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If you take a look, the problems they’re describing are direct counterparts of problems society has: The prison/industrial complex and the war on drugs is disqu
by moomin 9y ago
If you take a look, the problems they’re describing are direct counterparts of problems society has: The prison/industrial complex and the war on drugs is disqualifying people on the character test, the basic fitness requirement is undoubtedly affected by the food deserts in major cities and so on.
This is pretty serious: an armed force that doesn’t resemble the general population is a recipe for conflict and tyrrany.
- cm2187 9y agoThe fairness of prison sentences for drug abuse or dealing is a different debate, but I am not convinced drug users and drug dealers should make it to the army. It's not the war on drugs that creates drug users.
- pjc50 9y agoSometimes the other way round; not just the extremes of the Nazis using methamphetamine to make blitzkreig possible ( http://www.harrowell.org.uk/blog/2016/10/10/blitzed-the-third-reich-as-a-society-on-drugs/ http://www.harrowell.org.uk/blog/2016/10/10/blitzed-the-thir... ), but the US army does have a history of both experimentation with performance enhancement and also the simple necessity of a lot of loosely secured morphine for field treatment.
- moomin 9y agoIt doesn’t create users, but it and the absence of any decent jobs is definitely what creates convictions for drug dealers. As the article states, it sounds like the Army is unconvinced “Has never smoked pot” is a sensible requirement either, given the rise of waivers. It’s hard to find an argument against pot that doesn’t apply to alcohol (except for “it’s illegal” which is only true because of the War on Drugs.)
- cm2187 9y agoAgree, it should be about substance abuse, not have you ever tried drug x (even for hard drugs). Like alcohol abuse should also make someone ineligible. Less convinced about the absence of decent job in a country where unemployment is at an historical low. There might be an absence of jobs in a particular city, but people can (and should) move then.
- danaris 9y agoYou...know that moving isn't something you can just do at a whim, right? You need to find a place to move to, which takes time, money, and energy? If you're unemployed and dirt-poor, moving is not likely to be something that's easy for you to do.
- taserian 9y agoSome 10-12 years ago, I used to teach a simple CompSci 102 course on a military base while in grad school. A drill sergeant taking this class was a veritable fountain of stories of military mishaps; one that he liked to repeat was that before Thanksgiving break, he would tell his new recruits that they would be tested for drugs when they came back on base, and encouraged them not to indulge. And when they came back, a non-trivial percentage would invariably be kicked out due to drug usage. To me, this said more about how casual users think about drugs than about what they believe regarding Army regulations; a disparity between these outlooks that the Army (represented imperfectly by this drill sergeant) was unwilling to budge on.
- bambax 9y ago> I am not convinced drug users and drug dealers should make it to the army Throughout history, the strongest soldiers of the strongest armies have always been on a kind of permanent high. It's uncertain anyone can withstand the hardships of military life, and of wartime, for any serious length of time, without drugs.
- Banthum 9y agoLots of people have done it, so no, it is actually completely certain.
- cm2187 9y agoThat was at a time when the army was expected to walk up to the enemy and shoot them at short distance. The approach demonstrated its limits at WW1. I am no military expert but I do not believe this is compatible with modern warfare. Not to say that there wasn't drug abuse in later conflicts, but that these were probably not helping.
- detaro 9y agoMethamphetamine was used for pilots on long missions at least from WW2 to Desert Storm.
- alfredallan 9y agoCould you please clarify what you base this premise on?
- WalterSear 9y agoNot that it affects your thesis, but food deserts aren't a thing: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/15/132076786/the-root-the-myth-of-the-food-desert http://www.npr.org/2010/12/15/132076786/the-root-the-myth-of...