We Are Tearing Ourselves Apart!

Through the incompetence of the Oberfuhrer - Rumsfeld - and the failure of our Supreme Leader - Bush43 - the volunteer Armed Forces are being ripped to pieces.

We have “extended” the tour of duty in Iraq to the men and women already there by 45 days. At the current rate of KIA, that means 90 more men will likely die in Iraq! Men who would have been home but for the failure of leadership at all levels. Generals ought to be resigning in droves but most remain silent, just waiting for the $10,000 a month retirement pay plus perks - nearly free medical care at the nation's best institutions - to get out! Shame. Shame.

We have “welched” on the promise to give men and women 2 years at home for each year in Iraq and Afghan. Both theaters are getting worse, not better. We recently cut that to 18 months. And if that was not enough, we have alerted many thousands of National Guardsmen - really are weekend warriors - they are to be activated for 11 months to go to Iraq. Who knows if they will not be met with a similar “extension” for the convenience of the government when their tours are supposed to be up?

Sweet Jesus. If you wanted 3 ways to muck up the army, what better than these? I read the Armed Forces have 10,000 of their own in prison for various offenses. I wonder how many of those offenders and their offenses are related to “breach of promises” made by our Government?

Look at the current spate of tv ads for the Army. The implication is you can join th Reserves, get some military training, and stay home and finish your education all at the same time. That may have been true in 2001, but it has not been true since March 18, 2003. In all honesty, the ad ought to be updated to reflect reality.

Recently, I heard of a 41 year old captain who was in the Reserve after ending his contracted tour of active duty, was being recalled! He is not the only one, but this again illustrates how our policymakers are detached from the reality of our capability. to achieve our stated political goals. How much of this insolent attitude can ordinary men and woman take?

Soldiers are gun fodder. They know that, on a certain level. They do not dwell on it. But they understand they have volunteered to do the hard stuff of making war. They leave the bull-crapping about war to the political leaders, but they expect their military leaders to do right by them. This is sorely missing in today’s armed forces. Old guys who do know better are sending young guys to do the impossible. That is a breach of faith and trust between the led and the leaders. Trust once lost is impossible to regain. That will be felt in many unpleasant ways for a very long time to come.

We are sullying our own nest.



[edit on 9/28/2006 by donwhite]

"Crapping in our mess-kit" is the military term, isn't it?

Do you see any conspiratorial angles to this, training our standing army in urban warfare in Iraq, stretching them beyond their limits by political decree, ingendering hostility toward the homefront in them, then flip-flopping them with the reserves to bring them home, to what? For what?

Is our standing army being tailored for a take-over here once it is brought home?

posted by Icarus Rising

Do you see any conspiratorial angles to this, training our standing army in urban warfare in Iraq, stretching them beyond their limits by political decree, engendering hostility toward the home front in them, then flip-flopping them with the reserves to bring them home, to what? For what? Is our standing army being tailored for a take-over here once it is brought home? [Edited by Don W]

If this is not a Cheney-Rumsfeld-Robertson plot to take over the country, it has missed its best chance since Benedict Arnold and Major Andre made their deal at West Point. I have protested to anyone who would listen that training a Volunteer Army in urban warfare is dangerous to the home folks.

Soldiers are obliged to obey all “lawful” orders of their superior officers under severe penalty - possibly death - for refusal. Not for failure to accomplish the assignment, but for refusal to attempt it.

Or, to whom will the soldier be loyal? Would it be to an abstract document written in 1787 or would it be to the man who signs his paycheck and who holds his financial future in his hands? Our soldiers are subjected to endless amounts of the most sophisticated propaganda ever known to man! Psy-ops. We called that brain-washing when the Chi-coms did it to us in Korea in the 1950s.

Remember the much vaunted FBI that went berserk in the1960s? All white, all male, all devotees to J Edgar Hoover’s person. A cult of personality. Himself a criminal. Hoover was a blackmailer. He was a law violator. Black bag entries were done at his orders. Accepting cash from those he was to investigate. I’m sure there is more but it is hard to learn when no one is looking.

The much ballyhooed FBI system of running dual files in all cases - one in the field and one at FBI HQ - kept every agent “in line” and from going astray. The ultimate control device. 5,000 college educated upper middle class white guys, hand selected, and under the unquestioned control of one man. And him a megalomanic.

I regard it shameful that the FBI Building in W-DC, said to be the most expensive office building ever constructed, still bears his name. An American mafioso type if ever there was a non-Sicilian one.



[edit on 9/28/2006 by donwhite]

The DJIA - Dow Jones Industrial Average - the quick look at the economy. Now under Bush43 and VP Cheney of Halliburton fame, as it strives to recover to the level achieved under Bill Clinton. The balanced budget and trillion dollar surplus and all that stuff lost to memory long ago, saw the DJIA close today still 4 points below the peak under Bill Clinton six years ago! I wonder how that would compare if today's DJIA was adjusted for inflation?


[edit on 9/28/2006 by donwhite]