[MD] SOM's defect comes home to roost

[plattholden at gmail.com]

Hey John,

Comments below:


On 5 Dec 2009 at 9:51, John Carl wrote:

> Heya Platt,
> 
> 
> > Good point.. This refusal to pick on the real villains began when Truman
> > fired MacArthur for wanting to go after the Chinese when they joined the
> > invading North Korean forces. Appeasement never results in happy
> > endings, as the people in North Korea toady will surely attest.
> >
> >
> War never results in happy endings either.

Oh, I don't know. The Revolutionary War, the Civil War, WW II and the 
Korean War come to mind as wars with happy endings, at least for the 
victors. The Vietnam War didn't have happy ending because we bugged 
out. The Iraq and Afghan Wars are still works in progress. Successfully 
defending individual freedom from tyrannies is a Quality outcome, even 
when the price in blood and treasure is high.  

> As much as the North Koreans
> suffer under totalitarian hegemony, Americans weren't ready to send their
> war-weary sons to fight and die in those cold mountain passes, then or now.
>   Truman wasn't popular for his decisions, but I think he made good ones.
> 
> Good decision = doing what is good, whether people like it or not.

A poor decision allowing an tyrannical aggressor to live for another day. 


> > We will get nothing out of it so long as our military is hobbled by their
> > civilian masters to be community organizers and social workers.
> >
> 
> 
> I agree somewhat, but mostly not.  The military doesn't make very good
> community organizers or social workers, I admit.    I do think when such are
> employed properly, they have a far more ameliorative and long lasting effect
> than bombing rocky mountain caves into rubble.

I doubt it. Defeating an military enemy involves either killing him or 
destroying his motive to fight. The problem today is that one small band 
of terrorists with an atom bomb can do horrendous damage. That's why 
North Korea and Iran pose a threat because they appear to have no 
compunctions about making atom weapons available. Pakistan is 
another country where there's a risk that atom weapons can fall into the 
wrong hands.  


> But I heard or read somewhere a rather interesting indictment of our
> military training - how the ego is broken down in boot camp to create
> willing drones and "company men" and how this process is self-selecting in
> an all volunteer army to get a certain kind of individual that does not rate
> high on the scales of intellectual creativity or personal initiative.  These
> used to be aspects of the American character which gave us an edge in battle
> but which have been lost.

I doubt that today's military is any less capable of creativity and initiative 
than in the past. If anything, being a volunteer group, it's probably just 
the opposite from a conscripted military. 

But, I could be wrong.

Best,
Platt