As a former leader of soldiers....

.......I have first hand experience with their discipline both good and bad. They are at times and as individuals angelic, valorous, uncouth, and criminal. To call each and every one of them a hero is an abrogation of the language and the word. Most are extremely hard workers who do their duty well and ask nothing more in return than to fulfill their obligation and return to civilian life.

A recent e-mail sent to me typifies the coda that we must somehow lift the services and those who serve to a level that is inhabited only by God or the Gods themselves. This e-mail, which in our cyber viral community is making the worldwide rounds, strikes of bullshit and I defy anyone to verify its claims:

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Then there was a conference in France where a number
of international engineers were taking part, including French and
American. During a break one of the French engineers came back
into the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has
done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the
tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?' A Boeing
engineer stood up and replied quietly:


'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat
several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply
emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three
cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day,
they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea
water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in
transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck.. We
have eleven such ships; how many does France have? '

You could have heard a pin drop.

Yes, the bullshit is very apparent here, as the 'engineer' just happened to
have all this data at his fingertips just waiting to spring it on whoever questions
U.S. Naval superiority. The 'engineer' failed to note that the original aid packet
committed by President Insane was less than an hour's worth of waste in Iraq.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the
U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception,
he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel
from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as
they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that,
'whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.'
He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in
these conferences rather than speaking French?' Without hesitating,
the American Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because the Brits,
Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to
speak German.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

You can see the bullshit straight through on this one: the 'Admiral'
made no mention of the Russians, Czechs, Poles, Hungarians, and other non-English
speaking soldiers, insurgents, and resistance fighters who made significant
contributions to the war effort.

n/t

What can we do to un-confuse them about our Military?

...sons and daughters for a start. Institute a universal draft and two year obligation - with no deferments - for all physically fit males between the ages of 18 and 25 would also help.

if there were a state-side pacifist community service option of equal duration as a military service option, with clear-bright demarkations between the two regarding the lengths of commitment and no opportunities for crossing back and forth at will between military and community service (so as to avoid people being counted as part of those who are going to do _____________ and then finking out on whatever ______________ is, or gaming the system in other ways.)

just asking

:hide:

...an O-3 of both an armor and a transportation company, an O-4 in a battalion, and various other staff positions that included supervisory duties.

And your service, sir? Was it as a junior NCO at some hygiene facility?

Just asking.