I need some insight please.

I am a pastor and I am going to preach a sermon on the importance of unity with a body – particularly a church – in a few weeks. The sermon will be based on Jesus’ prayer in John 17.

To those of you who went through boot camp or possibly OCS, I am wondering what happened to you and the men around you when you went through boot camp.

When you entered boot camp, your head was shaved and you were all put into the same clothes. You experienced “uniformity.”

You were then put through several weeks of training and hard conditions all in the effort to produce “unity.” The hope was that at the end of basic, you would be “unified.” (Part of the point is that uniformity is an external condition and unity is an internal condition.)

At the beginning, although uniform in appearance, you didn’t know anybody and in fact you might have even hated everybody around you. In the end, though, you might have still hated everyone, but, as a unified body, you would likely go through hell or high water for him and the rest of the guys around you.

What happened? What creates unity?

As a side note, I asked a gentleman in my church, a former paratrooper, this question and he offered, “Shared adversity.”

What do you say?

Thanks

(Disclaimer: Have not been through boot camp, just Aggie Corps and PLC when considering a commission.)

"Shared Adversity" is correct. It's why folks who go through the quasi-military Corps of Cadets have deep and lasting bonds.

Though I'm not so sure boot camp is the best example. I think the actual service is what gives folks deep bonds. When you are in boot camp (or fish year at A&M) you're drinking out of a fire hose and don't have a lot of time to make friends. And after boot, you're scattered to the winds. It's not like the days of WWII when units trained together, then served together.

Wow. Before I got to the end I was thinking the exact same thing. "Shared Adversity". It is a proven fact that in times of need humans instinctually band together. When a task is prevented that is impossible for you to accomplish but you have several others that are there enduring the same hardship and together yall accomplish it. It's a pretty good feeling and builds camaraderie. As a caveat it also builds a common trust in each other which in itself makes it easy to be comfortable around those people again. Like the age old "trust fall" at summer camps. You place your health and well being in someones else's hands and it forms a bond that can't be experienced otherwise.

Another way to look at it is that you aren't alone. Even if you are facing an impossilbe task and the conditions are terrible and you feel like there couldn't be anything worse in the world you just look to your left and right. Your comrades are right there with you suffering just as much. And for some reason that is extremely comforting at times.

One last thing that might hold true for most is the sense of belonging to a group. I remember getting cut off from my squad for a couple of minutes during a firefight and feeling so....alone I guess would be the term. I also remember my squad fighting like demons to get to me. When you see a friend literally charge a machine gun nest to take it out so he can get to you...It really changes your perspective and overall emotions on the matter. An often repeated statement that is mostly not truly felt is "I will die for you", but when you see your comrades face immediate death with no hesitation or regret to save you. Words can't describe it. I was thankful that I could demonstrate it back the exact same way not even a month later. And that right there seals the deal. That is definition of shared hardships and common goals.

The 'shared adversity' phrase is correct. Kinda like the bonds that the apostles made with each other between Good Friday and Easter morning. Going thru tough times together creates a bond between the folks who make it. There are many experiences in life that can cause this feeling of 'brotherhood' between folks. Be it Agincourt, Omaha Beach, LZ Albany, Pickett's Charge on one extreme or surviving your fish year in the Quad or Basic at some recruit depot or 2 a days in August on a more relatively safe/peacetime other end. There are obvious different levels of this 'shared adversity' bonding but it is a real thing and those who have undergone some form of it will assure you that such bonds happen.

As an 'editorial' comment only the USMC calls their basic training/induction 'boot camp'; the other services have different names for this initial training. Using the correct term will give you more creditability with any veterans in your congregation.

Other thoughts?



[This message has been edited by WBBQ74 (edited 1/16/2012 3:21p).]

John 15:13...part of my favorite campusology, and one of my best take-aways from A&M.

[This message has been edited by Zip 88 (edited 1/16/2012 4:11p).]

I think "boot camp" is a fine term to use. It's a little more universally recognized/understood by the general populace than something like "One Station Unit Training" or "OSUT".

Kind of like how older folks want to know if you were "In the Service". It's good for a basic understanding without drilling into specifics.

Eliminatus - Wow! That's an amazing story.

Now I can't think of a good example offhand from my own service but, I can tell you one that I've grown to appreciate and understand the significance of during the past 4 years that I've been living in Australia.

ANZAC Day is on April 25th every year. It commemorates not a major Australian victory but instead, a major Australian defeat. The absolute slaughter of brave Aussie and Kiwi soldiers at Gallipoli. Now we can sit here and look back 97 years ago and see that Gallipoli was obviously the worst idea for an invasion ever. Those guys never should have hit the beach there. But...

What the fighting at Gallipoli did was to solidify the ANZACs as a fighting force in their own right. It was the first time that Australia and New Zealand moved out of the shadow of being a British Colony and began to be unified with a new identity - as ANZACs.

Remembering ANZAC Day and the brave Aussie Diggers is a very important part of Australian culture. In a lot of ways, you could draw parallels to the way we remember the birth of Christ, The Last Supper and The Crucifixion.

Click on the ANZAC Day link and have a read of that. I think it might be the sort of thing you're looking for to help you with your sermon. Even though very few Aussies can trace their lineage to somebody who was at Gallipoli, all Aussies - even recent immigrants - understand the importance of the sacrifices made and they understand and respect the importance of commemoration on the day.

By the way - while I'm ranting here - In Australia, we still have a minute of silence at work on November 11th every year for Remembrance Day. It's quite shocking at 11:00 am when everybody in the office is asked to stand and face west and be silent. And they do it. Even if you're a Chinese immigrant. It's part of what you do as an Australian. I didn't know quite what to make of it the first time I saw it.

Never went to Basic. However, the "shared adversity" part is correct.

I'm quite sure it was different back in Old Army, but I spent the summer of '08 at Basic in Ft. Knox, and by the time it was over most of us had formed groups within the company. I thought it would be like my fish year in the Corps, but it was quite the opposite. There were a lot of gangsters in our company, including Bloods, Crips, and a Latin King. They didn't get along well because they couldn't leave that crap behind.

There were malingerers, who got through by blue-falconing the rest of us when they could, there were guys who were involved in illegal stuff while they were actually at Knox, etc. The point is that it was too easy, besides the early morning wake-ups, to force us to bond together like the Corps made me do with my buddies. I hope it was better for other soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines than it was for me.

quote:

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OSUT

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OSUT only applies when you stay with the same group for both basic and AIT.

Chalk another one up for shared adversity. Even within our flight of 60 airmen clicques developed and there were some interpersonal tensions, but when it came down to the tasks at hand, we all set those aside and worked together because all of us got punished for the errors of individuals.

How about "shared misery" ?

Think there is a fine line there...shared misery on the account of leadership does not help build team. Just my two cents. Shared misery because of conditions out of your control is a different matter.

I'm probably out on my own here, but after a few days in combat with a few select folks, I'd say I'd do just about anything for them as I would a CT/BQ buddy...if not more. Spending 4-5 years with those folks and living in such a small community does that ala the Cadet Corps. I've become rather close with the Aggies and other Soldiers I've served with over the years.

I would amend that to "success/faith through shared adversity".

There are plenty of guys that I've struggled with who I don't trust because of how they behaved under pressure. Its unfortunate, but it happens.

I've never been to basic training but I'm a military/Bible/gun nut.

quote:

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Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are

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Bible background:
"as we are" I think is clutch phrase. How is Jesus and the Father one?

Trinity - God the Father and Son and Spirit are one yet distinct. They are one in Mission and much more yet serve distinct functions. God sends the Son, Jesus sends the Spirit...and they are all at War.

In Basic: There is also diversity and opposition conformed into a functional fighting force.

I think one of the best ways to really understand the purpose for unity is to look at the consequences for disunity. What would disunity look like during a battle or in basic training?

In Germany Bop once saw a German military belt buckle with the inscription: "Gott Mit Uns".
(Basically saying - God Is With Us.)

Think they can be seen on Wikipedia (from period of the German Empire to the end of the Third Reich).

quote:

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I've never been to basic training but I'm a military/Bible/gun nut.


quote:
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Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are
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Bible background:
"as we are" I think is clutch phrase. How is Jesus and the Father one?

Trinity - God the Father and Son and Spirit are one yet distinct. They are one in Mission and much more yet serve distinct functions. God sends the Son, Jesus sends the Spirit...and they are all at War.

In Basic: There is also diversity and opposition conformed into a functional fighting force.

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I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but how does this relate to the topic of shared adversity? Did you mean to post this on the religion board?

HollywoodBQ, I'm sure you've heard this, but it's always good to hear again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZqN1glz4JY

In Marine Corps Boot Camp we died and were born again. A number of Drill Instructors stated that the old person we had been was dead and that as far as they were concerned, we were born on the day we arrived at Marine Corps Recruit Depot. Believe me, long before graduation from boot camp, we had all bought into it.
OP, you are a pastor, Bro. You should have all this dying to self and being born again down pat.

I suggest you go through OCS with the Marines for 6 weeks but not commit to them. I have had a couple of friends that did this for their summer "jobs".

Thanks for all your input. The sermon was well recieved and went well. We all as the body of Christ must strive daily for that unity.