Uncle Sam Doesn’t Want Some

Once upon a time in America, there was a dirty, unpopular war going on with most of the American military drafted into service. Those were the days of fighting the last war, which was the “really big one” that took place around the entire world and which was arguably the last one which America was eager to win. No, in the sixties, there wasn’t much going on in the military which would attract the best and the brightest. Those were the times when a young man got arrested and judges felt quite comfortable giving the young felon a choice of three years in the slammer or enlisting in the Army. Those were the days in which, even with that draft, the needs for manpower required the Army to delve down into “Category IV”—a cesspool of humanity that wasn’t very smart, wasn’t very motivated, wasn’t very ethical or moral, and wasn’t very employable anywhere else in society.

Yet, the thinking of the day was still very Napoleonic. Wars were won by large armies and masses of men. We might not have been ready to go back to the trenches of Verdun, but we certainly were convinced that it would take large scale pitched battles to beat back the Soviet hordes or maybe the Communist Chinese or whomever.

Things are considerably different today. Now, we fight with technology on our side. We certainly need manpower, but we employ terms like “force multiplier” to describe what is going on. Brutishness is fine on some occasions, but precision, judgment and maturity are valued more highly. To operate the machinery of this sort of war, requires study. Those who would aspire to be modern warriors must be able to read, write, understand and communicate. They are going to be technocrats. But, they will still need to be able to endure hardship. They’ve got to be both smart and fit.

That’s why this is so astonishing and disappointing. Unsuitable for Service

Go to the mall or drive the streets of America after ten o’clock at night. Try a visit to the local high school and walk the halls during lunch time. Actually, you don’t even have to enter the building, just drive by and see them walking the streets. Is it surprising that the military doesn’t want them?

Does your state have some form of standardized testing to insure that “graduates” of your schools really get an education? We’ve just had a huge flap in the Dallas area where parents, students and even teachers are simply aghast that seniors in high school who can’t pass the state qualification exam in math and English, given FOUR tries, won’t be allowed to walk across the stage at graduation. Why, how unfair that kids who can’t meet the standards for graduation want to still have the honors of those that do.

What is most amazing about the linked piece discussing the continually shrinking pool of suitable recruits in America is the commentary from the university professors who just don’t get it. How about this from Northwestern University:

“Previous Defense Department studies have found that 75 percent of young people are ineligible for military service, noted Charles Moskos of Northwestern University. While the professor emeritus who specializes in military sociology says it is "a baloney number," he acknowledges he has no figures to counter it.”

I guess Dr. Moskos simply can’t believe that it takes so much to be a warrior. No figures to counter, but he simply asserts that it is a “baloney” number. That’s modern thought and education for you.

Or how about this for transference:

“Recruiters are looking for reasons other than themselves," said David R. Segal, director of the Center for Research on Military Organization at the University of Maryland. "So they blame the pool."

Got that? Johnny can’t read, write, think or do a push-up. He’s obese, out of shape, morally corrupt and tattooed and pierced from nose to nipples and beyond, but it’s the recruiters fault. Thanks, Dr. Segal, but how did you reach that conclusion. Couldn’t parents, teachers and society-at-large have a hand in the sad state of Johnny today?

Lack of respect for America’s military has grown for a long time in what Tom Wolfe this week called the “parentheses states”—those matching brackets of blue coastal enclaves of the morally certain, liberal elites which fall on each side of the mass of patriotic American heartland red zones.

Let us only hope that this does not lead to relaxation of standards so that these fools can feel good about their failures to train and educate our youth. Let us hope that we don’t revert to those days of using the military as a societal lab for fighting poverty, racism, sexism and stupidism at the sacrifice of capability as a strong defensive force. Let us hope.