middle America is several orders of magnitude less concerned by this than are some on the coasts.Originally Posted by Rick Bennett
As for Recruiting, bad taste videos aren't nearly as deleterious as are mediocre leaders...
I'd bet big bucks that
middle America is several orders of magnitude less concerned by this than are some on the coasts.
As for Recruiting, bad taste videos aren't nearly as deleterious as are mediocre leaders...
The whole thing is regretable really
I feel a little bad about the fact that an otherwise promising officer had his career cut short over this issue, however it speaks to nature of our 'information society' these days. In an era of multiple media platforms and multiple access points, putting anything down in video, audio or paper pretty much guarantees that it will be sent around the planet at least twice.
The downside to this is that every action becomes a potential media focus point, which adds extra importance to methods and standards of professional conduct as mentioned by those above.
Again, it's sad that an otherwise promising individual has now been denied the opportunity to fully realize his potential in armed service, and I have always felt personally that a little lewdness helps maintain some steel in the spines of military men and women.
Perhaps everyone, not just soldiers, sailors and airmen/women should internalize the 60 minute rule. Whenever you act unprofessionally, you can guarantee that within 60 minutes that a video of that will be up on youtube.
"I encounter civilians like you all the time. You believe the Empire is continually plotting to do harm. Let me tell you, your view of the Empire is far too dramatic. The Empire is a government. It keeps billions of beings fed and clothed. Day after day, year after year, on thousands of worlds people live their lives under Imperial rule without ever seeing a stormtrooper or hearing a TIE fighter scream overhead."
―Captain Thrawn
Apples and Oranges
Discussion in this thread involves different different issues and moral values that shouldn't be conflated with each other. One has to do with personnel and what it takes to be an effective military leader; the other involves how the military services now believe they should handle a public relations crisis before it gets out of hand.
As regards the latter, instead of halfhearted measures at the outset it is now seen as being better for DoD to sacrafice the perpetrator before the situation gets worse. That's instead of letting inadequate responses to these high-profile situations allow these news stories to grow legs and go on for days on end before DoD finally gets around to bayonetting the guy. It may be cynical and hypocritical, but once you have seriously embarrassed your bosses you're history. Not much about the military service has really changed -- in the pre-PC days pissing off a colonel or general was all it took.
Last edited by Pete; 01-07-2011 at 02:07 AM.
By and large the U.S. public has two different norms of behavior governing armed conflict -- one is for all-out war for national survival and the other is for peacetime and optional conflicts. Under the first one it's a case of "Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" and under the second it's the Marquess of Queensberry rules. The uniformed military make no such distinctions and its leaders are frequently surprised when some incident reported in the news puts the two into conflict with each other.
I don't think so...
Not the public. They're broadly similar to Joe in their attitudes.
Just the media and the self anointed pseudo-sophisticates of the nominal intelligentsia.
Not the public. They're broadly similar to Joe in their attitudes.
Just the media and the self anointed pseudo-sophisticates of the nominal intelligentsia.
Well put.
I think we are now referring to them as the "Credentialed Class." As in, lots of fancy pieces of paper, but none of the abilities the paper ought to represent. And, apparently, with too much free time on their hands ...
John Wolfsberger, Jr.
An unruffled person with some useful skills.
*sigh* If only the coasts could get out of Real America's way ...
The true sigh inducement is that the real America encompasses the entire country.
A fact often forgotten by too many...
That sigh should be induced by the fact that the various communities and groupings all seem too frequently unwilling to accord each other a modicum of respect for their various strengths -- which all segments have -- and instead, like insecure Corporals, concentrate on denigrating each other.
You did, I hope, notice my use of the qualifiers "self anointed" and "pseudo."
The Coastal states have plenty of "real" Americans -- your word, not mine and I use it only in the sense you imply -- just as flyover country has plenty of folks with delusions of grandeur.
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