Clueless NYTimes

A couple months ago, NYTimes editor Brooks wrote an editorial saying that the reason "WE" have a "love hate" relationship with the armed services is that "we" sometimes envy/worry because "we" did not join (essentially to try one's manhood in battle, or volunteer for something dangerous, if I remember it correctly).

And a couple weeks back, Tina Brown in the WaPost lamented that she lived in Manhattan to be away from "christians" but in Washington she had to put up with these inferior types.

Now Professor Kennedy essentially assumes the same thing: that since "we" i.e. read the elite of Manhattan, don't know anyone in the army/navy/marines/national guard because we are lazy and selfish, then ergo the army is merely outsiders and mercenries...

Some will find it offensive to call today's armed forces a "mercenary army," but our troops are emphatically not the kind of citizen-soldiers that we fielded two generations ago - drawn from all ranks of society without respect to background or privilege or education, and mobilized on such a scale that civilian society's deep and durable consent to the resort to arms was absolutely necessary.

Leaving questions of equity aside, it cannot be wise for a democracy to let such an important function grow so far removed from popular participation and accountability.

Sorry, professor, but just because you don't have the courage or guts to serve your country doesn't mean that it is the army's fault...the fault is in elites so pampered that they think the country owes them a living, and that the dirty jobs like nursing/ garbage collection/water utilities/ policemen/ firemen are something out there manned by "the other", subhumans who never would be invited to your party...

But outside of Manhattan's elites, many of us know people in the armed services, and indeed, as a retired officer in the NG, I can point out that I joined for patriotic reasons, because I felt I "owed" the country a part of my talents that could be needed in times of war or local disaster.

Speak for yourself, professor. Just because you are a snob with limited experience doesn't mean the rest of us are insular people like you...

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Now for some humor from ARRGH via GruntDoc:

Military Terms and Translations

Army	Navy/USMC	Air Force
Latrine	Head	Powder Room
Cot	Rack	A Single with ruffle and duvet
Mess Hall	Chow Hall	Cafe'
BDU's	Utilities	Casual Wear
Private	Seaman	Bobby or Jimmy
Sergeant	Chief	Bob or Jim
Colonel	Captain / Skipper	Robert or James
Article 15	Captain's Mast/Office Hrs	Time Out
Barracks	Billets	Dormitory
Underwear	Skivvies	Lingerie
Put in confinement facility	Thrown in the Brig	Grounded

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