground. We just had to look at one of our peers who just went through that to motivate us to not get in trouble.Eventually as an NCO, I found myself in charge of a fellow Corporal who was now under my charge due to the fact that he kept screwing up. One early morning, I was planning to go for a run with my subordinate and this individual. I told everyone to meet at a certain location at precisely 5:30 AM. That morning, I was only planning to go on a nice easy 6 mile run without going hard as we had just finished with taking the Combat Fitness Test.15 minutes passed as I was becoming irritated very quickly that the other Corporal didn’t show up at the time I stated. Even more infuriating, was the fact that my young Lance Corporal who was there on time, lived out in town since he was married yet he still managed to show up early.Angry at this point, I ran up to the barracks room of the Corporal, on the verge of kicking down the door when he emerged, saying that he woke up late. I wanted to punch him in the face but decided instead of a nice easy run, we were going to get brutal with the exercise. I didn’t tell my subordinate, but I knew he could handle it as he was in good shape unlike the other Corporal.We sprinted up an extremely steep hill on Marine Corps Air Station Miramar then began to knock out pushups. I saw the Corporal struggling and began to belittle him like a worthless subordinate instead of a fellow NCO. We ran back down the hill then began to knock out crunches. The Corporal then ran to a bush and began to puke.“I don’t f**king care if you’re puking! Get back and knock out those crunches Dirtbag!” I shouted to him as he continued vomiting.My Lance Corporal smirked, wondering how he was even an NCO that was supposedly leading by example.We ran back up the hill then began to do burpees. In the middle of that session, my Lance Corporal and I heard a loud THUD hitting the ground. The dirtbag Corporal had somehow fell on his back while we were exercising.“GET THE F**K UP YOU WEAKLING!” I screamed.At this point I had no sympathy whatsoever for him. I didn’t care that yelling at another NCO in front of a junior Marine would be considered inappropriate or unprofessional. But he was failing to lead by example and I am going to make him pay for that sin.We continued running up and down the hill while doing exercises for the next hour before I decided that it was a good workout for my subordinate and I. The Corporal pulled me aside after I had dismissed the Lance Corporal to clean himself up.“Hey….why are you talking to me like I’m some Private First Class?” he asked, looking angry that I had embarrassed him.“Are you going to show up late or act like some weakling again?” I snapped.“No…..Corporal Vu.” he responded.“Good, then get the f**k out of my face and let’s get ready for work.”He never showed up late again, but was still a certified dirtbag of the Marines.
