I’m an ROTC graduate and spent time in the military as a junior officer. There is something that happens to officers when they achieve the rank of O-5 (Army Lt Colonel, Navy Commander). It was commonly referred to as the ‘O-5’ lobotomy in the circles I operated in.
My theory on this is that these officers ‘chop’ to a different superior at this rank. Junior officers are judged by the performance of their units and their bias is thus towards their units, in the hopes of maximizing unit performance.
In the United States, the military reports to civilian leadership so, to advance past O-5, a different set of people need to be impressed. For the better part of two decades at least, civilian leadership has been more concerned with military politics than it has military efficiency. I had drinks with several O-6s a couple of years ago, and these guys are wired tight.
So, in the theoretical situation* where Obama wanted to win over the hearts and minds of the enlisted men and junior officers to overtake military leadership, dispose of the ‘deeply flawed’ Constitution, and bring on an era of glorious communism, he has it all wrong. The guys he needs to watch out for are the O-1 to O-4 types, and I would also add the front-line enlisted men.
And these guys, in my experience, are far closer to Ron Paul than they are to Barack Obama.
*I repeat that this is nothing more than speculation from a speech which I probably misheard.
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1 comment:
I, for one, would not recommend opening the above link.
Your host; Bill
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