BREAKING: The US Army (A Demographic Timebomb)

xzynx at The All Spin Zone:

What is really happening inside the US Army and what are the long-term implications?

This line of inquiry begins with the Daily Kos diary, “My Saddest Consumer Experience, Ever”. It’s a diary which relates the following encounter with a career Marine:

“I'm a Marine, and I just got back from Iraq on… what day is it, Friday? Monday, and I've been drinkin' since. Probably be drinkin' until I go back - not to Iraq, but back in. This war is a mistake, it's all based on lies. We never found any weapons over there, men and women are being killed for no reason. It's a mistake and there's no reason for it. I've been there..”

…his face jolted as if he had just realized what he was saying. This man was broken, and there was absolutely no reason for it. His voice cracked as he continued

This is a stark illustration of one of the unintended consequences of the Bush Administration’s Iraq fiasco. Its aftermath will bring fundamental and disturbing changes to US Army demographics.

[...]

no one wants felons and skinheads in the Army and it is a real frustrating situation. Do I believe more middle-upper class to upper-class kids should be in the military, especially since they probably are reaping all the benefits of being an American

I'm concerned about “after Iraq”. I think we've poisoned the well ... a very bad thing. We've fought a two front war without any shared sacrifice, so we will have almost 40 years withoiut any collective notion of providing for the common defense.

What's more, traditionally demographics with high enlistment propensity are lost forever.

A generation of USAR/Guard folks have bad attitudes.

Dark days are ahead post Iraq

This is the first explicit reference to what may become a demographic time bomb in the Army. The Iraq war is fundamentally altering the Army’s demographic character and the trend isn’t good.

This OCS thread started because of a report on the www.defenselink.mil website. Now we find out why the report has been purged.

Well folks, my original cause for alarm about PFC Cindra Smith (the woman featured at the top of this thread) was apparanely justified.

This washed up 40 year old was the subject of an Army propaganda piece on how she enlisted as an EOD tech to avenge the injury of her daughter in Iraq. Numerous right-wing military blogs held her up as a scion of virtue and a sign that 40 year olds Moms are just as desirable E-3s as 20 year old men. There was only one problem: her daughter was never injured in Iraq or even in the military.
…
Both Smith and PFC Stephen Green were the subjects of Army News propaganda pieces. Both were found to be deviants (of varying degrees of course). If these folks are held up for media scrutiny, what is to be said of those we deliberately try to hide from public view.

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