Veterans and active duty soldiers are up in arms after a Facebook post by the Bravo Company 35th Engineer Battalion shows Army privates receiving patches after the first phase of basic training – “Red Phase.”

[revad1]

In a short period of time, the comment section lit up with angry soldiers both past and present, leading the comments, like “this is what happens when we give out participation trophies,” to be deleted along with the pictures of the patching.

One of the most notable critics was the viral YouTube sensation and Army vet John Burke who had the following to say:

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“When you start rewarding the standard with something that isn’t normally rewarded such as a patch…it’s the act of giving someone a trophy for having not completed the entire basic training span. The leaders that make these calls, that want to reward everybody for mediocrity -for standardized training- are what’s wrong with the military and why its decaying into what it’s becoming now.”

“This is not the civilian world. We are the Army, we are the military. Now it’s come to the point where it’s a f****** embarrassment that you’re no longer training men. You are training politically correct slave drones… They need to be taught to fight, to survive and to be able to handle themselves on the battlefield- not be given a participation trophy simply to make themselves feel good.”

You can watch that video here: