Like so many of my peers, I grew up spending a majority of my time as a kid running around playing "Cowboys and Indians", and having Nerf and airsoft wars in the woods behind my house with my best friend Stevie. Despite this involvement in shooting games, we always maintained a jovial, and kind attitude towards others, and playing these games never affected how we acted towards others, or how seriously we took ourselves.
Now Stevie is a Marine.
Stevie gets shot at for real now, and he shoots back.
I am proud that my best friend is serving our country and is willing to sacrifice his life for what he believes in, however, there was a time while he was going through basic training and boot camp that I started noticing some changes in Stevie, and he started adopting beliefs and opinions that seemed foreign to the Stevie I knew before. The mellow, easy-going, and empathetic Stevie I knew became more intense during conversations, only really ever talking about all of the "badass" things he was learning how to do, things that I couldn't help but think would be used to harm others. Early on in his training, when he got to come home and hang out with his friends from high school, he would eventually revert to his jovial, and whimsical self, but every time he left and came back, it seemed to take him more and more time to revert back to the Stevie that I knew. My mom, who knew him so well growing up, was beginning to have a hard time conversing with him without abrasive language and topics flowing uncensored into conversation in a way that was difficult for her, and others, to cope with.
In order to cope with these demands of being a marine, it seemed that Stevie was being feeling the effects of the conformity in the form of Normative Social Influence, and more specifically the Obedience, of the Military. Both of these forms of conformity rely on an individual (in this case, Stevie) adopting an attitudes and beliefs of another person or group (the marines) in order to gain or maintain in-group status and belonging, even if the attitudes or beliefs are not intrinsically held by the individual. Taking orders to do something you would otherwise not do, becomes prevalent during "Incentive Training", which I will touch on later. An in-group such as the marines which relies so heavily on conformity and obedience for success, relies heavily on social influences to conform individuals for the success of the group. The military implements their (well earned) reputation of success and respect for influencing the minds of new recruits. As is the case with the photo below, which shows an intense and proud individual, and emphasizes the characteristics of "Honor", "Wisdom", "Resolve" and being "Elite". However, a more subtle part of the photo that is extremely important in emphasizing the obedience of the military is how it says "you will" revealing that marines have this characteristics, but it is not a choice. While these are clearly desirable characteristics to have, it is a subtle example of the underlying obedience in the military.
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| Propert of the U.S Marines |
This obedience is important, however, it is also important to note the methods employed to achieve this level of obedience and conforming of mindset. An excellent example is during bootcamp how marines get "Incentive Training" or commonly referred to as "IT'd". To most people who watch video below, the idea of getting "IT'd" certainly would not seem enticing, however, the Marines do in fact have a choice, and if they did not want to continue, they could quit the Marines. As stated in the video, it is an excellent way to instill discipline, and if you want to become a marine, you need to change your mindset into being ok with this type of harsh treatment and physical punishment if you are going to succeed.
Since making it through bootcamp, and having worked as a marine, and been deployed in the middle east, Stevie has been able to acknowledge and separate his beliefs with those of his in-group. He is proud to be a Marine, and should be, however, it was important for the obedience and conformity of the military to be implemented during bootcamp, so that when they hit the real world scenarios, they would work together under command well. Now that he is more independent within the Marines, he is doing incredibly well for himself, and has found an excellent position within his in-group, but it was interesting to see the effects of a serious case of conformity take place first hand on someone I knew.
References
Fornier, G. (2018, January 8). Normative Social
Influence. Retrieved from Psych Central:
https://psychcentral.com/encyclopedia/normative-social-influence/
McLeod, S. (2007). Obedience to Authority. Retrieved
from Simply Psychology: https://www.simplypsychology.org/obedience.html
Acknowledgements:
My friend Stevie, who's name has been changed to protect his identity.
Thank you for your service, and for being a great friend!
This is a really interesting perspective as an outsider taking a close look inward at this type of training environment. There is a large gap between the civilian world and the military world in the United States. Not many people see what the military culture is like without joining it. It is important to understand that the military is, for all intensive purposes, it's own society. It is a different world entirely from the one we all grew up in. A lot of people struggle at first to make this shift and to conform to something so far removed from how they had lived before. But most people who do make it through the initial training choose to embrace the norms of their new found society fully, and often even begin to see the out-group (civilians) as inferior.
ReplyDeleteThe most important lesson for people to learn as the enter the military, or watch those close to them enter the military, is that conformity is expected and not optional. Being a part of that force requires members to voluntarily waive their right to free will. It is the most extreme version of conformity we see in modern society. The reason it is so common for members to freely make this sacrifice is the belief that their personal freedom is not as important to them as the general freedoms that they are signing up to protect. They trust fully that the organization will make the best choices for the country that they serve. Based on this trust they are willing to degrade themselves to what is essentially no more than a tool or an instrument to be used in service of that mission.
Accepting the culture shock is extremely difficult and it can create rifts between the military and civilian sides of that persons life. However, as long as that person, and the ones close to them, understand that they are allowing their organization to change them in service of a mission that they believe to be bigger than themselves, coping with the differences becomes much easier.
While I have not been through what your friend has, I can appreciate the conclusions you came to in this post. It isn't common for someone in the civilian world to truly look at the changes that service members go through when they join this new society. It is a lot easier to go through these changes when the people in your life make an effort to understand the reasons and mechanisms behind them.
Emmitt, you put it very bluntly, but it definitely helps put into perspective the decision that they make, and you are right. They are to some degree or another voluntarily waiving their right to free will, in order to defend freedom. It certainly seems like a strange concept, however I have had many discussions with my family about how it was necessary to desensitize him to some things, and turn him into a tool. As hard as it is to say, at the end of the day he needs to be ok to shoot at someone with the intention of killing them. It is difficult to grasp, but you are also so right on how important it is for us to try and understand what they are really going through, and being supportive of their decisions and trying to bridge that psychological "rift" you mentioned between the military and civilians. Thanks for the insightful comment!
DeleteThank you for your post!
ReplyDeleteI know very few people involved in military life and those that I do know, I don't know overly well. Popular depictions of veterans generally suggest that vets have a hard time reintegrating to civilian life due to issues associated with active combat--PTSD and similar issues--and I rarely see issues associated with conformity raised in this regard. I wonder now if the foundation of veteran reintegration issues might lay in conformity and removal from an in-group.
I also worry about such methods used as tools to enable conformity. I understand the purpose of conformity in the military, but we have seen throughout history that people in homogenous groups can commit great atrocities.
Paige, the effort and support to help veterans and those with PTSD is upsettingly too low, and these individuals certainly deserve more, however, I think that you identified a huge part of the issue, being pulled out of an in-group that did everything it could to conform them to be not a part of the out-group (civilians). The problem is that they would one day have to rejoin that out-group of civilians one day, unless they end up spending their whole lives in the line of duty. I have also discussed with family members the importance of Veteran support groups, and more importantly, how beneficial it would be for veterans to take a "reintegration class" of some sort, or at the very least, a sort of "detox" period during their service to ease them back into the life of being a civilian.
DeleteThe methods used to enable conformity and obedience are without a doubt, horrifying and have been used for terrible purposes, yet, like I've mentioned before, it seems almost imperative to utilize some of these means to desensitize an individual to the horrors of war. It seems as though these atrocities are almost resolved with the same conformity and obedience that may have initiated them in the first place (that is, in a scenario where diplomatic means do not resolve the issue). It certainly leads to a lot of debate, but at the end of the day, it seems that there is no easy answer to conflict and war.
Thanks for your thoughts!
This is an interesting post to me, since I am not close with anyone that has joined or has been in the armed forces. I can see why this would happen though, since they are living a completely different life. Everything changes, including their attitudes, beliefs, and opinions. I have seen this in friends that have gone to college and have completely changed their attitude and have formed strong opinions that they never had before. I know this isn't as extreme of a case, but I can see where living in a different setting with a certain group of people can change the way people think and act.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, the marines are not given an option but to conform with the group. That is why so many people have a hard time when they retire from the military and come back into the "real world". They have been forced to think and act a certain way and it is hard to change back depending on how long you have been a part of it.
This post brought up some memories of my own. My brother is also a Marine and I had never realized how it had affected him until I read your post. My brother came back from boot camp and his schooling and thinking back I was able to see similar changes to his behavior. I know anyone in the armed forces must learn to conform and comply in order to fulfill the commands given to them by their overseeing officers and keep from receiving discipline. But I also think it is more than that. I believe the conformity members of the armed forces, particularly the Marines due to their intense training and practices, is a way to protect themselves emotionally and psychologically against the hardships they go through.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed hearing about "Stevie". I have close relatives in almost every branch of the military and when Emmitt says that conformity is expected and not optional. That is very true. There can be rifts at first because of conformity and the person doesn't seem to be themselves anymore.
ReplyDeleteIt was nice reading this because the story is very personal to you. I've had a few friends join the military and I saw some changes, but I was never close enough with them to see these changes. One of my best friend's Leith however joined the marines and the first couple times I saw him he didn't seem to change at all. Granted he was always involved with military things throughout high school and was used to it. The only thing though is that I haven't seen him in a couple years now, so it's hard to say how much he may have changed. It definitely makes you wonder.
ReplyDelete