Military Elitism.

[Boreas]

Zeke, I'm wondering whether your "E-9" is active duty or retired and, if retired, what era he served in. I think this sentiment that the country is perpetually indebted to veterans and required to venerate them as somehow being, as Orwell put it, "more equal than others" of our citizenry is mostly a phenomenon of the Vietnam era on up to just before Desert Storm when most in the military, not without some justification, felt themselves to be looked down on by the rest of the country.

John

[mpholland]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Zeke, I'm wondering whether your "E-9" is active duty or retired and, if retired, what wea he served in. I think this sentiment that the country is perpetually indebted to veterans and required to venerate them as somehow being, as Orwell put it, "more equal than others" of our citizenry is mostly a phenomenon of the Vietnam era on up to just before Desert Storm when most in the military, not without some justification, felt themselves to be looked down on by the rest of the country.

John

Agreed. WWII and Korea vets seemed to be much more humble, but also more respected by the population after the wars. Vietnam was a different story and I think we didn't want Iraq vets to get the same, so there was a big push to make a big deal out of the returning vets. That, coupled with the narcissism and world owes me attitude of the younger generation has kind of swelled a lot of military heads in my book.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by mpholland

Agreed. WWII and Korea vets seemed to be much more humble, but also more respected by the population after the wars. Vietnam was a different story and I think we didn't want Iraq vets to get the same, so there was a big push to make a big deal out of the returning vets. That, coupled with the narcissism and world owes me attitude of the younger generation has kind of swelled a lot of military heads in my book.

I also think this current hero-worship thing with the military is a phenomenon of the fairly far right, especially those of the chickenhawk variety. They just love seein' shit get "blowed up real good" and are eternally grateful to the people who do it (so that they don't have to). We've actually seen a fair amount of that here, though not for a while.

John

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Zeke, I'm wondering whether your "E-9" is active duty or retired and, if retired, what era he served in. I think this sentiment that the country is perpetually indebted to veterans and required to venerate them as somehow being, as Orwell put it, "more equal than others" of our citizenry is mostly a phenomenon of the Vietnam era on up to just before Desert Storm when most in the military, not without some justification, felt themselves to be looked down on by the rest of the country.

John

He reported having recently achieved E-9 and expects one more billet before retirement. (As a guess, he was an at/post Desert Storm enlistee.)

He's, also, a self-righteous ass.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by Zeke

He reported having recently achieved E-9 and expects one more billet before retirement. (As a guess, he was an at/post Desert Storm enlistee.)

He's, also, a self-righteous ass.

At least in the Army, E-9 is a tough rank to make. In terms of pay grade, that's where the enlisted ranks top out so I'd guess you're right about the time of his enlistment.

John

[JJIII]

Originally Posted by Zeke

He reported having recently achieved E-9 and expects one more billet before retirement. (As a guess, he was an at/post Desert Storm enlistee.)

He's, also, a self-righteous ass.

People seldom reach that level, whether civilian or military, without someone thinking ill of them.