The Kinder, Gentler Army
April 30, 2013
HENRY McCULLOCH writes:
The Associated Press carried a story the other day that is meant, I suppose, to be both heart-warming and reassuring. It’s about the grit of our gals, guys and in-betweens in uniform. Call me cold-hearted if you like, but I found it neither heart-warming nor reassuring. It’s the kind of story that makes me miss Lawrence Auster’s pithy commentary all the more.
The story celebrates the achievement of U.S. Army Sergeant First Class (SFC – E-7) Greg Robinson in completing the Army’s air assault school at Fort Campbell, Kentucky — home of the 101st Airborne Division. (Despite its name, the 101st is an air assault division: most of its soldiers no longer train to make parachute jumps into battle, but are flown into action in helicopters in the manner combat-proved by the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam and Cambodia.) Having a SFC graduate from the air assault school is not in itself much of a story, except that under normal circumstances one would expect an air assault NCO to have completed the school earlier in his career. What makes SFC Robinson’s achievement distinctive is that he is an amputee. According to NewsMax, SFC Robinson lost part of his right leg in Afghanistan in 2006.
While I might admire SFC Robinson’s pluck (and I can’t help noticing that it has taken seven years for him to recover sufficiently to pass the course), I question the wisdom of assigning an amputee to a unit that requires its soldiers to jump off of, and at times rappel from, helicopters as a routine part of its mission. In SFC Robinson’s case the routine thing would have been to retire him from the Army because of his wounds, guaranteeing him his pension and life-long VA care. If the Army were determined to show that it would find things for soldiers needlessly maimed in the U.S. government’s ill-conceived Middle Eastern misadventures to do, it could have assigned SFC Robinson to administrative or staff duties that would not require him to perform the tasks required of physically intact soldiers in the field.
The story, while celebratory, contains hints that SFC Robinson’s achievement may not be all that meets the eye, and that the Army may be storing up trouble for itself in the future. In the course of the ten-day school, SFC Robinson’s prosthetic leg broke twice. Forgive me for being insensitive, but I would not want to be in combat with a platoon sergeant whose leg breaks twice in ten days! In an Army rationally administered, focused on fighting ability and combat readiness, SFC Robinson for all his individual determination would be absolutely unqualified for assignment to duty as the platoon sergeant of an air assault unit. And even if this makes me a real grinch, I have to note that I was troubled by a quote from SFC Robinson, presumably in the story to show how gung-ho he is. Of the Army, Robinson says “it’s not my job; it’s my lifestyle.” This is dangerously close to the fatally misguided notion that people somehow have a right to serve in the armed forces, whether or not they are truly qualified or their presence in the military makes any sense. It’s that kind of levelling liberalism that has given us women in combat units and open homosexuals in the armed forces, to the great detriment of the services’ ability to perform their missions.
Another curious thing about this story is that instead of the usual quote from a general or colonel about what a “hero” SFC Robinson is for completing a training course, the only officer quoted is one Captain “Greg” Gibson. CPT Gibson is not Robinson’s commanding officer, nor is he an air assault leader. He isn’t an infantry officer at all. CPT Gibson is a nurse. Are nurses now deciding who is qualified for combat duty in the United States Army? God help us.
Affirmative action already infests the U.S. armed forces at all levels, also to the great detriment of the services’ ability to perform their missions. It looks like our new kindler, gentler military is adding another quota category to the existing preferences for nonwhite people and women: the disabled. I mean no insult to SFC Robinson, although I do not believe his attachment to the Army “lifestyle” should trump the combat readiness of the 101st Airborne Division. But the truth must be that if held to reasonable standards, SFC Robinson would not have graduated from the Army’s air assault school. In an Army not run by fools, he would not have been permitted to attempt it.
Once again the relentless liberal pursuit of equality über alles has defeated common sense. I wonder how many more such defeats our chronically disordered society can endure.
— Comments —-
Joe A. writes:
It is interesting to note that Fort Campbell is the former home of the idiotic Lt. Col. Jack Rich, famous for indoctrinating Pennsylvania Army Reservists in the evils of the homophobic American Family Association and Family Research Council. Their opposition to “gay” marriage is contrary to “Army Values,” in his humble and expert opinion.
Mr. Rich (a gentleman’s true title unless he earned otherwise in combat) has a LinkedIn profile. In it, we learn he is a Cub Scout den leader and that he is presently seeking new opportunities.
When the above mentioned indoctrination made the news, I called the office of Fort Campbell’s commanding officer. I had a nice chat with the soldier that answered the phone. He assured me the general (who did earn his stars in combat) “discussed this with LTC Rich” and that, were I there to witness it, I would be very pleased with the discussion.
It must be considered a small miracle that Mr. Rich does not seem to be associated with the 101st Airborne division. Surely it is a sign of the impending end of this society that it takes its duties to self-defense and procreation so frivolously as to toy with life itself. As I’ve been fond of saying lately, these are “Darwinian Dead Ends” that even the most secular-minded narcissist ought to comprehend.
Alex writes:
The purpose of every arm, department and agency of the U.S. Government now is to provide good jobs for members of preferred groups who vote Democratic. Did anyone really believe they would spare the military, which has a huge and almost untapped reservoir of such jobs?
