Saturday, May 5, 2018

Hygeine and Rest



Remember back when I told you I wasn't going to go over cleaning yourself?

Just kidding. Because there are people, even in real life, who still haven't learned those lessons. (DI Wisdom: "Anyone can be a civilian. They don't even have to take a physical.")

The ceaseless focus on things Not Education (like picking your imaginary gender from amongst 57 choices) has left government indoctrination centers presumptively in the education field with less and less time to teach basic subjects, like health education, and some folks walking around never took a chance on the seventh grade anyways.
We meet them everyday. Or are trapped in an elevator with them.


Hygiene is a military skill, and a medical skill, but it's also a life skill.
So is sleep.

Don't believe me.

 
Reference:
First Aid, pp.  8-8
"Hygiene: Field hygiene is an important ingredient in a service member's morale. A service member who is dirty and unkempt will not function as well as a service member who has had the opportunity to bathe and put on clean, dry clothing. During combat, unit leaders should stress the importance of personal hygiene. Good personal hygiene not only improves morale, it also is a preventative measure against disease and non-battle injury (DNBI)."
Gentlemen from an earlier era noted, "Cleanliness is next to godliness."
 
So scrub your body, wash your hair, scrub your pits, trim your nails, wash your hands before every time you eat, and brush your teeth afterwards. Or as close to all that as you can get.
 
This is because no one else wants to smell your funk, and nobody likes Pigpen. 
 
The excerpted paragraph above was in the context of psychological first aid, but it's also stress prevention.
 
So is getting adequate rest.
Rest: There are times, particularly in combat when physical exhaustion is a principal cause for emotional reactions. A unit sleep plan should be established and implemented. When possible, service members should be given a safe and relatively comfortable area to sleep. Examples would be an area away from heavy traffic, noise, and congestion or a place that is clean and dry and protected from environmental conditions. The more uninterrupted sleep a service member gets the better he will be able to function in the tactical environment.
 
Again, this is written in the context of military service in combat, and reducing/relieving psychological stress, but the lesson is valid at all places and times. The head and the rack were the two places USMC drill instructors never routinely f**ked with recruits (except for inspections, and the minute before you got in the rack, and the second you were supposed to be out of it). Because boot camp, in any service, is a wee bit stressful - by design. Some, obviously, more so than others. But besides the obvious health benefits, reducing stress with constructive activities like personal hygiene, and adequate rest, was how to keep 80 knuckleheads from turning into basket cases over three months' time.
 
For the same reason, interrogation of prisoners and terrorists always includes an element of sleep deprivation, because everyone is less strong when they're more tired.
 
So at the end of the day, whenever possible, clean yourself up properly (even if it's just a "Navy" shower: two squirts of deodorant and a clean set of underwear), and get a good night's rest.
 
So that tomorrow, you can do it all over again.
There's always a lot more work to do.
 
That concludes the first full day of basic training.
BTW, If you click the "basic training" tag at the end of any article, you can get all of them.
"First aid" gets you these, plus most of what I classified as such going back to 2013 or so, 50+ articles so far.
And only another 10 hours worth of them coming up before we move to Part II.

2 comments:

Badger said...

Important stuff. One doesn't want to be the one to get "regulated" by others because they haven't learned to wash their funky ass when the opportunity exists.

In the Wayback Machine Dep't, the platoon bay pic reminds of Ord post-Meningitis episode. Open windows in November 24x7, head-to-toe sleeping & "sneeze sheets" (triangles constructed of an extra provided shelter-half) placed so ones's double-ought germs didn't affect the guy across the way at night.

RandyB said...

"No private ever died of exhaustion or starvation." Me, gnawing on squad and platoon leaders because they weren't eating or sleeping properly.

This stuff is critical. You will see it again.