Message posted by Andre' M. Dall'au on March 17, 2001 at 5:31:34 PST:
Is the military ignorant? Since the epicenter of cutting edge military development is Goom Lake, smart military is on-topic. I would hope we ensure the military is as smart as we can make it as we entrust our sons and daughters to their care. Any organization that has that many eighteen to twenty-five years olds, and uses deadly weapons, will have grieviuos mistakes occasionally. The items you list as Military dumbness can be matched by commercial dumbness one for one. The Union Carbide gassing of Indians, The Titanic, The New Coke, etc. It's not so much Military idiocy, if anything it's the dumbing down of America, so that we live to accomodate the slowest, stupidest individual. we pass laws to ensure those individuals can have equal access to any job. Fair is fair, but is there anyone among us when faced with surgery on your child will not request the best doctor availible, and not ask for the most PC. If stupidity is to be eliminated, greed, personal gain, and the inept need to be removed from the equation. Black projects, since they are less visible, are tempting targets for personal or corporate gain. Since the government has done a less that stellar job protecting out secrets from foreign sources between New Mexico (where the term "Chinese take out" has now a new meaning) and the Hanssen case. I can only assume the people the safeguard our money are doing no better. Even then when good, round equipment is tweaked my the military to get pounded into square holes, then mistakes happen too. The Armalite AR-15 when given to the military was an excellent weapon. The Air Commandos and early SEALs loved them, the first SEAL, good friend Roy Boehm, almost got court martialled about buying them out of channels until JFK personally intervened. The Army had a few million tons of WWII gun power to use up, and substituted that propellent for the one specified by Eugene Stoner and Colt. THAT caused the jamming problem. The Osprey that flew so well initially was modified to fit on carriers, had it's rotors clipped, it's wings modified, and tail shortened, so it's flying characteristics are nothing like the first sweet machines. The current version flys nose down, and is tougher to control. The military does have a habit of getting bean counters to control what ends up in use, and that's a pity. Anyway "military Ignorance" is too narrow a term. Let's just call it enforced PC by folks who has never had to be alone in the middle of a hostile environment only relying on their teammates and equipment to keep them alive. I think anyone who makes a decision on anything military should be mandated to run the Darby Queen in less than an hour at least once a year. Just a thought. guys.
In Reply to: -- "IGNORANT?" By: Mr.IthelikeShiftKey posted by Sturmwehr on March 16, 2001 at 16:32:14 PST:
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