Navy Shoulder Cords at Recruit Training Centers - Red Ropes etc.

[collectsmedals]

I graduated recruit training in 1977. Our Company Commander was a nice guy, First Class Quartermaster. He was a small guy but could be stern when he had to be but otherwise was pretty low key. One day about half way through boot camp he was dressing down one of the recruits and the recruit punched him square in the face. He went down hard but the Company Commander from our sister company saw it happen and came charging over through the common head. He was a huge muscular Bosun Mate Chief and just grabbed this guy and beat him to a pulp right in front of everyone. Never saw the boot again and we went on to finish basic like nothing ever happened, was never even mentioned.

[Will_C.]

5 hours ago, collectsmedals said:

I graduated recruit training in 1977. Our Company Commander was a nice guy, First Class Quartermaster. He was a small guy but could be stern when he had to be but otherwise was pretty low key. One day about half way through boot camp he was dressing down one of the recruits and the recruit punched him square in the face. He went down hard but the Company Commander from our sister company saw it happen and came charging over through the common head. He was a huge muscular Bosun Mate Chief and just grabbed this guy and beat him to a pulp right in front of everyone. Never saw the boot again and we went on to finish basic like nothing ever happened, was never even mentioned.

Wow! Someone actually slugged a "red rope"? I'll bet after the chief beat the crap out of the dude, the Master at Arms was called from the Division Office on the Quarterdeck. This guy probably went to the brig and was court-martialed out of the Navy with a big chicken dinner or a dishonorable.  I guarantee you his time in that waterfront brig was NOT pleasant. 

Did that violent assault end the "Mr. Nice Guy" in your company commander or did he have the maturity to accept that the person who hit him had been dealt with? Lesser men would have too much of a bruised ego and take out their rage on everyone else who had nothing to do with the incident. 

[collectsmedals]

23 hours ago, Will_C. said:

Did that violent assault end the "Mr. Nice Guy" in your company commander or did he have the maturity to accept that the person who hit him had been dealt with? Lesser men would have too much of a bruised ego and take out their rage on everyone else who had nothing to do with the incident. 

He was gone for two days, our sister company commander covered, he came back on the third day with a black eye but acted like nothing ever happened. No one was going to ask him about it.

[sigsaye]

11 hours ago, collectsmedals said:

He was gone for two days, our sister company commander covered, he came back on the third day with a black eye but acted like nothing ever happened. No one was going to ask him about it.

I would say, for most Sailors who go push boots, it’s just a job, like any other job in the Navy. Most of us really aren’t the “Gunny Hartman” types, ( or we’d be Marines).   The duty is “Voluntary “, but most that I knew (yours truly included), are basically “Voluntold”, we’re going. Usually it’s a choice between “Pushing Boots, or Recruiting In Brooklyn Shipmate”. So you take the lesser of two evils.   I had a buddy who for his first shore duty, was sent to Great Lakes for General Duty. During the Summer, he was a deck hand on th Welfare and Rec Charter Fishing boat, taking retired Sailors out on Lake Michigan, to drink beer and pretend to fish. In the winter, when they put the boat up for the season, he worked in the base library. That’s what I was looking for. But, didn’t happen 🤣👍🏻⚓️. Some guys got ate up with the power. Like I said, they were already like that. They tended to just have that personality flaw. Most, we’re just guys trying to do the best they could to get the recruits through training as best as they could with the time they had. I always sat my recruits down the first day or two, and explained that the whole point of Boot Camp was to see if they could be taught to follow simple instructions in stressful situations. No one cared how they folded their underwear in the Fleet. It was a tool we had. If they couldn’t follow those simple instructions, while some was shouting down the time, how could we teach them to fix a jet that had broken down on a Catapult?  Or plug a torpedo hole with water pouring in, or fight a fuel fire?  Almost all of them saw immediately what the game was all about. It made it easier for everyone. Some RCCs treated recruits like dirt. But then, they treated everyone like dirt. I worked with a Senior Chief there, who was a POS. He thought himself superior to everyone else. He tried to extend pushing boots. The command said no, he needed to move on. 

[Will_C.]

8 hours ago, sigsaye said:

I would say, for most Sailors who go push boots, it’s just a job, like any other job in the Navy. Most of us really aren’t the “Gunny Hartman” types, ( or we’d be Marines).   The duty is “Voluntary “, but most that I knew (yours truly included), are basically “Voluntold”, we’re going. Usually it’s a choice between “Pushing Boots, or Recruiting In Brooklyn Shipmate”. So you take the lesser of two evils.   I had a buddy who for his first shore duty, was sent to Great Lakes for General Duty. During the Summer, he was a deck hand on th Welfare and Rec Charter Fishing boat, taking retired Sailors out on Lake Michigan, to drink beer and pretend to fish. In the winter, when they put the boat up for the season, he worked in the base library. That’s what I was looking for. But, didn’t happen 🤣👍🏻⚓️. Some guys got ate up with the power. Like I said, they were already like that. They tended to just have that personality flaw. Most, we’re just guys trying to do the best they could to get the recruits through training as best as they could with the time they had. I always sat my recruits down the first day or two, and explained that the whole point of Boot Camp was to see if they could be taught to follow simple instructions in stressful situations. No one cared how they folded their underwear in the Fleet. It was a tool we had. If they couldn’t follow those simple instructions, while some was shouting down the time, how could we teach them to fix a jet that had broken down on a Catapult?  Or plug a torpedo hole with water pouring in, or fight a fuel fire?  Almost all of them saw immediately what the game was all about. It made it easier for everyone. Some RCCs treated recruits like dirt. But then, they treated everyone like dirt. I worked with a Senior Chief there, who was a POS. He thought himself superior to everyone else. He tried to extend pushing boots. The command said no, he needed to move on. 

What you just said makes perfect sense. An A-hole is going to be an A-hole with or without the title of "Recruit Company Commander" and the red rope. If they were an arrogant A-hole before becoming a C.C., then they were going to be one while a C.C.

 

You are 100% spot-on regarding what all the games with folding and stowing your seabag was all about...the rack drills (seam and slack to the middle of the rack...the fold-down on the sheet the width of your "ricky notebook", etc.  It's all to weed out who cannot perform and concentrate under immense pressure. 

 

Did you know that back in the mid-1990s they discontinued requiring recruits to salute the company commanders? They stopped that because no one salutes any enlisted out in the fleet. 

When you were out in the fleet before and after pushing, if any young sailor slipped up and called you "Sir", I'll bet you told them NOT IN A SCOLDING WAY that you aren't a "sir" and that you actually work for a living. 😁👍

 

I remember seeing a couple of Company Commanders with a Master Training Specialist pin affixed to their red aiguillettes. Did you ever see that while you were pushing? Also, did you ever see a Company Commander wearing the cookie badge that had the wreath of excellence? 

[sigsaye]

11 minutes ago, Will_C. said:

What you just said makes perfect sense. An A-hole is going to be an A-hole with or without the title of "Recruit Company Commander" and the red rope. If they were an arrogant A-hole before becoming a C.C., then they were going to be one while a C.C.

 

You are 100% spot-on regarding what all the games with folding and stowing your seabag was all about...the rack drills (seam and slack to the middle of the rack...the fold-down on the sheet the width of your "ricky notebook", etc.  It's all to weed out who cannot perform and concentrate under immense pressure. 

 

Did you know that back in the mid-1990s they discontinued requiring recruits to salute the company commanders? They stopped that because no one salutes any enlisted out in the fleet. 

When you were out in the fleet before and after pushing, if any young sailor slipped up and called you "Sir", I'll bet you told them NOT IN A SCOLDING WAY that you aren't a "sir" and that you actually work for a living. 😁👍

 

I remember seeing a couple of Company Commanders with a Master Training Specialist pin affixed to their red aiguillettes. Did you ever see that while you were pushing? Also, did you ever see a Company Commander wearing the cookie badge that had the wreath of excellence? 

When I was pushing, I hade the Master Training Specialist qual. We wore them on our name tags. I don’t remember wreaths on the cookies. As far as saluting, I always thought that was a pain. 

[Will_C.]

1 hour ago, sigsaye said:

When I was pushing, I hade the Master Training Specialist qual. We wore them on our name tags. I don’t remember wreaths on the cookies. As far as saluting, I always thought that was a pain. 

I can imagine that saluting every recruit who passed you on the grinder was a pain in the 6. I don't know if this is scuttlebutt or a true story, but supposedly a gate guard at the main gate at RTC GRT LKS; some one NOT required to salute the red rope saluted a company commander and then right behind the CC, the C.O. of the base came through and DID NOT receive a hand salute. He was irate and asked if he had to have a rope to get a salute around the place. 

[sigsaye]

3 hours ago, Will_C. said:

I can imagine that saluting every recruit who passed you on the grinder was a pain in the 6. I don't know if this is scuttlebutt or a true story, but supposedly a gate guard at the main gate at RTC GRT LKS; some one NOT required to salute the red rope saluted a company commander and then right behind the CC, the C.O. of the base came through and DID NOT receive a hand salute. He was irate and asked if he had to have a rope to get a salute around the place. 

Don’t know if that happened, but makes total sense. They were saluting the rope, and not getting the rank thing 

[Salvage Sailor]

Just read through this entire post again, so now I will regale you with a boot camp 'sea story'

 

During the early cycle we were told by our CC that there would be an unannounced 'Batt Staff' inspection (Battalion Staff).  So one fine day they arrived on the deck of our 80 man barracks (40 to a side in two tier bunks).  It started with the metal ashcans that were outside on the stair landing flying down the deck immediately followed by a herd of bellowing Chiefs & red ropers.  BOOM BOOM SLAM!!! ALRIGHT M...F...ERS POP TALL!!!

 

They came down each side in pairs, one flinging uniform items and your bunk about while the other 'corrected' your attitude from about 1/2 inch away from your face, spittle, cigarette breath and all...

 

I stood tall and immobile, staring at the man across from me as a fixed point, hearing all around me WRONG ANSWER!! - DO IT AGAIN!!! - USELESS POS, you get the point.  They had a sailor duck walking down the centerboard (table) quacking and saying I'M A DUCK, I'M A DUCK, another sailor running back and forth told to say over and over I'M A F..KING IDIOT!! (I CAN'T HEAR YOU) I'M A F..KING IDIOT!!  Another was told to make 'Submarine Sounds' and not doing very well.

 

They came upon me, the Company Yeoman up at the head of the line, checked over my stuff......and found nothing wrong.....nothing.

But I'm about to lose it and they know it, as they go after the man across from me, and it's so funny I'm going to explode.

 

Just then, the first class who's trying to gig me pulls out a pair of my skivvies and says, YOU THINK YOU'RE PERFECT BOOT!!!  NOT IN MY BATTALION!!! 

 

...and he hangs them over my head, crotch covering my face...and I just relax

 

They never saw my huge smile

 

Then they left and it was like the moments after a twister tore up the town.  Later in the day my CC asks me, "how did you do that, not react" and I told him in all honesty I grew up in a Navy household, my Dad & Uncles were much more convincing, and they would have a lit cigarette dangling from their mouth.