"Army Needs Rebuilding"

[Rob Thornton]

Schmedlap said:

Our society has incentivized mediocrity, irresponsibility, selfishness, and other immorality.

Amen brother, and as the father of 5 the idea of social engineering scares the hell out of me. Ken's observation about a meritocracy vs. mediocracy is especially lucent. I think they are well thought of as oil and water. Institutional polices that try and serve both serve neither well, and are confusing. Confusion creates frustration and those that are looking for more clarity, for more opportunity, and who can, based on their potential will leave - sooner or later contingent upon their other interests and responsibilities. Unfortunately, the folks that often leave are the ones who would do well in a meritocracy, while those who wish to amble along find comfort, solace and well being in a mediocracy.

If you think you can get by on a mediocracy, then by all means go for it. The problem is you create the conditions where you are less likely to know how bad it fails you until it already has because the conditions to raise the potential of failure are no longer present; you've engineered it out of existence. National security is probably the last place you want to try to do something like that because the consequences may be final.

Best, Rob

[sapperfitz82]

I would agree and go one futher (a father of six that is).

The nature of our profession today (highly specialized and very complex) does not len itsself well to the short tours that are inherent in draft armies. This has only become true in the past few years. It will be even more so in the next few as we religiously leverage technology to make up for our average lack of testicular fortitude.

I would be in favor of such a mandatory service with say, the State Dept, compellees we'll call them. And they could do may be, FSO type work unless the qualify for something better. Degree holders only I think. Money wise, they wouldn't need much if they were living in a trailer in the desert. And if they're bitter, who cares! Exemptions for military service. SD could use the bodies, Lord knows that would bring an influx of talent.

Might free up some military too.

[sapperfitz82]

Should have said I would agree with Rob.

Actually errors abound in the previous post and I blame them entirely on medication and a lack of sleep.

[Uboat509]

I wouldn't say that lack of testicular fortitude is the main issue. Rather I would say that the military is simply reflecting the society from which it is drawn. As a society we have become entirely dependent on technology. We need some sort of high tech gear to enhance virtually every aspect of our lives. For crying out loud, in this country basic cable is considered poverty. If there is a problem then there MUST be a technological solution. It is only natural that that attitude would spill over into the military.

SFC W

In the interest of fairness it should be noted that I am in no way immune to this and have, in fact, already forgotten what it was like before I had my iPhone.

[120mm]

I wouldn't say that lack of testicular fortitude is the main issue. Rather I would say that the military is simply reflecting the society from which it is drawn. As a society we have become entirely dependent on technology. We need some sort of high tech gear to enhance virtually every aspect of our lives. For crying out loud, in this country basic cable is considered poverty. If there is a problem then there MUST be a technological solution. It is only natural that that attitude would spill over into the military.

SFC W

In the interest of fairness it should be noted that I am in no way immune to this and have, in fact, already forgotten what it was like before I had my iPhone.

When I read posts like this, I thank my father, grandfather and the old Germans I grew up with for raising me in the 19th century.

[AGBrina]

A national program, intended to encourage young people (say, 2 years' time between the ages of 18 and 27) to spend a period of their lives, that is devoted to the service of their country, is a good and wholesome thing; but I don't believe that it should be mandatory, especially in a Democracy. If the rewards for national service were tangible, and were of the kind that would continue to reward over the course of a lifetime, there should be plenty of volunteers for such service, even in a time of war.

What I have in mind is an "Affimative Action"-type program. "Veterans" of such service should be placed at the top of every list for positions within the Federal Government, including for politically-appointed positions. Further, there should critical review of staffing, and should be adverse consequences to the head of any department or to the elected official, whose proportion of personnel who have served in such a way, is below average.

If such a program/affirmative action plan could be enacted, I imagine that a significant number of the graduates of the finest schools, as well as most of those with political ambitions, will see national service as an increasingly attractive way to start their careers. It would be up to the Federal Government to apportion these volunteers according to the needs of the country. In times of war, the military could lay claim to a larger portion of these volunteers than would be needed when there is no conflict. Yet, because of the unique appeal of military service, there should be plenty of youths pereferring to serve in uniform rather than to serve as social workers.

[selil]

I'm a proponent of national service but as being suggested it is a band-aid on arterial bleeding.

We already have a socialized gerrymandering in excess of 13 years national service program in the k-12 public (and private) school system. The entirety of the k-12 system is about teaching citizenship, government organization, and indoctrinating students into the American experience through educational strategies.

To say that since the late 1960s that system is an abysmal failure as rampant nannyism policies of the 1960s (Think Dr. Spock and the welfare of children policies) through the creation in the 1970s of the national Department of Education (overbearing legislative non-representative of best practices in education oversight), into the post-psychic mumbling of momma Regan creating "just say no" and resulting in an entire probation and parole incarceration generation for doing what the Regans did in the 1960s. When you look at the "just feel good about yourself and the grades will come" policies of the 1990s and the wickedly illogical no child left behind (NCLB) of the current administration I'm only left with the radical impression that we are lucky we don't have more mouth breathing sycophantic ignorance oozing down the streets in baggy jeans and sideways caps.

If you want a stronger Army give children in public school a chance.

• Repeal or remove psycho socialistic feel good legislated mediocritization policies and make an education challenging and rewarding for its own sake.
• Reject mega-school processes and just in time business practices of centralized education and put the high schools back in the communities instead of making them "lords of the flies" prisons and warehouses of humanity.
• Repeal the pseudo Puritan-Victorian behaviorist moral platitudes and backdoor prohibition policies that has created the incarceration generation and resulted in a public school criminal insurgency.
• Repeal or sunset no-child-left-behind legislation that creates racist classist policies of discrimination based on funding practices that impact primarily disenfranchised minority members of society by decreasing funding on schools that can't afford the tools to be successful already (great logic in NCLB).
• Demand accountability in corrupt political institutions (think Chicago Public Schools as an example) that have more administrators (Marxist bourgeois class) than teachers (proletariat producers) and insure that everybody teaches or they don't have a job.
• Don't accept empire building from petty bureaucrats who hold your children hostage to standards and policies guaranteed to primarily create failure and does not make education a primary goal.

If you want a strong Army, a prepared citizenry, a healthy country, a free living while crime free society, and are willing to accept that the utopian myth of police state is a failed policy guidance you have to start with the beginning not the end. Freedom means that crime will occur, and educating people means they will question authority. There is no real reason for government to truly create a highly educated population. Requiring national service at the end of high school is the current equivalent of painting a turd.

Sure you can come up with examples of excellence, but you must look at the over all to see the direction of society. Down around the median and mean the outlook is pretty scary. The United States active duty military serving is around .5 percent (or 1.5 million) of the total American population (300 million aprox.). You want a strong military you need to raise that median/mean a LONG ways.

I don't think anybody in the military would accept centralized-control, centralized-execution as a viable military strategy in a continental battle for the hearts and minds of a diverse population. But, that is exactly what we have created with the last four decades of educational policy and specifically with NCLB. The children of today are NOT stupid. The children of today are as smart or smarter than anybody in previous generations (research suggests attention spans and long term memory are shrinking while puzzle solving and logic are increasing a dichotomy to be sure). It is a failure of the adults and policy makers to provide even an adequate education and a moral failing of society to stop watching television and make the next generation a priority instead of American Idol or Dancing with the Stars.

You want a strong Army you need a strong country. You get both of those with a strong citizenry. Fix education and you will fix the Army. It is a simple system. It is a complex political morass that will fix itself in time. Time is always the final arbiter of failure to take action.