(Military Times) Op-Ed: Ending Military Bias

[unhappycamper]

Ending Military Bias
Joseph Kinney | November 28, 2008

A hidden danger threatens the long-term viability of our military. The threat arises from a deep-seated elitism that isolates and denigrates the military and what it represents. I know that the popular view is that American support hasn't been as high since World War.

The World War generation is fading fast. Ascending to power is the Vietnam Generation. The vast majority of those men and women dislike the military and what it stands for. This is manifested in a cultural elitism lurks below the surface that threatens the stability of our armed services. Much of this Jane Fonda Generation opposed the war and believed that Americans who fought were criminals. While some have grown out of this idiocy; many have not.

Today, only one in 400 people in this country are active duty military. Chances are that most people don't really know a Soldier, Marine, Sailor or Airman. That is true even where I live, which is just whistling distance from Fort Bragg, home of the 82nd Airborne and Special Operation commands.

The problem is more that just numbers and ratios. The problem is also attitude. Last year, I received a call from the Dean of Students office where my son attends college. I worried that he had done something terrible at this prestigious institution. My worry evolved into curiosity when the official told me that she was concerned about what my son had written on his "vocational interest" survey.

When I heard what he had done I sat in amazement and wondered how such a decision could possibly disturb an official of a very influential college. My son's sin, I was told, was that he wanted to be an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. I asked the caller if she had heard of Osama bin Laden. She sounded startled by my response. I told her that as long as bin Laden and his ilk roam the earth that I would be in favor of just about anybody joining the Marines.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,180084,00.html

[mediaman007]

1. I have no bias towards the military.

My bias is towards the military-industrial complex that Dwight Eisenhower warned us against. Perhaps the American public is concerned that the military uses its good will to arrange for more spending that the rest of the World added together.

My dad was a corpsman in WWII, my brother was in the Coast Guard. I have many friends who were in the military. Yet, the cronyism in the Pentagon overcomes those influences.