Michael Z. Williamson, friend, author, blogger, knife vendor and all-around good guy, has written a magnificent rant about the trials and tribulations of dealing with military administration - and administrators. I've never served in the US military, but my memories of the South African military pretty much match his, and I spent a while giggling (unhappily) over the memories his article brought back to mind. It's a lengthy rant, and will take some time to read in full, but if you're a veteran of military service, you'll appreciate it.
Getting Some Old Military Frustrations Down On Paper
Click over there and have fun!
Peter
8 comments:
I was in the Navy. Active duty. 21 years.
We had our fair share of mental midgets at all levels and my primary complaint was, has been, and is still that the path to Senior Naval Leadership is open to good politicians rather than good leaders...but that rant sure makes me realize I dodged a bullet by going blue.
And any officer who believes they're actually the ones getting things done only holds this delusion because their NCOs politely allow them to.
I was also Navy but I only did a bit over 6 back in the 90's. I've heard the talk about Army infantry and POGs before but, man, that crap is toxic as hell, the Army brass are idiots for allowing it. Sure it's a Firecontrolman on the ship that fires the guns or launches the missiles but they don't work with out power and we need the snipes down in engineering for that. Of course that's another difference being on ships vs. the Army, they can't just give you a couple weeks training and have you do a new job. I was in nearly two years before I finished my first schools and went to my ship (USS O'Brien). For most things ones rating is more important then their rank, if the sonar is down a sonar tech seaman apprentice is more valuable then a boatswain's mate master chief.
That these structural problems exist, and have not been fixed in such a long time, frankly scares me, given the deliberate sabotage that is the DEI demands, and the long running failures in major military construction programs, like the Naval ship design, building, and maintenance programs as detailed at CDR Salamanders' Substack and elsewhere.
John in Indy
Ditto. Mt last duty station (Da Nang) we had exactly two who got almost everything done; one was a long-service Gunny, and the other was a mustang 2nd Lt. who was a senior NCO before going to the Dark Side.😉 At my previous post the effective ones were a W-1 who was an E-6 when I got there, and two other E-6s. Senior NCOs run the Corps, and do their best to keep newbie officers from getting everyone killed.
In one book Robert Heinlein said whatever you called them there were really only three departments. Two were of no help, and the Fairy Godmother Department that actually provided useful assistance was staffed by one semi-retired old lady who infrequently came in to go over the request list.
In another book Heinlein said that the price of freedom is the willingness to do sudden battle anytime, anywhere, and with utter recklessness. I think about that a lot.
rick m
"Keep your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark", another of his (actually, attributed to Lazarus Long), has become almost a mantra in some blogs. Can't argue with it.
Somewhere, there exists a forgotten complaint by a forgotten NCO, written in Linear A.
The content probably relates to a traditional oral history of the writer's culture, where he relates how a dimly remembered ancestor was complaining about the leader of a hunting party.
Humans gotta human.
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