Domination of the U.S. military by certain American ‘tribes’
Posted by John T. Reed on
John, you mentioned the geographical concentration of soldiers in your draft article. This slate writer seems to think they discovered something
When the new White House chief of staff, then a Marine general, John Kelly received a knock on the door in November 2010, he became the highest-ranking ...
John T. Reed I have strenuously complained about this in both my draft and West Point articles.
https://www.johntreed.com/.../66448067-should-there-be-a...
http://www.johntreed.net/gotousma.html
I object to the word “caste.” Others writing about this use the word “tribe” which is more accurate. I am of the tribe in question: Scots-Irish according to James Webb’s book “Born Fighting.” That book says Scots-Irish, who in America are generally Appalachian and Confederate state dwellers, have served disproportionally in our wars including the Revolution and Vietnam. The notion that blacks served disproportionately and were wounded and died disproportionately is false. My tribe holds that honor in ALL American wars. See the book Stolen Valor about the black myth in Vietnam.
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One of the reasons to have a draft is to ensure the US military is a cross section of America—and that every family either has a member who has served or is in danger of serving. Then all wars will be matters of concern to all families—as they should be.
i find it downright creepy that there are family traditions of serving in the military. The military is fundamentally analogous to the executioners at state and federal prisons. The military kills people. This is a shit job that someone has to do, but for which no one should be volunteering. What would you think of a family who had generations of state excecutioners?
https://www.johntreed.com/.../66448067-should-there-be-a...
http://www.johntreed.net/gotousma.html
I object to the word “caste.” Others writing about this use the word “tribe” which is more accurate. I am of the tribe in question: Scots-Irish according to James Webb’s book “Born Fighting.” That book says Scots-Irish, who in America are generally Appalachian and Confederate state dwellers, have served disproportionally in our wars including the Revolution and Vietnam. The notion that blacks served disproportionately and were wounded and died disproportionately is false. My tribe holds that honor in ALL American wars. See the book Stolen Valor about the black myth in Vietnam.
.
One of the reasons to have a draft is to ensure the US military is a cross section of America—and that every family either has a member who has served or is in danger of serving. Then all wars will be matters of concern to all families—as they should be.
i find it downright creepy that there are family traditions of serving in the military. The military is fundamentally analogous to the executioners at state and federal prisons. The military kills people. This is a shit job that someone has to do, but for which no one should be volunteering. What would you think of a family who had generations of state excecutioners?
The rules for getting into and graduating from service academies even favor children of career military.
Would Americans tolerate family traditions of volunteering to serve on juries and elimination of the ability of lawyers to select juries? Suppose most of the juries in the US were predominantly Scot-Irish, or black, or Jewish, or Muslim or Korean?
I had a sense during my four years in the military that the career people, especially the multi-generation career families think they own the military, that it is their family business. And regard outsiders—people who are not members of the tribe—as interlopers. A charitable society in the military once had the slogan “The Army takes care of its own.” I thought that was an outrageous slogan for a public institution. Apparently the lifers finally figured that out.
Here is a quote from an article from DePauw University:
“The U.S. Army prides itself on its commitment to "take care
of its own." The ethos signifies that service members and their
families all comprise a larger ‘Army Family’ that protects one
another.”
From whom? From the taxpayers and bureaucrats. That is an outrageous us-versus-them ethos that did not exist in our World War II draft military. It is lifer-think and a draft as I advocate—which would draft for all ranks and ages—even generals would be drafted—would NOT have such a mentality. Rather the ethos and group identification would be Americans, as it should be.
Would Americans tolerate family traditions of volunteering to serve on juries and elimination of the ability of lawyers to select juries? Suppose most of the juries in the US were predominantly Scot-Irish, or black, or Jewish, or Muslim or Korean?
I had a sense during my four years in the military that the career people, especially the multi-generation career families think they own the military, that it is their family business. And regard outsiders—people who are not members of the tribe—as interlopers. A charitable society in the military once had the slogan “The Army takes care of its own.” I thought that was an outrageous slogan for a public institution. Apparently the lifers finally figured that out.
Here is a quote from an article from DePauw University:
“The U.S. Army prides itself on its commitment to "take care
of its own." The ethos signifies that service members and their
families all comprise a larger ‘Army Family’ that protects one
another.”
From whom? From the taxpayers and bureaucrats. That is an outrageous us-versus-them ethos that did not exist in our World War II draft military. It is lifer-think and a draft as I advocate—which would draft for all ranks and ages—even generals would be drafted—would NOT have such a mentality. Rather the ethos and group identification would be Americans, as it should be.
Should there be a military draft? Absolutely. Actually, I think a better question is whether anyone should be…
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