I was at the seven eleven by my house this evening and I ran into a group of future brothers. You see, I live one block away from the Tampa MEPS ( Military Enlistment Processing Station) which is the first stop for those who desire to be soldiers. A short conversation with them brought me to an epiphany, of sorts.
Lately I've heard the new administration mention ( on several occasions) that our "all volunteer Army is stretched to it's breaking point". The emphases on the "all volunteer" part implies that it might not be stretched so thin if more people were required to serve. My spider senses are telling me that the "sacrifice" that Bobama so often speaks of might refer to just that sort of movement, a modified draft.
I, however, see a different problem with the size of our armed forces. There are countless people around the country that are just like me, not qualified. You see, 1% of our population are willing to join the military and of that small group as much as 20% are rejected. Sadly, it is not that they have criminal records or are by any means untrustworthy but they just do not meet the physical standard. This is truly disappointing because many of them would have a tremendous amount of skill or intellect to offer. I know this because I went through basic training and was sent home with a handful of those very people.
The Army insists on sending everyone through the brutal and relentless ordeal that is basic combat training before sending them off to sit behind a computer. This process lumps all of the older, skilled, intelligent and disciplined men with a vast number of young studs and thugs that need to have some respect beaten into them. Unfortunately the result is that the best suited minds are thrown out with their weakened bodies after sharing the intense punishment that is brought on by the actions of immature children.
I propose a new system that, through a simple screening process,will weed out those who are mentally prepared and eager to serve the country and send them to a more educational and less physical basic training. I guess it would be kind of a quasi-Army, like all of the contracted employees except as an actual mini branch of the Army. Not fighters but thinkers who are ready to learn. I can't tell you how much valuable learning time was lost to punishment for some unrested kid napping during a lesson.
There are countless positions available within the armed forces in combat support fields that can be filled by the previously mentioned group of seasoned adults that would drastically cut the cost of training while freeing up those who are suited to fight to step in and relieve those worn down troops that are spread around the world. We could then rotate soldiers monthly instead of yearly which would be great for morale. This may also help in the recruiting of more combat and support soldiers because the two chief complaints that scare people away from service are the time away from family and the fear of boot camp. Believe it or not, the possibility of death is seldom considered by potential soldiers.
If you agree, then please copy this entry and email it to your friends as well as to your favorite politicians. Maybe we can make enough noise that our new President will pick up the cause and try this as a job stimulus package instead of short term infrastructure projects that, once those roads and bridges are built, will leave all of those people unemployed again. Seriously, think it through and help me... or at least tell me where I'm wrong so we can refine this idea and move forward.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
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5 comments:
I don't agree. we need to train people to be soldiers first. when people enlisted in the civil war, everybody saw combat. the whole purpose of an all voluntary armed forces is to get those people who want to do something most don't want to do or go and have a life of adventure. if someone just enlists only for the "college money," then they are doing the american people an injustice. people ought to join to serve their country, whether or not it involves being in combat. everyone is a soldier first, and the purpose for it is simple. the people who aren't trained ina combat arms MOS are pretty much kept on "reserve" in case of a massive loss of soldiers in battle. there should be continued training in being a soldier because that's their purpose. sure there's many jobs in the military, but when the shit really hits the fan, everybody should do their part to protect our country, regardless of what MOS they have. we don't have a shortage of "smart" people in the armed forces. the smart people are either in specialized jobs, or work for other govt agencies that work hand in hand with the armed forces. sure it would save time and money not sending these elite people to regular training, but when you're on the 5 yard line and there's nobody left to help, we just signed our own death certificate. how can you put a "saving money" price of freedom and sacrifice? we need good people, whether or not combat trained. everybody needs to be ready to sacrifice themselves for God and Country.
The problem with that theory is that people like me and you, who would love to defend our country at the front lines,but simply do not qualify. We could be very useful to the military in weapons development and other fields that are now contracted out to expensive private organizations.I'm thinking, perhaps a partial (reserve type) deal where the benifits are more basic. Not to take anything away from the "real" soldiers but to compliment the force. And along with the specialized education that they would recieve they would be required to complete basic combat training that is more dedicated to the education and less consumed by discipline. Also give monthly light field training exercises. This way they are ready for that moment when the shit hits the fan instead of sitting here typing with an arm in a sling.
we have a "back up" force like that. its the reserves. people with more advanced intellect, do things smartly. why only make 25,000 a year when with the same degree, they can make 100,000 at some other agency? the military ought to give incentives to people with degrees. right now, you just get to become specialists E-4 instead of a much higher cash incentive. we want to be paid for our knowledge, the same knowledge we spent 4 years and 50,000 bucks on. we have a choice to go to OCS school, but most people with or without degrees want to just be enlisted.there are more enlisted with degrees than the officers almost x's 2. people who are physically sound to go to basic, shouldn't go. you have to have a black and white standard for everyone. if we just had more smart people join and go through the "simplified or shorter" basic training that you say, we'd still have to tap into them for bodies to fight due to the fact of less people wii go into the combat arms and go to a "smarter" mos. we'll have to use them either way. unless we have a massive combat arms force to ofset the"smarter" mos's to go to war instead of them, we can do what you mentioned. we have to have a massive combat force so we CAN spend time on developing the smarter mos's.
go steelerd
post this on your blog's main page.
www.heritage.org or www.hillsdale.edu click on what would reagan do?
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