You bet that Tommy sees.

[GunnyGene]

I rarely read anything in the LA Times, but this article caught my attention.

It's pretty well written, but there's some uncomfortable realities in it, hence the title of this thread.

It's about the increasing divide between the military and civilian populations, and in my opinion is the result of Govt. policies over the past several years. It's a couple pages long, but worth the read, I think.

The U.S. military today is gradually becoming a separate warrior class, many analysts say, that is becoming increasingly distinct from the public it is charged with protecting.

As the size of the military shrinks, the connections between military personnel and the broad civilian population appear to be growing more distant, the Pew Research Center concluded after a broad 2012 study of both service members and civilians.

Most of the country has experienced little, if any, personal impact from the longest era of war in U.S. history. But those in uniform have seen their lives upended by repeated deployments to war zones, felt the pain of seeing family members and comrades killed and maimed, and endured psychological trauma that many will carry forever, often invisible to their civilian neighbors.

Today's military enjoys a lifestyle that in many ways exceeds that of much of the rest of the country: regular pay raises and lavish reenlistment bonuses, free healthcare, subsidized housing and, after 20 years of service, generous retirement benefits unavailable to many other Americans.

Senior officers live in large houses, travel on their own planes and oversee whole continents with little direction from Washington. Special-operations teams carry out kill missions and drone strikes — some even targeting U.S. citizens — that most civilians never even hear about.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-warrior-main-20150524-story.html#navtype=outfit

 

[ripjack13]

That's a decently written article. They should have elaborated on the suicides though....that's something a lot of people don't want to talk about.....

 

[OhioArcher]

Never thought of any base I was assigned to as an all-inclusive gated community. I guess they were. I looked to get outside the gates as often as possible. Some bases made it seem more secure living there than in the surrounding community but inside the gates were more restrictions, more rules than the ordinary citizen didn't have to deal with.

Not sure how it feels now that we have been at war for over 15 years. Closest base is an hour away. I miss hearing and seeing fighters flying all the time. Was a big part of my military career.

Pay was a big issue as we were way behind what our civilian counterparts made. Everyone in a particular paygrade or rank was paid the same regardless of the job. Cooks, cops, dental assistants, crew chiefs and fire crews all got paid the same amount. Some got hazardous duty incentives but they were few in number. While on-base housing was considered "free" it really wasn't. You lost your Basic Allowance for Housing (determined by paygrade) when you moved on base. Then came more restrictions and inspections. Kind of like a housing association.

The elitists in this county believe the military to be servants, someone to order around when needed then packed away. They are afraid of what the military represents and what the individuals are capable of. That bitch Diane Feinstein showed the true colors of the elitists when she said no military member should be allowed to own firearms. That they know too much about them and are too capable with them. But if shtf she would be the first to order them to protect her home and the capitol. Hypocrisy at its finest...

And here we sit, with multiple ongoing war fronts and our "leaders" have cut the military to its lowest manning levels since WWII. The capabilities of our units have deteriorated across the board. None stop deployments have drained the remaining forces of energy. One more hot spot, say China or North Korea, and our military will pushed to the breaking point. Technology is a great thing but you still need people to man the positions controlling the technology. And boots on the ground...

 

[Tuflehundon]

Had me interested until this BS line: "regular pay raises and lavish reenlistment bonuses". Wanna know what they were smoking.

 

[SHOOTER13]

God bless all the branches of our military...truly our 1st line of defense ( and offense ) when it comes to protecting our values and morals throughout the world !!

 

[GunnyGene]

God bless all the branches of our military...truly our 1st line of defense ( and offense ) when it comes to protecting our values and morals throughout the world !!

I'll drink to that!

 

[CaddmannQ]

Old thread but a good laugh about the "secure gated communities".
They think it was Beverly Hills?

I lived on a dozen of them and they all had Russian ICBMs pointed right at them!

You can always tell when the people writing these things have never lived the life they were trying to describe.

Nobody ever got "free" family housing and you didn't get any housing without a long wait if you had a family. There was never more than half enough family housing on any base we ever saw.

My dad never made a decent paycheck until he retired to civilian life. His salary quadrupled within 2 years of military retirement.
He was forced to retire when the Pentagon "froze" the ranks, and then mustered out people early. With 3 years in the Navy and 27 in the USAF and Army Air Corps, and medals from three wars, the bastards mustered him out so they could keep 1/4 of his pension.

This was right after they came him a commendation too.

Grrrrrr.....

 

[CaddmannQ]

. . . I miss hearing and seeing fighters flying all the time. Was a big part of my military career....

As kids we used to sneak out to the end of the runway, and hide in the tall grass, just over the hill at the end. We'd lie on the ground when the B-52's took off. They would be really low, and all 8 engines were just screaming, and the vibration would just pound you against the ground.
Yeah, I miss that.

. . .That bitch Diane Feinstein showed the true colors of the elitists when she said no military member should be allowed to own firearms. That they know too much about them and are too capable with them . . .

WTF is she on?
This woman is clearly nuts.