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[–]RandomCollection[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (10 children)

Ever since the transition away from conscription after Vietnam, the difficult truth is that the US military has been a poverty draft and a "military family" sort of job.

With the changes to the US military and its role, I think that most people realize that the system is fundamentally rotten.

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

I think the use and abuse Brian refers to went on steroids with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the rise of the neocons in the late 90s. There was a recruitment crisis in the late 2000s because people didn't want to die in Iraq or Afghanistan and I suspect the fear we're going to end up in a war with Russia or China is part of the current recruitment problem. The other part is the woke insanity that's making the military look the opposite of a force to be reckoned with.

[–]3andfro 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

The misuse of National Guard troops didn't help. I wonder if those ranks have thinned.

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

That was horrific. I think some of those guys had something like 3 or 4 tours over there.

[–]3andfro 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

A rude awakening for those who expected (with reason) to be weekend warriors once/month or so.

[–]RandomCollection[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

There was a recruitment crisis in the late 2000s because people didn't want to die in Iraq or Afghanistan and I suspect the fear we're going to end up in a war with Russia or China is part of the current recruitment problem

Yep - nation state wars tend to have over an order of magnitude more deaths.

Insurgents have small arms, IEDs, and suicide bombers. Nation states tend to have a full array of conventional weapons.

[–]InumaGaming Socialist 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I was supposed to go in after 9/11 and was rejected on terms of having health issues. The trauma bonding over that event helped recruit others like Tulsi who went in as an officer. With all the traveling around the country I did over going military, I saw a LOT of reasons for people not to join up as their conditions worsened. Can't do school, can't stay home, broken families, stress...

You couldn't really care about the outside world when you're living in a destitute bubble. My family was big enough that I didn't fall down when I could have but others weren't so lucky.

And the US government has been breaking down communities all over the country and giving them woke BS which only reinforces this.

It's just... Wow...

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It really has been a traumatic couple of decades, made worse by the criminals running things. And we're not out of it yet.

[–]NetweaselContinuing the struggle 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

It can be argued that the last Justified War (worth dying for to protect one's people) that the US was in was back in the 1860s.
And fully Justified for only one part of the US.

And that part didn't even consider itself part of the US at the time.

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Don't know how justified they were but YMMV. Most of my ancestors fought for the Confederacy because they were in Georgia. The tragedy from my POV is that they were all dirt poor farmers who were maimed or killed to preserve slavery (according to these states' secession statements) despite never owning slaves themselves.

[–]NetweaselContinuing the struggle 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'm talking more of the "we're leaving"/"hell no you're not, we'll kick your ass" component, like what happened in the late 1770s.

The dying to protect one's people from the threatened ass-kicking.