What is your most radical or unpopular opinion concerning the military?

SPC Chris Ison - the private sector is better at basically everything than the government. Think about it. I already gave you two good examples. Those businesses you mentioned that go under wouldn't have been allowed to go under if they were government. They went under because they lost money. The DoD lost trillions and didn't go under. Private military kills a few civilians (maybe) and nearly goes under. DoD kills thousands through collateral damage and doesn't even have a real PR problem. There's inherently better accountability in the private sector.

So the government, in 10 years, managed to put a man on the moon, and all the civilian space companies, with the benefit of everything the federal government has done, JUST NOW, in the last 5 years, have been able to make a successful launch.

The civilian world SUCKS, because they do not have an unlimited budget, and can not learn from their mistakes.

We wouldn't need the EPA if the civilian world was good at doing shit RIGHT.

SPC Chris Ison - who cares about a man on the moon? No one has done it since because it's pointless. We wasted billions out of that "unlimited budget" just to one up the Communists, just to prove we can waste money more creatively than they could. You know the private sector -- now that there are commercial reasons to go to space -- is doing it cheaper than governments can, right? Because the private sector doesn't waste money like that. Because they don't have an "unlimited budget." You know the government's budget is stolen from the pockets of taxpayers and future taxpayers in the case of the $21 TRILLION+ debt. A limited budget forces you to learn from your mistakes. Government is inherently insulated from the effects of its bad decisions.

You should put a glove on your head, so you can catch them as they fly by.

The point that you missed is that the government in 10 years accomplished something no one else did. And even with the math and the science that the government developed and even created to manage this feet, civilian companies took over 14 years to get a functional prototype, when all they had to do was copy what the government had already done.

Let us suppose i make an air bag, the rest of the auto industry sees this and says hey we want airbags too so they develop them. One of the manufacturers thinks," hey from air bags are great, but what about side impact airbags?" Do they start of from scratch? Not if they are smart, they start with they already have and adjust it.

MOst advancement in technology use what came before as a base, so we have to look at the space program through this lens:

(1) They did use what was already there and still took forever (thus they suck.)

(2) They started from scratch, because they are stupid, and still took longer to achieve what the government did. Going to them moon was the pinnacle it only took them about 3 years to get an actual rocket to launch without exploding. (so again they suck).

" When I first got into this I thought, How well does the Department of Energy spend its R&D budget? And I was worried: Gosh, if I’m going to be saying it should double its budget, if it turns out it’s not very well spent, how am I going to feel about that? But as I’ve really dug into it, the DARPA money is very well spent, and the basic-science money is very well spent. The government has these “Centers of Excellence.” They should have twice as many of those things, and those things should get about four times as much money as they do.

Yes, the government will be some-what inept—but the private sector is in general inept. How many companies do venture capitalists invest in that go poorly? By far most of them. And it’s just that every once in a while a Google or a Microsoft comes out, and some medium-scale successes too, and so the overall return is there, and so people keep giving them money."

Bill Gates III

I think i will take the opinion of a man who has spent his whole life doing R&D, and creating 80 billion dollars in wealth doing it, over yours.

http://thereformedbroker.com/2015/10/18/bill-gates-on-government-vs-private-rd/

Clearly bias with USMA. The focus is on football not honor, duty, country as they claim. Let’s see, last year they had a major cocaine bust by a number of cadets (not the first) last year- ring leaders were firsties- meaning months from being 2LTs. They let dirtbags get away with things Soldiers would be chaptered out simply because they are starters on the football field. What exactly are we getting for the lost training money. A 2LT that had been hazed for four years. They still have to go to BOLC to get trained. You get the same from an ROTC grad. And, as last year, you still get Communists graduating. Really, no real benefit since ROTC can produce the 2LT. Do we really need an LT that memorized all the motos of each active division. What’s the purpose in that? But, with that said, as long as it’s available I would encourage most everyone to apply. I say most because I asked my own kid not to go.

The Government spends a lot of money on each cadet. Do they get their money's worth? As long as west Point stays open, they will say they do. I worked alongside too many thaytI found substandard.(including the one in IOBC who stood next to me in formation and refused every order issued to him to get a haircut. One day he no longer was in formation

COL (Join to see) vestiges of a bygone era. Imagine if a fraction of the costs were focused on one streamlined commisioning source, say an improved/enhanced/modified version of OCS.
Additionally, I worked with officers from all backgrounds (service academies, OCS, ROTC, Mustangs, Foreign services, etc.). While of course, there are goods and bads within any group, it was my experience that the worst officers I worked with/for happened to be the Academy folks.
There are too many routes for commissioning. Streamline and eliminate the most expensive one that produces the worst product.
(Disclaimer: to be clear, not all west pointers are bad. A lot are good. Some are even great. Just in my experience, the worst officers happened to be service academy grads)

The best officer I had the pleasure of working with was a former NCO, who went OCS and came to us as a 2nd Lt. She would come back to my office to grab a cup of coffee and get away from the senior NCOs.

Au contraire mon Capitain! I think that all solider should live in the barracks until they are SGTs. This will create more competition for promotion and incentivize junior enlisteds to perform better. I also don't believe that E4s and below should get BAH and housing for being married.

So the guys who make the least, should have families who suffer?

You sir SUCK as an NCO.

As an NCO your job is to take care of the soldier, and that includes making sure he is not stressed out that his kids might be cold because he can't pay the electric.

I am glad i was never in your command. Especially since promotions are so flipping political.

MSG John Duchesneau - Open squad bays - forget barracks. That's how you build a cohesive unit. When I was a young Marine, that's the way we did it. If the bays were messed up, everyone paid the price. Good times.

SCPO (Join to see) upfront disclaimer: I’m a retired soldier and I’m no stranger to busting every chop the Marines have. That said..

While factually, you’re mostly correct, it’s important to view it in a certain context.
Let’s look at the United States. We all celebrate the US birthday in 1776. Why? Until 1783, the colonists were just British subjects running around saying how free they were.
We all say George Washington is the first President. Why? He wasn’t President until 1789.

Our governing document, the Constitution, didn’t come into effect until 1789. The US as we know it was conceived in 1787. (When it’s drafting began). While the Constitution was being drafted, we operated under the articles of confederation. There were many Presidents, each serving one year terms. (Though there was no executive branch as we know it now).

So why do we celebrate 1776 as the birth year of the United States? The birthdate of our government is 04MAR1789, the date the Constitution went into effect. If you want to really party, celebrate the birth of the United States. But even that date would be a battle of semantics. Would it be 03SEP1783, the day the Revolutuonary war concluded, or would it be 12MAY1784, the day that ratifed versions of the treaty of Paris were exchanged by the newly created United States the British?

Oorrr...do we celebrate 04JUL1776. 1776-1783 wasn’t the US. (Just in spirit). But this summer, I think there will be 242 candles on the cake. It’s kinda the same way the Marines count back to 1775. They trace their history back that far. (Heck, the Rangers kinda tell the same history..’we predate the US!’).

Finally, back to the Marines. I’d refer you to MARINE CORPS ORDER No. 47 (Series 1921). See link attached below. MG Lejeune makes its quite clear that the ‘official’ birthday is paying homage to the original Corps of Marines. The order is read every year, on 10NOV.

I agree with what you write. I just don’t know of anyone who disagrees. But now...if you want to piss off a Marine....remind him/her how many times the term ‘soldier’ is used in the birthday order. (Hint, it’s more than one). Then, further remind that Marine how many times, if ever, in an Army order, anything is referred to as ‘Marine-like’. (I never came across one, or a Marine that pointed out one). And then call that Marine weak sauce. Hilarity will ensue.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps_birthday#Celebration

SGT (Join to see) - I've never gotten started on the 1776. 1783, or 1789 issues, but you are SPOT ON. We DID NOT become the USA until 1783 with adoption of the Constitution. We did have a legal US president immediately in one Samuel Huntington who had been elected the president of the United States of America in Congress Assembled, and who was serving in that position when the Constitution was adopted. How many Americans know that??? You and me??? Yes, 1776 is really a nothing event because we only declared our independence. We did not become independent until 1783. Yes, I agree with all you said. BUT, I have always disagreed with all these events that use erroneous dates for their birthdays. It was allowed to happen and then they all became acceptable. Wrong is still and will always be wrong. The Navy and their Marines DID NOT exist for fifteen whole years, period. It is a patent lie to say "Navy...Since 1775," or both of them advertising that they are celebrating their 243rd birthday this year.

However, like I said in another post, Marine General James "Hoss" Carrtright told me personally that I was 100% right, but he then he said, with this huge grin on his face, "You go tell those young Marines with the M-16, I'm not!!!"

SCPO (Join to see) - ha, I’m sure that was quite the conversation!

Again...if you ever want to piss on the bees nest...”remind him/her how many times the term ‘soldier’ is used in the birthday order. (Hint, it’s more than one). Then, further remind that Marine how many times, if ever, in an Army order, anything is referred to as ‘Marine-like’. (I never came across one, or a Marine that pointed out one).”

It’s simply awesome.

The constitution specifically grants Congress the right to keep and maintain a navy. however, the army as we know it today did not exist till after WWII, as prior to that the main fighting force of the army was from the national guard, according to the Constitution the Regular Army can only exist for two years at a time.

I am not sure what your point is with this, but if we are going to be technical about it, the army didn't exist then either.

This is something that I think people understood a few decades ago and for some strange reason has suddenly become something close to heresy if said now.

Now we wallow in a mentality that glorifies victimhood and the self defeating politics of narcissism.

LTC (Join to see) - Sadly, I fear that it will only get worse before it gets better.

We are in politically correct Hell. Everyone is a victim. Everyone is full of narcisstic self rights and no one admits to being responsible.

Uh, no. Everyone should meet the same standards. I don't care if you sit behind a desk and push papers all day. One day you may have to pick up a weapon and defend the men and women next to you. If you can't meet the standards, you have no business being there in the first place.

Standards should be consistent regardless of who you are. If the specific MOS (let's use infantry) wants to develop a tailored test for themselves, have at it. Oh, and the PT test should be just like the Marines do it. They have a system and it works - why not adapt it?

In my experience, this is an inarguable fact.