Resocialization of Basic Military Training

Before I can talk about resocialization and what it is, I need to briefly touch on what socialization is. Socialization is a process in which we learn the ways of our society. We are socialized in school on the playground by watching how other kids act, in our families by watching what our mother, father and siblings do, i.e. my brother is playing with a truck and my sister is playing with a barbie doll, so I see that I am supposed to play with a truck because I am a boy. We are also socialized in other places such as in church. We see other people doing churchy things, so we see how to act in church.

Now that I have laid a basic foundation on what socialization is, I will talk about what resocialization is. Resocialization is basically undergoing socialization again after learning how society does things. A perfect example of resocialization is a woman becoming a nun. By choosing to become a nun, she is choosing a completely different way of living life and therefor needs to be resocialized by other nuns. During the resocialization process, it is important to have close supervision of those who are already living the certain way you are choosing to live. This will help you to make the resocialization process more smooth.

Now that I have talked about what socialization and resocialization are, I am going to tell you about the resocialization process of military basic training.

"An analysis of military indoctrination as a powerful adult socialization process is crucial to an understanding of adult male role definitions since a significant proportion of the male population has undergone the basic training experience" (Arkin, Dobrofsky 2010).

Since many people have undergone the resocialization of basic training, it is important to talk about this process.

This process usually starts for a teenager right after they graduate from high school. They leave their comfortable lives they are used to, and head off to basic training. When they arrive, their comfortable lives are shattered. Military instructors tear the new recruit down to nothing and then build them back up. They start by putting everyone in the same uniform so they all look alike. Then, for the males, they shave their heads (women get their hair cut short). At this point, everyone looks the same. This is to show there is no individuality. Every one is the same piece of putty, ready to be re-shaped into a military piece of equipment.

Since this process can be rather scary, the new recruits are supervised at all times to make sure they are following instructions.

By the end of basic training (8.5 weeks for Air Force and Navy), the recruits are no longer called recruits. They are now addressed by their name and rank. They have been resocialized from civilians to soldiers. They left their old lives, went through a grueling process of resocialization, and are now socialized to military standards.

Reference:

Arkin, W. and Dobrofsky, L. R. (1978), Military Socialization and Masculinity. Journal of Social Issues, 34: 151–168. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1978.tb02546.x