This initiation ritual visited upon the newcomers by the senior soldiers has been around for many years and is almost the same from one unit to another across the three services.
On the night the rookie soldiers arrive at their posts, the senior soldiers would ask these recruits to unpack all their personal belongings for inspection and to do as many push-ups as possible.
Such practices, though technically not allowed, has been tolerated in the military since commanding officers are few in number and have to rely on senior soldiers to help keep things going.
Locke does not complain about the practice, which seems to him to be only part of the process of becoming accepted in the military.
"Military service helped me learn how to deal with things. I met both bad guys and good guys in the military," Locke said.
"I learned from the military the spirit of comradeship and cooperation," he said. "This spirit seems to be missing from people outside the military."
Another observation that Locke makes is that the Taiwan military has copied a lot from the US military, but only superficially.
"The Taiwan military is in essence still a Confucian hierarchy," he said.
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