In the most candid description of Army life ever produced, Castro & Hassan vividly capture what soldiers think, say, and do in their ground-breaking book Boys in the Barracks. Presented from the perspective of the soldier, Boys in the Barracks will shock, anger and challenge many perceptions of Army life. Here is a sample of soldiers' views contained in this innovative work describing Army life from a military cultural perspective:
On Why Soldiers Join: "It's kind of a family thing." "I couldn't really say."
On Army Standards: "I don't understand why everything has to be dressed-right-dressed. I mean it's not like we are at war or anything."
On Discipline: "I guarantee you after a couple of sessions behind the tree line...he'd straighten his shit out."
On Promotion: "I don't like waiting five or six years to get promoted to do a job that I'm already doing. If I am doing the job, then the Army needs to pay me..."
On Garrison Duties: "It's either maintenance on a vehicle or literally doing tedious tasks that I find pointless: like sweeping and pulling weeds, moving one thing to another area, and then moving it back because someone didn't like it there..."
On Boredom: "...it's a whole lot of hurry up and wait and standby to standby..."
On The Barracks: "They harp on having clean barracks but you can only polish a turd so much."
On NCO Leadership: "A good NCO leads and not bosses. Someone that's going to be right there next to me doing the same shit I'm doing..."
On Smoking and Drinking: "I've got the worst habits out of everybody here, I smoke, dip, vape and drink." "...everyone's got their habit and that includes alcohol, we've got under aged dudes drinking in the barracks."
On Being on Profile: "I can say, 'I got a broken neck.' They'll say, 'You just weak.'"
On Mental Health Stigma: "People will judge you..." "Now I feel people think I'm weak."
On Why Soldiers Stay: "There's nothing easier than being in the Army, especially if you don't do crap all day."
On Why Soldiers Leave: "I hate everything about the Army. Biggest mistake I've ever made was joining."
