The Right Wing media is bringing out officers to talk about Iraq.......

[4bucksagallon]

I would like to see the liberals start to parade out the regular soldiers, the guys actually doing the fighting, not the lieutenants, not the colonels, not the majors but the ordinary grunts to relate THEIR experiences. Is there anybody who would like to see this or am I the only one sick of hearing from the likes of these desk bound warriors. These would have to be guys that have been already discharged.
I know when I was in Vietnam officers were rarely, if ever, putting themselves at risk, but they never flinched at putting our lives in danger.......... hmmmmmmmmmm cannon fodder, I know what it feels like. Take a hill and leave, assault a ville and leave, I get so angry just thinking about all the lives that were wasted because some a--hole of an officer wanted body counts.

[win_in_06]

1. Military officers as a group are more conservative than the average

American.

Officers tend to be even more conservative than enlisted soldiers.

[gratuitous]

2. Active duty officers are also forbidden to talk candidly

So they present the perfect mouthpiece, echoing all the administration talking points and unless they're willing to sacrifice their careers (and none of these alleged gentlemen are) unable to say anything else.

Oddly enough, as soon as they retire and have secured their pensions, all kinds of officers come out and talk about everything that's going wrong in Iraq. Doubly odd, the mainstream media outlets studiously ignore what they have to say.

[win_in_06]

3. Officers support the Commander in Chief or they resign.

As long as the orders are lawful. Generals of today have served Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton and the current occupant of the WH.

[HardWorkingDem]

4. Sadly, this is how it is....

When you turn on the news and see military people speaking, here are some things to consider:

For one, think about how few high ranking enlisted NCO's (Sgt Majors, Command Sgt Major's, First Sgt's, et cetera) you see. The reason why: these guys are mainly from the working class and have spent a long time climbing the ladder. These guys are quite often blue collar people and are workers most of their career. And it is not that these people are not well spoken and intelligent.

Next, when you see military officers on television that are below the grade of a retired general you have to ask, "why didn't they make General." Unless it is a very young Captain or someone who didn't make the military a career, be very skeptical. When I see Lt. Col's, or full bird Col's (retired), there is usually a reason why they did not make it any higher. The same with Majors. In these cases you have to use the Col David Hackworth (rest in peace) example - that a person didn't go any higher because of problems or that, like in his case, the person spoke the truth and was punished for it.

Lastly, many officers that are speaking out are towing the company line and looking for that next step up. So of course they are going to say the best things and put the best light on things or else.

I think the ones you would like to see are too busy doing the right things and trying to keep their people alive and could not care less about showing up in the lime light.

[win_in_06]

5. A very small percentage of officers make General.

If an officer retired as a LTC after 20 yrs or COL after 25 or so he has had a very successful career.