The woke military

How are Americans served by the woke take over of the military? Recommending that sailors read books that trash the Constitution and denounce the country as irredeemably racist is not just absurd—it’s downright dangerous. Why recommend books staking out extremist positions when the Navy is newly embarked on an effort to drive political extremism from its ranks?

On Feb. 26, three Republican members of Congress—Jim Banks (Ind.) Doug Lamborn (Colo.) and Vicky Hartzler (Mo.)—wrote the Pentagon expressing specific concerns about the divisive messages espoused by several of the books and the lopsided nature of the reading list. The books in question were Ibram X. Kendi’s “How to Be an Anti-Racist,” Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow” and Jason Pierceson’s “Sexual Minorities and Politics.”   The Navy’s Reading Program Undermines America’s Security | The Heritage Foundation

We all know these movements never elevate--they only devolve. Knock down a statue of a local confederate hero in a small town park (who was pardoned by 2 different presidents), and move on to President Lincoln and a Catholic saint. It's like an alcoholic saying one little drink won't hurt and it might steady my nerves. Meanwhile, children work in mines for rare earth minerals to feed our cell phone addictions, and Nike uses slave labor in China whom we're afraid to offend. And we smugly say our generation is smarter and more humane.

Over the years, conservatives have been systematically blocked, removed or silenced in academe, so from the rough draft to the review committee to the publisher to the library, all gates are closed by leftist gatekeepers. In the schools and the libraries you find very little of an alternate viewpoint than what comes out of the universities.  Now the same is happening in the military if one wants a promising career. It seems many decades since 9/11 when patriotism soared instead of 20 years. You'll read the same drivel in every scholarly journal whether medicine, religion, biology, archeology, history, foreign service or music--climate change, racism, CRT, genderism, and America is a terrible, oppressive country. The other day I read about why Go Fund Me efforts were racist.

This is worse than corpse men

Russian ships were displayed at the DNC tribute to American  veterans.  How do things like this happen?

“On the last night of the Democratic National Convention, a retired Navy four-star took the stage to pay tribute to veterans. Behind him, on a giant screen, the image of four hulking warships reinforced his patriotic message.

But there was a big mistake in the stirring backdrop: those are Russian warships.

While retired Adm. John Nathman, a former commander of Fleet Forces Command, honored vets as America’s best, the ships from the Russian Federation Navy were arrayed like sentinels on the big screen above.

These were the very Soviet-era combatants that Nathman and Cold Warriors like him had once squared off against.”

Then when the DNC apologized on Sept. 12, they used the opportunity to take a swipe at Romney for not mentioning veterans in his speech at the RNC.  Somehow if you lamely call attention to someone else in your apology, it just sounds so, so, Obamash.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2012/09/navy-russian-warships-displayed-dnc-veterans-tribute-091112/

Add a year for cost increases

"The U.S. Navy has changed the terms of its ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) program. Graduates now must serve five years on active duty, instead of four. The main reason for this increase is money. ROTC cadets have all their tuition costs covered by the navy, plus money for some living expenses and books. Some 150 universities have navy ROTC programs, which produces 1,100 ensigns (the lowest ranking naval officer) each year. The Naval Academy has always required five years of active duty from its graduates. The army and air force still only require four years active service from their ROTC graduates." Strategy Page

Civil War speakers this week

Craig Symonds, Professor Emeritus at the U.S. Naval Academy and the author of ten previous books, including Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History, yesterday examined Lincoln’s presidency through the lens of the naval side of the Civil War, and his relationship with his Admirals. Today’s lecture we learned about a new kind of warship with iron sides and revolving gun turrets used in the Union blockade of Southern ports and the Battle of Mobile Bay. Symonds is an outstanding, lively, well-informed speaker, and he never misses a step when asked questions from the audience. If he had notes, I didn't see them. If you ever have an opportunity to hear him, don't miss it, even to just enjoy a well-prepared, articulate speaker.

Two annoyances: first, so many people don't turn off their cell phones. How many calls can grandma get? So irritating. Then there's the "other" expert in the audience--this one about 2 row behind me with an extremely deep voice, that rattled and rumbled as he pointed things out in an audible whisper to the guys he was sitting with. If he's so smart, why isn't he on the speakers' circuit, or sitting in archives researching?

Reminds me of comments at my blog.

Obama Bans Waterboarding Terrorists, But Pentagon Won't Say If It Still Waterboards Military Trainees

"Although President Obama has prohibited the use of waterboarding in interrogating captured al Qaeda terrorists, the Defense Department will not say whether it has stopped using waterboarding in its training of certain U.S. military personnel, as was discussed in a 2002 government memo made public last week. CNSNews.com April 22, 2009"

You might have seen a letter circulating around the Internet--it details the "torture" that our own U.S. Navy Survival Evasion and Resistance Escape (SERE) used to train pilots--this one during the Carter years. It has gone "viral" I'm sure, so if you haven't seen it yet in your e-mail, just google it. It's pretty gruesome and goes way beyond waterboarding. The DoD memo stated, "that waterboarding had a “near 100 percent” effectiveness rate in extracting information from [our Navy] trainees, while no soldiers were harmed physically or psychologically by it."

The retired pilot suggests that if there are any charges brought against the Bush administration officials, then there should be a class action suit against all those presidents in office, including Carter and Clinton, whose administrations participated in torturing our Navy pilots.

He also asks why John McCain, who is against torture, supported SERE.

Good point. HT Howard.