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.
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...