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> “They have become sort of a 1-800 number anytime somebody wants something done,” This is what happens when the military gets overused and tired; you have to

> “They have become sort of a 1-800 number anytime somebody wants something done,” This is what happens when the military gets overused and tired; you have to reach for your "special" resources and use them as regulars. An example would be: you have an axe, and you keep chopping wood with no time to sharpen it and take care of it, it'll become dull; then your only option, if you still want to chop wood, is to bring out your Shun knife and use that. We need to cut back on our engagements overseas, and stop fighting other peoples' wars. We need to give our military folks time to rest, regroup and retrain, and take care of themselves.

wahsd 11y ago
I think it's worth refining that statement. It's not really the overuse and weariness, it's the lack of boundaries and limitations that causes abuses and maladjusted behaviors. Just like any spoiled brat with too much money and too few boundaries, the military has always acted out. It is why we are constantly at war and there has never really been a time in American history when we have not been in one stage or anther of instigating, agitating, or engaging in war. What do we do when, e.g., China starts applying our own principles and logic and they start sending in elite troops to assassinate, sabotage, and undermine our society and interests abroad? Anyone ever think past step A? The problem is we get stuck on step A because we think A stands for America.
- jallmann 11y ago
  > I think it's worth refining that statement That's not a refinement; it's an ill-posed generalization based on misinformation and speculation. Please don't do that. The responses to this article have been on-topic and clear-headed; let's keep it that way, instead of delving into predictable and boring politicking.
kondor6c 11y ago
While I respect the point your trying to make (reduce foreign intervention), in this situation your analogy isn't applicable. What happens with the Special Operations units is that they are given more funding, more independence, high fitness and personnel standards with the ability to release someone for failure to meet standards. This kind of unit attracts high caliber individuals, which the selection process picks and chooses from.
rhizome 11y ago
I'm gonna guess the implication is that they're being commodified and there's something more elite in the background. The military will market themselves based on the images drawn by Kathryn Bigelow and others, including the military themselves, while using it to deflect attention away from operators under other guises.
sliverstorm 11y ago
This is just speculation, but to me it seems more like we have grown to expect/demand nothing but the best performance. We don't want any operation to have even the slightest error. How do we do that? Use the crack troops every time. After all, if ordinary troops are almost certain to get it right... doesn't that mean the crack troops are even more likely to get it right?
Dewie3 11y ago
> We need to cut back on our engagements overseas, and stop fighting other peoples' wars. People that think that the US overseas engagements are a charity are funny.
- discardorama 11y ago
  Very few people outside the "Conservative" echo chamber think this way. And I use Conservative in quotes because (based on my reading) very few true Conservatives would support military adventurism abroad, when our national security is not at stake.
dmix 11y ago
This is almost entirely because of the Iraq war. America had quite a sufficient military, even when Afghanistan started getting bad. But it was Iraq that over-stretched every aspect of the American military apparatus. Which became very obvious by their totally dependency on PMFs like Blackwater and Halliburton to provide security. The blow-back from Iraq also pushed America to depend on covert wars because Iraq made overt warfare totally unpopular with the public. Now everything is done via special forces during classified operations, as the book "Dirty Wars" covered so well, as not to put politicians in a place where every military operation is potentially political suicide. I doubt we'll see many large-scale wars in the future. It will almost entirely be drone bombings + intelligence-driven covert special forces raids. Which is good / bad. Bad because the public will never be fully informed on the number or breadth of intervention the US is engaged in. But good because less soldiers will die via conventional warfare.

wahsd 11y ago

I think it's worth refining that statement. It's not really the overuse and weariness, it's the lack of boundaries and limitations that causes abuses and maladjusted behaviors. Just like any spoiled brat with too much money and too few boundaries, the military has always acted out. It is why we are constantly at war and there has never really been a time in American history when we have not been in one stage or anther of instigating, agitating, or engaging in war. What do we do when, e.g., China starts applying our own principles and logic and they start sending in elite troops to assassinate, sabotage, and undermine our society and interests abroad? Anyone ever think past step A? The problem is we get stuck on step A because we think A stands for America.

jallmann 11y ago
> I think it's worth refining that statement That's not a refinement; it's an ill-posed generalization based on misinformation and speculation. Please don't do that. The responses to this article have been on-topic and clear-headed; let's keep it that way, instead of delving into predictable and boring politicking.

kondor6c 11y ago

While I respect the point your trying to make (reduce foreign intervention), in this situation your analogy isn't applicable. What happens with the Special Operations units is that they are given more funding, more independence, high fitness and personnel standards with the ability to release someone for failure to meet standards. This kind of unit attracts high caliber individuals, which the selection process picks and chooses from.

rhizome 11y ago

I'm gonna guess the implication is that they're being commodified and there's something more elite in the background. The military will market themselves based on the images drawn by Kathryn Bigelow and others, including the military themselves, while using it to deflect attention away from operators under other guises.

sliverstorm 11y ago

This is just speculation, but to me it seems more like we have grown to expect/demand nothing but the best performance. We don't want any operation to have even the slightest error. How do we do that? Use the crack troops every time. After all, if ordinary troops are almost certain to get it right... doesn't that mean the crack troops are even more likely to get it right?

Dewie3 11y ago

> We need to cut back on our engagements overseas, and stop fighting other peoples' wars. People that think that the US overseas engagements are a charity are funny.

discardorama 11y ago
Very few people outside the "Conservative" echo chamber think this way. And I use Conservative in quotes because (based on my reading) very few true Conservatives would support military adventurism abroad, when our national security is not at stake.

dmix 11y ago

This is almost entirely because of the Iraq war. America had quite a sufficient military, even when Afghanistan started getting bad. But it was Iraq that over-stretched every aspect of the American military apparatus. Which became very obvious by their totally dependency on PMFs like Blackwater and Halliburton to provide security. The blow-back from Iraq also pushed America to depend on covert wars because Iraq made overt warfare totally unpopular with the public. Now everything is done via special forces during classified operations, as the book "Dirty Wars" covered so well, as not to put politicians in a place where every military operation is potentially political suicide. I doubt we'll see many large-scale wars in the future. It will almost entirely be drone bombings + intelligence-driven covert special forces raids. Which is good / bad. Bad because the public will never be fully informed on the number or breadth of intervention the US is engaged in. But good because less soldiers will die via conventional warfare.