"I was told that in Marine boot camp (60's and 70's), soldiers were told to do bizarre things, like sleep with their rifle and recite strange lines. They do it because they are told to do it. It is part of breaking down the individual and introducing the collective. The things they are asked to do don't have to make sense."
Yup, very common back then in the Corps; I don't really know how things have changed in today's Marine Corps, but that's the way it was back then. It was part of the process to break us down and out of our independent ways of thinking and doing things so we could be built back into members of an effective fighting force, a force that would follow orders while under the extreme stress of combat. And if we didn't do it there were consequences. For the most part it worked. It is a kind of brainwashing that was necessary.
Notably, it's the young people that are most suseptable to this tactic. As people age and mature they see the manipulation that is being used, but young people are eager to please, and the desire to be viewed by others as strong and competent reinforced the tactic. The worse thing was to fail your fellow Marine and comrade in arms. And by the way, never call a Marine a soldier - he is a MARINE. Soldiers are Army. Marines are instilled with a lot of pride for being part of an elite branch of service, and to be called a soldier is almost an insult. That's part of the brainwashing that sticks with you, even after more than 40 years. There is a saying, Once a Marine always a Marine (there are no ex-Marines).