Can't overstate how big of a revelation this book was for me. It walked the perfect line between fantastic science… In this page we’re telegraphing a bit about hazing, which is a touchy subject in the military. Some hazing is institutionalized. After all, what is boot camp other than a three-month long hazing incident? Some of it is unsanctioned, like what Digger and Deven are eluding to here.
I’ll say more about this later as the story plays out, but for this page, I wanted to treat the rationale for this behavior honestly. People in the military are dealing with high stakes, and in a multitude of ways, military culture reflects that. Hazing, both sanctioned and unsanctioned in the military, grows from the recognition of just how high the cost of failure is.
I was a real pain when I went through training back in 07, thinking about it now, I must have made enough friends to not go through a soap party.
Yesterday, I was talking to my wife, who served in the Navy for seven years, about Space Corps. She said, “I think Sheg is my favorite. I really identify with him.”
I replied, “So you were THAT person in book camp.” In response she just smiled knowingly and laughed.
I met her at her first duty station where she was highly respected by everyone she worked with. Boot camp certainly doesn’t determine the trajectory of one’s career.