(January 19, 2015 at 9:12 am)JuliaL Wrote: I'm not crazy about the way armies are assembled at all, given that the first thing done in basic training is to remove the individual's personality and replace it with one more to the liking of the state.
This is overstating the case insofar as my experience goes. Of course, Air Force BMT was only 7½ weeks when I went in. To be sure, our TI did tell us he was going to "tear us down and rebuild us the way the AF wanted us", but the silent "bullshit!" reply in my head was shared by many others in my flight, to hear them tell it. We came through it with personalities intact, more or less.
Basic training changes you, no doubt. AF BMT didn't have to overcome the ingrained taboo against killing, so perhaps the training didn't have to be as emotionally destructive as Army or Marine training?
