What is "blanket party"

n. A form of corporal punishment or hazing formerly common in militaries in which the victim is restrained with a blanket and beaten.

Blanket Party was an American alternative rock band formed by Dan Ores, Tom Kutzer and Tim Reiland in Beecher, Illinois circa 1990.

The group was known for a guitar-heavy sound, containing elements of power pop, heavy metal and punk rock.

In 1995, the group's song "Corner of my Mind" was included in the soundtrack for director John Singleton's campus drama Higher Learning.

A blanket party is a form of corporal punishment or hazing 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 him and held down, while 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. Other weapons which could be used were entrenching tools or a bunk adapter (a piece of pipe used to connect a bunk bed to another). Blows to the head were avoided, as these would likely be both fatal and leave injuries visible to authorities.

Kitchen scrub brushes were sometimes used, although these were more often employed during "G.I. scrubs" for soldiers with poor personal hygiene.

The blanket party became widely known within pop culture by its portrayal in the Stanley Kubrick movie Full Metal Jacket. In the film, the members of a basic training platoon give a blanket party to Private Leonard Lawrence (nicknamed "Private Pyle", a reference to the 1960s U.S. television character Gomer Pyle) as retaliation for the group punishment given to the entire platoon as a result of Pyle's repeated inability to perform various tasks properly. After the beating, Private Cowboy tells Pyle to "remember, it's just a bad dream, fat boy."

Blanket parties and other forms of corporal punishment are now illegal in the United States military.