Small Cracks Appearing in the Military
02 July 2009 5:40 pm by spincitysd
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KG02Ak05.html
Marching out of step in the US military
By Dahr Jamail
“The Iraq war boils on at still dangerous levels of violence, while the war in Afghanistan (and across the border in Pakistan) only grows, as does the US commitment to both. It’s already clear that even an all-volunteer military isn’t immune to dissent.”
For those of us that remember Vietnam the article brings about and uncomfortable feeling of Déjà vu. Vietnam ruined the military for over a decade, almost a generation.
The military lives and breaths on “good order and discipline. The rot is already showing in Iraq and Afghanistan. The enlisted ranks are not yet “fragging” the officers but the chain of command is showing some weak links.
This post was submitted by spincitysd.
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Seems to me there HAVE already been fragging episodes from early in the war.
There are always a few disgruntled men in the ranks who act out; this should also be seen in light of the lowering of recruitment standards.
In the end, however, none of this will be tolerated and will be punished, as it should.
Can’t fall in line? Don’t sign on the dotted line. That’s military reality.
Up to a point Ms. marsh. However you are REQUIRED to disobey an illegal order. You just better be farkin A sure about if the order is illegal or not.
Don’t know if this counts as OT or not?
I have noticed a couple of guncamera clips on UTube and such in which American Heliocopter Gunships using night vision sights shoot up Iraqi personel. After the initial burst wasts them there is a pause and if any WOUNDED Iraqis are still moving additional rounds are placed on target until there is no movement.
I have always been under the impression(possibly mistaken?) that when a combatant was rendered unable to offer reistance due to wounds they were no longer legitimate targets under International law and the Geneva Conventions?
Taylor,
I was not expecting such a facile comment from you. It is more than just a few bad apples involved. It is the possible first glimmerings of the break down of good order and discipline.
Look at the tactic of “search and avoid” Drill down and it should be making you loose sleep at night. At the very least it should make you seriously question the tactics and strategies we are pursuing in Iraq and in the Stans.
Military men and women are results oriented. They will move mountains if they can see progress. But when their is no progress, when they get blown up time after time on the same pointless patrol with no end in sight even the best of the best will loose heart.
More to the point as secular pointed out our service members have a duty to disobey orders they find illegal or immoral. A few of our servicemembers have done just that. They have refused orders to the front and are willing to take the full brunt of military justice. Peruse the UCMJ sometime Taylor, those men and women can be executed for failing to follow orders in wartime.
Policy geeks have issues with the realities of their pet theories. Sometimes it causes a myopia to the facts on the ground. Wonks are so attuned to the “big picture” to “strategic realities.” We forget that real people are fighting and dying so we don’t loose face in Pakistan or Iraq. We forget the worms-eye view, we forget that people have limits.
We have been down this road before Taylor, where have charged into a foreign land with little thought and even less justification. It damn near shattered the military the last time around. Our “all volunteer armed forces” were the result of that crack up. What Iraq and the Stans may be showing is that there is a limit of what an all volunteer force can accomplish.