Confucianism tells us to live our lives best based on the most crucial path rather than what is best for individual actions. In this story, the drill instructor’s role is first to strengthen these recruits’ minds and bodies so that they will be successful at the task at hand, which is fighting the rats, and so that they may stay safe while doing it. The drill instructor is harsh towards the beginning of the story because, at that time, the recruits did not show respect, determination, or confidence in what they were about to embark on. These recruits were used to living an all-paid cushy dorm life and probably had not worked hard a day. Therefore, he was more aggressive with their training. Bootcamp training seems to incorporate a specific type of training that includes yelling and laborious tasks, which helps recruits build a tolerance to the stress of war, not to mention encourage an aggressive nature to be able to go to war.

As the story progresses, the drill instructor slowly shows signs of speaking in a less harsh voice, absent of the sarcastic and disrespectful tones. For example, at the beginning of the story, he would tell the recruits they were lazy and failures, in which their parents wasted their “coffin money.” As the recruits get into a battle with the rats and they are starting to slowly learn how difficult and dangerous the situation of war can be, the drill instructor begins to treat them like fellow battle comrades. The instructor recognizes that the recruits are also showing signs of becoming responsible and growing up. At one point, the drill instructor tells him, “Listen, you are Pea’s friend. Straighten him out.” This is a sign of the drill instructor’s role changing slightly towards respecting the recruits and trusting them. The instructor also gives them the chance to give a “reasonable explanation” for keeping the rat, and he will be reasonable when dealing with their choice to keep the rat. This also shows that the new role for the instructor as comrades, instead of just being their boot camp drill instructor, has led him down the path of speaking with them like peers, even if he is of higher rank. In the beginning, he would have just yelled and called Pea names for keeping a baby rat, but here, he has now switched to the new role of being comrades. He talks to them in a more respectful tone and uses positive praise. The instructor even asked their opinion on whether to split up as Black Cannon suggested. The instructor listened to his reasons and sided with him, keeping the platoon together.

At the end of the story, the drill instructor talks of his personal experiences as a child and growing up in a poor community and why he enlisted. There was mutual respect between the instructor and maturing of young men into men. When reading the story, you can see where roles shift along the way of both the instructor and the recruits; therefore, their choices and actions shift with their new role. For instance, when he told a lie about the baby rat, he did it to protect Pea as a friend and to know him as a person, even though lying is an individual action that could be considered wrong. In Confucianism, his path at that moment was being a good, caring, and protective friend. That was the path he was on at that moment.

I feel Confucianism best represents the way I live and see the world.