Digging tool broke when digging a trench in basic

[u/Frosty-Firefighter50]

Ladies and gents, another story from back when I was in basic.

In basic we had to spend several days in the field, and we had to dig a small trench just enough to fit us.

The trench looks like a grave--it's just enough for us to lie down in.

Ngl, I struggled quite a fair bit through basic. I wasn't the best soldier.

When the time came and we went into the field (a forest, really), I had issues digging my trench.

My sergeant came over to ask me why I was digging so slowly.

Not unkindly, mind, but it was holding back the programme.

Then one of my platoon mates (who was really fast) came to help me. By that time my platoon had gathered around me, watching this clown soldier try to dig his own metaphorical grave.

He used a bit more force and -clang- the spade broke nearly cleanly in two.

Nobody could believe their eyes. My own sergeant was incredulous, and said that if he had not seen it with his own two eyes, he would've had me pay for the broken shovel.

It turned out that my particular area was full of rocks and was completely un-diggable.

Platoon sergeant told me to dig at another area after that.

That went smoother. (Those were still an awful several days for me, but that's a story for another time.)

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[u/Greentigerdragon]

I'm almost convinced our recruit instructors knew exactly where the rockiest bits of the bivouac site were.

I mean, digging the holes in the first place was fair enough. Only to be told to fill the bloody things back up before leaving!

Good times. ;)

[u/TerriblePokemon]

"I'm going to give this dumbass the rockiest spot to dig a fox hole" clang "oh shit, too rocky. Now I got to do paperwork"

[u/BogusByte]

Ah... memories forgotten but this reminds me of ...

You cant beat the army level of madness in some things... Like digging a trench.... in loose, dry sand... Yea...

I was the "viktim" of a overly "I am the officer here... You got the whole night so just do this NOW"..

Well i did it... but trench?... more like a human size antlions trap.... The funnel of loose sand they dig and wait in the bottom for pray to fall inn kind... Had to get help getting up from it too....

Result_: close to 2 meters deep funnel and somewhere betwean 4m and 6m wide at the top... and both hands useless from blisters... and ended up in a civilian hospital for treatment... "Soldat BogusByte can not work or do ANY duty where he must use he's hands. Duration 4-6 weeks with frequent controls"
Offiser got a "You have been a bad boy, forfit of pay 30 days" and "Learn to use your brain" not in he's papers
It was bad, so bad they started talk of relese me from service.... but nope... they must have needed me, for what i do not know but back in went for more "fun" times.

All in all i was lucky in that the damage was not permanent, just PAINFULL... and not to good for a 18 year old male in the sommertime i Oslo late 80's

BB

[u/EdjKa1]

I too was issued the little foldable tactical shovel. It came in a plastic hardcase. I too had to dig a trench; the shallow one where you can lie in and fire you rifle. Not too much work, easy. I took the shovel from the case, dug the 'trench'. Then came the hard part, putting the folded shovel back in the case. I could not do it, the thing would not fit. My squad mates could not do it, the drill instructor could not do it and back in barracks the 200 pounds of muscle quartermaster could not. And in the end they gave me another since the first one was clearly jinxed.

[u/kangcore]

ohh field defence exercises i hated those. sure brings back memories....

I remember my first proper field defence exercise, we had to create hasty (shallow grave) and prepared (fire trench) positions. The shallow graves were easy enough, though the buddy I paired up with dug into a rat's nest and ended up dismembering a few baby rats. Nice.

Digging our fire trench was way more challenging though. The ground was really hard (of course), seems this particular training area wasn't dug up often, so the soil was solidly packed in. Digging all night was a real slog, and I'm not sure if I'm remembering these incidents properly since the whole thing seemed like a fever dream.

Halfway through our dig, the company 2IC came strolling by to motivate us ie yell at us for being too slow (of course). Mid-harangue, he suddenly stopped and wandered off. Being a rather odd character, we just assumed that he was done yelling at us and decided to harass motivate someone else. So imagine our surprise when he walks back to our position with a freshly-dropped durian in hand... and asks to borrow a bayonet so he can prise it open. He then offered us some durian, which we politely declined since (a) he just yelled at us not five minutes ago, (b) our bayonets were dirty af, (c) we were still digging furiously. He wandered off murmuring to himself something to the effect of "what kind of kids are these... don't want to eat durian... tsk...".

After daybreak and the mandatory dawn attack scenario, our company commander came by to inspect our fire trenches. He took issue with my trench having a huge lump of rock in the middle, and unsatisfied with our reasoning (it was HARD AF), he grabbed our pickaxe and in one mighty swing completely removed the "rock", which turned out to be the remnants of an old brick wall. Pretty sure we got smoked after that but I didn't mind so much as I was really impressed by that pickaxe swing. Helped that he was a really tall, super salty senior NCO (E8/E9 equivalent) who'd probably dug out a few brick walls in his time. Another tale to add to the legend of Soudagar (iykyk).

Aah, the memories. Seared into my consciousness forever.

[u/Frosty-Firefighter50 → u/kangcore]

if i dug into a rat's nest and ACCIDENTALLY SMUSHED rats i would be traumatised forever :(

[u/IaMbEEFYnACHOS]

I got put on advon for a battalion califex we did at white sands years ago. Got told we had to dig holes to put targetry for some armor guys who were going to run with us. I broke six e-tools in an afternoon and got an aam for it somehow.

[u/TJAU216]

When I was leading conscripts in their basic training in the Finnish army, two of them manages to break their entrenching tools in two when digging foxholes. The ground was of course frozen at the time and the -20 degree weather may have made the plastic handles of the E tools more brittle than usual.

[u/Rasmosus]

Ah, the memories of trying to dig a 6 ft foxhole in basically sand with the water table at 6 inches below the surface. Easy digging, but impossible to finish :-)
West coast of Denmark.

[u/dysfunctional_vet]

Stares bewildered in Air Force.