"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Pretorians

This piece by Andrew Bacevich clarifies some thoughts I'd been having about the condition of the military in the aftermath of the McChrystal debacle.  My take was, "The last thing we need in Afghanistan is another warlord."  From Bacevich's perspective, it's much worse than that, and I think he has a point.  Eric Martin, in this post, brings in a couple of additional points vis-a-vis Bacevich's concerns.

Does anyone else see a connection between the examples Bacevich provides in his article and the reaction of Adm. Mullen and the Joint Chiefs to the push to repeal DADT?  As in, suddenly it's not "how," but "whether."  As I recall, there were too many protestations about preserving "military prerogatives" in that discussion.  As far as I can see, the military's prerogatives are to give the best advice they can, and then obey orders.

And no, you don't have to be in uniform to understand history.

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