LOL.
It's always easy to see the quality of the troops one served with.
May those chains rest lightly.
Don't get in the way.
Just Sayin.
How are the quality of troops you serve with?
I’m not guessing in what I wrote. There are certain orgs and units that have a tendency to be rebellious, and you can and will see dissension there. But they are small. If you think a private in the 2nd MARDIV or a private in a Ranger battalion is going to tell their squad leader to pound sand regardless of what the subject is, you’re out of touch with reality, and have never been in or worked with units.
Shooting on the range with retired dudes, or even people currently from select units, is not the same as being in and seeing what happens day to day- even in such units. Doubly so in the conventional military. There’s no magic here. Critical thinking and and refusing stupid orders isn’t something people just have when it really counts. It has to be taught, fostered and allowed to be used. It is the exact opposite of what basic and military life is structured for. Almost anyone that can think critically is not functional in most of the military. There’s so much ignorant stuff that happens every day, that those types of people either get out, get chaptered out, or in very few cases move to places where individuality is somewhat tolerated.
Everyone has this picture that it’s going to be peaceful citizens just minding their own business and all of a sudden the 3rd ID is going to be ordered to round them up and shoot them. That’s ridiculous and ignores all history. The military is just another group (like police, conservatives, liberals, etc) that can and will quickly fall into “us versus them”. All it will take is for a couple of soldiers to get injured guarding some stupid event due to citizens trying to protest, or otherwise contest it, and you will see it. All the cops and Guardsmen that have been out and dealing with riots and protests all year didn’t standby and watch it happen because they believe in the right to protest. They stood by because the were told to. Had they been told to end it, they would have.
