Bill, Article....
29 March 1999
By Doug Thompson
Putting honor above the job....
Imagine, for a moment, that you're a career officer in the U.S. military.
You've dedicated your life to serving and defending your country.
By and large, it's a thankless job. Sadly, most people can't even imagine the life of a career soldier.
In most cases, the career soldier is a warrior in search of a war. Too often in this nation's history, the military professionals have had good reason to pursue a military course of action, only to be reined in by a politician who really didn't understand the situation.
Truman did it to Gen. Douglas McArthur. Bush did it to his military leaders in the Gulf War. In both cases, hindsight showed we might have been better off letting the professionals finish the job.
Now the US is involved in a dirty little war with Kosovo.
This time, however, the military professionals told the politicians that this was a fight we didn't need to get into. No military reason to be there. No strategic advantage to be gained.
So the military urged President Bill Clinton to keep his powder dry. Clinton, caught in a growing scandal over the passing of secrets to the Communist Chinese, needed a diversion. He ignored their advice and launched the most dangerous military operation of this decade.
Down at the Pentagon, where the pros are already frustrated with having to serve a draft dodger who didn't have the guts to defend his country when called in the 1960s, the coffee cups went flying. Some talk of resigning their commissions. Others counsel patience, saying a draft dodger ain't worth the sacrifice of a career.
But the career may no longer be worth it. Two years ago, some 27 military officers, tired of taking orders from a coward, resigned en masse. To protect their pensions, they were sworn to secrecy and can't discuss publicly why they walked out on their careers, but several admit privately that they could no longer serve a man they didn't respect.
It's happened before.
It could happen again.
Military men and women subscribe to a code.
It's a code based on a word Bill Clinton wouldn't understand.
A word called honor. |
