Wrong Answers

An anonymous Navy Chief Petty Officer lays down the rules of the game.

America has the wrong Army. I don't
know how it
happened, but it did. We have the wrong Army. It's
too small; it's not
deployed properly; it's inadequately trained, and it
doesn't have the
right sort of logistical support. It's a shambles. I
have no idea how
those guys even manage to fight.

Now, before my brothers and sisters of the OD green
persuasion get
their fur up, I have another revelation for you. We
also have the wrong
Navy. And if you want to get down to brass tacks,
we've got the wrong
Air Force, the wrong Marine Corps, and the wrong Coast
Guard.

Don't believe me? Pick up a newspaper or turn on your
television. In
the past week, I've watched or read at least a dozen
commentaries on the
strength, size, and deployment of our military forces.
All of our
uniform services get called on the carpet for
different reasons, but our
critics unanimously agree that we're doing pretty much
everything
wrong.

I think it's sort of a game. The critics won't tell
you what the game
is called, so I've taken the liberty of naming it
myself. I call it the
'No Right Answer' game. It's easy to play, and it
must be a lot of fun
because politicos and journalists can't stop playing
it.

Read the rest, of course.

Chief, you know what the “right” answer is, of course: to disband the military; to be in such dire straits monetarily that the Armed Forces are required to “have a bake sale to raise money” as the infuriating bumper sticker suggests. The “right” answer is to “lie back and enjoy it” while the enemies of the American ideal rape the land and the people, figurative and, eventually, literally.

Also, go see what’s wrong with Hollywood’s latest effort to tell a military story. The fact that one of the depicted troops is a dope-head is a dead giveaway that the production has no military advisers. Two words: random urinalysis.

(Thanks to Instapundit)

Comments

[teal marie]

Bravo! I especially like this paragraph -
"I'd like to close with an invitation to those
journalists, analysts,
experts, and politicians who sit up at night dreaming
up new ways to
criticize our armed forces. The next time you see a
man or woman in
uniform, stop for ten seconds and reflect upon how
much you owe that
person, and his or her fellow Sailors, Marines,
Soldiers, and Airmen."

[torchy]

Phew, it was satire, I can let my blood pressure stabilize. There's nothing that upsets me more than reading commentary from an active duty soldier about the political situation at home, for two reasons. The obvious reason is despair over the anti-military/war opinions of our media, politicians and citizenry. The other reason is that our soldiers are exposed to it enough to even form an opinion. In previous military successes our soldiers only sources of information from home came from letters and the odd newspaper. In letters their families and friends would more likely shield the soldier from domestic turmoils and the military censors would usually step in if they didn't. The commanders of our troops should take more care to protect the morale of their troops by restricting their access to media sources that have no military or morale value. I love reading soldiers accounts of duty and valor. It shames and angers me to read their accounts of the treasons at home. That THEY should have to explicitly remind us of our duties to them sends me through the roof. #$%^*@&

[torchy]

btw Miss Marie, Friday has come and gone with the 4th London 7/21 bomber being detained in Italy (all 4 captured in little over a week!), the 7/7 planner captured in Zambia, Musharaf ordering foreign and duel citizen madrassa students to leave Pakistan (that could cut two ways but only temporarily). An Egyptian opposition leader registered to run for the presidency, the first time Mubarak has been challenged in the past 4 elections. I'd wonder if the muslim anniversaries of 911 have been a time of payback. Of course all that has to be weighed against 2 British security personnel, 2 US soldiers and 40 Iraqi Army recruits dying from terrorism in Iraq on Friday. I'm trying to balance any possible optimism with careful hatched chicken counting.

[Veeshir]

I forget where I stole this but...
When faced with the 'bake sale' quote the best response is:
Wouldn't it be great if our schools trained our children as well as our military trains our soldiers?

[teal marie]

Thanks, Torchy. That's what I was thinkin' too. Sure am glad to be mistaken! You betcha.
And David Blue left a nice compliment for you in the nail-studded bomb thread. Did you see?
I DO love this blessed blog!

[Acidman]

Most of those critics of the military could use urinalysis. YOU KNOW Hollywood screen writers couldn't pass. They've been smoking something funny.

[torchy]

My pleasure Miss Marie, you may not be thoroughly wrong if a pattern exists and it was a pattern you were trying to divine, thankfully it's not one that predicts our destruction. Carry on, soldier, muuahh. I wasn't sure how to read Davids paranthesized compliment. I didn't say anything that wasn't in aarons link (I found out later, doh). I just sought to immediately blunt aarons smug, taunting barrage of told-you-so-but-you-won't-listen-cuz-no-one-cares-about-the-Jews.
with a selction from my personal knowledge arsenal.
But then again, parantheses are reserved for authors personal asides, supporting information and other things the author believes must be stated to round things out. So I'll take it as compliment of sorts [tenatively ; )] but surely I don't need any compliments to thoroughly love this blog, the majority of its contributors and their contributions. I <3 (((baldilocks))) too!!

[John]

Something I feel bad about is that the criticism of our armed forces has gotten to the place where I generally tune out our critics. We have the finest military in the world even though they make a few mistakes. When the left emphasizes our mistakes they make it hard for us to hear helpful or "constructive" criticism. We need a voice on the left that is on our side, not a voice that continually shows contempt for the United States and our men and women in uniform. When they demonstrate that they love our country and truly support the troops that are protecting us then we will be able to listen to them again.

[Jeff Edwards]

Since 'The Wrong Army' hit the net, I've gotten a few hundred emails from people who accuse me of placing the military above criticism. That’s simply not the case. I think you’ll find that most men and women in uniform tend to be their own toughest critics. The US military ends nearly every battle, real or simulated, with a review of what went wrong. You can’t fix your mistakes if you don’t recognize them and own up to them. I have no heartburn with calling any branch of the military on the carpet when it makes a mistake. What I object to is the default assumption that we’re ALWAYS wrong. If you’re going to hammer us when we’re wrong, how about recognizing us when we’re right?

Jeff Edwards
STGC(SW) USN, (Ret.)
Author of ‘The Wrong Army’

[StinKerr]

WTG Chief.

Former STG here too. A brilliant bunch if I do say so myself.