Blanket party
{{Short description|Type of corporal punishment}}
A blanket party (also known as "locksocking") is a form of corporal punishment, hazing or retaliation conducted within a peer group, most frequently within the military or military academies. The victim (usually asleep in bed) is restrained by having a blanket flung over them and held down. Other members of the group strike the victim repeatedly with improvised flails, most often a sock or bath towel containing something solid, such as a bar of soap or a padlock.{{Cite book|last=Laws|first=United States Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cy9ghejdgg0C&q=Blanket+party|title=Hearings Before the Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate|date=1974|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|pages=299|language=en}}
Examples
In 2015, a United States Army veteran was diagnosed with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) after being the victim of a blanket party during basic training in the late 1970s.{{cite web| title=Board of Veterans Appeals citation no. 1534047| url=https://www.va.gov/vetapp15/Files4/1534047.txt| date=August 20, 2015}}
''Full Metal Jacket''
The term "blanket party" was popularized by the Stanley Kubrick film Full Metal Jacket. In the film, members of a basic training platoon give a blanket party to Private Pyle, an inept member of their platoon, whose mistakes had led to group punishment given repeatedly to the entire platoon.Rasmussen, Randy. Stanley Kubrick: Seven Films Analyzed, 2nd ed., pp. 300-301, McFarland & Company, 2015. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-2152-7}}.