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Behind each doctor or nurse who quits is an army of bureaucrats dictating orders to the doctors and nurses, and behind each one of them an army of politicians and lawyers dictating what they must dictate to the doctors and nurses.

When the front line troops - the docs and nurses - desert, you may still have an army, but it will consist only of human infrastructure: Chain of command, JAG officers, logistics and support units, etc - few of whom ever gave a meaningful rap about the front line medical troops who actually saw patients.

That's great rhetoric against the behind the door, faceless bureaucrats. That always gets applause. But it does nothing to deal with the reality that medical professionals are leaving the Dept of Defense when we need them the most, as well as other professionals - because they have been used as the political whipping boys by our political class.

It also does nothing to address Sequestration cuts to the military, which last another 9 years.

ouch, this loggie sharply felt that sting when your reply lumped me into a group who didn’t give any care to these troops (PEOPLE!) and their dependents (PEOPLE!) and the retirees (PEOPLE!) that we take care of...while I’m not a clinician, I did and still do care tremendously about the warriors in all of our services, their families, their support personnel sharing battlefront with them...my job was explained to me like this when I was a “butter bar” lieutenant: ok, so you don’t directly take care of patients. But if you don’t do your job right, on time, ahead of time, you impact those who DO take care of patients, so you are responsible for that whole string of events, and most importantly responsible for the fate of another soldier/airman “warrior.”

That in turn was how I directed those who worked for me for the rest of my 20 years in the USAF. I had mental pictures of my dad (aircraft/flightline maintenance) and my husband (naval aviator) needing me to do my job so they could do theirs.

So, we’re not all heartless admin weanies. As for the article, I’m sure there is more than just sequester and furloughs for the reason...could be constant deployments, the physical fitness standards, the diversity environment crammed down their throats, the deliberate elimination of Christianity from the military, the distrust of the government (ya go to work with terrorists in uniform, get hurt/killed and it’s “workplace violence”), the deterioration of our military leadership, the terrible effect of the Obama administration and his awful presidency...

sigh. So glad I am not in uniform anymore; so proud I did serve however, and even more proud of my stepson who now serves as an F-16 munitions loader...

This family still waves the flag of patriotism, and we have willingly served for this country. So sad to see how it declines like the Roman and British empires did...