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Dear Col. Hackworth:
I find your assessment of the condition of the United States military somewhat extreme.
So what if Suzie and Johnny can't do more than two pushups? Isn't it enough for a Neanderthal like youself that our military is now more ethnically and sexually diverse that ever before?
I think your comments have earned you a "time out." Our girls and boys might not be the grizzled men of Iwo Jima, but their self-esteem has never been higher. Don't believe me? Well then, just ask them yourself.
Good day Mr. Hackworth, and please contain any future criticism of our military to the VFW halls.
Signed,
Col. "Biff" Fontelroy
Funny you say that. A new concept in basic training is a "stress card." If things are getting too tough for you, and you're getting too stressed out, just show the card and the drill sergeant has to lay off of you for a while.
Good thing to teach the young recruits: "Excuse me Mr. Taliban, this battle's getting too tough, so here's my time out card. Come back and shoot at me later."
Where's Patton when you need him to just slap someone?
And then there was another Hillary picked "consultant" to Togo West, Professor Madeline Morris, who recommended that the Army adopt some organizational and structural changes modeled after Communist cells. I am not joking. I have the Washington Times article somewhere on one of my systems.
But for now...
Sara E. Lister, the Army's top personnel official and the Pentagon's most ardent advocate of women in combat, in a public forum called the Marines "extremists" and "a little dangerous."
Mrs. Lister, the assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs, also belittled the Marine Corps uniform.
"I think the Army is much more connected to society than the Marines are," Mrs. Lister told an Oct. 26 seminar. "The Marines are extremists. Wherever you have extremists, you've got some risks of total disconnection with society. And that's a little dangerous."
In response to a query by The Washington Times, the Army attempted last night to dampen a growing controversy that clearly rankled top officers:
"The statement attributed to Mrs. Lister was taken out of context. Her reference to the Marines and their relationship to society would be more aptly described as 'unique.'"
Gen. Charles Krulak, the Marine Corps commandant, issued a statement last night at his quarters vigorously defending a branch he has served 34 years.
"Assistant Secretary of the Army Sara Lister has been quoted as characterizing the Marine Corps as 'extremists,'" Gen. Krulak said. "Such a depiction would summarily dismiss 222 years of sacrifice and dedication to the nation. It would dishonor the hundreds of thousands of Marines whose blood has been shed in the name of freedom.
"Citizens from all walks of life have donned the Marine Corps uniform and gone to war to defend this nation, never to return. Honor, courage and commitment are not extreme." Mrs. Lister, a close adviser to Army Secretary Togo West, made the remarks to a group of academics and military personnel at a conference in Baltimore.
According to a tape recording of the remarks, obtained by The Times, Mrs. Lister, who was appointed by President Clinton, also mocked the uniform of the Marine Corps.
"The Marine Corps is -- you know they have all these checkerboard fancy uniforms and stuff," she said. "But the Army is sort of muddy boots on the ground."
Said Gen. Krulak, "I agree with Mrs. Lister's depiction of the U.S. Army as 'sort of muddy boots on the ground.' I need not recount the times where the muddy boots of soldiers fell alongside those of Marines as we fought side by side."
Kate O'Beirne, the Washington editor of National Review magazine, appeared with Mrs. Lister on the panel, along with retired Army Lt. Gen. Theodore Stroup. Mrs. O'Beirne, according to the tape recording, told the conference, sponsored by Harvard University's Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, that she was "shocked and incredulous" by Mrs. Lister's remarks.
"It is actually a slander at both the Marine Corps and the Army," she said in an interview later. "What attributes of the Marine Corps does she disrespect? Self-discipline? Courage? Patriotism? She believes these pose a danger to society and by implication she's grateful the Army doesn't share the Marine Corps attributes. Shocking.
"I just want to say something on behalf of the Marine Corps. Unlike Secretary Lister, I don't see them as an extremist organization nor do I fear them in any way. And I find myself grateful for them most of the time."
Mrs. Lister's caustic comments are sure to revive criticism within the military and among veterans groups that the Clinton administration is staffed at the highest levels with men and women with anti-military attitudes.
Mr. Clinton was sharply criticized by veterans groups in the 1992 campaign for remarks he made as a young man trying to avoid the Vietnam War draft, saying that he and his friends held a "loathing" for the military, and shortly after taking office he offended military ranks with an attempt to lift long-standing policy barring known homosexuals in the military.
Mrs. Lister has said she will leave her post sometime this year and was honored recently at a retirement party. Pentagon sources say she may be a candidate for secretary of the Army if Mr. West, as expected, is named to head the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Marine Corps is the smallest and most tradition-minded branch of the military services. Commanders nurture the warrior spirit at a time when the Army has emphasized peacekeeping operations, mixed-sex training and "human relations" programs.
The Corps leadership vehemently opposed Mr. Clinton's homosexual policy, and the Corps is the only branch that still separates the sexes during basic training, in the belief that sexual tension and the stressful life of a recruit don't mix successfully.
Army officers at the Pentagon, who asked not to be named, said these positions run counter to Mrs. Lister's vision for the military and are what apparently prompted her remarks.
The Army's statement defending Mrs. Lister went on to say that "it is inappropriate to try to create controversy around what was meant to be an honest, intellectual exchange of ideas. The U.S. Marines, like the Army, have served the nation with valor and fidelity since the forming of the nation. Mrs. Lister and the Army are proud to share a common heritage."
Mrs. Lister has accused others of extremism, recently in a press interview labeling military advocate Elaine Donnelly an "extremist." Mrs. Donnelly is chairman of the Center for Military Readiness, which supports women in the military and opposes combat roles for them.
"I don't like to see my name in the same sentence with that word," Mrs. Donnelly said yesterday. "It shows that this person is very much out of step with the majority of women, both civilian and military. ... If she puts us in the same group as the Marine Corps, we're in very good shape."
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