[CIBvet]

Sad to face, but who's really surprised at this report. Hope someone reads it who can make the required changes, but I fear the roots of the problem come from very deep within the psyche of our liberal, immoral society, and present-day recruits are a mere reflection of the cancer.

[nofriendofbills]

A must read and heed bump.

[Prodigal Son]

One thing about Hack is- he gets paid to be a pessimist. And what I mean by that is- nobody's going to pay him for an article that says "Things are Hunky Dory with Our Military!" Sure, there's much room for improvement but the American military is the most lethal thing on the face of the planet (outside of God and natural catastrophe). Our guys are getting the job done and they are faced with a task that Hack (Viet Nam or no) never had to face. When they fail let me know, but I think our guys are doing great and I send every last one of 'em a heartfelt Hoo-Ah! Keep up the good work!

[Boonie Rat]

I remember the first day at Basic my SDI, Sgt. Mack, yelling "I'm your father and the LT is your mother, and we ARE NOT MARRIED"! "I don't want you in MY Army"! But I was rock hard and motivated when I left there! And I thanked him more than once while I was in Vietnam!!!

Boonie Rat

MACV SOCOM, PhuBai/Hue '65-'66

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

I went through 11B training at Jackson back in the '80s. In those days, whenever the female recruits passed in formation, we were put at attention and about faced. We weren't even allowed to look at them, much less train with them.

[CIBvet]

I'm pinging a bunch of you vet-types, both active duty and retired. The discussion should be insightful.

[CIBvet]

Just pingin' away to you vets. Be interested in your take on one of Hack's latest.

[CIBvet]

Ping, Ping, Pingin' away. Looking forward to your take.

[CIBvet]

Still pingin' and the birds are chirping. I gotta get to the rack soon.

[CIBvet]

The feedback we get from both active and retired vets will be enlightening. Thanks for your input and

HAPPY July 4th -- Declaration of Independence Day.

Thanks to the Founders for their vision, and to the vets gone by who secured those Blessings of Liberty for us all.

I need to get some sleep, so I'm putting the thread on Auto-Pilot. See y'all later

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

My drill sergeant at Fort Jack used to say, "If you're looking for sympathy, you'll find it in the dictionary between shit and suicide." Now there was an effective communicator. Basic training in the Summer heat was an ordeal, but the modern version sounds like Hell.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for the ping.

Bump

[fnord]

total agreement ... and I could tell the same tales in even worse detail.

bumped and bookmarked.

[Malacoda]

"I'll tell these guys, 'Look, I've had the displeasure of carrying a dead American on the battlefield and I don't want to ever do that again. You train harder so it doesn't happen. You train harder because you don't want to send your friend home in a body bag. It's not a pretty thing to think about, not a fun thing you want to talk about, but there it is. If we're not training 'em to be good soldiers, we're training 'em to be dead soldiers."

More sweat in peace = less blood in war. What's so complicated in that?? What's the point of fielding a p*ssified military?

I come from a military family: My dad is a Marine (retired), my one younger brother is a Marine infantry grunt (out now), my other younger brother is a Naval Flight officer, out of the USN in Annapolis, my older brother was in the Air Force...all of them say the same damn thing:

More sweat in peace = less blood in war.

[WhirlwindAttack]

I was Air Force in the 70's and 80's.
Got knocked on my ass by Tsgt. Fury our lead T.I..
He had a scar on the right side of his mouth from a charging handle on a M-16.
Kinda made him look like he was smiling.
HE WASN'T

The biggest lesson I taught my sons was
Never Date The Base Commanders Daughter! No matter how cute she is.
(in my best forrest gump voice) And that's all I can say about that. LOL
FReegards