It's amazing how much sway a President has on military service.
I remember guys who were close to the end and ready to be done under Carter who decided to stay long because of Reagan. I know guys who joined because of Reagan and the "new" military culture who made it through Bush 41 and got out early because of Clinton.
I don't care if it's fast food or military, if you have a good crew chief who rewards good people and makes them feel valued...you get long term crews. If you have a bad crew chief, the people who are talented know they will be valued elsewhere.
You would think government, and especially the military would understand this basic premise, but you'd find out you are wrong far too often. And it isn't the median range pay for putting yourself in harms way that discourages people, it's shit like "thinking" you are part of something that actually respects honor, duty, integrity and all those other words they drum in your head so you put your ass out in the wind trying to help, trying to help people, trying to make things better. You do this knowing that the promises made to the people who are assisting you will be honored. And then suddenly with no real warning the mission is no longer the mission and previous arrangements are no longer honored.
And for each guy on the ground, the locals who worked with YOU....who trusted YOU...because YOU believed in everyone are not only left behind but as a result YOU feel like it's partly or mostly your fault. I wouldn't put up with that shit in Burger King, I certainly wouldn't do it for a job that demands I put my life on the line every day.
We can't fix the people we failed to get out of Vietnam, despite the fact we were given almost 3 years to do so but Ford didn't seem to make it a priority. Looks like the door is pretty much closed on getting friendlies out of Astan and any people we did evac would probably turn out to be sleepers.
Trump had a plan to get out people out and those who helped us out in a orderly and structured fashion, but it seems like their fates were secondary to making sure Trump didn't get to sign the home run ball.
And that makes all those people shit birds. I wasn't a fan of Obama, but IF he started the orderly evacuation of US forces and our allies during his tenure as President not only would I have never wanted to see it undermined, I'd have forever given him credit to getting it done correctly. I'd still have many other criticisms, but at least he would have done that one correctly.
No President is more important than taking care of our people who work in harms way to protect this country and the security of this country. Presidents are expendable...we can get a new one every four years. People willing to go bad places full of bad people and hold the line, yeah we can't always get an unlimited supply of those.
Ironically most people in uniform do not see it that way, they see only their Commander in Chief regardless of what party he came from and it doesn't take away from their service, which is all the more impressive to me. I couldn't do it.
It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.
Chuck, we miss ya man.
كافر
Reply With Quote
.
Originally Posted by ABNAK
Bookmarks