Air Force Recruit

[BOOGIEMAN44]

I HEARD SOMETHING ABOUT THE AIR FORCE ABOUT A YEAR AGO, I, AT THAT TIME DISMISSED IT AS SCUTTLE BUTT OR JUST BAD INFO, BUT I HEARD THE SAME THING TODAY, I HEARD THAT THE AIR FORCE RECRUIT'S ARE ISSUED A BLUE STRESS CARD, THAT WHEN EVER THE RECUIT "FEEL'S" STRESSED, THREATED, OR WHAT EVER, ALL THE RECUIT, HE OR SHE, HAS TO DO IS PULL OUT THE CARD HOLD IT UP, AND THE AIR FROCE D.I.'S "MUST" CEASE AND DESIST, ANY AND ALL ACTIVE DEALING WITH THAT RECRUIT, UNTIL THEY PUT THE CARD BACK INTO THERE BREAST SHIRT POCKET??? IF THIS IS TRUE...WHAT IS GOING ON IN BOOT CAMP? ANY ONE KNOW ANY THING ABOUT THIS BEFORE I MAKE ANY MORE COMMENTS? PLEASE LET ME KNOW, I WOULD REALY LIKE TO KNOW. :marine:

[Phantom Blooper]

Claim: Recruits in basic training are issued "stress cards," which when waved at demanding drill sergeants immediately entitle recruits to gentler treatment.
Status: False.

Examples:


[Collected on the Internet, 2002]
I have heard that during Clinton years, the Army issued new basic training recruits "Stress Cards" at select training bases as part of a test program. If the Drill Sergeant yelled too loudly or instructed the recruit to do anything that might cause them undue stress, the Private could simply hand the card to the Sergeant and they were to cease the offensive behavior.



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[Collected on the Internet, 2000]

I read about them but they weren't using them when I was in. If I remember correctly, it was a little yellow card that they gave you. Apparently if things were getting tough for you in basic, you could flash the card and the DI would back off and give you a "break" so you could compose yourself. The standing joke was that the color of the card spoke for itself... The idea, if I remember right, was heavily criticized (and rightfully so, what are you going to do in real life when the bullets start to fly, pull out the stress card and hope the bad guys stop shooting at you?) and the idea was eventually canned.



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[Collected on the Internet, 1999]

[The stress card is] a card these kids get when they go through basic training. when they are feeling overwhelmed or stressed out, they are to give it to their DI's (or whatever the call em now days) for a 'time out'.

my friend john, who was a 10 year enlisted veteran in the combat engineers who had done some 'hard time' in somalia (you remember the infamous fire fight over there involving the rangers) told me a story about a brand spanking new PFC who, during a field exercise, came up to john with this 'card' and said, "sgt, i need some time out. my stress card says im entitled to some time out." john, bless him, grabbed the stress card, tore it to bits and informed the kid, "stress card? you're in the REAL army now, kid. this is what i think of your &*^% stress card." Rip! Rip! Rip!




Origins: This
is one of those tales that has the smallest kernel of truth to it, but that truth is almost unrecognizable in the form the scuttlebutt has since taken.

For a few years during the 1990s, the US Navy did issue "stress cards" to new recruits, but they weren't the "Get out of jail free" coupons military lore has since turned them into. Rather, these cards listed names and phone numbers of resources the newcomers could contact "if things pile[d] up." The cards were strictly for informational purposes: they informed recruits of available support services.

Navy trainers began reporting that some of the recruits had taken to raising their cards while being disciplined, as a way of signalling for time out. It's unclear whether any of those enduring basic training really thought that was the purpose of the cards or whether this was just standard armed forces jackassing, but the Navy took no chances and got rid of the cards.

This short-lived experiment with providing recruits with clear information about whom to contact when things went bump in the night has morphed into an unflattering and unsettling illustration of today's soldier as a creampuff. Notice how the story has mutated into one where the drill instructors are portrayed as honor bound to obey the cards when they are displayed to them, an aspect that wasn't part of things during the real cards' short life. The story has also widened its net; what was a Navy hand-out has, in the world of rumor, become a card issued to Army and Marine recruits, making this an Armed Forces-wide phenomenon.

Why was such a story so happily seized upon? We always want to believe anything we've been part of was the biggest, the baddest, and the best. One of the ways we bolster that belief is by looking pityingly upon the current crop who have since taken our places. The high school teams we played on were the toughest and most feared, with today's iterations only pale imitations of the ones we were part of. Likewise, the music of our youth has it all over today's stuff, and schooling in our day was rigorous and thorough, with the hike to the schoolhouse uphill both ways through the snow.

That sentiment, that need to feel superior through disparaging comparison, is part of what underpins this legend about stress cards. In any vet's mind, the armed forces went careening downhill the moment he left. Throughout the history of human endeavor, people have looked back to note with satisfaction how things have gone to hell in a handbasket since their glory days, be they bridge players, churchgoers, parents, or soldiers. It's just human nature.

Change is also threatening, and any shift in how things are run will always bring out the doomsayers, those who will feel it their duty to point out everything is about to come apart. They will hold up any small misstep and repeat any wild tale that seemingly confirms their gloomy prognostications. Just as the influx of women into the armed forces raised misgivings often expressed in "Told you so" kinds of tales, so the "stress card" canard quickly caught on in military lore because it captured the essence of what many believe, that today's army has gone soft.

Barbara "ice cream soldier" Mikkelson

Last updated: 24 July 2002



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Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2003
by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson

[BOOGIEMAN44]

THANKS FOR THE INFO, I HEARD IT, FORGOT ABOUT IT, HEARD IT AGIAN, REMEMBERED I HEARD IT BEFORE, AND BEFORE I MADE A DEAL OUT OF IT, THOUGHT I HAD BETTER ASK THE PROFESSIONALS, NOW I CAN PASS IT ON, THANK'S :marine:

[Phantom Blooper]

I HEARD IT, FORGOT ABOUT IT, HEARD IT AGIAN, REMEMBERED I HEARD IT BEFORE,

Yeah I have that problem too. CRS & Sometimers disease. Can't remember $hit & sometimes I do & sometimes I don't. :banana:

Semper-Fi! "Never Forget" Chuck Hall

[greensideout]

Ok, I read the above BUT, I worked with a Marine Corps Drill Instructor that told me of an incident with a recruit and his "Blue Stress Card". He said that he told the recruit, "Pull the stress card and I will show you what stress is".

Still not sure about it all.

[yellowwing]

Yeah, our Marine Corps stress card was The Pit. Whenever we got tired of training, 30 minutes of physical exertion in The Pit would usually work out our teenage angst! ;)

[Joseph P Carey]

Originally posted by BOOGIEMAN44
I HEARD SOMETHING ABOUT THE AIR FORCE ABOUT A YEAR AGO, I, AT THAT TIME DISMISSED IT AS SCUTTLE BUTT OR JUST BAD INFO, BUT I HEARD THE SAME THING TODAY, I HEARD THAT THE AIR FORCE RECRUIT'S ARE ISSUED A BLUE STRESS CARD, THAT WHEN EVER THE RECUIT "FEEL'S" STRESSED, THREATED, OR WHAT EVER, ALL THE RECUIT, HE OR SHE, HAS TO DO IS PULL OUT THE CARD HOLD IT UP, AND THE AIR FROCE D.I.'S "MUST" CEASE AND DESIST, ANY AND ALL ACTIVE DEALING WITH THAT RECRUIT, UNTIL THEY PUT THE CARD BACK INTO THERE BREAST SHIRT POCKET??? IF THIS IS TRUE...WHAT IS GOING ON IN BOOT CAMP? ANY ONE KNOW ANY THING ABOUT THIS BEFORE I MAKE ANY MORE COMMENTS? PLEASE LET ME KNOW, I WOULD REALY LIKE TO KNOW. :marine:

That is obviously why the US Air Force was the most decorated branch of the service for their 'heroic exploits' in the attack on Baghdad. There were 69,000 combat awards handed out by the Air Force Brass! That was just during the attack. I think they are too embarassed to provide a list of any awards handed out since then!

[Old Marine]

The only service that has Drill Instructors is the USMC.

The rest of the services have wanabes.

[BOOGIEMAN44]

OLD MARINE, WHERE AT IN L.V DO YOU LIVE? :marine:

[Old Marine]

I don't live in LV. I live in Northeastern Nevada in a little mining town of about 150 to 200 depending on how many died yesterday. It's 61 miles to the town of Elko, Nevada and 4 hours to Reno, Salt Lake City, or Twin Falls, Id. No gangs, no grafetti, just peaceful and quiet. You can even see the stars at night and watchthe satalites go across the sky. Really an exciting place.

[BOOGIEMAN44]

SOUNDS LIKE AN ALL AMERICAN TOWN THAT SOMEONE CAN RAISE UP THERE KIDS IN, IF THEY WANNA BE CRUEL, OR THANKFUL, IT IS ALL ON HOW ONE LOOKS AT IT...
:MARINE:

[Old Marine]

Most people think that LV is the only city in Nevada, including the Governer and all of the Nevada state representatives in Carson City. Most of the funds for Nevada go to LV. LV does bring a lot of funds into Nevada, but it is not my kind of town.

For a person with kids the school in this town is great. Only has a total of 35 children at the present and the kids get a lot of one on one. This is a grammer school that is eight years old and cost 2 Million dollars.

[Old Marine]

Back to the subject of the Air Force.

I take my wife to Mountain Home Air Force Base In Mountain Home , Idaho for her ID Card. These personnel all have smiles on their faces and seem to be the happiest people in the Armed Forces. At any Marine Crops base you usually have to deal with some grumpy person at the ID section of the PMO Office, who if they happened to break a smile their face would crack. I have heard that the retirement pay is the same for all services after 20 years, so what's wrong with doing it in a happy enviorment.

[GunnyL]

You know what they say, "Ignorance is Bliss"!

GunnyL