Fortuna strikes again, and this time impact flows beyond me. My weekend plans, to which I had greatly looked forward, have been waylaid by a debilitating illness that infected my would-be guest. Now that my good friend knows what continued association with me may entail, she may too think twice about making plans with me. Here's to her regaining her vitality quickly, and then having the fortitude to attempt to brave my company in the future. She now knows that it could prove disastrous! Regardless, get better soon, You.
The Pentagon announced some interesting new plans for the deployment of combat units from the National Guard and Reserves, as well as modifying policy for active duty units. These new plans eliminate the cumulative 24 month limit on active duty for "citizen soldiers." The new policy states that any single mobilization may not exceed 24 months. So, if you're in the reserves, you could be mobilized for training and deploy to Iraq/Afghanistan/Pleasure Cruise, for a total of 2 years. Then you could come home for six months or so, and turn right around and do anther 2 year mobilization. You could be in the reserves and spend more time on active duty that on reserve duty. Say adios to that job or college career. The big wigs are going to try to keep mobilizations to a maximum of 12 months.
I'm a big fan of the USMC policy - that being "U Signed the Motherf*@king Contract." However true that may be, these soldiers did not sign up for constant deployments. Yes, there are expectations that you will deploy, you may see combat, and you may die or be wounded. But if these people wanted to serve on active duty for four years out of six, they would have probably joined the active duty force. Many of these young men and women joined the reserves or National Guard because it offered them a way to better their lives by going to college, all while serving their country and having the pride of doing so. Pride only goes so far when the expectations you have, all provided to you by Dept of Defense policy and the soothing tongues of recruiters, are dashed against the sandy dunes of Iraq. The big recruiting drives of the late-90s and early-00s centered around getting good training and the money and opportunity for college. Good training these folks are getting, as they are money for college, but they're spending far more time away from families and college than they signed up for. Part of me says to tell them to suck it up and to do their duty, but at some point I have to begin to look at this as a leadership failure. And now to address that failure, the leadership is simply modifying the rules after the fact. It's unreasonable for a serviceman to renegotiate his contract with the government during the third year of a six year contract, why is it okay for the government to do the same? I think that the implied expectations that these citizen soldiers have, expectations that were not discredited by the services, are part of that contract. Not to mention, by changing the rules at a whim, you're telling future enlistees that the leadership will modify the rules if it fails, and there's nothing you can do about it. How are they going to add that 90,000 odd troops to the Army and Marine Corps if this is the perception? They can barely meet recruiting goals to sustain current numbers.
I think this is going to force us to rethink our current position on our military. It's going to be a tough problem to solve in the end, and I don't have a warm and fuzzy about our ability to do so. Already people are actually considering taking recruitment operations overseas, offering citizenship as an incentive for serving in the US military. Ludicrous. Another world class military did this sort of thing in the past. They were called the Romans, and it didn't turn out so well for them. The iron discipline of the Roman legionary was slowly eroded away by the influx of the "barbarian" mentality of warfare. Tight lines of legionaries armed with gladii were replaced by loose formations of men flailing around with their long swords. Language problems arose and undermined command and control. If you can believe it, the emperor himself was guarded not by Romans, but by Germanics. Could you imagine our president being protected not by the efficiency of the Secret Service and the honorable colors of the Marine Corps, but by Central Asians? It has little to do with race or ethnicity, and everything to do with cohesion and, get this, national pride. If Americans aren't willing to bear the preponderance of the burden of defending our nation, what is there left to defend? Are we to outsource not only the production of tool and die, but our security?
It is time for our leadership to be creative. Generally, bureaucracy doesn't breed creativity, so maybe it's time for someone else to step up to the plate. Our men and women are being asked to do a lot; not too much I don't think - look at our grandparents, they shouldered more of a burden. But they're asked to do a lot nevertheless, all with the meager promise of additional pay. Our leadership owes it to them to keep their end of the bargain.
Attempts to answer Wednesday's riddle flooded my inbox, so much that my computer nearly crashed. I say that with serious jest. Anyway, the answer is "experience."
Everyone have a great weekend, etc, etc. If you're sick, get better (especially you). If you're not sick, don't get sick. Since Monday is a federal holiday, I will not be brewing up any Morning Coffee.
Word of the Day: Incarnadine (adjective): 1. having a fleshy pink color; 2. red; blood-red. (transitive verb): to make red or crimson.
On This Day in History: Joe Smith, the great Mormon prophet, along with his flock, leaves Ohio for Missouri in order to avoid prosecution under laws banning polygamy (1838). Also, US House of Representatives rejects a proposal giving women the right to vote (1915).
A treat for you today; a trifecta of quotes:
"The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous of playthings."
"Love is a state in which a man sees things most decidedly as they are not."
- Freidrich Nietzsche (both - credit Joe)
"My goddess. I was knee deep in a sick love. I was cross-eyed under your drug. Schizo savior, mad messiah, fatal worship you inspired. Gone, I don't believe in you now. I've seen too much. I don't believe in you now, my goddess. Now you see what you get when you lose yourself, what you get when you don't know who you are, when you don't know who you are. My goddess." - Exies, "My Goddess"
No comments:
Post a Comment