The Military as 'Abusive Parent': The View Toward Syria From an Exhausted Army

[xchrom]

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/08/the-military-as-abusive-parent-the-view-toward-syria-from-an-exhausted-army/279235/



I am violating my normal rules for frequency of posts (average one per day) and variety of subject (have some) because the Syrian news is happening in real time, and because so much response has come in. Here is the background to the very interesting note below.

1) A reader whose name turns out to be Tim Russo argued for intervention, and said "we don't know war." 2) A serving officer wrote back bitterly. 3) Russo responded to that.

I won't make this an open-ended back and forth, and you can read Russo's continuing views on his own site. But the note that follows is not personalized, and I think is very much worth reading as we consider another engagement of armed force. (Image of "Exhausted Army" from this site.) A reader writes:

As an actively serving officer’s wife, I would like to offer a short explanation/response/defense for the frustrated officer (presumably NOT my husband!)[JF note: correct, NOT] that Mr. Russo responded to.

I think that the frustration the officer expressed about the clueless “We don’t know war” stems from a general “last straw” feeling in the military community. Undeniably, any sort of military option in Syria exponentionally increases the risk that we are going to have a prolonged or extended military action/presence there. The current administration (and Congress, to fairly share the blame) treats service members like disposable minions.

[jakeXT]

1. That was a really bad move back then

2) During the build up/surge, recruitment needs were such that standards dropped to serious lows. Waivers were granted willy-nilly. As a result, the service ended up with a lot of shiftless thugs who have now served long enough to be in leadership positions (or at least positions where they can be obstructionist and demoralizing).