The military exists to win the nation’s wars. It doesn’t exist to educate people or to help the poor.
Our Generals exist to guide the military to win the nation’s wars. They are paid a lot and receive tremendous benefits to do their job. Too many generals are company-men when they are in uniform, and then write books pouring out their sad stories after they retire.
“The maximum effective range of an excuse is zero meters!”
That’s what I was taught.
These sad stories by retired admirals and generals do nothing but tick me off. If they couldn’t figure out how to win, then they should have quit. Those admirals and generals may not have had the brains to figure out how to win, but they sure enough had the egos to keep drawing their pay. I don’t give a s**t about drafts or politicians or social programs.
FDR was trying to cut the Officer Corps back in the 1930s. MacArthur was the senior military man. MacArthur had been fighting to preserve the number of Officers because he saw them as the foundation for a rapidly expanding American military if one was needed. FDR said he was going to reduce the number of Officers. MacArthur’s response was something like,
“In the next war, when the enemy is pulling his bayonet out of the throat of an American Soldier, the last words of that dying American Soldier will be ‘F**k FDR’ and not ‘F**k MacArthur’!” MacArthur then stormed out of the meeting.
My last two years in Germany, we went from a C-3 to a C-1 battalion, partly due to discharging over 50 substandard soldiers. It wasn't easy, but it was necessary.