Jon, I presume most of that rant is a quote and those are not your thoughts.
I have a comment on only three items in it, cleaning up the language a bit:
Quote:
I see soldiers doing things today that absolutely amaze me, but I also see them f***k up a guard roster, drive under NODs like s***, and not take care of their equipment too!
Since the person that stated this is apparently an NCO, my questions are why did he allow those things to happen and what did he do about it?
Quote:
How many of you here have ever made breach into a hallway with a sand bagged machinegun at the end?
If we're still here, obviously none of us was stupid enough to try that.
Quote:
You REALLY want to trust an E-2 with making the decision on how best to seek cover and supress this threat ?
I've had several E2s, even more E3s and a slew of SPCs that were more capable of doing that than their team leaders of the time were...
We have an Army that rewards time in service and time in grade -- the cream doesn't rise because the system is skewed against it.
Lot of nonsensical bluster and noise in that post. He may be a gem and a super soldier but in my observation most of the kill 'em all and let god sort 'em out / hooray for me types are more noise than competence and substance. The really good guys don't need to do that stuff. Most won't tolerate those that do it.
P.S.
Got so busy sneering at the 'Gee Look at me' business I forgot to say that I broadly agree with his point which was, I think, after removing all the not beneficial to him or the Army and unnecessary chatter:
Room clearing and SWAT techniques are dangerous and misapplied, don't establish a pattern, use host nation forces where possible and take sensible care of your troops.