Posted on 02/08/2014 7:40:50 AM PST by darkwing104
Cheating scandals have recently rocked the Air Force and Navy and the resulting press coverage has, unfortunately, stained the honor and the integrity of the entire military. The majority of Americans have faith and pride in the men and women who selflessly serve this nation. The negative press doesn’t represent the overwhelming majority of service members.
Recent scandals may be an indication of a systemic problem within the forces. Service members are expected to have honor and integrity and are the only individuals associated with the government who have the trust and respect of the American people. But reports of unethical behavior can shake the people’s faith in an all volunteer force and are unacceptable to those who serve and have served. Fears of growing ethics problems in the American Military should concern the public. If the ethics and honor of our armed forces are compromised, the most powerful military in history will soon be no better than a collection of self-serving mercenaries.
Scandals recently reported by the media include the revelation that Malmstrom AFB missile launch officers were cheating on proficiency exams and using illegal drugs. The scandal involved at least 23 officers. Navy nuclear reactor instructors at the Charleston Nuclear Power Training Unit are alleged to have cheated on a written qualification exam for future instructors. The Army is investigating a possible large-scale fraud concerning Army National Guard recruitment incentives.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the Pentagon to focus on ethics training and has suggested that character should be a consideration for performance reports and promotions.
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...
Isn’t there some old saying that a fish rots form its head down?
We do not have a secret warrior world where our Soldiers are born and raised separate from the rest of our society. Our Soldiers come from our culture. If our society is strong, our Soldiers are strong. If our Society is weak, our Soldiers are weak. The young men and women entering the military have had 18 years of growing up in American society. Four years at a service academy will not fix someone whose ethics are broken. We think that the “anything goes” attitude in academia and entertainment and politics is fine, but we are shocked to see it in our military. We shouldn’t be. Quite frankly, a military that is too different from our society would be shocking. They would march to Hollywood and the universities and Washington, D.C. and slaughter the weak and different.
It’s hard for me to believe that the Military has all of a sudden gone bad. It’s much more believable that the NSA Electronic sweeps are uncovering information that is being used for political purposes.
In fact, it wouldn’t be beyond belief that some creative interpretation and downright manufacturing of evidence is going on.
It didn’t happen all of a sudden. It’s taken about 5 or 6 years.
I had problems with this before I retired...I was called old school and hard core. I was seeing unacceptable behavior that Junior officers didn't believe that they did anything wrong!
I'll have to point out that the overwhelming majority of those who serve are honorable and have integrity.
It always has been. The problem is performance reports are absolute dishonest BS.
With a “head” like Dempsey you can’t expect any better. The political putz just sits and never objects to a thing Obama does. If he had the balls of a Private he would have resigned long ago in howls of protest.
No Kidding. Military performance reports were the most political bovine excrement I had to deal with in my military career. If you want identify cronyism in the armed forces just look at performance reports. They can help identify favoritism among the ranks.
Our leadership is filled with opportunists, no-talent pretty boys, and self-serving careerists who have very little technical education at a time when technology is ever more a major component of combat power. The few that have obtained a technology education are not asserting themselves because they are afraid for their career paths and the 7-figure incomes that will follow if they keep quiet. I ran an analysis of all 100 Marine Corps General Officers and exactly one had a technical degree - Civil Engineering - and all the rest were History and Poly Sci majors. Useless.
All of the services have ruined their officer corps through a combination of slanted promotion, education and command selection boards that reward conformity and avoidance of risk while permanently eliminating strong-willed or gutsy individuals. Men like Patton or Halsey, Doolittle, or Chesty Puller wouldn't make it past 2nd Lt/Ensign in today's anal-retentive no margin for error services.
Today's leaders would never imagine resigning in the face of ruinous policies or speaking out for the good of this country and its critical defenses. This disease has been steady progress through several presidencies (including Reagan's: why else would Marine leaders in Lebanon have required their Marines to have unloaded weapons while they were all concentrated in a single barracks?). It has reached its apogee in this administration.
We are fishers of men in an increasingly polluted sea...
The new wold order is taking over the military. There have been almost 200 officers purged. NSA must be watching everything they do to get rid of them.
The operations and ethics of any organization, including the military services, reflect the views of those at the top. Obama and Hagel are the least qualified and most radically liberal guys to lead the military that we’ve had in memory. Social justice and social experimentation are the priorities now, not military readiness. Women on the front lines, homosexual freedoms, religious freedoms denied, etc. Obama is doing to the military the very same thing he promised he would do to the country when he was elected in 2008...fundamentally changing it from the greatest military force on earth to a weak, abbreviated version of it. He has decimated, not Al Qaeda, but our own military.
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