584 Comments

I served 12 years in the Navy. Got out in 1997. I would NEVER join the military now. Our government is completely corrupt and evil. We are war mongerers. With the internet and abundance of information we have now we can all see clearly how malevolent and self interested our leaders and BOTH parties are.

Expand full comment
May 1, 2023·edited May 1, 2023

Sadly we are raising a bunch of wimps. My opinion. I am in healthcare and the difference in the attitude at the workplace is shocking sometimes. Personally, I don’t think it’s the military people don’t trust but the leadership, and our government is in really bad shape. Heck, I’m soon to be 70 years old and I am disgusted with our government including the DOJ, FBI, MILITARY, HOUSE & SENATE. AND don’t get me started on the current administration. We are in deep you know what.

Expand full comment

The Fat Lady has literally sung.

Expand full comment

This started with the all voluntary military and the elimination of the draft. Women were never subjected to the draft to begin with, then they were enticed to join, not out of patriotism, but for the chance to get free career training and lifetime benefits. So this article is not prescient it was on the way, way back then. For a person to understand the condition of the U.S Military, just take a look at the common daily fatigues. They all wear military scrubs and that' because they are all so fat that they can't fit into a Class A uniform. Are any of us old enough to remember what a real soldier or sailor looked like when we saw them in airports and train stations across the country as they traveled to their assignments? They were always proudly decked out in their finest uniforms and admired by the public. Now, they all have to look identical, including the fat guy General Milley who is number one. Rather than dress up in public, they all dress down to hide the fact that they are out of shape. America is not prepared or capable of successfully carrying out successful conventional warfare. Don't look to experts to explain this, just let your lying eyes tell you. We have a military of logisticians not fighters. We are supposed to believe that we are defended by Navy Seals and Army Rangers and many people have taken the bait. Instead we are an army of cooks, truckers, mechanics , recruiters and a number of other positions not capable of combat operations. If we have to engage in a conventional war our troops will not be comprised of 10,000 Navy Seals, or Army Rangers or Special operations troops because we don't have anywhere near those numbers. Now most of our non fat eligible recruits are eliminated by their dependence on ADHD drugs or chronic cannabis use. So take a look at the millions of 120 lb Chinese soldiers who march in May Day type parades and can live on 5 pounds of rice for a month and look like robot killing machines. Then take a look at 600-700 thousand women and minorities who only signed up for all of the free stuff and are not combat ready. America has no professional soldiers other than a few Seals and Rangers.

Expand full comment

It makes me so sad how the left is ruining this country and the right has no courage to oppose them. Soon the military won’t be necessary this country is committing suicide

Expand full comment

First of all, those who applaud Teixeira are doing so with basic moral principle at their back, not simply because of some "broader lack of confidence in the American government and our military."

Second, it is precisely the voluminous lies and the total lack of internal accountability exposed in leaks like (and unlike) this one that reduce trust in government and military. If someone lies to you, they lose some of your trust. If they repeatedly, they lose all your trust.

If you want "unwavering commitment and unity," which by the way sounds an awful lot like totalitarianism, the answer is not to punish leakers. It's to address the corruption that made leaking the principled thing to do.

Expand full comment

One thing that several people have touched on but doesn't get enough attention is the conversation and coverage by the news is what was actually in the documents that were leaked. I don't think I personally have seen one story or news article that goes over what information was released that the government didn't want us to know.

Expand full comment

In Australia the Army’s recruitment campaign has a female speaking about “my army” and how it benefits “me”.

Expand full comment

I think the military got commodified, like everything, into a money transaction. Then, like everything, there was created a vacuum for meaning, a human need, so the race/gender stuff is pumped in to create meaning and give everyone a struggle to win for lofty values because money really is not enough. Everything is a corporation now: based on money and fluffed up with fake virtue signals

Expand full comment

Well, Valerie Jarrett’s daughter is a “legal correspondent” for NBC, so it looks like they’re solidifying their control over the MSM

Expand full comment

I don't like this article. The system and all it's cronies lie. "We make you suffer as a test of your loyalty." Piss on your loyalty. This is what America deserves for treating it's citizens like shit and being so fucking picky and stuck up. Burn in hell.

Expand full comment

Rob - one of your best, if not the best, pieces. You are so right regarding the military's lowering of standards. And, it is not just the military. The lowering of standards is systemic and continues unabated.

I am also happy to see that you clearly pointed out that there is a direct connection between the toughness and difficulty in joining and remaining in an organzation with the value that an individual places on being a part of that organization. I am not sure that there are many who grasp this and likely still won't even after reading your piece. We definitely need more Zack Mayos.

Expand full comment

I'm still here but the country said it didn't want me. So now what? It wastes good men and then whines it needs help. 🤷

Expand full comment

I am also worried about the fact that an Airman First Class, and E3, had access to these documents. Either there is Classified document inflation (too many documents being classified) or the allowing lower level ranks access to classified documents, or both, that is out of hand. No wonder trust in the military has suffered.

I was a Captain in VN and was only allowed to see documents on a need to know.

Expand full comment

Yeah, there is no turning back from this trend, at least for White people. Whether or not it’s true (it is) we all intuit that our federal government and its many branches hate us. Who the hell would sign on for the ultimate sacrifice?

Expand full comment

I wonder if the sorry state of public schooling across America has anything to do with this issue...

Expand full comment

It is the part that self-perpetuates the insanities that have come to rule us,

Expand full comment