Fort Knox Army Drill Sergeant Shane Medders explains how to make a bed the right way, with hospital corners.
Also, Core 77 interviewed NYC-based photographer, speaker and on-camera coach Michael Cinquino, who was a Petty Officer Third Class on the fast combat support ship U.S.S. Detroit:
What was the procedure?
You had a set amount of time to make the bed properly, starting from scratch each time–
Sorry, what do you mean by "from scratch?"
You had to rip all of the sheets off and put them in a pile on top of the bed, and start from there.
How did they enforce that?
The drill instructor's standing right there, supervising.
Why make you start from scratch every time?
It was to teach attention to detail. To go through the whole process and teach you that executing little details correctly matters. As a sailor, if you screw up a detail, people can get killed. So the pillow's got to be centered, the catch-hem has to be pointing up, the fold a certain distance, et cetera.
