Three factors. The local stripper knows that Joe will get X dollars (she can probably read an LES better than he can). So does SPC Veronica at Bde. Both also know how much more he will get if they marry and thus they rope Joe for the coins. Joe goes along with this to get what he wants which has nothing to do with money. To a 19 year old, sex is an emergency...
The second factor is that the educational system in the US has not kept up with the times. They went from being a part time custodian of reasonably well disciplined kids to whom they were expected to impart a sound knowledge of the basics and teach to be orderly to a an institution that has more custody time for kids than do the parents -- and yet adamantly refuses to teach those kids any life skill or to discipline them. Thus Joe grows to the ripe old age of 18 plus and joins up with mostly little clue of what life may hold.
Then he hits a unit. If they care about him, he gets some education and mentoring. If, as occurs too often, they do not really care about him, he's left alone to do what he wants when he isn't being jerked around and treated as a not too bright stepchild. Then we wonder why he makes poor decisions. We could and should treat the kid better and demand more from him at the same time. We also need to train him to avoid that stripper and SPC Veronica and their wiles -- at least on a permanent / semi-permanent basis...
Used to have a Squad Leader who'd go to town and drink with his troops when he got a new one in who claimed a 'girl friend.' He'd go, leave with the girl -- and thus teach the kid a brutal but very effective lesson; old guys who are ugly and have no social skills have more money than young studs and girls know this. Not too many care enough to do that nowadays. Too busy with their own wives and kids...
We're trying to run a modern professional Army like it was a between the World Wars unit. Doesn't work too well. If we're not going to be in loco Parentis to Joe -- and the new Barracks say that is the case -- then we need to train Joe to take care of himself and treat him like an adult. That is a massive mind shift for the Army, one that'll take a generation or so to embed.
We could, in the interim, at least stop giving Joe a pay increase to get married...True and thus the revolving door -- which should include ready access to the Guard and Reserve and vice versa as well as to other services and the civilian agencies of government. Yeah, I know...Bottom line, with all the tests and waiting lists and everything, there will still be people who only last for so long, and we need to account for that in planning.Agreed. We could be a bit smarter than we have been.I personally would like to see less military adventurism, as long as that did correspond to denigrating military service, or a lack of willingness to use force when absolutely necessary.
Now, Take Congress...
Pleeezz
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