Are military members less motivated in this era? Are they too smart for their own good?

I came in 1984, and we were the stew generation, we transformed under fire of leadership and you adapted quickly. Granted we had garrison time, and E-1, was responsible for cleaning, and shining brass.

To much is give much is required, we took the cleaning jobs away and took on contractors. This took away motivation and humility. This generation is documented and has all of the advantages. I noticed many do not take correction well, or handle set-backs.

We are living in an age of over analyze and Politically correctness.

"Too smart"? That may be a stretch.

This is a very common logical fallacy -- see http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Good_old_days

"No era has a monopoly on virtue". The only constant is, human beings are more malleable and susceptible to influence when they are younger compared to when they are older. Most of our recruits enter the military between the ages of 17 and 25 -- their most impressionable years. Whatever methodology is impressed upon that clay will stick for the rest of their career.

For a humorous but no less cogent take, see http://xkcd.com/1227/