This is in response to a series of comments that Grumpy and I made on FT (Florida Today) the other day. There are many things that we disagree on, after all he’s a conservative and I am a liberal. But there are always been many things that we agree on; faith, family, country, friends, and food. Within those parameters is the issue of how politicians on both sides are too quick to waste the lives of our young heroes and support for those who have, are, and will serve.
When Grumpy brought up the Project 100,000 it was clear that we had taken different paths to reach the same conclusion that politicians are quick to waste heroes’ lives. For those of you who don’t know what Project 100,000 was here goes: Project 100,000 was proposed in 1966 by then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to increase America's military manpower by lowering military mental and physical requirements thus decreasing the number of rejects. Designed as a "salvaging" program, Project 100,000 "salvaged" African-Americans at a rate of 40% the total. Although the military designed the program to provide training and education for these would be rejects, many of those retained under the program ended up in menial or dangerous jobs which did not provide the necessary transferable skills for rejoining American society. (http://www.aavw.org/protest/draft_100000_abstract02.html)
I have been saying for a while that conservatism is more about the establishment of an autocracy than anything else and that when regular people are convinced to vote conservatively they are voting against their own best interests. I believe that the Viet Nam war is a glaring example of this. Over 9.1 million served and over 57 thousand of our friends, peers, and contemporaries came home in body bags. (http://www.mrfa.org/vnstats.htm) It wrecked the economy and accomplished nothing but greatly benefited the friends and cronies of Johnson, McNamara, Nixon, Cheney and Rumsfeld. This Project 100,000 being the brain child of Robert McNamara’s autocratic thinking by adding another 350,000 expendable solders who wouldn’t have otherwise passes DOD mental and physical standards. They were used as simple cannon fodder in an attempt to overwhelm the North. It didn’t work and ended up being a shameful chapter in US history.
Bottom line is that politicians are too quick to expend the lives of our brave heroes. Both the Democrats and Republicans are guilty. We on both sides of this right verses left argument need to wake up and hold politicians accountable when they waste lives and treasure so recklessly. We can argue and throw political brickbats at each other endlessly as it can be great sport but when it comes to the lives of our currently serving heroes and all those veteran heroes we must come together.
Stand up for all the heroes who are serving by holding politicians from both parties accountable. They are after all our children who are protecting us. Likewise stand up for those veteran heroes who come back damaged and again hold politicians on both sides who fail them. After all they are the ones that give us the freedom to argue.
First two paragraphs..were great...and the last two were great...the middle one was unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteAlthough McNamara did indeed lower the standard in the 60's. I can attest that the standard has been growing ever stricter since I joined in 1975.
When I came in pot use was rampant..and those caught were hardly punished. In most cases they were put into Rehab at the base level for maybe 30-60 days. Often it was a much shorter period.
Ronald Reagan ended that in 1980. He had a zero tolerance...do drugs..go back home. He also did away with "go to jail..or serve in the Military".
The quality of an all volunteer service has increased not just the physical quality of troops, but the educational quality. For instance, to join the USAF you had to have a High School Diploma or GED in 1981. The Army, Navy and Marines followed suit. The new military mantra is a smarter force (regardless of what Mr. Kerry's statements). The military of Vietnam is history. Of course the lessons should not be forgotten, but they have no bearing on today's force.
The loss in Vietnam was not a Military defeat..it was a political defeat. Our present situation is a convoluted mess that both sides can share blame. However, I am not a 50/50 type of person. Harry Reid in my opinion is responsible for giving aid and comfort to the enemy, and was responsible for an untold number of deaths based on that. He is not alone.
War is not pretty. Good people die.
War does not ask your permission..it will come calling regardless of what you want.
We are at war with enemies known, and unknown...we have been..and will be for quite sometime.
Salute to those who served before me, with me, and after me.
I've been thinking about doing a piece on Project 100000, as you said, not many know about it.. Kinda hard to do without making good people look like Morons
ReplyDeleteIt was sold as a was as a way to promote opportunity, 40% of those enlisted were black.
As AG said, LBJ's Administration needed manpower for Viet Nam. Ending the college deferment woulds have risked angering those with political influence, by possibly putting their sons at risk.
Some of the men selected had IQ's in the low 60s, their casualty rate was 2 1/2 times that of "Normal" soldiers. It is uncertain how many others died, because these men had placed in a situation they were mentally incapable of handling. Not because they were bad people, they weren't.
I guess they served a purpose, they kept Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, Joe Biden and 340,000 thousand other physically and mentally capable men from having to risk their necks.
Capt to recruit these men lower the passing grade on the AFQT to 21..
ReplyDeleteFor those that don't know at the time the Armed Forces Qualification test was a 100 question, A-B-C-D Multiple choice test. If you could teach a dog how to check off one answer for each question, No need to read , odds are 3-1 he's pass.
LOL..I remember that test.
ReplyDeleteWhen I went in, things were much easier. You had a 50-50 chance of passing. You just had to know, or guess, which foot was the left one.
ReplyDeleteDamn, I coulda funked that one easy..
ReplyDeleteWhen they lowered the AFQT passing score, you had to be pretty smart to flunk it.