Self love in the military

Not only are there no doors on the stalls, there are no stalls. Marine boot camp it's just two long rows of sparkly clean toilets with no dividers. You're expected to move your bowels, shave, brush teeth, and shower in like 10 minutes so there is no time for modesty.

is it like that everywhere or just in the marines' quarters?

golly r1. Do guys feel funny about it at first? And what if you don't have to go just then?

I am SO glad I never got drafted. I had a low lottery number (68) but I was in college until 1974, when the war was winding down.

I'm not pee-shy, but I'm DEFINITELY shit-shy.

Disgusting! And so unromantic. Imagine harboring a secret crush on a dashing young marine -- and then having the sight and smell of him taking a diarrhea dump. That would kill it for me.

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Sooner or later, nature wins and you shit.

Metamucil would probably be a good idea just to keep things quick and regular.

It's the wiping part of taking a shit that would embarrass me most. I don't know why but I know it would.

I imagine at night when lights off happen the guys can jack off in their cots as long as they're quiet about it. I mean they're all going to have needs so everyone is kind of in the same boat.

They need to break down barriers between troops so that they can focus on the mission.

Plus, as r5 pointed out, this may deter romances between troops, which can also be a distraction in a battle situation.

It seems pretty smart to have the latrines set up this way, at least in basic.

it dehumanizes them, a lot of the same tactics in basic training are used in prison. The logic is to break them down and rebuild them into soldiers. It is the most basic mind fuck.

I'm sure that after having people trying to blow your head off all day the last thing that you're worrying about is someone seeing you take a dump.

Oh please. Guys jack off anywhere. Shower, bathroom stall, and in their bunks at night when the lights are out. My cousin was in the military for years and he's the one who told me.

There's even a jack off room that people can go into for jack off parties.

I was in ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps), and the summer between my sophomore and junior years I had to go to a 4-week boot camp at Lackland Air Force Base, TX. There's no way anyone could masturbate in the shower because it was an open bay that could only be used at certain hours. Bathroom stalls didn't have doors, our sleep hours were so irregular you wouldn't want to forfeit the few hours you got, and nightly patrols were conducted to make sure cadets weren't roaming around.

When I reported (2001), I was probably masturbating every night up until that point. But oddly enough I didn't have the urge to jack off at one point during those 4 weeks. A lot of equally frustrated 20-21 year olds were in my shoes...and there was a rumor that some stuff called Salt Peter was put in our food/water to curb our horniness.

You have no privacy, you need release. They do not do it in private, neither is it one NYSC style circle jerk.

When I was 13 I went to a summer church camp for a week where the toliets were all in a row with no doors or dividers in the bath house. I didn't take a dump for a week (not sure how I made it) until I got home. I never saw anyone use them so I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one who held it in.

Did you get an impacted bowel, R17? How could you "hold in" a week's worth of food?

A lot of people at field training were under so much stress that anyone who hadn't taken a crap by day #5 was sent to sick call to get an enema. Fortunately, I was able to clear out my system after day #4.

You shoulda shit in the woods, R17.

[quote]There's even a jack off room that people can go into for jack off parties.

Well, that must be a fun room, but I'm not sure it exists--although it sounds fun.

[quote]You're expected to move your bowels, shave, brush teeth, and shower in like 10 minutes so there is no time for modesty.

If you have to do everything in 10 minutes--okay, fine. It's barbaric--but fine. But how is having a stall with a door on it slowing you down? You're not going to linger in the stall if you still have to get everything done in 10 minutes. But at the same time, there's nothing wrong or slow about granting a person a slight bit of modesty while taking a shit for two minutes.

Sheesh, I never would have lasted in the military. But I never would have joined in the first place.

R21, I think the no stall doors thing is just to create camaraderie. Seriously. If you can shit in front of others, then you can do almost anything with them. It basically takes away individuality and makes you become part of a group.

r22 We didn't have stall doors in the bathroom in my Catholic elementary school, back in the Bronze Age. I wonder if that's where they got the idea?

Degrading. Another reason to end all wars.

Unless you like that sort of thing.

I've heard naval submarines smell like stale cum after months at sea.

"I've heard naval submarines smell like stale cum after months at sea."

The correct naval term for that is sea men.

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That old line sounds like Paul Lynde on Hollywood Squares.

OP? Why don't you enlist and find out?

Yeah -- that's what I thought.

The place I was stationed at in 1966 Vietnam had an open latrine situated almost in the middle of the camp. You quickly got over any kind of shyness when nature called. We sat on the wooden 8 holer and tried to look nonchalant as all kinds of people walked past us. (At a distance.)

When the hole was "filled" it was covered up and a backhoe came in and dug a new one for us to use.

No comment on the self love or any other kind of love going on at that time. What happens in the barracks after lights out, no matter if it was in Vietnam or stateside, stays in the barracks.

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Were you this much of a cocktease in Vietnam, R30?

Once you get over your initial shyness, then you can participate in fun times like this!

The Brits know how to do it: pull on your knob in front of several other soldiers and call it a "training" exercise.

How did a thread about masturbation turn into a scat fest?

R15, Saltpeter doesn't actually do that or anything at all. As a matter of fact too much of it can be dangerous.

As for the pooping and showering openly: if you're forced to get over it you will. The other thing is that since everyone is doing it, it's less embarrassing for you to think about.

The women in basic were unexpectedly randy. Several of them paired up for make out sessions in the showers after lights out. Two women were so open about stuff, it was unbelievable. One woman gave another one nightly backrubs after lights out. They ended up in the showers every night, screwing. I couldn't believe they were so obvious. This was in 1990. No one ever ratted them out.

[R-29] I'm with you. I did two tours in 'Nam but was drafted.

Jesus Christ. I'm a couple of years out of the military. There are stall doors on the shitters. In the showers there are dividers and you can see the person behind you if you really want to turn around and make an effort.

Then you go to AIT. You move from the open bay of basic training to four to six man rooms. Then the showers are separate and there are even, gasp, shower curtains. Then I went to Airborne school and the living conditions were the same as AIT.

Then you go to your Army permanent duty station. It's a lot like college dorms. You usually have a two man room. Many rooms, probably most, have their own bathroom. Once you get to permanent duty you have plenty of private time to jerk off. I grew up with five kids in my family. It was easier to jerk off in the Army.

Of course there are some remote permanent duty stations where the living is more cramped and, lets say, rustic. Of course when you are deployed that's different.

As for jerking off in basic training. You pretty much just don't. You don't get a hard on. It is the running joke. You are under so much stress, so lacking in sleep, and so physically exhausted you, for the most part, just don't get wood.

Who came up with the idea of all this de-humanizing of men in the military? When and who thought this all up? I couldn't find anything with searches on military history. Any military history buffs out there who could shed some light on this?

[quote]You're expected to move your bowels, shave, brush teeth, and shower in like 10 minutes

If a drill instructor tells you to take a dump now, you'd better squat and push something out.

does your drill instructor tell you to rub one off?

It did start out as a 'bation thread, r35, and it does seem to have morphed, but I haven't seen anything about scat here. Merely speculation about bathroom privacy in the armed forces. I don't know why some DLers can't tell the difference.

Am I the only one here who can pleasure myself to ejaculation with one or two fingers under the sheets without so much as moving an inch? I learned this in summer camp or somewhere and it it came in handy at sleepovers and in college dorms etc. No fist stroking required. Just a rub with a finger or two.

R44 is a guy btw.

R40, it probably started with the Romans or the Spartans - seriously.

You could probably Google Roman troops or Spartan troops and get an idea of the "group cohesion" practices that the US military uses to some extent. And a lot of it IS psychological re-conditioning.

It's nothing new.

r39 is right . . . . during my basic training (Vietnam era) we were so stressed and exhausted that all we wanted to do was sleep . . .

As to no dividers between toilets many do us would sort of train ourselves to wake up at 2:00 in the morning to use the facilities when no one else was around, or if there was another we each were there for the same reason and went to opposit corners of the room to afford each other some level of privacy.

[R44] -- you're not alone in this.

I think this is why we used to have open communal showers for guys in school as if they were socializing us to get us ready for being in the military and creating comaraderie for young men.

When I was in middle school I was mortified and was able to hide and never took one. Though the guys who did got used to it fast had a ball yelling and laughing and belly sliding on the floors. I was just close enough to make this out.

But in HS there was no escaping it because of the configuation of the locker room and because the showers were open to the whole room. If you didn't take a shower you got an automatic F.

I found that after you do it a couple of times you get used to it pretty fast and it's no big deal walking around a locker room naked. And most everyone did it and it was totally normal. Young and hot and old and ugly.

However today even the middle-aged men do the towel dance(honestly guys who do you think is looking?) and young men wear underwear under their towels.

Growing up the way I did I find this is totally bizzare. And gay men are just as paranoid as the straight.

I would like to add that male body shame and fear of appearing gay is so strong that a very large beautiful gym in the burbs of Richmond I was in recently had showers stalls with not only curtains but cubicles outside them where guys could change without anybody seeing anything and eliminating the towel dance and therefore any resulting injury from falling over.

And the steam room and sauna not only forbid nudity, years ago nudity was ok and you would just sit on a towel, but so is wearing a towel. One must wear a bathing suit or gym clothes.

I am not making this up.

Is VA that chock full of aggressive horny gay men?

In a Scottish football club - I had to share a room with a guy on the same team (I was 14 - he was the same age)

I walked into our room - he was wanking away and eventually spurted. His response - "A'm just hain a wank"

And he wis jist wantin a blow job - which he got. AND a rim, and a fuck.

Thanks r34, that video gave me wood. Some of the beefy guys watching the demo are hot. The guy showering is really cute, I actually got more turned on when he was in shorts and it was clear he has a fantastic ass.

r1 said You're expected to move your bowels, shave, brush teeth, and shower in like 10 minutes so there is no time for modesty.

I guess reading while you're taking a shit is frowned upon . . .

It's called shit, shower, and shave.

[quote]Who came up with the idea of all this de-humanizing of men in the military?

Most people are not natural born killers. Soldiering has to turn them into people who will kill on orders.

Interesting that the Brits feel like they have to show new recruits how to take a shower. Does that happen in the US, too?

No. They don't show you how to take a shower but they make sure you take one. They make sure you do you laundry and things like that. They are very big on clean.

That's one of the reasons I prefer military guys. THEY are at least clean. Some of those younger guys out there have disgusting hygiene habits (if they have any at all).

Here's a pretty old thread that wasn't closed...

I was talking with a group of military friends last month, and one of them said that a handful of guys in his basic training flight (Air Force) were kicked out for jerking each other off in the bathroom.

No stalls? And no doors on stalls? That is only meant to humiliate and break down a person's individual spirit--not to instill camaraderie.

Okay fine, don't put a door on the stall, but at least have some sort of divider between toilets. There are plenty of other things in the military that instill camaraderie and unit cohesiveness. And having that stall divider is not going slow anyone down if they still have to be ready in 10 minutes.

The mindset of the military is stupid at times.

Well you were told upthread there are stalls and there are doors.

R34, your video does not work.

R63, you realise R34 posted 5 years ago?

Are there any movies about military gays falling in love?

Maybe one is a colonel and the other a Lt and they have a secret romance. And the Lt. goes off to battle but is caputured. The colonel becomes ruthless in his quest to save his love, but has to answer for war crimes for which he is responsible. No one knows the truth because they couldn't handle the truth. Then it all comes out yada yada yada yada.

There must be a lot of self love noises after lights out. Our school dorm sounded like a forest filled with crickets.

"Are there any movies about military gays falling in love?"

Yes, it was called "Top Gun" and it was released in 1986.

Hmmm. Pete found a way. What’s his left hand doing here?

Burning Blue r65 is pretty close to what you're looking for. It also looks could be called The Other Side of Top Gun

Pete can solve any problem!

Yummy

[quote] Seriously. If you can shit in front of others, then you can do almost anything with them. It basically takes away individuality

so glad someone understands

There’s no dehumanization. The environment is designed to create interdependence, trust, self discipline and group discipline.

Nobody goes into the military knowing how to function with precision, timing, and trust. Everyone comes in driven by their self interest, laziness and lack of personal accountability.

Each branch has different standards for training, as all military move on from basic training into their military discipline training. This can range from a few weeks to almost two years. Each of these days starts with military formation, physical training as a group, then full day of training.

What you get in boot creates the physical and mental discipline to be successful. Many wash out the first night. In my basic training, about 1/3 didn’t make it through, and less than half successfully completed technical training.

There’s a high wash out rate. If you don’t serve at least 180 days, you don’t qualify for any veteran’s benefits like VA loans.

BTW, I'm surprised someone hasn't mention the oxymoron that is MIlitary Intelligence. I once worked on the edge of the military - for a logging software firm. We had to have guides with pretty pictures of how to configure the software. I kid you not.

r1, why didn't guys just set their alarms for 15-20 minutes earlier?

R56 Yes. A percentage of the population has irregular bathing habits. The first day there’s explicitly detailed instructions from your Drill Instructor on how you will shower, that it will occur on a daily basis and what “clean” means.

You don’t want to be known as a dirtbag as you’d wind up with a Shower Party. You get dragged into the shower in the middle of the night. At a minimum, you’d get scrubbed with something like Comet and a scrub brush while your platoon holds you down. If everyone isn’t clean - then everyone is a dirtbag and everyone gets punished.

WASH YOUR NASTY HOLE!