Growing up, my mother and father watched ‘60 Minutes’ every week. The end of each show was a commentary by a grand fatherly looking man named Andy Rooney. He would question things in everyday life, like why there was a toothbrush holder next to the sink, why certain auto makers made one product and another did not. The kinds of things you would wonder about when you were older and wiser. He was funny and insightful. Not anymore.

Now he calles the new Soldiers to join the Army ” the bottom of the barrel”.

In an attempt to get the soldiers they need, recruiters have reduced the standards for getting into the Army or Navy. They have reduced the educational standards, for example, so that they’re getting more soldiers who didn’t go to high school, let alone graduate from high school.

I did graduate from high school but I know more than one excellent Soldier that only had a GED, hell, my 1stSGT in the 82nd, a former Ranger School Instructer, only had an 8th Grade education. He may have know all the words in the Oxford English Language Dictunary abut he was a fine Soldier and great Jump Master. Other Soldiers I have know, both good and bad, have only had a G.E.D. The military is nothing more than a mirco-cosum of the society it protects. You are going to find every type of person serving in uniform. Some of the most intelligent, insightful people I have very met have been in the Army with me, in the Infantry, which is derided in the military it’self as the home of the strong backs and weak minds. Hardly.

Recruiters are granting thousands of what they call “moral waivers”. A “moral waiver” it turns out means they’ll take someone who has committed a crime or even someone who has been in prison. Last year, a total of 8,129 “moral waivers” were given to men who volunteered for the Army.

I doubt recruiters are letting hard core gang members or the Zodiac killer into the military. The truth is there have always been people with checkerd pasts in uniform. And even if a recrute has been arrested for something, drunk driving, shop lifting, not paying a speeding ticket ect. who is to say the he or she does not deserve a chance to improve their lives by serving? I don’t know what these “moral wavers’ cover but I’m sure that they do not cover violent crimes. Relax, Andy, I don’t think are Armed Forces are suddenly overflowing with Ted Bundys and Hell’s Angles.

Here’s where it gets really good.

In August of 1941, I had just finished my junior year in college when I was drafted into the Army. Hundreds of my classmates were drafted at the same time. I hated everything about Army life. I hated the Field Artillery regiment I was assigned to. Most of the guys in it were high school dropouts and the Army wasn’t using the term “moral waiver,” yet but a lot of them would have needed it.They had joined before the draft so they had already been promoted to being corporals or sergeants and they were in charge of the rest of us.In 1942 we were at war with Germany and it wasn’t long before drafted college students and high school graduates dominated our military. It changed the United States Army for the better and in two years made it the best fighting force there has ever been. The Army and Navy were no longer made up of losers.

So, let me get this right? If you have a high school, or better yet, a college degree, then that makes you better than the rest of the Soldiers you serve with? Because you were able to complete assignments and turn in homework on time, in the end simply reguritate what the teacher has told you, you have transformed into a superior being then some lowly pathetic creature with a GED? And if the military does not have these people in it’s ranks then it is nothing but a group of losers. Huh? Kind of like the group of losers you served with, Andy? Like my two uncles that helped defeat Hitler but lacked your high standards in education? I would imagine that the vast majority of the men that served in World War II, and saved the world from evil, did not have a college degree. Damn… What a bunch of losers.

**Edit by AS - AS needed a moral waiver when he entered the Army, go figure!**

32 Comments
General

I’m just confused here and no one is really answering. I will admit that @WR can write very well but there is something strange about the whole situation. There is a @WR on Chucks site. That @WR doesn’t know who this @WR is and the site he has created. The @WR doesn’t know of Chucks (TC Override) site or how all those posts were put up to direct people to his site. There were a few Milblog sites that got hacked and they happened to direct it to his (@WR) site without the author (@WR) knowing about it.

Anyone care to explain?

I mean if this person is legit then fine but if he is lying and leading people by their emotions I’m going to be pissed. I am not sure because this person can write as if he is there but there is this looming question.

@WR - Email me and we can talk.

**Update - All is good in the Milblog land. @WR is not going to eat your children so visit the site. **

13 Comments
General

The red tape has begun its entanglement with me now. I have recently pushed the issue that I need to have some of my residual injuries checked out. For nearly a year I have just lived with them. I guess I was expected to just take the initiative and do things on my own. I mean I am a NCO after all and I am supposed to just do what I have to do right?

Wrong!

I am a wounded warrior who got injured and as a result suffers from some crazy PTSD at times. When I first got home I didn’t leave my house for nearly 3 months. I drank and self medicated myself into a stupor and dealt with my demons. I bought a car earlier last year and only have about 5000 miles on it. The math comes out to maybe 15 miles a day since I’ve had it. I usually drive into town and then right back.

Boom!

I requested my head get checked out because I was one of the lost souls in the system. Literally dropped from the active duty ranks and sent packing back to my reserve unit. They never knew I was home.

Shame!

So I went to my local MEDCOM and they made some phone calls but no one is coming back with anything concrete. I just want to be checked out. I am tired of the tremors, headaches, nightmares, sleepless nights, slurred speech, forgetfulness, etc.

Stand fast!

I expected a phone call this week. I expected one 8 months ago too. In light of the Walter Reed situation commanders are jumping out their asses to ensure they don’t get relieved. Funny thing is the same MEDCOM commander is the same one who never got back to me back then. I requested to be put back on active duty orders when I got home because I needed help!

Opps!

He looked me in the face this past week and assured me that he would take care of me. I shook his hand with a firm grip and told him that I expected nothing but the best care. However I have not heard from him in a week. I guess the bureaucracy and red tape scheme is taking affect. He is saying that Walter Reed may be backed up. So I may have to go nearly across country to get looked at.

Oh really?

This guy best find a resolution soon or I will fuck his shit up.

Pay back is a bitch when the media is in a feeding frenzy for material!

23 Comments
General