Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

February 11, 2004

Perhaps an explanation is in order

Filed under: Military — Bunker @ 8:21 pm

For those of you who are not career military, I’d like to explain a bit of the military mentality, if there really is such a thing.

Military organizations thrive on problem-solving. All professional education in the military have some form of problem resolution aspect in the curriculum. It can be classroom discussion of an issue and procedures for resolving all aspects. It takes the form of “what-if” and encourages discussion.

Another type is wrapped in gaming, whether it be a war game, athletic activity such as Flickerball (where knowing the rules and using them to advantage can win the game), or scenario progression. Sometime this takes the form of analyzing a survival situation where the group debates relative utility of various objects and their potential uses.

One used at Air Force schools is the Leadership Reaction Course. A series of stations provide obstacles to be overcome using pieces of rope or boards. The team has to develop a plan and determine how the tools can be used. Often, props are provided which would be of no help at all. The group uses collective imagination to develop a solution.

The primary thing all these have in common is that nobody is to blame for the predicament. There is a problem, and it must be solved. Period.

This is something I had a difficult time with when I retired from the Air Force. As soon as I pointed out a problem, people began looking around wondering who I was blaming. The focus was on who caused the problem rather than defining the problem so it could be resolved. I was accused of “being negative.”

In the military, if someone says, “That’s not right,” the response is, “How do we fix it?”

Military personnel understand this. Journalists do not. Well, some do. Dr Bob Arnot is one who does.

Many journalists and their bosses back home want the “exciting story” or the “investigative angle.” This is contrary to what the military wants. We’re not interested in digging up more problems to solve, we already have plenty, thank you. The most frustrating thing is that if I find a problem, I fix it. Journalists don’t.

Neither do GIs want to be the object of false praise. Most are accustomed to a “good job” when they’ve done something pretty special. But they view most of what they do, including heroic things, as what they do for a living. No praise required.

This is something Arnot and the embedded journalists understood.

Maj. Clark Taylor e-mailed NYTV from Baghdad to state that Dr. Arnot “highlighted what is really happening over here ?. He generally reported positive things because, generally, that is what is happening. Of course there are occasional bad things ? and he reported those as well. The fact was, he reported what he saw?which generally was positive.”

That is all the military asks–report fairly, good and bad. We know there will be some of both. But if you see a problem, let us know so we can fix it.

When a General is a General

Filed under: Politics — Bunker @ 5:55 pm

This item is on Yahoo, and I haven’t seen it anywhere else except InstaPundit.

But Reps. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., Robert Melendez, D-N.J., Rep. Robert I Wexler, D-Fla., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, challenged Powell about the administration’s case, suggesting it may have been misleading from the outset.

“Truth is the first casualty of war,” Ackerman said. “I would contend truth was murdered before a shot was fired.”

“We went into this war under false premises,” Melendez said.

Wexler told Powell he considered him to be “the credible voice in the administration.”

“When you reached the conclusion that Iraq represented a clear and present danger to the United States, that meant a lot to me,” Wexler said. “But the facts suggest there was a part of the story that was not true.”

Powell fielded the assertions calmly, defending the president’s judgment and his own.

But when Brown contrasted Powell’s military experience to Bush’s record with the National Guard, saying the president “may have been AWOL” from duty, Powell exploded.

“First of all, Mr. Brown, I won’t dignify your comments about the president because you don’t know what you are talking about,” Powell snapped.

I spent ten long days with Ackerman on a deployment, and have little use for him. I don’t know the other two, but by their comments I would rank them with Ackerman. Colin Powell let his stars shine through. Regardless of any differences he may have with his boss, he wouldn’t allow an inferior (my word, not his) to demean Bush in his presence. And the congressman, whether he liked it or not, knew he was outclassed. I’ve had my ass chewed by a general before, and I can tell you it is different than any other dress-down.

Congressman Brown just found that out.

Dr. Bob

Filed under: International — Bunker @ 3:19 pm

Instapundit.com:, Bob Arnot is leaving NBC disgustedly.

Dr. Bob is one of those journalists I’ve grown to respect. I guess he’s leaving for the very reasons I respect him.

UPDATE: More on the issue here.

Reading Requirements

Filed under: Education — Bunker @ 2:57 pm

As I read through Mike S. Adams: A reading list for high school seniors, I began thinking of what my own list would be. I’ve read too many books to really put together a list of ten without leaving out something really important, so I limited the list to five which I think are of significant stature.

Professor Adams puts his focus on religious education for students about to enter college. I think mine would be more likely to address more secular issues, although they are not more important.

1. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain. To me, this is the single most important volume on society and culture. Twain covers it all: religion, government, economics, culture, slavery, and education. Twain is the best observer of human nature, and his writing is entrancing.

2. The Federalist Papers by James Madison, Father of the Constitution; Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury and only New York delegate to the Convention to sign the Constitution; John Jay, the first Chief justice of the Supreme Court. What else need be said?

3. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville. A young Frenchman visits the US early in the 19th century and pens his perspective on the character of America.

4. The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Nobel Prize-winning author describes life under a totalitarian regime. There are three volumes, but the first is the most enlightening.

5. Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations is not just a reference book for speakers and writers to glean “support” for their topic. Reading this cover-to-cover can be a tremendous education, following the differences and similarities in thought through written history.

There–a short list, although every one of these is substantial. Every one is valuable in ways that will, in my ever-so-humble opinion, help any student along the way to independent thought as he enters college.

And you wondered where Saddam is?

Filed under: General — Bunker @ 2:56 pm

The Onion | Saddam Hussein Rules Over Cell With Iron Fist

(Thanks to Andrew Sullivan for the link)

More Kerry?

Filed under: Politics — Bunker @ 1:56 pm

The Harvard Crimson Online from February 18, 1970, is linked by Drudge. The Kerry then pretty much matches the Kerry of today. Scary.

Kerry said that the United Nations should have control over most of our foreign military operations. “I’m an internationalist. I’d like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations.”

On other issues, Kerry wants “to almost eliminate CIA activity. The CIA is fighting its own war in Laos and nobody seems to care.” He also favors a negative income tax and keeping unemployment at a very low level, “even if it means selective economic controls.”

I feel like I’ve been Kerry-bashing the last few days. That wasn’t the original intent, because I was simply trying to learn more about the presumptive Democratic nominee. What concerns me most is that we at least knew Lieberman and Dean. I don’t think Kerry is knowable except as a Kennedy wannabe. And not Robert Kennedy, the best of the bunch, but a new Ted Kennedy, the worst of the bunch.

Vietnam…again

Filed under: Politics — Bunker @ 6:14 am

WorldNetDaily: Veterans, Vietnamese unite to oppose Kerry. Kerry gains all the way around with this issue.

Democrats love a man who was in uniform, then denounces the military. Kerry has his medals, and also has Jane Fonda. Democrats are drooling all over themselves!

I heard some John Kerry speechifying this morning and was struck by how incomprehensible he was. “When I am President, your voices will all be heard all across the country.” What does that mean? I was also struck by how much he sounds like Ted Kennedy–same monotone delivery, trying hard to be the evangelist. I guess if Kerry’s elected, Ted will finally become President, as he feels was his destiny.

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