I note with some interest that the U.S. military chief in Iraq has ordered all troops to undergo "core warrior values training." It's a great phrase, and would presumably include precepts such as "don't massacre the civilians." So the soldiers will watch a PowerPoint slide presentation, and then go back to driving down roads that may be booby trapped, and opening doors behind which someone may lurk with an AK-47.
I respect the troops in Iraq. They have been given an impossible job, and I can fully appreciate their desire to stay alive, and why they might snap when one too many roadside bombs goes off beside their vehicles.
This reminds me of a "Teamwork" seminar that I attended back in the early 1990s at Lucent Technologies, when U.S. workers were asked to train workers in other, cheaper parts of the world, who would then take over their jobs. The "Teamwork" ideas were, umm, not very well received. Good luck with that PowerPoint presentation, General. Better yet, send the troops home and forget about absurd and contradictory concepts such as core warrior values training.
They will need those core values when they march into Iran....
ReplyDeleteMy wife was just called to active duty in the Navy. She is a chaplain and she has been up in Rhode Island at "boot camp" for the past 2 weeks. Eventually we are relocating to San Diego.
She went through this training 4 years ago, but the DOD is making her do it all again. She is telling me how rough they are being on them, and they are just the stinking chaplains....
I did have a good laugh at this though. What the hell does the DOD think is going to happen when they put a bunch of 19-24 year olds in to this kind of situation. Crap is going to happen and mistakes are going to be made. And unfortunately some of those mistakes will lead to a lot of death.
Who was it that said "War Is Hell"?
Gar.
ps. I think I may have to disagree with you on your review of the new Mason Jennings cd in Paste. I have listened to it a couple of times and really am enjoying it.