Why do they hit Pyle with soap wrapped in towels in the movie 'Full Metal Jacket'?

Answer 1

*His unit did not like him and soap bars wrapped in towels leave no clues nor do extensive damage *Substitutions can be potato, tightly wound heavy woolen socks, etcetera. *This sort of punishment by one's comrades has been around as long as there have been soldiers. *A drill sergeant has tremendous psychological control over his unit of trainees. It is a strong enough psychological control that it can cause the trainiees to mete out barracks justice to someone they feel is making it as hard on them, the unit, as upon himlelf, the individual. *Pyle's drill sergeant was frustrated with him and he took that frustation out on the rest of the platoon to create resentment towards Pyle and a standard old barrack's justice method was chosen. *During Basic Training on Tank Hill at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, my platoon chained "Goose" Guillory to a barrack post and "lost the key". Guillory would not shower. The drill sergeant could not force him to shower so he turned it over, pshchologicaly, to his unit trainees. After nearly a day of fussing, fuming and hollering, Goose finally agreed to shower, alone. The sergeant was pleased with how his use of psychology caused the men of his unit to solve an internal problem in a way in which no one was physically hurt. *He was punished by the other members of his unit because they were kept being punished by the Drill Instructor for his continued mistakes. This is a common practice during basic training, used to promoted unity among the members of the unit, as well as teaching them to work as a unit. It is a basic practice, if one persons messes up, everyone will be punished. It also gets the more advanced members of the unit to offer and give help to the members of the unit that are having trouble grasping certain procedures. As for the soap in the towels, this is also a common practice used to help prevent severe bruising, while welding a powerful weapon. The towel allows for an extended reach.