The professionalism, pride and effectiveness of the armed services today is directly related to three things.
1. It's voluntary. Young people enlist motivated to serve.
2. Aggressive drug testing.
3. Leadership.
The dope smoking unmotivated armies of the past are gone, hopefully forever. All we need to do is provide the right kind of incentive for young people, such as the ability to go to college and earn a decent paycheck while serving.
The all-volunteer military works, what didn't work was the draft. When we had the draft, leadership tossed bodies over the side at the drop of a hat. Thousands died needlessly, because generals thought they had an unlimited supply of people. If the same media scrutiny were applied during WW2 that applies today, the memory of military competence would be completely different.
We are winning this war with an all-volunteer force. Think of how remarkable that is. Many never thought we could sustain a lengthy engagement and still meet recruiting goals. Yes, it has been a struggle, but with creative use of talent, and by integrating more closely all the branches of the service, the job is getting done.
Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it until proven otherwise.
Oh, one last thing.... We need our media, Hollyweird and clowns like Reverend Wright to stop running down the pride young people have for our country, so more would be inclined to serve and enlist. Patriotism is not Jingoism. And if I hear another leftist whine about how jingoistic everyone is I may puke. Never apologize for being patriotic!
That last sentence I stole from Toby Keith as he said farewell at his concert here recently. We need more Toby Keith's influencing young people and less Paris Hilton's.
Sorry Robert, I didn't mean to insinuate you were shared those views, just bouncing off your post to rant a bit.. |
