Political Correctness Trumps Warrior Spirit
 

This is but one example of how Political Correctness is destroying the US Military.

Any hint of an Alcohol related "Sin" and it is Endex for one's Military Career these days.

No how minor or limited, if Command becomes aware of something and you might as well pack up your Sea Bag and start looking for a civvies job.

This is not a good thing at all.


Wasting the Warrior Culture: The Story of Frank ? The Havok Journal

A second example.

http://allenbwest.com/2014/08/letter...ved-pink-slip/

I recollect when the legal drink & drive limit (1967) and the breathalyser (1968) were introduced in the UK we, in the RAF, were warned that a conviction would result in court martial and dismissal.

Eventually a group captain (colonel) paid the price. Certainly made the rest of us take it all a bit more seriously.

Going back a bit, I seem to remember that drinks and smokes were a part of the military culture (for a start, you don't know what some are really like until you have been with them drunk) - come to think of, how much has the culture in general changed for the (once) Anglo/Celtic peoples? Do you remember any debate, let alone referendum, on say multiculturalism? On the drink issue, if not in a pub, where is the forum for the average bloke to communicate his ideas/concerns, etc?
You make get a jolt from the extremely PC case of "Frank", but what have you to say about, say, the emphasis on womens' and gays' rights while the average young Brit cannot look forward to having a stable family and enough kids to counter the negative birth rate his kind is facing?
You think you are defending your country? - look around ... start drinking and communicating with your mates ... stop the rot.

I was told of a function at xxx, early 1980's, where the first to depart by car, somewhat the worse for wear, noted a Police car waiting at the junction with the A road. Discretion prompted him to reverse his tracks, only to note another Police car waiting at the other end of the village at the junction with the other A road. He reversed again, returned to the function, and mentioned this curiosity to the President of the Mess Committee. Who mentioned it to the local Chief Inspector of Police, who had been invited. Twenty minutes later,the Police cars were gone.

Have you stopped inviting the local Sherriff to events? ;)

Yes, hard lines but....
 

Alcohol can destroy many things more precious than a career.


If you have a drink problem (and if you are stupid enough to get caught over the limit behind a wheel you have a problem) then do everyone a favour and get out of the forces.

My take on this is a single mistake of a relatively minor nature should not stop a Career in the Military.

I recall the "Good Old Days" when Officer's Call was conducted at the Mess Bar Happy Hour on Friday at 1700 Hrs. No one left until the CO departed. If he was a Lush then he set the Tone for the "Meeting".

In those days when we were either just back from a Combat Tour or about to Go on one, an "Alcohol Offense" would merit a Hat On-No Coffee Chat with the Boss Fellah. Afterwards, one would lick One's Wounds in the Bar.

It is the intolerance and excessiveness of the PC Movement that is offends me. That, and the Military Leadership willingly going along with it.

We need Warriors and not Parade Ground Soldiers.

Wasn't it an American who said "No Combat Ready outfit ever passed Inspection, and no Inspection Ready outfit ever passed Combat?"

I do not wish to trivialise Boudreaux Bob's inputs ... they are indeed a sad indictment of the way things have gone since I first put on a uniform in '63.

My Father was in conversation with a colleague shortly after I joined the RAF, and apprised him of the fact. The response was, "Ah, The Drinking Service". OK, I was a Ground Pounder, but it was fairly endemic everywhere I went ... and was undoubtedly was a factor in a one-sided interview (along with others) after a small toilet-roll fire in the Officers Mess Bar ceiling fans in 1968.

Do I blame the RAF for my predilection for alcohol? Was it too cheap? Was it the "Culture"? Am I weak, and easily led down the path of depravity? Probably all of the above, actually ... but there were only a few other minor, unrecorded/unknown incidents of "Stupid Boy" over the subsequent 3 decades.

I did my job well, got promoted often enough to satisfy me, and seemed to survive my occasional excesses. Of course, it's a different world these days.

Excuse me ... I need to refill my glass. :cool:

I recall one squadron commander's drinking faux pas in RAFG. His punishment was to be relieved of his command. And get posted to Hong Kong!

Ain't life a pi55er.

CG

We've had several years now of this "politically correct" vomit. One wonders what its proponents envisage as the end result. In my opinion it can only be
the destruction of western civilisation because it turns all the values by which we built our western nations upside down.
This insideous disease poses a direct threat to the west and, as such should no longer be tolerated. It should be bracketed as a direct threat to western survival alongside international terrorism.
"PC" has the effect of paralyzing its victims. You can do nothing to protect yourself, your family, your culture, your heritage, lest somebody somewhere be "offended." Bit by bit, like a creeping slime it extinguishes all vigour
until all that will remain will be a "1984" type mass of controlled drones.

"PC" is evil. Pure and simple. Its aims are evil. Its destination is evil.

Fight it at every turn.

Stendec

Very nicely put, totally agree.

As much as I don't like DUI, to can someone for a transgression a few years back
but with a very good record since does seem short sighted and harsh.

Funny this about PC is that it feeds upon itself in a building block method. Those in uniform in 20 years will look back at today and remark on the reletive freedoms we have to step on the willy and survive from a career standpoint.

Yes, because stopping people calling people niggers and sacking pregnant women is evil

You have one helluva wide ranging definition of PC to apply it to that Alfred.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_correctness

This is what the internet thinks "PC" is. Lots of people who don't actually have the balls to explain why they think something should be the case, so they throw out "because PC", a bit like "because 'elf'n'safety" to mask their case.

In this case, a good shot broke the UCMJ enough to be busted in rank and is now not being retained. Whilst there is a fine line between a zero-defect culture and something like this, I'd suggest that for maintenance of good order and discipline it was an appropriate decision. Leadership isn't a popularity contest.

Hangarshuffle,

Fine. Yes. But, did you really read between the lines in that Havok Journal article, though?

One lesson I learned from my years in the military is that they will chew you up and then spit you out when you're no longer any good to them.
Many of my mates still have ongoing problems as a result of what they had to do - and cope with - while doing the bidding of slimy politicians.

We are still fighting for justice and the proper recognition of what active service can do to some who were formerly more than sound of body and mind.

Have you ever, in your life, failed to live up to the expectations of others when under post-traumatic stress?

Or, haven't you been there?

alfred

Yes, he broke the UCMJ, got charged, got busted (punished), did his redemption and served his time but is now being punished again.

At the start of the article it says that he has reached his limit in that rank but I gather can't be promoted, partly because he has spent so long on active service.


Seriously, how many of us have served in one way or another and not
trod on our dicks at one point, resulting in either a meeting "hats on,
no tea or coffee" up to maybe a charge ? I somehow doubt that every
senior person has a totally unblemished record.

I know troops would prefer to follow a person who might not be perfect
and has the odd blemish but who know WTF he is doing.

Just my HO.

It's the way US Forces do it, "up and out". It also applies to Officers, and to anyone who doesn't promote quickly enough. Tough for Frank, but he is not being victimised per se.

For those of us at the fore front of the DON'T DRINK and drive with compulsory dining in nights that too was a career stopper.

In the 70s and 80s you were still expected to drink wisely :) rather than not at all.

Nothing new here (doesn't make it right, just no surprise).

Just think how our 'hero' Churchill treated the members of Bomber Command. They carried out his wishes, but when it became expedient, he cut them free.

It took over 50 years for a monument to a Command that sustained roughly 45% losses. Most of the survivors had died (naturally thank God), before justice was seen to be done. The power of PC (before it was called that of course).

So Political Correctness? It'll be with us for as long as (inadequate IMHO) folks can use it when it suits them.

They'll criticise and destroy the very people we need when the chips are down and bleat like stuck pigs when there is nobody to do their dirty, wet work.

Watch this space, because this Islamic extremism is coming 'home' to roost and we'll need these pariahs to sort out the mess.