Air Force Adds Six Months of Hard Labor to Basic Training

Photo by Staff Sergeant Desiree N. Palacios, via Wikimedia

Anyone who has served in the military, or is close to someone who has, knows about the often strong rivalries between branches. The Marines consider themselves the most serious and disciplined, often butting heads with the Army over this argument due to the similar missions the two branches have undertaken in recent decades. Most of the time, however, the Air Force gets the worst wrap for being too relaxed and too comfortable for their members to be considered real warriors.

Having had enough of the criticism, and being heavily annoyed by the bickering between the Army and the Marines, General Rand of the Air Force, commander of the Air Education and Training Command, took action. He’s declared that recruits joining the Air Force will be required to complete six months of hard labor in the sulfur mines of the Kawah Ijen volcano in Indonesia for the first phase of their basic training regiment.

Rand said, “I originally transferred to the Air Force from the Marines, so I know about all the asinine comparisons. Everyone is judging the quality of troops by how terrible the living conditions were and how abusive the leadership was, not on the actual quality of the training. This is my way of saying, ‘Screw all of you, just try and top how idiotic and abusive this training is.’”

Due to the difficult job market and the continued desire among people to join the military, Rand does not believe this will deter people from joining the Air Force. “Once the training is out of the way, we'll still have better living quarters and food than anyone else, so I’m not exactly worried.”

The Army and Marine training commanders did not reply to our requests for comment on this situation, but Rear Admiral White of the Naval Education and Training Command responded with, “Oh, you guys are all so cute.”