When Elites Don't Fight
Why Should Anyone Else
“The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. It is possible to impart instruction and to give commands in such a manner and such a tone of voice to inspire in the soldier no feeling but an intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey. The one mode or the other of dealing with subordinates springs from a corresponding spirit in the breast of the commander. He who feels the respect which is due to others cannot fail to inspire in them regard for himself, while he who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect toward others, especially his inferiors, cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself.”
Major General John M. Schofield
Address to the Corps of Cadets, U.S. Military Academy
August 11, 1879
The above quote came from General Schofield at a time when our nation’s military was in trouble. It was long after the Civil War, and officers were treating their subordinate non-enlisted soldiers poorly. Schofield wanted to change it. He did, and our country was better for it.
The same is happening today but the change at the top is deliberate. It’s calculated.
The all-volunteer military was a fantastic idea. It subjected the military to market forces. It was Milton Friedman’s idea and President Nixon implemented it. As Vietnam wound down, many elite colleges got rid of ROTC programs. There was a clear bias against the US military on their campus.
Most people can quote Eisenhower and the “military-industrial complex” but they can’t quote John Paul Jones or Nathan Hale.
During the Revolution and Civil Wars, it was the wealthy that laid their fortunes and lives on the line. The ethos was that they had a responsibility not only to lead but to take action and do.
During WW2, everyone was involved in some way. Many wealthy families and powerful families lost sons in the war or had them come home wounded. It was the last war where that happened. Korea came on the back of WW2, and it was a very different war. It didn’t have the same “je ne sais quoi” and didn’t have the same sort of support among Americans. Vietnam was even worse.
The latest boondoggle in Iraq and Afghanistan initially had a lot of support, but it dwindled as truths came out. There weren’t any weapons of mass destruction, and there was no real end goal. If there was an end goal, it wasn’t clear, or it was unattainable using military force.
The wealthy, the powerful families, didn’t send their kids to that war. No, better to do a non-profit and tackle some cause that has no real solution, like food deserts. Or they’d send their kids to get a degree in public policy and then work for a consulting group dreaming up spider web solutions to issues that are better handled by the free market instead of the government. Or better yet, they’d use their networks to make sure their kids got government grants to do research on big important issues that actually were meaningless.
During the Obama and the current Biden administrations, the culture of the military has been deliberately changed. They are focusing on equity, ESG, and all the woke bullshit that destroys everything else. The days of the USAF being the force that you call when you “absolutely positively have to blow things up” have given way to men in skirts and the words we use becoming more important than the chain of command.
Is it any wonder that the military is short of its recruiting goals by 25%?
If any institution was based on merit, it was the military. President Truman integrated it and it was one of the first places minorities could earn respect and rise. That spirit of merit is changing and giving way to the woke values that destroy anything good in America.
The military reduced its standards and still can’t get enough bodies. Many of the ones that do come in are too fat to fight. 8 weeks of basic training doesn’t change that. Not only that, they aren’t educated enough after spending their lives in government-run union-run schools to execute anything in the military. Many recruits spend time in remedial education classes to get them up to speed on their reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Market forces are also starting to impact recruiting. Kids can earn as much at a fast food restaurant with decent benefits. The military is going to be forced to step up its game. Instead of renaming bases so they aren’t “offensive” maybe they out to clean up and build significantly better facilities.
However, when the elite, powerful, and rich expect the middle class and poor to serve and do all the fighting for them while they sacrifice nothing, you create a warrior class and that’s not America. In fact, it is un-American.
We need a new Schofield today that takes the albatross by the horns and refocuses it into what the military truly should be. A big stick that can defend us when we need it.
The folks in regions of the country that have traditionally volunteered and served in our military realize that. So do their kids and grandkids. The President, the Secretary of Defense, and the top brass do not inspire confidence or motivation. They are schmucks and putzes focused on unattainable goals. They use big words and because of their credentials, the media gives them respect.
They don’t deserve it though. They haven’t earned it.
Kind of reminds me about Vice President Al Gore lecturing his kids while pointing at his Secret Service Agents and and saying do you want to grow up to be like them.
I served during the Vietnam War Era when the draftee army was phased out and the volunteer army came about. It was a dicey transition and it was a difficult transition. It did not happen overnight and we almost lost the army in the experiment, but there were a dozen generals who bore down and got the job done. Wartime armies are different than peacetime armies.
It is important to know that even when we had the draftee army, the vast majority of soldiers were volunteers. Draftees start as riflemen and everybody above him from a three stripe buck sergeant and higher was a volunteer. This is an important fact.
It takes a year to train a soldier and to assimilate him into a unit so he can contribute. This includes Basic Training, Advanced Individual Training (MOS specific, military occupancy specialty), and unit training when assigned to a field unit.
That VN Era army was much, much larger than today's army -- 7-8X larger.
The draft was good for the country as it spread the burden without as much favoritism of who shared the burden -- except for the well heeled draft dodgers such as Clinton, Cheney, Trump who were able to game the system to avoid service. They were all cowards and punks, but mostly just cowards.
An added benefit was draftee soldiers knew what the military was and was not. They returned to civilian life knowledgeable about soldiering. That was very good for the country.
I was an officer, a volunteer, an Abn/Rgr combat engineer, and a graduate of Virginia Military Institute, the son of a professional soldier, and my mother served in WWII. In a lot of ways, it was the family business and I wanted to serve. It never crossed my mind I would not serve.
It was the greatest honor of my life to be entrusted with the lives of America's mothers' and fathers' sons and I took it very seriously and I'd like to think I did a good job of it. I learned a lot and I worked my ass off. It made me a better person. I grew up in the Army.
We need to return to the concept of national service -- not everybody has to go in the military -- we have plenty of national parks that need work or you can empty bed pans or you can program computers -- but some should. It is a duty of a citizen to serve the republic in some way.
If we are to have a professional, lethal, modern volunteer army in a heightening technology environment, then we need to pay our soldiers -- officers, NCOs, and enlisted soldiers -- in a competitive manner and to ensure they leave with skills and more benefits than the current GI Bill and a VA loan. We have to make it an attractive profession. Modern weapon systems require smart, well-trained people.
The military is currently run by a breed of officers who are politicians. In my day, generals did not have press officers and speak to reporters. This is where all the wokeness nonsense is coming from -- political objectives. The army is not a social petri dish.
We have only two real missions:
1. Increase the lethality of the force -- ready to fight tonight; one fight, one win, right now
2. Safeguard the lives of our soldiers
Every decision and program should be measured by those two objectives. If using certain pronouns is not going to increase the lethality of the force or safeguard the lives of our soldiers then it is not the right program. Our enemies are not going to be defeated by pronouns.
We should have a modern military capable of fighting two wars simultaneously -- the US national security doctrine until Obama abandoned it -- and win.
If the country needed me, I would serve again, but I probably couldn't serve in an airborne unit.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com