Leave well enough alone

THERE was an article in the Mail headlined ‘Army swears off culture of foul language in training’.

The article said military top brass have cracked down on a culture of swearing after viewers complained about the abusive language used in the documentary The Recruits, on RTÉ, and well done to RTÉ for showing them. I watched both episodes of the Recruits and thoroughly enjoyed them having served 22 years in the military myself.

The worrying part in all this is the overreaction of the top brass. They should be mature enough to ignore the bleatings of the political correctness brigade.

The fine instructors featured in Recruits are not training Boy Scouts. They are trying to make them into an efficient killing machine, which is what the military is all about. Anyone who thinks different should cop themselves on.

I sincerely doubt if the so- called foul and abusive language used in their basic training will have left any mental scars.

If it has then that individual is not suitable for a life in the military where everything is done by teamwork. Everyone has to be able to rely on everybody else. That is the nature of things.

So you have a common standard of training, part of which is foul and abusive language. If the recruit does everything as it should be done the abuse will not happen.

My advice to the Chief of Staff Conor O’Boyle and the rest of the top brass is to rescind any stupid orders given because of the complaints by ignorant civilians.

There is an old saying, If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The training staff have been working miracles for decades without interference so leave well enough alone.

JOHN FAIR, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.