The Prince of Darkness
treads were few Republicans dare to tread.
Retired Army Lt. Col. Charles Krohn got himself in trouble with his superiors as a Pentagon civilian public affairs official during the first 3-1/2 years of the Bush administration by telling the truth. He is still at it in private life. He says not to blame the military recruiters for the current recruiting ''scandal.'' Blame the war.
''Army recruiting is in a death spiral, through no fault of the Army,'' Krohn told me. Always defending uniformed personnel, he resents hard-pressed recruiters being attacked for offering unauthorized benefits to make quotas. In a recent e-mail sent to friends (mostly retired military), Krohn complained that the ''Army is having to compensate for a problem of national scope.''
The Army's dilemma is maintaining an all-volunteer service when volunteering means going in harm's way in Iraq. The dilemma extends to national policy. How can the United States maintain its global credibility against the Islamists, if military ranks cannot be filled by volunteers and there is no public will for a draft?
Krohn's e-mail describes the problem: ''Consider the implications of being unable to find sufficient volunteers, as seen by our adversaries. Has the United States lost its will to survive? What's happened to the Great Satan when so few are willing to fight to defend the country? Surely bin Laden et al are making this argument, telling supporters victory is just around the corner if they are a bit more patient. And if they're successful, the energy sources in the Mideast may be within their grasp.''
To be fair to Novak, he was consistently skeptical about this war, so this column doesn't break new ground by talking about reality. Then again, Novak is one of the few pundits with military experience, hence his reluctance to rush to war. Funny how veterans are less likely to cheerlead unecessary wars. Or cry about "anti-military bias" in the media.
Gilliard lands some blows.
The blame lies directly on Bush and Rumsfeld. They picked this war and they will have to deal with the consequences of it. Which is basically the end of American imperial power.
But the problem is that this isn't defending the country. It's a colonial war. And no one is running to fight that war.
Soldiers in a democracy can only be asked for so much. If this was about Afghanistan, these issues would not exist. No one is going to want their child to die or be crippled by an Iraqi IED.
The Army is running out of time. Months, not years. By next year, this will degrade the Army.
Recruiting abuses come from a reality that Wal Mart is now more appealing than two tours of Iraq. No one blows up an IED in Wal Mart.
Among the many tragedies of this war, here are two very big picture ones:
1) The perception of US invulnerability has been shattered. After the US and its Northern Alliance allies routed the Taliban, the world quivered in the face of US military might. Saddam caved on every demand presented him -- destroy his missiles, allow inspectors back in.
The US could've used that perception to push for meaningful concessions in North Korea, Iran, and elsewhere. Instead, we're bogged down in an unecessary war in Iraq, our military spent and depleted, and with Americans unwilling to replenish the ranks. The diplomatic fallout is obvious, but our inability to use force as a tool is a bigger casualty.
2) The military has long been one of our nation's most effective tools for social promotioon. How many poor or lower middle class kids have taken advantage of the Army's educational benefits to get educated and climb the socio-economic ladder? Me, for one.
There have long been complaints about the overrepresentation of blacks and Latinos in our armed forces, often viewed as signs of inequity. Yet for many, the Army (and Marines, Air Force, and Navy) were a one-way ticket out of their ghettos, or trailer parks, or barrios. Here was a meritocratic mini-society more color-blind than any other in our nation. Where people of color where equally represented in the enlisted ranks from bottom all the way to the top.
The military was either an honorable career, or a stepping stool toward a college degree and all benefits that flow from that.
Yet I wouldn't join the Army of 2005, the way I did in August 1989. And severe recruitment shortfalls mean that thousands of kids who would've used the military for social advancement will not get a chance to do so.
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