ABSTRACT
When one thinks about the military as it might relate to bullying, the picture of a drill sergeant yelling at new recruits and perhaps even targeting a new recruit and giving him or her extra unwanted attention might come to mind. Picture this scenario: John, a new recruit, steps off the bus for basic training. He just graduated from high school a few days ago, and this is the first time he has left home. He walks over to a group of young men who also appear to be new recruits. As the young men make small talk, a drill sergeant walks over and begins to bark orders. John is slow to get in line and the drill sergeant notices. He walks over to John and quickly singles him out, “I see we have a recruit with an attitude problem. Well, guess what, ‘mama’s boy’, your attitude just bought the rest of the group a free push-up session. Everyone, please thank John here and start pushing!” As the weeks go by, John has several encounters with the drill sergeant. At times he is forced to stand and watch as everyone else does pushups due to his actions, or worse yet, told to count the reps out loud. Other times, he is berated or made to perform some exercise in front of the group as a form of punishment. This becomes a daily occurrence. John begins to develop feelings of anxiety and depression and starts to disconnect from the group. It seems as if he is singled out no matter what he does and the group has started to turn on him, too.
