JACK ARMY, scanning my sector!
I almost posted a comment on his site about this but realized it would be a complete waste of processing cycles.
What can you say? As long as there has been an Army there have been criminals in it. They are for the most part found, arrested, tried and found either guilty or innocent by a jury.
Unfortunately, now when a soldier commits a crime in Iraq it not only makes the Army look bad it hurts the overall effort.
To top it off you have people like the guy you quoted, who seem to take a perverse joy when something bad happens that embarrasses the Army or sets back efforts in the war. It's really sad that a person is so consumed with his distaste for someone or something that they totally loose sight of the greater good.
Outlaw,
No. It's not a perverse joy. Anyone that understands the limits of a 480,000 man Army and the difficulty of recruiting/retention/personnel turbulence in a prolonged war w/o an engaged national populace could have predicted this. This and other bad incidents - many we don't know about yet - and some we never will - are inevitable.
The truth is that the Army is broken. I and others warned about it, but we were told otherwise by washed up LTCs like Greyhawk or Chairborne Ranger's like Blackfive who hung up their uniforms long ago. Where were the NCOs? The Officers? Who knew about this. The incident happened on 3/11, yet Green was whisked away stateside and chaptered out for psych issues 60 days later. When did his anti-social behavior manifest itself? Was he still allowed outside the wire?
This undeerscores a need for internal military policy shifts. First off, PTSD stress and rage are long simmering issues. The Army needs to drop the ridiculous prohibition on alcohl in theater post haste. The Brits very effectively incorporate limited rations of beer and somehow maintain quality fighting formations wherever we go. WE must also drop the puritanical ban on porn. This works against us and I don't buy the "it offends Muslims" schtick." This is the fourth incident of reported premeditated murder committed by our forces - that we know about - in the last month.
I'll say it here ... you will see more of this in the future. Our volunteer force and point-of-sale MOS contracting are to blame.
In wars past (WWII, Korea, Vietnam) a new recruit did not learn their MOS until the end of BCT. Based on the predecessor to the ASVAB and observation, the MOS was picked for the soldier. Often guys with raw talent that never would have considered the combat arms were found to have "the right stuff" and so they were made Infantry, Armor, Air Corps etc. Likewise many who fancied themselves as "steely eyed killers" were viewed so inept or aggressive that they were placed in support MOSs.
Today we have a self-selecting military and a further self-selecting subset choosing the combat arms during a war. Is it just me, or might this cohort include a sizable percentage of deluded, dangerous and aggressive personalities? I think so. This is why I am 110% against the 18X program. We do not/should want a bunch of callow civilian guys fascinated with killing/death/revenge anywhere near our combat formations. Sadly, recruiting shortfalls, coupled with aggressive MEPS guidance counselors and cash bonuses are steering many of the wrong type into the combat arms.
I had 3 great PAs work for me in the Army. All were former 18Ds (SF Medic) and one was a Team Sergeant in 5th Group. The funny thing was their feeder MOSs ... 63B (Mechanic), 54B(Nuclear, Chem. Biologic Specialist) and 31B (MP). None started in combat arms yet all developed the confidence in the Army to try for SF and make it through SFAS. Ditto for me. When I enlisted I didn't
...thaink I had what it took to be in the infantry. Turns out I would have thrived.
The infantry needs all types of personalities and I submit this is what made it so damn effective in conflicts past.
I shudder for the future. I cry for my beloved Army collapsing before my eyes. I curse those "leaders" uniformed and civilian, taking us over Niagara Falls in a barrel. I shake my head at the career recruiters - many of whom I served with in recruiting - that put people that should be nowhere near combat arms in 11, 13 and 19 series positions simple because there's a quota to meet and a crazy, deranged applicant wants to kill hajis. Rant done
Everyone GAZE
Station Commando,
Nice try! Instead of engaging my critique of USAREC, you dismiss me as some kind of troll. I guess everone that earned the tin Recruiter badge is supposed to sit still and shut up about that broken organization. I won't. I may have left the active Army, but at least I didn't try to "half step" by collecting Active Duty Pay, BAH, SDAP etc. while staying in a TDA position unitil retirement. You did. You will never deploy and you are morally bankrupt. You long ago washed your hands of pesky NCO business - leading soldiers. You'll sign a Grad Alpha up for 4 years knowing he'll do 3 tours in Iraq - the 3rd one on stop loss. Still, you'll never serve with who you put in. Unfortunate.
I'd be interested in your thoughts on how MOSs are assigned and how there is entiuely too much leeway given to applicant preferences and recruiter pressure.
IRR Soldier, are you going through comment sections cut and pasting the exact same comment into each of them? I could have swore I read those same remarks like three times so far.
Since I live and work in the civilian world unfortunately I have a few people that love to do the "I told you so" game. A few civilians do believe that the military is a haven for "bad boys who need to shape up or else." But my comeback is that I tell them about the interesting and dedicated soldiers who I write to every week as being with Soldiers' Angels. The ones who do have the time to write or e-mail are friendly and respectful. I went to a Big Ten university in the state of Michigan. There were more rapes on campus in one month than have reportedly happened in the war zone in Iraq in 3 years. And I'm not talking "date rape" People turned a blind eye to the problem at the university. Crimes happen every where in the world and that is a cold hard fact. That is why we have courts of law and innocent until proven guilty. Civilians should not jump to conclusions about any crime that happens in a war zone because crime happens in peaceful areas too.
Since I live and work in the civilian world unfortunately I have a few people that love to do the "I told you so" game. A few civilians do believe that the military is a haven for "bad boys who need to shape up or else." But my comeback is that I tell them about the interesting and dedicated soldiers who I write to every week as being with Soldiers' Angels. The ones who do have the time to write or e-mail are friendly and respectful. I went to a Big Ten university in the state of Michigan. There were more rapes on campus in one month than have reportedly happened in the war zone in Iraq in 3 years. And I'm not talking "date rape" People turned a blind eye to the problem at the university. Crimes happen every where in the world and that is a cold hard fact. That is why we have courts of law and innocent until proven guilty. Civilians should not jump to conclusions about any crime that happens in a war zone because crime happens in peaceful areas too.
GAZE at IRR (Hey, at least I changed mine a little bit.)
Hey Commando,
No worries. Keep on selling kids on a four year contract and three tours in Iraq. It's not like you'll have to join or lead them.
this some good stuff, no wonder why the troops don't want to come home, too much fun
Well, here's the deal... Guys like Steven Green do the worst POSSIBLE damage to our military and to our country when they (oh yes, assuming he's guilty [cough, cough]) do their raping, pillaging and murdering.
And I don't, like some others, like to him and others of his ilk off on the grounds that "you don't know how hard it is over there, or what the soldiers go through." That's right. I don't. I DO however, have an expectation that when someone signs up to serve our country that they also sign up to represent it and continue to obey its laws even when oversees and not to promote it to others poorly such that said soldier becomes more of a liability to the United States by his or her actions than a benefit. I have an expectation that if you are not a true patriot who can take on that truly holy and mighty task then you don't sign up for it. You stay home. You don't create a problem and a dangerous situation.
Because what nobody wants to say is this. What Steven Green - and the yet for some reason unidentified accomplices of his - is very possibly the reason that Kristien Manchaca and the two soldiers with him were ambushed. It is quite possibly no mistake that they were targeted. And if for some reason this is not specifically the case? He has still engendered more hatred for our troops and for our country.
And you can't TELL ME that the military hadn't already completed personality testing on Green much earlier. Its not difficult to catch antisocial personality disorder on that testing. Why was he ever allowed to enlist, much less to go over to Iraq where something like this could happen?
Commenting by HaloScan
