This reminds me, the main problem, if not the only problem I have with Gen. Mattis, is his continued support of keeping Transexual recruits in active service.
Mattis supports keeping them even when they undergo gender reassignment, meaning, for big chunks of time, the recruit is not able to serve, but the USA must still pay for all that ‘free’ surgery and hormone replacement. Not many studies have been done to discover what happens to the body and the psyche after years and years of being unnecessarily dosed with sexual hormones.
The experiment has not yet been concluded.
I became a sonar technician on a ship that was always on the go.
Much of my Navy time was spent as a janitor. Despite that I have thanked God ever since that there was a draft that motivated me into that course of action.
I met friends I still have. I amassed a lifetime of sea stories and saw, for real, places that could never have been a dream without the Navy.
I feel sorry for youngsters these days who don't have the same "forced" opportunity.
I dunno. I joined the military because it was something every male on both sides of the family had done for a century at least. It was something I had to do.
My Dad was in the South Pacific in 1943-45 His Twin brother flew with the 8th in B 17 over Europe in 1943. One family member was killed at Meuse Argonne in 1918. He is still not forgotten.
Me, nothing spectacular
SOCOM, Marines and Army combat arms still count. With technology, the need for bullet stoppers becomes less and less. The need for guys that can speak 2-3 languages, can jump out of perfectly good airplanes, know how to shoot any common military small arm in the well, and have the skills to teach others? You’ll go far. The days of 400 person “personnel services units” and 120 highly caffeinated clerks in a “Finance Support Unit” are quickly coming to an end.
At least we still have the Marine Corps. Semper Fidelis.
The Pentagon is designing a new vehicle for all branches of service ... it comes with private crying rooms, puppies, kittens, warm milk dispensers, and cookie machines. The lactation stations are still a work in progress, but sources indicate that the problems were not insurmountable and the vehicles will be fielded soon.
Insult women in the military all you want, but the Army soldier killed in Afghanistan this past week - killed by an Afghan soldier supposedly our ally - was on his 13th deployment overseas, 8 deployments being combat deployments. He was supporting a war that has been going on for 17 years. You don’t think those may be the reason why young men are bypassing this ‘rite of passage’?