Originally Posted by
Nooomoto
King Obama will tolerate no dissent among the ranks.
I'm very close friends with a lot of soldiers in combat arms units that I met through mutual friends or my graduate research and the vast majority of them, if not all are very dissatisfied with the President. A good number of the guys I talk with even go as far as feeling betrayed and some even directly blame his policies via orders given directly to their units through officers not far detached from the President regarding very specific military actions resulting in the totally unnecessary deaths of good men.
Granted, when you sign up as a soldier, and go out of your way to get into the types of units that these guys are in doing what they do, losing your life is an accepted risk...but it stings a little bit more when you KNOW in your heart of hearts that what you're doing is ridiculous and not going to further any larger military goal leading to decisive victory.
Add to that the fact that women will now be allowed into Ranger school and combat arms units and yeah...I doubt you'd find any real soldiers that are happy with the President.
The culture is totally different now from what it was 5 years ago. I know a soldier in a small unit that was sent to Iraq as part of a task force, this task force had a target list, and every objective on the list was satisfied. Literally a 100% success rate. Upon returning home this particular unit was rewarded with 4 day work weeks for a year, tons of leave and pretty much unlimited op-funds and prime selection for slots at any TDY/school they wanted.
Contrast that with this soldier's last deployment to Afghanistan, from which he recently returned. There was no clear objective, his unit was sent over short handed, under funded and ill-equipped. They literally had one vehicle which they had to share with other units in the area, which by the way the closest of was some 60 KM away. This particular soldier has a recurring injury that requires surgery and was sent over anyway, which he didn't find too much of a problem because he is the type of person that will do everything he can to get the job done, he doesn't believe in shit-bagging. Anyway, he returns to the US...still having this injury and 4 weeks after returning from Afghanistan is given a PT test, which he fails because he can't train as he needs to due to his injury. Keep in mind this soldier has never failed a PT test in a decade, and in fact has the highest scores in his entire command, having maxed every PT test he has ever taken. I forget the term but they put something on his record that pretty much indicates he's washed up and lazy. Normally this would prevent him from being promoted, but he's getting out in less than a year so there really is no consequence. However, being the kind of guy he is, it's a pride thing and is screwing with his head, and he believes that it will adversely affect him when he gets out and applies for jobs, most of his prospects being the types of companies that hire ex-military that will understand what that certain mark on his record means.
This happens at the same time that SOCOM has been instructed to cut their forces down even further from the anemic numbers they have now, so you figure that one out.
The culture being sent down from the top now is not one that rewards success and out-standing performances. Medal winners are not wanted, but if you're a chick and wanna go to the most elite combat leadership school in the world...hey great, we'll water down the standard so you as a woman can feel good.
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