Patrick Elliott wrote:
> On 4/3/2010 8:18 PM, John VanSickle wrote:
>> Neeum Zawan wrote:
>>
>>> Besides, if you want to get soldiers to shoot Americans, just don't let
>>> them know they're Americans. I don't think it was ever a "strong"
>>> protection.
>>
>> I was in the U.S. military for twenty years. Anyone trying to turn our
>> military into a force for oppressing fellow Americans is going to have
>> to make radical alterations to our military's culture.

> Hmm. Like recent, but failed, attempts to replace more balanced 
> religious representatives with evangelicals, while actively excluding 
> other religions, by people that have been fairly clear that they don't 
> exactly think that a) all Christians, and especially b) non-Christians, 
> should necessarily have the same rights, or even, in some cases, 
> citizenship?
> 
> Yes, it would require a radical restructuring, but the nature of the 
> animal is that it is authoritarian driven, and teaches the people in it 
> to follow orders, so..

...and has recurring training on the topic of orders that are illegal 
and which must not be obeyed.  Every year the promotions testing covers 
topics like the Law of Armed Conflict, which prohibits targeting 
non-combatants, hospitals, houses of worship, and other assets which 
have no military value.

The shift to the all-volunteer military has affected our services in 
ways that most civilians do not appreciate, and this change is most 
certainly *not* reflected in the way that civilian news organizations 
report on the military.  "Do as you're told and don't ask questions" is 
not a valued idea in the U.S. military, and has not been for decades.

Regards,
John

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John VanSickle wrote:
> "Do as you're told and don't ask questions" is 
> not a valued idea in the U.S. military, and has not been for decades.

Indeed, the ability of soldiers to think for themselves is generally viewed 
as one of the primary strengths of our military over others of other more 
authoritarian countries, especially those worried about the military taking 
over.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Yes, we're traveling together,
   but to different destinations.

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On 4/4/2010 6:46 PM, Darren New wrote:
> John VanSickle wrote:
>> "Do as you're told and don't ask questions" is not a valued idea in
>> the U.S. military, and has not been for decades.
>
> Indeed, the ability of soldiers to think for themselves is generally
> viewed as one of the primary strengths of our military over others of
> other more authoritarian countries, especially those worried about the
> military taking over.
>
I don't disagree. But, not everyone that has their grubby fingers in the 
process *wants* that to be as true as it is. In fact, I would peg it as 
one *big*, but quickly denied, reason for the choice of contracting out 
private armies, with their own weapons, in a few recent wars, all of 
whom seem to have either been idiots, or racist religious fanatics who 
*do* target civilians, and the like.

A lot of people still have a very tribal attitude, and would like 
nothing more than to see the US military "reflect" that attitude. And, 
again, its hardly impossible, if distorted the right way, to hold two 
radically contradictory concepts, like, "Don't do bad thing, like blow 
up hospitals.", and, "Those people's hospitals don't count in the former 
statement." The sort of people that think that the military needs to, 
"Protect the constitution.", while as the same time, "Force the ideals 
of our, and only our, god on everyone.", already do this. Its called 
cognitive dissonance, and radical types have it in spades.

-- 
void main () {
   If Schrödingers_cat is alive or version > 98 {
     if version = "Vista" {
       call slow_by_half();
       call DRM_everything();
     }
     call functional_code();
   }
   else
     call crash_windows();
}

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