Those of you who went to RTC Great Lakes....

One of many rumors spread among the recruits (generally the more seasoned ones to the "raisins") was at some point you would have to get some sort of injection administrated in ones left testicle.

In Army basic the rumor was that they put Salt Peter in the food. For soft peter.

More like, all the females have crabs.

I first heard that about ........oh...54 years ago! It stuck in my mind because I don't have a left nut!

(yes,I'm OLD)

In Korea, you got "rodded off the range".

 

In Catholic basic training it's St Peter...true story!

Never heard any rumors like that.  But the lack of sexual desire is quite weird.

77 in Orlando - same needle and same nut.  My kids to this day will tease each other with one going to the Dr. and another saying there're going to get the square needle.  That came from me goofing with them as young kids, but I never included the left nut - gotta keep it clean for the children

That rumor has been around since at least the late 60s.

Hmm, I remember ricky-rockets and ricky-switchblade, but no needle.  However, there was a shot in the rear that made it hard to sit for several days.  

Heard it in 88. Some of the guys were terrified. The Bicillin was bad enough.

I damn sure remember that. A few weeks into boot camp they marched us into an empty barracks and an unsmiling Filipino medical officer (RN) administered everone a HUGE syringe full of "cillin"  36 years later I can still remember her bellowing "...AND I KNOW HOW TO GIVE A SHOT THAT HURTS!!!!"

This was followed by 2 hours of PT to "work out the knot in your ass".

Why they administered huge prophylactic doses of antibiotics still mystifies me. Too lazy to do blood tests to ID those with STD's, I guess.

 
Marine Corps too

The only shot I remember was tetanus, because your arm hurt for a while after.

Gamma globulin shots are fun

When I went to that taxpayer funded summer camp called Air Force Basic Training we went in twice over a two week period for shots and blood draws.  I remember this one tough guy passing out when he saw his blood flowing into the vial.  Other guys got sick because their fuckhead parents didn't get them their shots when they were little.  I remember this one female E-5 med tech who seemed to rub an alcohol swab on my upper right ass check a little too long, but I didn't mind too much.  Then she hit me with a big ass needle which is why I think she rubbed my butt so long.  Within an hour or so I got a lump about a half inch high and two inches across.  I felt like shit for about three days and the lump went away after a day or so.  

I also remember all the stupid ass rumors and stories these kids told.  I always knew I was about to hear some bullshit when a conversation started with, "Hey man I heard from a dude in the next flight, blah, blah, blah."  I laughed when we went to shoot the M-16 and I heard everything from M-16's were made by Mattel and the 5.56 round tumbles as soon as it leaves the barrel.  It seems nothing changes through the years with kids in boot camp.

The "tumbling 5.56 round" BS goes back pretty far. The CPO in our dental dept. was a huge gun nut and the bottom file cabinet in the office always had a supply of National Lampoons, Penthouse, Playboy and lots of gun mags. There was in article in one of them ("AK vs. M-16") that claimed the M-16 round tumbled. That was in '81. Chief Henry even took me shooting at a Norfolk area range where I had my first taste of a 1911 (Colt, of course)

...and Great Lakes as well.

I didn't poop for the first 10 days at MCRD. Must have been the shots.

The Bicillin was to keep us all from coming down with Strep I believe.

All I know is that by the third week, everyone had the recruit crud.

Don't I know it. I remember the entire company taking 2 little pills that we were told might give us a slight cold but would help prevent us from catching "The Great Lakes Crud".

Well, 2 days later I caught "The Great Lakes Crud". Good thing they had an empty 5 gallon bucket in the barracks. I was confined to bedrest for 2 days. WTF?

My ass still hurts from that fucking needle of penicillin and that was over 10 year ago now!

I didn't get any shots in the ass when I went through, but that injector gun cut the hell out of me.  My TI was behind me and started yelling at someone and I jumped a bit.

In USAF OTS, there was a poster on the wall in the library illustrating the M-16 “tumbling bullet”.  I never found out who put it there.

When my unit was getting ready to deploy for Gulf War I, a Staff Sgt started a rumor that, because there wasn’t a runway where we were going, we were all going to have to go through jump school at Ft Bragg.  He wanted to see how many people would believe it.  Pretty soon, “everybody” knew it, so it must be true!

Some people will believe any damn thing.

An old buddy of mine who was an Army officer told me that every box and crate going to Kuwait had to have an oval sticker with 999 on it.  The Army being what it is, half the stickers went on upside-down.  To the religious whackos, 666 = the Number of the Beast = Armageddon and they started freaking out.  It was (pun intended) funny as hell.

When we were getting our Anthrax shots we were marched in formation to a set of tents. The Commander reminded everyone that it was a direct order to get vaccinated and if refused they would issue a field grade Article15 on the spot. We were formed into 2 colums and marched torward the tents, ordered to remove our blouse, and when called forward do as instructed. As we approached the fly of the tent there was a corpsman who was inspecting everyone's shot record (yellow card from above ) and a large clear glass bowl of Vitamin M behind him. He was explaining to everyone as we moved forward we will want to take 1 Vitamin M for later and encouraged it. Some were freaking out There was that rumor going around you they were giving the live virus and we would contract Mad Cow if you got the Anthrax shots.

We didn't contract Mad Cow or Anthrax but what we did get was a very large knot of sesame oil based shot that swelled up the size of a golf ball. It made for perfect targets for dickheads to punch because they thought it would be funny. We ended up getting the entire series it sucked.

The Saltpeter Priniciple

(From Snopes.com)

A common report by male recruits undergoing basic training is their inability to troop the Cup of coffee morning colors, so to speak. Erections that came so easily before boot camp become few and far between. This surprising downturn of events is frequently attributed to the presence of saltpeter in the chow rather than to the powerful combination of anxiety to succeed, physical exhaustion, and a radical change of lifestyle. Barracks life also contributes to this suppression, with the knowledge of the close proximity of many others subconsciously working to inhibit that aspect of an individual's expression.

"I'm worried that I might not make it through the training," "I'm dead tired," "I don't yet feel like this is my home," and "There are all these other guys around" are weak-sounding admissions to give voice to, so it is comforting to instead be able to cling to the belief that the Army, in its all-knowing wisdom, must be slipping something into the food to cause what's seen as a striking physiological betrayal in young men who haven't previously experienced such a dry spell.

This need to believe that an outside force is deliberately working to keep things down fuels the saltpeter myth. Such a construct works to reassure the woodless recruit that there's nothing wrong with him — it's all the sneaky doings of those in charge. The myth is
every bit as empowering as it is reassuring; it says "We are such rampantly virile men that those in command fear us and what we might do if left unchecked." It thus works to build pride in the unit by helping to establish an internalized reputation for being such wild men that the group as a whole has to be drugged into docility if its commanders are to have any hope of keeping it under control.

Yet the truth is, there's no additional levels of saltpeter hidden in Army chow. There's also no proof potassium nitrate (saltpeter) has any effect on libido, plus or minus, so there would be nothing to be gained from such a doctoring of edibles. Yes, saltpeter has long rumored to be an anaphrodisiac, a substance that reduces sexual drive. But it's all rumor and no fact.

Saltpeter has a long history of medical use. It and other nitrates were employed by doctors during the 18th century to treat such varied problems as asthma, sore throats, and arthritis. Not that it was used wisely for these purposes, however — physicians were far less knowledgeable in those days, and potassium nitrate's hazards were not then understood as well as they are now. Saltpeter can be toxic in large quantities. It can cause anemia, methemoglobinemia (a blood disorder), headache, stomach upset, dizziness, kidney damage, and can raise one's blood pressure to a dangerous level. It is thus strongly recommended against, and no one in his right mind would dose himself or anyone else with it.

Given that saltpeter doesn't suppress sexual urges and is dangerous to use, the Army lacks any reason to administer it to those within its ranks. Yet those two facts will probably do little to dissuade those who are certain the coffee continues to taste funny.

The rumor doesn't reside only within the ranks of the service; it also pops up wherever teenage boys or men are housed together. Many believe saltpeter is secretly introduced into the food at colleges, boys' schools, and prisons, all places where the belief flourishes because the inmates need to explain away their lack of sexual arousal.

Barbara "hard truths" Mikkelson

The entire series of Anthrax shots while in Basic? How long were you in basic?

The navy never ceases to amaze me

Guess how I found out I was allergic to PCN? It was not fun.

Another rumor at RTC Great Mistakes was about the elusive spud locker. That's where those on scullery duty could get lucky with the WAVES/WINS or whatever they're called nowadays. I never did find the spud locker.

Square needle/left testicle was alive and well at RTC San Diego in 1987, as was "Galley Sally" who would take care of you during your service week.

I've got you all beat.  The Air Force administered a siscocomy during Basic Training due to traces of blood in my urine.  I remember getting back to the barracks and explaining what happened to me.  I told everyone that there would be no need to send me to SEAR school as I've already experienced the worst possible treatment.  For all those that do not know what this procedure is, it is an examination of your bladder with a microscope that is inserted from the closest oriface.  that Microscope felt like it was as wide as a fence post going in and coming out.  They told me nothing was wrong with my bladder, however, I should not be in work that involved jumping from airplanes or anything that required a great deal of physical effort.  They sent me to be a Law Enforcement Specialist.  Seven years later while going through college ROTC, they performed the same procedure on me for the same reasons.  It did not stop me from an airplane.