This article, originally written in 1985, was added by a new preface and a post face. It presents a research on the hazing in Brazilian Navy's College that had a social drama (in Victor Turner's terms) as a key-event: the expulsion of several veterans after being denounced by a freshman. The empirical data come from a set of interviews with five former students of the same class. The main hypothesis is that the hazing is a rite of passage that focus on the learning of the importance of hierarchy for military life.
