newGuy12
Master of Arts
The armed forces, especially the Army, is certainly going to be hard pressed to recruit now.
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We saw things like this after Vietnam.
Morale was low.
Standards declined.
Readiness suffered terribly.
It took quite a while and a metric butt-load of money to rebuild important parts of the US military.
By many standards we're worse off now. And our economy is weaker. We only have an Army because it still amuses Chinese bankers to lend us the money for one. According to the Pentagon's and GAO's own recently-released reports the US military is not currently capable of defending the United States.
This is very, very bad.
By any standard we've stopped scraping the barrel and have kicked the bottom out of the sucker so that we can start digging.
Up until the Iraq invasion the US military accepted at most, what was it, 4% of recruits who scored in the lowest category in the Aptitude tests. Now it's over 20%. The percentage who are under waivers for drug use, gang affiliation and misdemeanor convictions is at record levels. The fraction with felony convictions is higher than at any point in my lifetime. And that's not including recent scandals about recruiters simply falsifying records so that people with disabilities like severe autism are considered "1-A".
Another recent scandal is covering up recruiting shortfalls by grabbing sailors and airmen out of the Navy and Air Force and assigning them as infantry or to Marine units. They don't have the training. They don't have the experience. But they're warm bodies who can carry rifles.
There's also been a very disturbing trend in staffing. Senior non-coms - the backbone of any military - are leaving the Service at historically high rates as are career officers. That's with "stop loss" which is Army for "You'll die in the traces."
Chimpy and "Swinging" Dick Cheney may well have succeeded in destroying the US military for a decade or more.
How does "Stop-Loss" fit in?
To end the tangent, the rep system is the way it is, we're not changing it, and this isn't the place to discuss/complain/lodge concerns.It seems we have a wag in our midst.
In response to my 'Mentory' comment about the utility of Negative Rep above I got the following 'ding':
"You're wrong, and off-topic. The system is anonymous by design and choice. -Anonymous".
Such mis-use is another evidential point as to why the system should not be annonymous. Such a sentiment would've been better sent via PM - as I said above, that way we get to address the 'problem' rather than just 'stir the pot'.
How does "Stop-Loss" fit in?
Oh, do you mean this:the movement of airmen and sailors to the army and marines are the only way that the military has been able to maintain something like desired troop levels.
Those bastards, offering career advancement! The nerve!US Sailors, Airmen Can Transfer to Army'Operation Blue to Green' offers Army promotion fast-track
Dateline: August 2, 2004 The Department of Defense announced July 29 that Sailors and Airmen are now able to Go Army under a new program intended to rebalance the size of the military.
The program will generate new opportunities for continued service and career advancement for those willing to transfer into the Army from other services.
Under Operation Blue to Green, the Army will reach out to Sailors and Airmen and underscore the advantages of swapping their present uniform for Army green.
Duly noted. And FWIW, I would like to express my irritation with the use of terms such as Chimpy, "Swinging" Dick, sockpuppet, indoctrination, et al. that have also become standard in the political discourse here.