Is This Really an All-Volunteer Army?

NY Times (Week in Review) ^ | April 6, 2003 | STEVEN A. HOLMES

[cornelis]

This issue is a real hydra for which I doubt there is an effective STFU.

". . . the first, critical step in pulling Western civilization out of the miasma of racial thinking is to spread the word that there simply is no truth to the notion that there are separate human races."

"As applied to human beings, the concept of race is one of the greatest confirmations of the precept that it is not the things we don’t know that do the most harm, it is the things we do know but aren’t true. Unfortunately, for nearly two centuries, the idea that there are several distinct races among human beings has been quite commonly accepted as a scientifically proven fact. This idea is simply false, as both common sense and modern genetics make quite clear, and the harm it has done is quite incalculable."

From this back issue "The Illusions of Race" from American Outlook

[BenLurkin]

"[J]ournalists are not representative of American Society."

Exactly!

[kayak]

IMO, the problem is that the left is upset that the military offers people, particularly minorities, the opportunity to get off of the plantation that the liberals need to keep them on in order to justify their own agenda.

[AndyJackson]

This is just another example of a stalinist leftist trying to keep the natives on the reservation. The thought of Rangle with one of Sadaam's training manuals is scary. When will he start cutting off the ears of those who give him lackluster support.

This article is a slap at everyone who saw service to country as also an opportunity to succeed in life. The training and experience that I received in the Navy is irreplaceable. The men and women I served with were better and more decent folks than my ivy league student colleagues. Many of them came from the lower economic strata - I suppose - though we never much talked about it, because what mattered wasn't where you came from, but your committment to the team. Many then took advantage of educational opportunities provided to go on to other things in life.

[tcostell]

True Story:

I used to work for a hedge fund run by a very private billionaire who isn’t well known in the media, but is very well known in financial circles.

One of his assistants, was a irrepressibly cheerful, conservatively attractive girl from a religious blue collar background. She was very well liked, and deservedly so. She could endure rudeness, but she would throw herself out a 55th story window before being rude to someone else.

During my tenure there, Rep. Charles Rangel called the Billionaire and asked if he would like to meet the then president Clinton. His assistant took the call, and reported this to the billionaire while Rep. Rangel was on hold.

“Representative Rangel is on hold sir” she said, “he’d like to know if you would like to meet President Clinton.”

“Tell that no good piece of SXXX to go and FXXX himself. Tell him I wouldn’t meet that AXXHXXX for money.” He said angrily. “Yes sir”. Was her approximate response.

She then picked up the phone, and politely said:

”Representative Rangel, Mr. XXXXX asked me to tell you to go FXXX yourself and that he wouldn’t meet that AXXHXXX for money. (pause) yes sir. thank you.”

Probably not the first time that’s happened to Charlie, and probably won’t be the last, but it was nice to get a chance to see it.

[SamAdams76]

I think that's a factor as well. I grew up in the East Boston/Revere area of Boston and it was definitely Kennedy country - probably 95% Democrat. In fact, I can't remember a single Republican from my youth; it was as if they (Republicans) came from a different country.

Obviously I have been a die-hard Republican since serving in the Marine Corps. President Reagan, whose first term almost exactly coincided with my time in the Marines, was a huge influence on my life. It was the Marine Corps and my Commander-in-Chief that imbued me with the conservative values that I have today. Values, that should go without saying, that have allowed me to leave the Democratic plantation and make a successful life for myself.

[cornelis]

Such calculations . . . are the price

Such calculations and quotas termed "affirmative" are a prejudiced price "based on the unmeasurable"

"As Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor expressed it in the 1989 majority decision striking down what she correctly termed as “rigid” racial quotas in the awarding of public contracts, “The dream of a nation of equal citizens in a society where race is irrelevant to personal opportunity and achievement would be lost in a mosaic of shifting preferences based on inherently unmeasurable claims of past wrongs.”

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

Just exactly WHO does this moron think the "local Draft Boards" DRAFTED???? What a bunch of rosy-spectacle BS this whole nostalgia for the draft is. The draft was inherently unfair, divisive, and lowered the quality of the Army. I can recall a time when the stockades were overflowing with disgruntled draftees (and a lot of folks who enlisted in fear of the draft) and prisoners were being held in CONEX containers.

The United States will NEVER have a draft again. If there comes a time when not enough people think this country is worth defending, then we will go down and be occupied by some more energetic people.

[albee]

""It's not fair that the people that we ask to fight the war are people who join the military because of economic conditions," says Representative Charles B. Rangel, the New York Democrat, who advocates a new draft.

You are right on, Charley!!!

WELFARE IS MUCH BETTER THAN SERVING YOUR COUNTRY!

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

"One fact that stands out in my mind is the very small percentage of minorities in special forces."

When I was in SF, there were LOTS of minorities- Hawaiians, Samoans, Guamanians, Tennessee ridge-runners and bootleggers, some Eastern Europeans, even a veteran of the Foreign legion or two.

There were some black professional soldiers- who met the standards that everyone else had to meet.

Since then, there has been aggressive recruiting for "minorities"- now defined almost exclusively as "black".

[Tennessee_Bob]

Will we need a quota system for left-handed Methodists?

Hey! My brother is a left-handed Methodist!

I must be blind or something. I enlisted in the US Air Force in 1984, served for ten years. I didn't really pay attention to how many minority members we had in my squadrons or in my shops. Honestly, I didn't really care - if a mechanic could twist wrenches and produce quality engines, that was the important thing. All this talk about unfair representation in the military though has me thinking back about it now, and I'd have to say that based on my recollection that, if anything, the minorities were under-represented in the service, at least in the squadrons/wings that I served in.

As far as joining because of the lack of economic opportunity, I don't remember anyone pointing to that as a reason for enlisting. I remember a young woman who joined to get out of a small town in Wisconsin (she was looking for a husband) - but for the most part, they joined because it was something they wanted to do. Hot-rod mechanics (we worked on the F-15 and the F-16), electronics geeks - we covered the spectrum, but we did it because we wanted to.

Ok, that's it, I'm finished rambling.

[Pharmboy]

God, I hate this newspaper.

Maybe this should be the Quote of the Day...

[crazykatz]

I believe that a direct descendant of both President John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams, was one of those killed when 2 British helicopters crashed. He was from Maine.

I think there have always been many "kinds" of people in the Military. The NYslimes is just stupid... that is all.... liberally stupid with extra poured on top.

[Pharmboy]

Thanks for your post...I think your story is representative of many excellent Americans.

[riri]

I smelled this coming.

[Pharmboy]

I should have been more precise. If I remember correctly, the percentage of African Americans in SF was about 5%. Whatever the actual percentage, it was significantly smaller than the overall AA representation in the armed services.

[AgThorn]

Baloney - I'm white and more than middle class by financial standards, and have two of my son's serving. One by his well thought out choice, as that was what he wanted to do. The other, his twin, somewhat questioning his choice after going in, but making the most of it and proudly serving no matter.

My two 18 year old's went in as boy's and at 21 they are now men. I can't think of a better grounding for them.

[AgThorn]

ROFL!! well written! so true so true

[Michael121]

Unlike what Dem. Charlie Rangle (??) says black Americans do serve but they are a higher % of rear-Ech paper jockies, because they also see the benefits of a career after they ETS.

They are a smaller % of actual front-line troops than in Viet Nam. As to SOF they are a small % but even that is growing. Because there can be NO QUOTAS for SF, or SEALs.
They are there because they CAN do the job.

And history does not mean anything to Dems. Gen James Gavin of the 82 Airborne would not appear in the Victory Parade in NY unless the 555th all Black Airborne Battalion was also allowed to march. The 555th or Triple Nickles was never sent to Europe, they stayed here and became smoke jumpers. Gen Gavin said they are 82 Airborne, regardless of what color thier skin was. The 555th did march in the Parade and after initial shock at Blacks, the crowd cheered these Troops with as much ferver as the rest.

[BeAllYouCanBe]

"I didn't really pay attention to how many minority members we had "

Five years ago my son who in now in Iraq graduated from infantry basic at Fort Benning. When you graduate you earn the blue infantry lanyard and can be proud of your achievement that you have done about 6 months of physically demanding and mentally difficult training - a very high drop out rate. Many people tout the Marines but to be an Army Infantryman I would say the caliber is about equal. Non infantry training in the Army of course is mixed-sex and watered down.

One of the things we were hit over the head with in a letter from the commander was the number of minorities in his battalion. So the Army see this as a problem that they needed to tell parents about? We have to get over this Clinton era "white liberal guilt trip"!