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To: Dayuhan who wrote (42968)	5/8/2004 9:48:30 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793720

Military training is specifically designed to break down the internal locus of control - soldiers are supposed to do what they are told to do, not what their sense of personal integrity tells them is right. I keep reading that military culture has changed and that soldiers are now expected to work collaboratively in teams and to think for themselves, that they're now given the rationale for what they're told to do. I read something about that just this morning, can't remember where. If so, wouldn't that change things?

To: Dayuhan who wrote (42968)	5/9/2004 7:53:05 AM
From: unclewest	Respond to of 793720

Military training is specifically designed to break down the internal locus of control - soldiers are supposed to do what they are told to do, not what their sense of personal integrity tells them is right. If you create that vacuum and fail to fill it with supervision and discipline, the results are likely to be ugly. That was the Soviet style and remains the Chinese and N Korean style. That is not true in the American military. The emphasis throughout every level of our training is to do the right thing regardless of supervision. Ours is probably the only Army in the world where soldiers are taught in basic training when it is OK, indeed appropriate, to disobey orders. Our soldiers and junior leaders are taught individual and small unit decision making from day one. In the absence of senior leaders our units almost never break down. The ability of our men and women in uniform to perform under pressure without supervision is one of our greatest strengths. Our slogan "An Army of One" is not taken lightly. We have the only military in the world where each individual soldier is taught to make appropriate and sound decisions on his own. The prison incident was an aberration. It is not how our Armed Forces train, think or perform. War is ugly. War is a dichotomy unto itself. Behavior aberrations happen continuously. Heroism abounds. Some heroism is so profound, it is an aberration. Yet cowardice is always present too. And some of that cowardice is so profound, it too is an aberration. Many people get smart and instinctively make brilliant decisions. Others get stupid and do idiotic things. It is all part of the ugliness of war. In the overall history of the ugliness of war, this incident is very very minor. This incident has been blown so out of proportion it has become both ridiculous and pathetic. It will not survive the test of time. A few people made a stupid decision and performed errantly. They will be punished. End of story. If someone was murdered, the perp will be dealt with. We know how to do that. At least 50 Americans are murdered everyday, day after day, in America. With 18,000 murders annually at home and rampant homosexuality, and rape and sodomy in our prisons, the press has become numb to it here. But strip somebody in prison during war...get a movie of a homosexual act in a foreign prison and they go absolutely ballistic. The press has lost all sense of proportion and balance. Putting the President of The United States on a hot seat because a handful of soldiers abused a handful of POWs during a war is not only idiotic...it is outrageous. Unfortunately it is not an aberration. It has become Standard Operating Procedure for the press. unclewest