Semi-random thought

[unixronin]

There's nothing wrong with a nation being ashamed of its soldiers' behavior when their behavior falls short of reasonable expectations.  But a nation that is ashamed of its soldiers simply because they are soldiers is doomed.

Comments

[ossuarian.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to write an article about how dangerous the U.S. idealization of its soldiers is. If I understand you right, it's the opposite of the point you're making.

If by "a nation" you mean this one, I don't think we're ashamed of our soldiers. I think we come halfway in between idealizing them and fetishizing them. In terms of foreign policy, the national dialogue is coming dangerously close to saying we need to be constantly aggressive to give "the soldiers" something to do.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

In terms of foreign policy, the national dialogue is coming dangerously close to saying we need to be constantly aggressive to give "the soldiers" something to do.

That is, indeed, the opposite extreme, and like all extremes, is just as bad a problem. It's exactly this kind of thing that the Founding Fathers had in mind when they said that the maintenance of a standing army was dangerous to liberty, as it encouraged foreign military adventures (by implication, unnecessary foreign military adventures).

That said, I didn't have a particular nation in mind. Granted, I was remembering the hate and vitriol many vets returned from Vietnam to find, but the US is far from the first — and surely won't be the last — country many of whose citizens regard its military with contempt and disdain, until the day the shit hits the fan and they suddenly realize it's blowing their way.

For it's Tommy this an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.

[cipherpunk.livejournal.com]

The problem is not the U.S. trust, confidence, and pride in its armed forces. Speaking broadly, that's a very good thing. An army that is scorned by its population will find itself unable to draw in the sort of people it needs to be a professional army -- with the moral dimension that goes along with it -- and will instead have to settle for an army of people who weren't smart enough to get into college and have no problem obeying authority no matter how ridiculous or corrupt.

Look at the difference in professionalism between Vietnam-era draftees and modern-day volunteers. It's night and day.

The problem specifically we face is that the President's approval rating hovers around 20%, Congress's approval rating hovers around 10%, and the military's approval rating is over 95%. That, to me, sounds like a recipe for either a very powerful and professional military being entrusted to incompetent civilian hands (a recipe for destruction), or perhaps a recipe for a military coup in this country (another recipe for destruction).

But the problem is not the approval of the military -- it is the total, utter, absolute leadership collapse of the Executive and Legislative branches.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

The problem specifically we face is that the President's approval rating hovers around 20%, Congress's approval rating hovers around 10%, and the military's approval rating is over 95%. That, to me, sounds like a recipe for either a very powerful and professional military being entrusted to incompetent civilian hands (a recipe for destruction), or perhaps a recipe for a military coup in this country (another recipe for destruction).

But the problem is not the approval of the military -- it is the total, utter, absolute leadership collapse of the Executive and Legislative branches.

Can't argue with that. Although sometimes, I wonder whether when government gets bad enough and corrupt enough, a good clean military coup by competent and honest generals might not be such a bad thing after all — particularly if they take power only for long enough to clean the crooks out of the pigsty and put an honest government back in power.

[luxobscura.livejournal.com]

I thought about that during the Katrina clusterfuck on the federal level. Then, all of a sudden, Lt. Gen. Russel Honore steps off a helo, starts barking orders, tells his boys to keep their rifles "at rest", and shit suddenly started getting done.