its about fucking time

So, someone finally saw through the bullshit that troops are getting the medical care they need. What took so long - was saying troops don't get proper medical treatment considered unloyal? Would doubting troop medical care "embolden" our enemies? For fuck's sake it doesn't take a rocket scientist to walk into a building and smell the foul odor of building decay.
I am appalled that military leadership has covered-up the administration's neglect of real issues that troops face before, during, and after war. Perhaps too many "yes" people get promoted through the ranks. Maybe there are too many "agreeable" subordinates in the military who don't ask the right questions. I always appreciated when an enlisted troop had a good creative suggestions, shit, some of them worked out just great. But I guess it stopped with me - but I never got sick of telling the boss "I told you so," when his bone-headed ideas wouldn't pan out the way he wanted them.

Experience-based respect (really the only respect) in the military is often equated to time in service - those with more time get more respect. Some guys have 2 or 3 years of experience, get the hang of things and are great leaders - they have character, look out for their subordinates, and handle tough problems. Unfortunately there are also guys who have 1 year of experience 10-15 times - they're dead weight, they get promoted because promotion is time-based, not performance-based as it should be. These guys get in the way and say things like "yeah, everything's just fine down here," all the while forgetting that they serve a profession and are accountable to troops above and BELOW as well. But the leaders above offer promotions and the troops below fall by the wayside. Hypocritical careerist pricks end up at the top. But any college freshman sociology class teaches that in the section on bureaucracy. It's just the way things work.

But turning a blind eye to negligence of troop medical care is plain abhorrent.

Duty Honor Country

In 1995 I started looking at what I was going to do with my life after graduating from High School. I knew I had good options in front of me, but only one seemed right. I chose the Army. I was attracted to the camaraderie, the honor, the values, and the long line of character-filled leaders that had paved the way before me. For 10 years I served in uniform. When I was done - separated for injuries from Iraq - I reflected on the past, a lot.
The Army attracts people who have character, not those who need to develop it. There is a massive exodus right now of people who are fed up with the hypocrisy that they have been trying to work around for their careers. Big Army gets the formula wrong. Every year there are pay raises, and young officers get the highest raises of all ranks - this is where, even after all the raises, these are the fastest shrinking (demographic by rank) population of troops. These young officers don't value the money to the degree Big Army thinks they do. These troops want to know that they can depend on their superiors, that they will be developed professionally, that they will be trusted and respected. These character driven values outweigh the value of the dollar to many young officers. As disappointment sets in and frustration grows when officers find little to no support from their superiors, they opt to leave the military.