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It's the perception of outsiders looking in that interest me, especially that of blacks. I not taking them to task for it, given the racial disparities of the past, but I look to their reaction as a measure of how much farther we have to go before suspicion between the races fades away.
That some may be having those beliefs I don't doubt.
However I never even thought about that until you brought it up.
“Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
Mark Twain
... Our staffs are bloated with ticket punchers and Power Point Rangers who are synchophants and courtiers, not professional staff officers. ....
With this quote, you've hit a bulls-eye, AR. THIS was the reason I decided to not stick around for "20." I had some {"really"} good military mentors & role models growing up--even before enlisting & then being commisioned. But I saw far more officers that concentrated on "playing the military-corporation game to win" than I did those that led by example, & took the time to do the right things for their subordinates. My men ate before I did, got the better sleeping arrangements, stood before me in the pay line, etc. In reverse, I took it upon myself to be in the AO before my men, to have my uniform exceeding standards, & did not leave the AO until all was done--to include ensuring my men were prepared for the next fight before doing so. I don't have a crystal ball that can show all possible futures, but I don't think I would have changed that mind-set as I advanced farther up the ranks, were I to have stayed in.
Were I the SecDef, this (& other) Generals would not have been let off so lightly. Our service-"people" deserve better, imho. Our citizenry does as well.
If you know the enemy and yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles. - Sun Tzu
With this quote, you've hit a bulls-eye, AR. THIS was the reason I decided to not stick around for "20." I had some {"really"} good military mentors & role models growing up--even before enlisting & then being commisioned. But I saw far more officers that concentrated on "playing the military-corporation game to win" than I did those that led by example, & took the time to do the right things for their subordinates. My men ate before I did, got the better sleeping arrangements, stood before me in the pay line, etc. In reverse, I took it upon myself to be in the AO before my men, to have my uniform exceeding standards, & did not leave the AO until all was done--to include ensuring my men were prepared for the next fight before doing so. I don't have a crystal ball that can show all possible futures, but I don't think I would have changed that mind-set as I advanced farther up the ranks, were I to have stayed in.
Were I the SecDef, this (& other) Generals would not have been let off so lightly. Our service-"people" deserve better, imho. Our citizenry does as well.
those that led by example, & took the time to do the right things for their subordinates.
Its a sad state in almost every profession - I'm in telecomunications and I deal with the same crap - bosses playing to win - not caring about their subordinates or the customer...
I wonder if there is a solution to this problem.
sigpic"If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees.
If your plan is for one hundred years, educate children."
Gauging AR's & S2's comments, after ten years at war, there is a growing perception that the soldiers are taking liberties. They've split much blood during this time. A sense of entitlement perhaps inevitably sets in.
The cynical view is that in India we pay taxes without the expectation of services. This is slowly changing with more transparency and RTI.
No, its not. The perks enjoyed by Indian officials and officers are not under the table, they are official policy and are already known, RTI or not. Some of it might be pure abuse, like red light cars for every BDO/SDO/DM/Minister and using sahayaks as domestic help, but a lot of it is perks, like the bungalows, security, servants and other free rides that officials enjoy.
I will know it is changing when I no longer see this.
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" ~ Epicurus
those that led by example, & took the time to do the right things for their subordinates.
Its a sad state in almost every profession - I'm in telecomunications and I deal with the same crap - bosses playing to win - not caring about their subordinates or the customer...
I wonder if there is a solution to this problem.
Hey we defeated communism and extolled the virtues of capitalism where Greed is good. We gotta learn to lie in the bed we made.
Hey we defeated communism and extolled the virtues of capitalism where Greed is good. We gotta learn to lie in the bed we made.
Greed was just as good, if not better, under communism. It was merely limited to the higher ups.
“He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”
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