Do Military Style Boot Camps Bring Out The Best Or
Are They An Ineffective Quick Fix?
Boot Camp History and Origins
Santa Claus Boot Camp!!!
When a civilian enlists in the military, he or she is not a soldier right off the bat. All are required to pass a basic training camp, where they are put through tremendous exercises and training.
All branches of the armed forces still have boot camps to train new recruits and use this time to train recruits in physical strength, weapon use, technical and theoretical knowledge, comradeship, mental toughness, leadership, and discipline.
The length of a boot camp varies according to the different branches of the military. The actual effect of boot camps is more mental than physical. Trainees are deprived of sleep, food, and communication and made to live in extremely unfavourable conditions to test how far they can push themselves. This conditioning is necessary for everything to follow.
The term ‘boot camp’ came from the type of gruelling footwear that was given to the military trainees. The original boot camps were all military boot camps, but, you may have heard this term used to describe a wide variety of things, not all military related.
In the 1980's, Georgia and Oklahoma were the first to open "camps" for prisoners, done mainly to reduce the population in largely overcrowded prisons, and as a preventive measure for those likely to commit crime again.
The most notorious type of program, other than the original military use of the term, is when it is used in a correctional capacity as it refers to adolescents. These types of camps have been primarily within the US Penal System and many parents send their errant teens to these programs.
It uses techniques that apply to military recruits and they are also taught socially acceptable patterns of behaviour. Most times the pattern follows closely to what a military training camp would entail, not at all similar to what a youth would consider a camping hiking adventure.
Most boot camp instructors are harsh-spoken, work-extracting people. They are experts in their own fields and are conditioned to be able to use psychological force to exert their trainees to the maximum, in order to bring out their best.
Boot camps end with elaborate ceremonies, where degrees or awards are given to the passed out candidates. The hope after one of these boot camps is that the participants are more confident and more capable than they were going on, and that the results will be added benefits to all involved from there on out.
The big question would seem to be, “Do they work?”
And if they do is it just a temporary fix? Does it help teens when they go through the boot camp system?
Boot camps have been increasingly designed for juvenile offenders. These troubled teens live and serve in boot camps, while they are given training on how to live better in society. They are also taught some professional skills.
Parents with problem children often send them to juvenile boot camps in the hope that discipline, and teaching on honour, respect, and self-esteem will help to turn around a hard situation.
Many guardians believe that juvenile boot camps will scare their child into making the right decisions. However, experts tell us that this type of training camp will not produce a "happy camper for life" so to speak, but will only produce temporary results and may very well cause greater problems later on down the road.
Are there other types of these ‘Boot Camps’?
Yes, they are everywhere you look. Today boot camps have gone away from their original strictly military intent and have become more of a fad. There are boot camps for almost every aspect of social life. Boot camps usually last for a couple of weeks and are specifically designed for special purposes.
The popularity of base camp type training programs has led many companies to figure out a way to incorporate the boot camp theme into their every day business. There are probably some that you have never heard of, or some you can't even believe exist, but one thing you can be sure of is that they are most definitely not like summer camp.
There are camps for things such as paper and essay writing, spiritual boot camps, baby boot camps and leadership boot camps. Boot camps even exist for brides and for would-be parents. The emphasis becomes how to improve a situation regarding the boot camp area of focus.
Fitness boot camps are one of the latest crazes. The popularity of a “fat camps” in general, perhaps indicates a need for a touch more discipline in all of us. Evidently, discipline may be in order because this type of program indicates that many overweight people are not successful in losing weight on their own and need the "hard work and don't talk back" atmosphere, strict routines and rigorously filled timetables that at one time was strictly used by the military.