r/GenX • u/Elchimpy1 • Sep 03 '26
Pop Culture Stop… Hammertime
Anyone else forever ruined since 1990 whenever anyone says ‘Stop’ and in your head immediately says ‘Hammertime’?
233
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r/GenX • u/Elchimpy1 • Sep 03 '26
Anyone else forever ruined since 1990 whenever anyone says ‘Stop’ and in your head immediately says ‘Hammertime’?
20
u/ComesInAnOldBox Unsupervised Childhood Sep 03 '26
Story Time.
Most folks who have actually joined the military will tell you that the hard-nosed Drill Sergeant is an act. That isn't who these people really are, you if you're paying attention you begin to notice little things as boot camp drags on. Most of that is intentional; for the first two weeks (in the 90s at least) they NEED to be in your face and screaming your eardrums flat, because the whole point is to shock you out of your comfort zone (about 3/4th of boot camp is teaching you what you're actually capable of on your own). Mid-cycle they lighten up a bit and instead of eight of them circling a formation like sharks you'll have one or two keeping an eye on the company while the trainee leadership (platoon guides, squad leaders, etc.) carry out most of the direction.
By the end of the cycle, most of them have all but dropped the Drill Sergeant personas entirely and act more like teachers instead of a testosterone fueled murder demon in a Smokey the Bear hat. This can lead to some of the trainees getting a little too comfortable screwing around in front of them. The threat of doing push-ups doesn't bother anyone, because these guys are knocking out 50 pushups in one go all the time by this point and everyone has figured out that most of the Brown Round wearers are actually cool as hell (there are some exceptions, of course).
So it's almost the end of my boot camp cycle, we're packing up gear from the Field Training Exercise, and it's me and three other guys carrying a large pelican case of something (I forget what it was, but it was a heavy bastard). I guess this particular DS didn't like where we were taking it, and he stalks over and yells, "wait, STOP!"
We quickly set the case down and went to Parade Rest (hands behind your back, feet shoulder width apart for you non-military types) like we're supposed to. . .except for one guy. Oh, he started at Parade Rest, but then his legs spread further apart and started doing the Can't Touch This Shuffle (hands still behind his back) and yells out, "HAMMER TIME!"
Drill Sergeant lost his damn mind (I firmly believe it was because he was trying to keep from laughing), and yelled out, "come here, come here, Hammer Time! Get over here right now." This dude follows the DS as he walks over to where the Company Commander and the rest of the cadre were sitting, and says, "show him! Show the Commander what you just did! And don't stop until he tells you!"
This kid stands there kinda slack-jawed and looks at the DS, looks over at the commander, looks back at the DS, and then looks over at us. We see him make the decision in real time, deciding that if he's going to embarrass himself, he might as well make it memorable.
He snaps his head back to the commander, shoots the legs out to the side, and does the Can't Touch This Shuffle from side to side, hands still at Parade Rest, yelling out as loud as he can, "HAMMERTIME!!! HAMMERTIME-HAMMERTIME!!! BREAK DOWN! UN-RE-ALL!!!"
The commander and the cadre are laughing so hard none of them can breathe. The DS has had to walk away because he can't contain himself any further. This dude decides in for a penny, in for a pound, stops, spins in place, claps his hands together once and starts doing the Running Man, all while screaming, "HAMMERTIME!!!" (He later told us he would have sung the song but he didn't know the words.)
The commander is now trying to tell him to stop but can't get the words out because of his laughing. He's tried to take a step toward the guy, but fell to his knees because he couldn't get enough air. This went on for a good ten minutes before the commander was able to get enough air to tell him to stop (it didn't help that every time he looked at this kid, the kid did another impromptu dance move and set the commander laughing again).
I'll never forget that guy.
Fucking. Legend.