First in a series
To the manicured mannequins of toy soldiering.
So you did all the research and reached an honorable conclusion?
(Cut the baloney. You bulled your way past the spiffy staffers while the real warriors were engaged fighting a war.)
The march to destroy the very best military in the world continues to be played out in the media and in the backstreets and alleys of America's moral and ethical decline. The entire scenario was and is based on a bald-faced lie about “polling and consulting the troops” in a quiet, unpressurized and anonymous fashion. That never happened. Anyone claiming it did is a dishonorable liar. “Deal with it or get out” was the real rule of the day in some convoluted switch on the repealed Don't Ask—Don't Tell policy.
If you want the truth about the impact of females and gays on the infantry and special operations, you ask those who bear the burden to perform their physically and mentally demanding duties while well, sick or wounded, and not the finance clerks and soda jerks, pal.
It is a system of priorities and no child at home, lover, with a life-threatening illness, or in the case of Pvt. Manning, revenge for being jilted in love in their weird world, can take priority of action.
The mission has, and must have, priority.
This actually remains a debate about “traditional roles” and whether the male hunts, gathers and fights off enemies while the female may well fight to the death to defend her young at home. How that plays out while a husband fights abroad and this administration tries to grab the guns from the home remains to be seen. I commend women who have made their uniformed support missions compatible with life at home. But that is not the issue here.
Clue: Where to Start
Your first and foremost search for truth must begin where it is nearly always told, at the fire team, squad, platoon and operational detachment NCO level. Officers, for the most part, are too career oriented to tell you simply “no.” But, God bless them, the NCOs are not that self-thinking nor fearful and shy to lay it out in bold, harsh battlefield language (though you have tried your best to turn them into self-thinking, smooth talking robots also). Then again, it is important for them to know if you are looking for answers based on honest evaluation or you merely wish to order them to add some semblance of false honor to a lie you have already told. Oops, you already did that, didn't you?
Was true empirical data gathered to make this decision? Obviously not because a trip to any military installation in the early morning hours for physical training will show the same hungover drunks followed by a gaggle of girls and the injured bringing up the far rear with all but the girls and most injured being chastised by a sergeant.
Crucial Distinction
The drunks may well be running again after 5 in the afternoon, but not the ladies because it is understood that most cannot keep up with the men. Can some keep up on the runs in shoes designed for that purpose? Some can. But the military is geared to all keeping up. That is why they call it a unit, not a gaggle of individual performers.
Why do soldiers run in the morning? It is for the same reason they road march with weapons and a full complement of gear in boots and fatigues. In battle there is a simple rule: Keep up or die. Are you ready to leave the women behind when they fall out in war and the mission still must be accomplished? Make sure you tell their mothers and Sen. Feinstein that is your plan.
What did your “complete study” ascertain about the impact of interpersonal relations between squad or team members on the ability to accomplish the mission?
Will leaders send wives, girlfriends and gay lovers or someone they are just interested in to fight and die as quickly as they will other infantrymen? Even if those with personal relationships are banned from serving in the same unit, what precludes these relationships from developing? Your answer is that it will be banned. Heck generals, you guys have been putting whorehouses off-limits from the beginning of time and it has never lowered the VD rate one point if they are in the area.
The Unbendable Truth
The wives and mothers will not want to hear this but men of war, for the most part, fight and then come to a rear area to rearm, retrain, plan and then to drink and have sex. In Vietnam when BG James Hollingsworth was asked why the First Infantry Division set up bars and whorehouses at Laike within the perimeter,he simply answered, “ If a man won't (make love), he won't fight and I don't want him.
(That question was asked, by the way, by the ladies waiting at home in Kansas.) My favorite general was a realist, but unfortunately, most today are not.
War is a masculine endeavor. At the point of the spear, it must be. There is no room for excuses (“It is my time of month” or “I have Aids.”) because the answer always has been and must be “Take two salt tablets or an aspirin and drive on.” What about when they cannot drive on'? Will they still be left behind because the mission has the priority? Will they cry? War is the only place where there is no place to go and have a good cry, ladies and lady wannabes.
You want daycare provided for your children, Suzie? Single military fathers took care of that themselves from the beginning of time. We have had to call relatives to assist sick wives, tend to dependent children, sick or well, and we deployed. Those who could not hack it were simply told to find a more forgiving profession.
You want to fight in my war, you play by my rules.
It Is Victim Time
There is a never-ending chorus about rape and unwanted sexual advances with women as victims in our military being reported in the press. Want to hang with hard men who may die tomorrow? Deal with it because now you claim you are as tough as they are. If you actually belong there simply kick their offending butt and drag them to the First Sergeant.
Generals and Mr. President, why are you consciously refusing to provide data on unwanted sexual advances and rapes concerning those of the same sex. What are the numbers on gay service members trying to hit on our young heterosexual men and women? Do not tell us it does not occur because that is bull and you know it. Where is your “openness” on that one, Sen. Boxer and Gen. Dempsey? Or is that covered by you and the liberal MSM under some new version of Don’t Ask – Don’t Tell?
The first casualty in all of this is once again the truth. The high-nosed liberal media/politicians are leading the charge with a small crew of puppy dog military leaders yipping at their heels. All of you are detested by those who actually carry the fight to the enemy.
Major Mark A. Smith, USA, Ret., may be contacted at majorzippo@yahoo.com
