You are correct in that "some" are not necessarily abused at Thayer. My son, unfortunately, was one of them. But he did tell me that they don't treat everyone like that. At the time he was there, it was only him and one other student (who got it worse than my son) that were being abused like that. I think their size had a lot to do with it. My son is very small and this other kid was overweight. My son said that the other "cadets" were pretty average. Who knows why they choose to go after certain ones, but they do.
The day I picked my son up, I saw the overweight kid he was talking about. They had him out in the yard "smoking" him when I got there to pick up my son. Of course, my visit was unannounced. When the drill instructors saw us standing there watching them, they rounded the kid up and took him inside. The reason he was being smoked? His only crime was "stealing a muffin". And that is because all they got for breakfast was wheat seeds and water! Sorry, but when you work a kid for 18 hours a day and only feed them crap like that, they are GOING TO BE HUNGRY. So what is the pnishment for trying to give your body nourishment? More exercising! Its ridiculous. What if this kid had never been prone to stealing before? If he wasn't before, he sure is now becaue of survival instincts!
My son prays every night that the poor kid makes it out of there! He asks me several times a week, Mom have you found his parents yet, have you helped get him out?