Marine Mish Mash Part 6... or 7

Non-Judicial Punishment (NJP)

Non-Judicial Punishment was Commander's tool which he used for punishment for minor offenses and violations of the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice).  Also known as "Office Hours" and "Captain's Mast",  Article 15 if the UCMJ gave a commander the ability to punish members under his command without resorting to a Court-Martial.

These offenses went on a Marine's record and could potentially prevent him from being promoted or even re-enlisting.  However, there was another level of punishment available to commanders and non-commissioned officers.  If the offense wasn't overly egregious, and the Marine was somewhat liked, NCOs would impose their own punishment on Marines under their leadership, to prevent offenses from going on a Marine's record.  Basically self-policing their own squad, company, or what not.

That brings us to Private "Hobbs" (not his real name, as I can't recall his real name).  Private Hobbs was something of a shit bird.  He didn't want to be in Crete, Greece.  He was another hillbilly from Tennessee whose parents were literally brother and sister...  by marriage.  But non-the-less he got a lot of shit because of it.

Hobbs also was kinda dim-witted.  He wasn't smart enough to know when and when not to spank his monkey.  I walked in on him 2-3 times when he was spanking it to porn on the TV in our room (yes, he was a room mate).  You always know when someone was doing it, because you see their hands move really fast when you walk in and they act as if everything was normal, even though they are blushing...

Anyways, Hobbs was such a shit bird, that he was removed from the Guard and put in the admin section, cause they didn't trust him on the Guard.  Hobbs also sucked when it came to PT (physical training).  And it finally caught up to him when one day, we were running one of the Terminator's famous 5 miles in the mountains run, and Hobbs fell out of formation and started walking...

The Terminator had been noticing that Hobbs had been doing this ever since joining the Admin section.  This day, he finally had enough...  he took the formation back to where Hobbs was walking and then game command of the formation to one of the Staff NCOs and told them to take us back.  He then got next to Hobbs and started to get him to run.  But Hobbs couldn't keep up with the Terminator even though they were barely jogging.

The Captain was pissed.  Hobbs gave the Captain some excuse that he had trouble breathing when he ran.  So, when they got back to the barracks, the Captain told him the he wanted Hobbs to go to the Air Force base and get himself medically checked out, specifically in regards to his breathing.  The captain even said "Why don't you go this Thursday?  The other Admin Marines are making a trip there anyways to take another Marine to get his leg (legit injury) checked out."  Sounded like a suggestion didn't it?

Come Thursday, no Hobbs when the Admin driver was ready to go to the Air Force base.  The Admin driver couldn't wait for Hobbs, as the other Marine had an appt. with the Air Force Doctor and the Air Force base was 2.5 hours away.  So they waited for him for about 30 minutes...  even went to his room and knocked, but no answer.  So they went without him.

When they got back, the Captain asked the Admin driver what Hobbs found out about his breathing.  The Admin driver explained what happened and how Hobbs failed to show.  The Captain went ballistic.

Now, for those of you who don't know, Officers give orders.  In fact, even if an Officer offers a suggestion, it is always considered an order.  Not a Direct Order, but an order none-the-less.  Hence, Hobbs had disobeyed a lawful order from an officer.  That was the biggy offense.  There were a few others that the Captain threw in, but that one was the damning one.

Hobbs stood Captain's Mast, and was given 30 days "Confined to Barracks" as punishment.  It could have been worse.  The captain wanted to strip him of his only stripe, but our Gunny talked the captain out of it.  With Confinement to Barracks, Hobbs was only allowed to leave the barracks to eat, exercise, and complete tasks required by his job.  He was also given a Direct Order to go see the doctor at the Air Force base and get checked out.  Another Marine was given orders to escort him there.

So where's the level of punishment that NCOs mete out?  Coming up.

I was a Corporal, and I was in the Admin section.  I was the Training NCO for the entire detachment.  That's a Staff NCO billet, so I was somewhat proud that a lowly Corporal like myself was holding it.  Anyways, Hobbs was underneath me.  My responsibility.  Now, typically, a squad leader (which I could be considered) has anywhere from 12-15 Marines under him.  I had been a squad leader when I was on the Guard, so it wasn't anything new to me.  But in the Admin section, I was responsible for all of 2 other Marines.  Big whoop.  :-)

One day, about half-way into Hobbs' barracks confinement, the Sergeant of the Guard goes to wake up the next shift around 9pm at night.  At this time, Hobbs was still in a room with Marines on the Guard, and hadn't moved into my room yet.  Normally, the SOG (actually a Corporal) would just walk in and wake the Marines he needs.  This allows other Marines to continue to sleep if it wasn't their shift.  Marines who were on duty always left their rooms unlocked for this purpose.

When the SOG walked into Hobbs' room, he sees Hobbs' sitting in a chair, watching TV, and...  drinking beer.  Big, No-No.  You don't get to drink when your are serving confinement. 

The SOG came and got me, as I was chillin' out and not going out to party that night.  He explained to me what happened, and gave me control of Hobbs' and what was left of his (2) six-pack, which was (5) beers.  He had already downed (1) six pack.  Now, if the Captain got wind of this incident, Hobbs could have possibly be court-martialed, or possibly a lesser offense.

The SOG and I discussed it out of ear-shot of Hobbs.  We decided there was an easier, and more profound way to punish Hobbs.

We took Hobbs outside with the five beers.  We opened the first beer, gave it to him, and told him to chugg it.  This surprised him somewhat, but he did.  Then, we got evil.  We dugg (or bent) Hobbs non-stop for (2) minutes.  (Digging or "getting bent" is Marine slang for being punished by a Drill Instructor, resulting in the DI exercising the shit out of the Marine.)

Sit-ups, push-ups, jumping jacks, leg lifts, rolling side-to-side...  we kept him moving non-stop at a good pace.

Then, we let him rest for 30 seconds.  Opened up the next beer.  "Chugg"   He didn't want to, but we told him what would happen if he didn't.  He chugged it.  Then, we dugg the fuck out of him for (3) minutes.  This time at even a faster pace.  Then, 30 seconds of rest.

Opened up beer #3.  "Chugg"  Boy, he really didn't, but we just said, "OK, we'll see you before the Captain tomorrow."  And away he drank...  And then...  We dugg him faster then the last time for (4) minutes....   and about half-way through....   SPEW>>>>>>>  Projectile vomited.  He wanted to stop, but we said no, and made him finish the rest of the time out.

30 seconds rest.  Opened up beer #4.  "Chugg."  "NO".  Ok, SOG, please give the Captain a call and inform him what happened.   And away he drank....  and about half-way through his beer....  SPEW>>>>>>>>  and SPEW>>>>>>>>  FINISH THE BEER HOBBS!  And finish he did....   And then we dugg him like he was never dugg before for (5) minutes...  faster and faster....  SPEW>>>>>>>>> SPEW>>>>>> SPEW>>>>>> 

And we never made beer #5.  He couldn't go on, no matter how much we threatened.  He continued to dry-heave off and on for about 5 minutes after we stopped digging him.

We never reported the incident to the Captain.  He never found out.  Our GnySgt found out, and questioned the SOG and me about it.  We told what happened and what we did to punish Hobbs.  Our Gunnery Sgt. approved.  He didn't officially condone what we did, but he was glad that we took care of the matter.

Hobbs couldn't drink beer for quite some time after that....  I wonder why?

:)