Of all my 29 years in the military, I've heard speeches
from both good and bad officers.

Regardless of the aforesaid competency of the officer, what 
they say in prepared form for public consumption all sounds 
similar.  Not because the officer is either bad or good, 
but because they're quite aware it WILL get retold and have 
a Public Affairs staff to ensure any public speaking tows 
the military line.

Nonetheless, I have also seen the military evolve since the 
Vietnam period.  Today's officer is more circumspect than
the last generation.  I'd like to believe it is due to
better training and education, or if you doubt that, 
perhaps the military has become better adapted to picking
out the bad eggs before they get to the senior pay-grades?

Rather, I think the aforementioned speech is typical of a
pep-rally or change-of-command ceremony (where nothing 
bad is going to be said anyway.)  If the latter, the 
speech was required fare.

The only cases where I've heard an officer say anything
against the "cause de jour," are those disgrunted as 
previously noted, AND have been passed over for promotion, 
AND are "falling on their swords" as it were, upon their
retirement.  Even so, such cases are rare, the unhappy
officer is usually content with the retirement benefits
and quietly slinks away to a civilian government job.

Tracy Johnson
MSI Schaevitz Sensors 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Larry Barnes [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, December 19, 2003 1:44 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: The Other Side of the Story
> 
> 
> Thanks for the insight Wirt.  I've never served in the military, but I
> developed deep opinions about the rank and file of the different
> military units; based on what my brother told me about his 
> tour of duty
> in Nam. There were many LT's, and captains who were killed by not so
> 'friendly fire' because of what they put their units through; 
> according
> to my brother.
> 
> There is both good and bad in every walk of life, sad to say.
> 
> Enjoy the holiday season, and thanks again.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wirt Atmar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
> Sent: Friday, December 19, 2003 10:37 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: The Other Side of the Story
> 
> 
> Joe writes:
> 
> > I dont have direct knowledge of what units are assigned to 
> Iraq, but I
> would
> >  like to point out, what I'm sure Wirt is aware of, that where a
> military
> >  unit is assign and where all components of that military unit are
> physically
> >  located, is two entirely different things.
> 
> In this case, I suspect that the commanding officer can see all of his
> troops
> by simply looking out his window. He is in charge of an 
> Aviation Ground
> Support unit and most likely has a rank somewhere between captain and
> colonel. The
> unit's last combat duty was in Somalia.
> 
> During my eight year, semi-forced connection with the military as a
> civilian
> scientist, but given the honorary rank of O-3 (captain in the Marines,
> Army or
> Air Force, lieutenant in the Navy), it was my strong impression that
> those
> people who had the least to lose and who were least at risk 
> tended to be
> the
> most aggressive in their pronouncements, to the point of being
> occasionally
> nonsensically rabid.
> 
> But let me also say that during that time that, because of both my job
> and my
> honorary rank, I ate dinner and lunch on an everyday basis 
> with a number
> of
> admirals and generals. What I was greatly impressed with is that they
> often
> asked me my opinion, even though I was only approx. 25 at the time. I
> presume
> they asked me simply because they wanted to get an 
> independent opinion,
> something
> told them by someone who wasn't saying what someone thought they would
> want
> to hear.
> 
> Although this was during the height of the Vietnam War and 
> the Cold War,
> a
> time when generals were being portrayed as pigs and purveyors of
> megadeath, I
> was consistently impressed with the military's capacity to 
> choose among
> the best
> of the candidates in its selection of its general staffs. I was very
> impressed with the intelligence and humanity of the people who I met,
> and having met
> those people 30 years ago, I've had a great deal of confidence in the
> American
> military ever since.
> 
> But I was just impressed by the meanness and irrationality of 
> those who
> knew
> they were going to go no further in the military, especially 
> those whose
> highest rank was going to be colonel. These people either turned very
> bitter or
> tried desperately to out-gung ho one another. I tend to put that
> particular
> "message to the troops" in among the latter.
> 
> Wirt Atmar
> 
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