No no no. When push comes to shove the heroic military will fight against fascism. Ignore all the fucking evidence to the contrary and support the troops.
Not wrong. At “best,” we’ll see a fracturing of the military…which could be much more trouble than it’s worth. I’d expect a small wave of resignations/desertions (since resignation for an officer takes a long time). The remainder of good people will actively try to avoid and sea-lawyer their way out of doing any damage to civilians without violating orders. There will be a good chunk who will happily fire on US civilians, though.
Yep, but those who resign for moral reasons will be more likely to take actual actions to protest/stop what’s happening. The military will have a hard time recruiting competent people in that environment, though, and the people taking the vacancies will likely have diminishing competence as time goes on.
To put it in perspective, if more officers retire at 20, they’ll generally be O-5s (Lieutenant Colonels or Commanders), and so the next year’s promotion cycle will need to promote more O-4s to cover the vacancies. This will then trickle down, and suddenly, you have officers who have been O-3s for just a couple of years being promoted to O-4 rather than waiting longer and gaining experience.
In that scenario, there will be less efficiency in planning and execution and far more incompetence, and if being used against civilians, more brutality. But incompetence is easier to defeat in the long run. Seeing the incompetence and brutality will deprive the military of the smartest recruits who staff the important IT, intelligence, cyber, etc. communities. So, while they may get true believers, a lower proportion will be competent.
No matter how it shakes out, it will get very bad.
Yep, but those who resign for moral reasons will be more likely to take actual actions to protest/stop what’s happening
No. They won’t. Or, to be more blunt, the people who would actually be useful won’t. Because they are the ones who understand the world isn’t Call of Duty and a single guy with a pistol isn’t actually going to Jack Bauer his way through an entire armed escort.
The military will have a hard time recruiting competent people
They already do. That is why the military is dumb as a door knob and full of the kind of people who just want an excuse to shoot some folk whether they are brown or not.
This will then trickle down, and suddenly, you have officers who have been O-3s for just a couple of years being promoted to O-4 rather than waiting longer and gaining experience.
Breathe. We will get through this, and how is question worth considering, as the commenter above did. If you need to share this burden of despair with someone, my DMs are open.
MAYBE that would have worked on the “I just want to go to college” Desert Storm kids.
We spent the better part of 20 years at continual war training an army to commit atrocities in the name of “peace keeping”. Anybody joining under those circumstances either started out brainwashed (“My daddy and his daddy and his daddy were all marines!”) or are basically cops who just want an excuse to wave a gun around.
At best? We are looking at the equivalent of trotting out liz cheney at the DNC. Sure there are “moderates” who might be won over. But the moment they hear that somebody doesn’t like whatever “moderate” belief they have they’ll go straight maga and then insist it is your fault for not winning their vote by slaughtering a few trans kids.
Even that is fading because the tendency to fuck over the VA is so known.
That said: the people whose entire existence depends on pulling the trigger ain’t walking away because it might hurt the people who they kind of rightfully feel already abandoned them.
No no no. When push comes to shove the heroic military will fight against fascism. Ignore all the fucking evidence to the contrary and support the troops.
Not wrong. At “best,” we’ll see a fracturing of the military…which could be much more trouble than it’s worth. I’d expect a small wave of resignations/desertions (since resignation for an officer takes a long time). The remainder of good people will actively try to avoid and sea-lawyer their way out of doing any damage to civilians without violating orders. There will be a good chunk who will happily fire on US civilians, though.
Resignations are only useful in the short term.
In the long term, Resignations provide new opportunities for the loyal to gain power and recruit.
Yep, but those who resign for moral reasons will be more likely to take actual actions to protest/stop what’s happening. The military will have a hard time recruiting competent people in that environment, though, and the people taking the vacancies will likely have diminishing competence as time goes on.
To put it in perspective, if more officers retire at 20, they’ll generally be O-5s (Lieutenant Colonels or Commanders), and so the next year’s promotion cycle will need to promote more O-4s to cover the vacancies. This will then trickle down, and suddenly, you have officers who have been O-3s for just a couple of years being promoted to O-4 rather than waiting longer and gaining experience.
In that scenario, there will be less efficiency in planning and execution and far more incompetence, and if being used against civilians, more brutality. But incompetence is easier to defeat in the long run. Seeing the incompetence and brutality will deprive the military of the smartest recruits who staff the important IT, intelligence, cyber, etc. communities. So, while they may get true believers, a lower proportion will be competent.
No matter how it shakes out, it will get very bad.
No. They won’t. Or, to be more blunt, the people who would actually be useful won’t. Because they are the ones who understand the world isn’t Call of Duty and a single guy with a pistol isn’t actually going to Jack Bauer his way through an entire armed escort.
They already do. That is why the military is dumb as a door knob and full of the kind of people who just want an excuse to shoot some folk whether they are brown or not.
Oh, well then. That will solve everything.
Breathe. We will get through this, and how is question worth considering, as the commenter above did. If you need to share this burden of despair with someone, my DMs are open.
The ASVAB was pretty basic when I took it. Fortunately, a health condition at the time kept me from basic.
It takes active recruitment if we want the military on the side of the people.
MAYBE that would have worked on the “I just want to go to college” Desert Storm kids.
We spent the better part of 20 years at continual war training an army to commit atrocities in the name of “peace keeping”. Anybody joining under those circumstances either started out brainwashed (“My daddy and his daddy and his daddy were all marines!”) or are basically cops who just want an excuse to wave a gun around.
At best? We are looking at the equivalent of trotting out liz cheney at the DNC. Sure there are “moderates” who might be won over. But the moment they hear that somebody doesn’t like whatever “moderate” belief they have they’ll go straight maga and then insist it is your fault for not winning their vote by slaughtering a few trans kids.
I’d say the vast majority of people in the military these days are poor kids looking for an escape to cyclical poverty.
Even that is fading because the tendency to fuck over the VA is so known.
That said: the people whose entire existence depends on pulling the trigger ain’t walking away because it might hurt the people who they kind of rightfully feel already abandoned them.
Yes, if they live through it, talking about everything from food, to housing, “vaccines”, and God knows what else. I’m not antivax either.
"What makes the green grass grow?!”
They should stop lying and using recruits as guinea pigs then