<< Hazing is not tolerated in any branch of the service. To quote one of my former CO's "This is not your father's Navy". There are many initiations and ceremonies associated with different events. All of these ceremonies are completely and totally voluntary. Any command that forced people to participate in these against their will or allowed hazing to occur would soon find itself under investigation and those responsible would soon find themselves in more trouble than they know what to do with. The first person to usuallly go is the Commanding Officer and as they say "Sh!t rolls downhill". Hazing is really no longer part of military life, despite what you hear to the contrary. >>
Okay, thank you. But I can tell you (I WAS the CO three years ago!) that it still happens even though it's prohibited. First of all, what FNG is going to say no to something? He'll be perceived as a wuss for the rest of the duration. Also, hazing is just like drinking in the field. It's prohibited, you are absolutely not supposed to be doing it, but yet everytime we went to the field, there were garbage full of beer cans around certain sections. If you, as a CO tell them you will not tolerate something, all the enlisted guys are going to do is take measures not to get caught, but they'll still do it. The difference is you have to crush someone's nuts when you catch them doing something you specifically told them not to. Then, they'll get even more discreet, but it won't stop.
You may disagree, you didn't tell me what branch or time in service was, but I had over 14 years, half as enlisted (reached E6 SSG), and half as officer (reached O3 CPT). I feel that I have a good grasp on what's going on with both the enlisted and officer side. And to answer your next question, yes I do think most officers are *ssholes. Most of them are either too young, dumb, and full of you know what to know any better to make a good decision, or their ego won't let them listen to their advisors or senior enlisted people to make good decisions.
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