Loading ...1972 – Vietnam Era. I went thru Army basic training with a few of these sociopath ‘wannabe thugs’ that were given the choice of jail or Army. They found out their ways didn’t play with the Drill Instructors. My platoon had an E5 Buck Sergeant, First Cavalry, fresh back from ‘Nam, the meanest devil there was. He was determined he would send NO badly trained troops into combat and he was TOUGH!
About halfway thru Basic, I overheard one of the ‘bad boys’ whine that he would have chosen jail if he knew the Army was this tough! “I coulda been sitting on my ass doing easy time!” he said. They had no choice but to shape up. None wanted to go to Leavenworth. (Army jail)
I thought it was an excellent solution… win/win second chance.