Link to Commentary

-- canthappen (n@ysayer.com), February 17, 2000

Answers

Do you remember what an idiot Bulworth was? It's a likely comparison.

-- Just Curious (jnmpow@flash.net), February 17, 2000.

So far McCain hasn't done a rap routine a la Bulworth.

Something that isn't getting much discussion---Clinton has vitiated US military strength similar to what Carter did. Which candidate would do the best job rebuilding Military readiness and morale? I think it would be McCain.

-- (nemesis@awol.com), February 17, 2000.

I don't want to make a political statement. I want to say something about "morale". A person very close to me served in Bosnia the Gulf on one terrible tour. Out of his command, a fair number of the kids sought discharge in any way possible: claiming homosexuality, smoking dope and asking for drug tests the next day and just plain breakdowns. This group was the cream of the military crop two years ago. There weren't that many of them. In the talks I've had with them, the central issue was poor maintenance of equipment, incompetency and disregard of personnel protocol. Yeah, I know. Typical military b***sh**. However, Old Guard, we weren't IT's and Nukes. Different world, different generation and a hell of a difference in consequences for the population when the military is allowed to be abused. These kids, at least most of them, came home. They brought back memories, just like we did from Nam. But the Nam generation didn't have the tools or the skills that this generation does. We need to think about what we're allowing to happen. Poor maintenance on IT equipment or a nuclear reactor has a whole different array of consequences (as do spent uranium munitions and chemical-biological weapons). This sort of problem kills, but slowly,like AO still does. And the dying have plenty of time to think, speak and make others aware of what's happened.Another point is that our current generation has been exposed to the horrors of Agent Orange and Gulf War Syndrome. They're prepared mentally to deal with the concept of betrayal by their own for profit. Morale is about more than "feeling good". Morale is something we need to wake up to as an issue.

-- charlie (cml@workmail.com), February 17, 2000.