Editor’s Note: Standard disclaimer. Arrias is a real person with a distinct and discerning mind of his own.
– Vic
Civil Ignorance and Common Interests
A frenzied press “revealed” that after President Trump publicly stated he was moving an aircraft carrier towards Korea, the carrier actually departed port and headed south – the opposite direction – for two days. The President didn’t know where the carrier was, the President lied, the President was incompetent. Perhaps a combination of all the above.
To anyone who spent any time in the Navy, the reporting rang false; ignoring the complexities of ship schedules and agreements with allies; planning, logistics, chains of command and a hundred other items. Perhaps the reporters just wanted to make the President look bad; they understood but didn’t care that no President really knows all details, even major details, relying on those close to him to get him the facts.
That would be the Secretary of Defense, and beneath him a long chain of commanders, all of whom need to get involved. And while SecDef can issue orders directly to a carrier, bypassing the chain of command, he’s unlikely to do so.
Did someone mess up and not get word down the chain of command in a timely fashion? Did someone also mess up by not passing word up the chain to the White House in a timely manner? I have no idea.
But here’s what I do know: reporters covering this incident either understood how this process works and were deliberately sniping at the White House because they’re not concerned with the truth, they just wanted to make the President look bad; or, they’re truly ignorant of how the military really works.
Given the breathless reporting of other events, I’m guessing many reporters are simply ignorant about most things military. Consider the MOAB (Mother Of All Bombs – the GBU-43B). To listen to the news it would seem DOD uncovered some new laws of physics and these really big bombs will now solve all our problems.
And the White House was using the weapon to “send signals.”
Not really. As later revealed, the weapon release was approved by the theater Air Force Commander without any higher approval. And to a certainty, the weapon use was a result of weaponeers studying the intended target and determining this particular weapon provided the highest “Pk” – Probability of kill.
Which leads to this: the majority of the reporters filing these stories, and most of those listening, have no idea what they’re talking about.
Beginning in 1861, until a generation after WWII (perhaps the mid 1980s), most Americans had either first hand knowledge of the military, or a family member had served. They’d seen or heard scores of stories about the Army, Navy, Marines Corps, and later the Air Force. They knew – or had a family member who could explain – “what it meant.” They’d experienced how some things are far more complicated than they appeared; they’d experienced good commanding officers – and bad ones; they’d met a brilliant admiral, and a general who was so stupid as to defy the imagination. Everyone knew many senior officers provided nothing of great value to any problem, and that some were worth their weight in gold.
When a politician, well intentioned or not, suggested that some certain thing be done, or that money be spent on some weapon, there was some common comprehension of the problem. And when a politician suggested going to war, there was a personal understanding of what that really meant. It also meant politicians were less easily swayed by generals in dress uniforms.
More than that, these common experiences brought us together; they made and kept us a nation. Whether you were now stocking shelves or you were the CEO, odds were you’d eaten Army chow, been yelled at by a larger-than-life drill sergeant, cleaned latrines and polished boots, shot a rifle and been in a bar fight. It not only built common ground, it also gave us insights into how some seemingly momentous decisions were made and implemented.
All that made us better citizens.
There’s a great deal that’s worrisome about a draft. It can seem an advanced form of slavery, forced labor for Uncle Sam. But, it provided us with a united citizenry that was both more educated about how the nation really worked and at critical times more concerned about common interests than common differences.
Maybe we don’t need a draft, maybe we shouldn’t have universal conscription. But we do need a national dialogue about how we get back to common values and common interests. And how we rid ourselves of so much common ignorance.
Copyright 2017 Arrias
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